The memorial of the Jain religions

Acharya Atmaram je
in Gujranwala Pakistan.

Research and Writing: Syed Faizan Abbas Naqvi

Translation by : Syed Ali Asdaq Naqvi

All Rights Reserved

Presented By :
Gujranwala Heritage Foundation

Syed Faizan Naqvi (Author)
Foreword
Starting with the name of that God, who made man as the best of all creations and gave him consciousness
such that he may pay heed to the creation. Peace and blessing upon Muhammad (S.A.W) and his progeny,
who by their thoughts and actions turned the wild man living in darkness into a human being.

History is defined as the mentioning of great people. Man has always preserved his values, manners and
culture, victory and defeat, rising and falling and all such stories and happenings. The dawn of history is full
of lessons and graciousness. Man in his wild life did not progress and continued to live in the state of tribes,
that he would remember his ancestors acts, it was the people who progressed that preserved history and
considered it their religiousobligation; due to this the history of the previous eras is present with us.

In the ages that children pay attention to studying and playing, I was always found of and attracted
towards the Shahi Qila, Shalimar Garden and other such tombs and shrines and ancient places. God knows
whether my heart was affectionate to these places or was it just the attraction they possessed that would
always make me a slave of such places. Going to old places, learning their history and telling others about it
had always been my favorite things to do. To give tranquility to this interest, I consequently got interested in
researching. I got interested ininvestigating to such an extent that I made it my job and life. This is why
today the world knows me by the name Lahore Ka Khoji (Researcher of Lahore).

Out of the many monuments, some faded away with time while some others remain. Although in Lahore
there are many monuments attributed to great people on which investigations and editing remain on going.
This is in its own, a new and unique exploration. Although there have been numerous books written on the
history of Lahore, but there has been little in-depth and detailed research in relations to a single person and
his monuments within Lahore. If the help of God the merciful remains with me then I will try to write about
other personalities and their monuments as well. The Gujranwala Heritage Foundation has published this
booklet : The memorial of the Jain religions Acharya Atmaram je in Gujranwala
Pakistan.
The readers are requested that if they find any mistake or inconsistencies within this book they may inform
us with the reference so that it may be corrected in the next edition.

Email : lahoreshanasipk@gmail.com


Google Map Image of Gujranwala .

Gujranwala is a historic city of Greater Punjab (now in Pakistan Punjab), which has a
very old history like other cities. Many civilizations were born on this land and made
their mark known. This is why these civilizations and nations have their remains and
ruins spread throughout Gujranwala which tell the tale of their illustrious past.
Of these is the memorial (smadhi) of the Jain religions Acharya Atmaram9 Vijayanand
Surishwar) on Jernaili Road. Atmaram Ji is held in high regard in the Jain religion. Due
to being proximate with religion and having a religious station he has the honor of
being the Acharya of the Jain religion due to which he is called Jain Acharya Shri
Atmaram Ji or Viajayanand Ji .

Jain Religious Symbol

Picture of Shiri Vijjy Nanad ( Atma Ram je)
He was born on the 6 th of April, 1837 in the village of Lehra (which is now in India) in
the district of Firozpur. His father belonged to a Hindu Kapoor Khatri family . who was
a soldier in the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.some Opine that he died in a battle (but
its not a fact) and his widowed mother took him (Acharya Atmaram) to Hoshiarpur,
where she started to work in the Jain Seth Lala Jodhamals house. Since Lala Jodhamal
was a follower of the Jain religion, for this reason many great Sadhus of the Jain
religion frequented his house. This is why Atmaram was attracted to the Jain religion
from his childhood and his inclination towards religion increased. Even in his young age
he benefitted from the presence of groups of great Sadhus of the Jain religion due to
which the teachings of the religion got imprinted on him. He himself became a
Sathankhwasi Jain Sadhu at the age of 17 in Malerkotla State of Erstwhile Punjab. He
met the great Sadhu Jiwan mal ji of Sthanakwasi Jain Sect, in Malerkotla, from whom
Atmaram learned Jainism & ancient Indian sciences.
According to the Jain religion scholars settled in Malerkotla , Shiri Purshtam Jain & Shri
Ravinder Kumar Jain, Malerkotla was the place where he met Jain Saint Buta Rai ji . He
belonged to a Jat Sikh family, but by pledging allegiance to the Jainism under Muni
Nagar mal ji at Delhi, he became a Sadhu of the sthankwasi sect. Then he came in
Contact with Atmaram ji and got to meet Murtipujak Sadhu Muni Mani Vijay at
Ahmedabad.
He then adopted his thoughts and considered worshiping idols to be correct. Buta Rai ji
became Budhi Vijay. Atmaram was inclined towards idol worship due to which the
people of the Prevalent Sthankwasi sect opposed him due to which he had to leave
Punjab. He took 17 of his followers along with him to Ahmadabad where he converted
as a Murtipujak saint named Anand Vijay ( Vijayanand after becoming Acharya). After
that he came to Gujranwala and spread the Jain religion. Muni Budhi Vijay got 5 Jain
Temples constructed in Punjab. One in Rasulnagar( erstwhile Ram Nagar) others at
Papnakha, Kila SobhaSingh, Chadat singh and Jammu. which is located in the main
bazar. Only Jammu temple is in India rest are in Pakistan.. Atmaram restored the
previously built Jain temples and constructed monasteries for the propagation of the
Jain religion and got a Gurukul School constructed for worldly education. The religious
ministry of Chicago, United States, asked for Atmaram to represent the Jain religion in
1893. By virtue of being Jain Sadhu he couldnot go abroad so he called a young
barrister, Veer Chand Raghav Chand Gandhi, who belonged to Mumbai to Amritsar to
prepare him to represent the Jains and prepared questions and answers related to the
Jain religion. Veer Chandar gave a lecture in Chicago, United States, based on these
questions and answers. The result of this was that a lot of Englishmen converted to
Jainism, one of these people even wrote 3 books on the Jain religion.

