Sri Shivjiram Ji Maharaj was a great Jain monk of the 19th century. Little is known about him. The headquarters of Sri Jain Shwetambar Khartar Gachchh Sangh, Jaipur, is named Shivjiram Bhawan after him. However, nothing was known about him, nor was there a photograph.
A few years back, the Tunkalia family of Jaipur, who were close to Shivjiram Ji Maharaj, donated his picture, and since then people could see his face. Sri Prem Singh Ji Tunkalia of the said family showed me few historical documents about him. I could take a glance at those documents and have drawn some conclusion out of those. Mr. Tunkalia promised me to provide photocopies of all these for further study.
Conclusions are as follows:
1. Shivjiram Ji Maharaj was a Jain monk (Sadhu) and not a Yati.
2. He lived between Samvat 1900 and 2000.
3. There is evidence that he lived as an ascetic in Samvat 1926 (1869AD) till 1972 (1915 AD). We neither found his initiation (Deeksha) date or year nor the date of his expiry.
4. He was a great scholar of Jainism and had a strong character.
5. He was famous among the Jain community and an honorable saint.
6. He lived mostly in Jaipur. However, we have got evidences of his Ajmer, Kishangadh, Pali, and Nawanagar chaturmas.
7. One of his disciples was Sri Chidanand.
8. He was contemporary to Sri Atmaram Ji Maharaj and Pravartini Sri Punya Sri Ji.
We would like to take a research project about his life history under the Jain Research and Study Center. We would request Mahopadhyay Sri Vinaysagar ji and eminent Jain historian Dr. Shiv Prasad to take this project in their hands.
Thanks,
Jyoti Kothari
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