In this episode of Wellness Curated, host Anshu Bahanda sits down with Manish Modi, a custodian of Jain literature and the great-grandson of Pandit Nathuram Premji, a pioneer in Jain publishing and social reform. Manish continues this legacy through Hindi Granth Ratnakar Karyalay, a prestigious publishing house founded in 1912. His passion for preserving and sharing Jain teachings has led him to translate, publish, and lecture extensively on the subject.
But these texts weren’t simply written and preserved. They survived secrecy, memory lapses, and even opposition from within the Jain community itself. What happened when knowledge was entrusted to memory alone? Why were ancient manuscripts hidden away in Karnataka for centuries? And how did a group of determined scholars convince a wealthy patron to fund their revival instead of another temple?