Atmaram did great services for the Jain religion in an extremely short time. He wrote
many Hindi books. He also wrote a book called Jain religion: Questions and Answers,
which was translated into English and published in 1918 by the Religious Ministry of
Chicago due to which Atmaram became even more adored by his followers. He

died on the 20 th of May (1986 Vikrami samvat ) at the age of 59 in Gujranwala. His
memorial was built by Seth Lala Mia Das Nanak Chand. This building is divided into 3
parts. The large building that is seen when entering from the entry gate is the
memorial of Atmaram, in which his ashes were put after he was cremated and
on top of it a marble slab was placed on which were placed the footprints of Atmaram.
These were transferred to the National Museum Along with a Palanquin (Vedi) Lahore,
after the 1971 Indo-Pak war, where they present are till date in the Jain gallery.
The second part is the rooms on the right side, the first room of which was a Jain
temple. If you enter it, you will see on the floor, written on beautiful red tiles is the
name of the person who constructed the temple.

If you enter inside, you will see 5 places of idols where idols of 5
Teerrthankars(Prophets) of the Jain religion used to be. However, according to some
historians the footprints in marble of the Teer Thankars were placed at these locations,
most of which are present in the Lahore Ajaib Ghar. This temple was known as the
Ghar Mandir. Towers were not constructed in it like other temples.
The third part consists of rooms in the complex that was made for travelling Jain
Sadhus to stay in. Sadhus and pilgrims from other cities used to stay here. An
inscription made of marble is placed on top of these room on which the following
phrase is written in Urdu, Hindu, English and Devangiri Languages which reads: This
buildingwas constructed as the memorial of Shri Atmaram Ji by Lala Mya Das Nanak
Chand oswal Barad Gotar in 1904(1961)Vikramisamvat.

In 1936 in the city of Ambala. India, after the celebration of the 100 th anniversary of
Atma Ram a booklet was published on the 1 st of March, 1936 by Sagar Chand Jain;
who was a secretary of Shri Atmanand Jain Yuvak Mandal. In it he wrote an account of
this celebration. He writes that Shri Vijayanand Suri, famous as Atmaram Ji Maharaj
was a reformer of the Jain religion. His teachings took the Jains out of the slavery of
their minds and created a great revolution. His capability in terms of knowledge has
spread to Europe and America. He writes that on the 24 th of March, 1936 his 100 th
birthday was celebrated at his in all of India with great zeal and valor. In accordance to
this event, Atmanand Jain Yuvik Mandal held a poetry competition so that Atmaram
may be praised and that be published.

Therefore, on the 1 st of January, 1936, this poetry competition was held in the Shri
Atmanand Jain High Schools Vast hall. The first verse was declared to be: Atmanand
has awakened the nation once more. Poets like Labhu Ram, Josh Milisani, Waqar
Ahmad Ambalvi, Mushi Ashraf Giyan from Malerkotla,Jagdesh Chandar Sahib, Ulfat
Jalandhri, Newton Sahib gave this gathering such a great atmosphere that it cannot be
described. After writing the rest of the account he writes that I have published these
verses in this booklet and have published it in the quantity of 3000.

Poem of Urdu Poet Waqar Ambalvi About Atma Ram je
Therefore, the writer has taken the poetry of of Waqar Ahmad Ambalvi which he
proclaimed in the poetry competition from this booklet published in 1936 which is
presented to the readers so that it becomes known how immensely generous people
were in those times and how they were far away from the impurity of animosity and
hatred on the religious level. Until the creation of Pakistan this place remained in usage
by Jains. This location is to them as a prophets shrine would be to a Muslim. After the
formation of Pakistan, the Jains of this place created a replica of this holy place in
Delhis Shahadra and Haridwar and named it Dera Baba Atmaram.

Main Gate of Smadh Atma Ram Je on the G.T Road Gujranwala Pakistan



Main Building of Smadh Shiri Atma Ram Je at Gujranwala.

Jain pilgrims used to come to this holy place for pilgrimage until after 1965, but this
situation stopped. Then the precious stones and other items were given to the
National Museum Lahore and a Girls School by the name of Apra Primary School was
made at this place, which was transferred from here in 1995. After the school, a Police
Station was made at this site, which remained until 2013, then the DSPs office was
created here. Recently this office has also been transferred to a different location and
this location is now empty. The Jain temple in the middle of the city, constructed in the
beginning of the last century and this memorial are losing their value. All the walls and
doors of the temple have become extremely fragile, which are in need of the attention
of the officers of the Matroka Waqf Imlaak.


An Inside View of Smadh Atma Ram Je at Gujranwala


A few years ago a photographer from Rawalpindi, without any evidence, made
this memorial famous as the memorial of Sardar Charat Singh and he considers this
building to be the memorial of the grandfather of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Sardar
Charhat Singh. He tried to prove his claim with all his efforts and prepared a
documentary and published it on social media. Due to this Sikhs coming from all
around the world including India wrote this place down as the memorial place of
Sardar Charhat Singh.



Marble Plate at Smadh Atma Ram Je

Bobby Singh, a Sikh writer in England, writes in his book that this Jain memorial is the
memorial of Sardar Charhat Singh. This occurred to such an extent that on the 15 th of
April the Express Daily Gujranwala Edition published a comprehensive report in which
this building was called a Sikh building i.e. the memorial of Charhat Singh. It is
something shocking that such a responsible newspaper is publishing such a report
without any research. Due to this book and that video published on social media the
Jains in the world and in India faced serious confusion. They are very unsettled by the
fact that first in 1992 after the demolition of the Babri Mosque, there was a backlash in
Pakistan in which Jain temples were destroyed; which had no relation to Hindus and
now the remaining Jain sites are being labeled as Sikh sites. Jain Scholar in India, Shri
Purshtam Jain & Shri Ravinder Kumar Jain and Amit Rai Jain have strictly refuted this
and have expressed anger over the fact that in Pakistan; false history is not only being
taught, but it is being spread. Though all of this came about due to a wrong video.





News about Smadh Atma Ram Je Published in Express News Paper Gujranwala
Edition on 15 April 2017 who wrote that that is the Smadh of Charhat Singh, which is
incorrect .


The Jain community in India and Canada said that we have written complaint letters to
the UNO and World Heritage Foundations to pressurize Pakistan to protect the Jain
heritage and buildings in Pakistan and such Fake writers should not only be banned but
also be fined. They said regarding this that the unnatural death of Maharaja Ranjit
Singhs grandfather, Sardar Charhat Singh, occurred away from his city, while he was
engaged in a battle near Zafarwal. The evidence for this is present in the history
written regarding Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Persian that once; Maharaja Ranjit Singh
visited the memorial building of his grandfather Charhat Singh. The buildings of the
Jain and Sikh religions are never side by side. Jain buildings do not have a particular
recognition, their structure changed throughout time and their style of construction
depended on the building material available and the local style. Some Jain temples
have idols whilst others do not.







Book of Bobby Singh Bansal who mentioned Smadh Atma Ram Je as the Smadh of
Sardar Charhat Singh in his book on page no. 161 Gujranwala Chapter .

Book of Umda tul Tawarikh


The Ministry of Religion in Chicago, US, translated and published Atmarams Question
and Answer book in 1918. On the title of this book was the picture of that building.

An Old Picture of Smadh Atma Ram Je, published in 1918.

Donation Plates on the Floor of Smadh Vijjy Nanad (Atma Ram Ji)


The Outside view of the Jain Temple room inside Smadh Atma Ram Complex,
Gujranwala

The Inside view of Morti Asthan of Jain Temple Room Inside Smadh Atma Ram
Complex, Gujranwala.


Hostel Rooms at Smadh Atma Ram Complex, Gujranwala .

Yatris Hostel Rooms at Smadh Atma Ram Complex, Gujranwala .



If it had been the memorial of Charhat Singh then it would have never made its way to
the front page of a Jain book. In 1920 the Gujranwala district gazetteer, which is
published by the Government Punjab Printing Press, does not include any mention of
this building whereas it includes the history of the Sikhs from the beginning as well as
all the old buildings of the city; in which the memorial of Maharaja Ranjit Singhs
grandfather Sardar Charhat Singh is also included. Other than this, according to the
records of the Department of Funds and Land Revenue Board this place is also
specified as a Jain temple.
Expressing and publishing inaccurate history is extremely averse and a wrong deed
which not only negates history but also defames the country, especially when it is
related to non-Muslim religious sites. Therefore, this is a problem of a critical nature
and this is why the Department of Matroka Waqf Imlaak Board should put up a board
outside this building saying that this is the memorial place of Atmanand Jain, so that it
may not happen again that someone writes and publishes wrong information or
becomes the cause of hurting someones sentiments.
I Request to government to please look into this piece of history preserve it in a
manner that it gives Pakistan a Colour of harmony and permotes religious tourism .

Special Thanks :
:Shiri Purstham Jain ,Shiri Ravinder Kumar Jain , Shiri Dr , Sandeep Jain ,
Shiri Amit Rai Jain , Shiri Bhushan Shah jain , Shiri Iqbal Qaisar , Pro Shuaib Raza &
also thanks www.jainworld.com .
The End
For more details & feedback
Syed Faizan Naqvi (Researcher)
Email : lahore_ka_khojji@yahoo.com
lahoreshanasipk@gmail.com

923454176691
Lahore Pakistan .