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| श्री बालचन्द्र जैन 20 नवंबर 1924 - 06 जून 1995 |
1960 का एक अन्य संदर्भ प्राप्त होता है, महंत घासीदास स्मारक संग्रहालय (उद्भव, संगठन और कार्यकलाप) पुस्तिका तब सहायक संग्रहाध्यक्ष रहे बालचन्द्र जैन जी ने तैयार की थी। इस पुस्तिका में 1956-57, 57-58 तथा 58-59 में अवाप्त प्रदर्शन सामग्री के आंकड़ों में सिक्के की संख्या क्रमशः 73, 61 व 1000 बताई गई है। यहां रायपुर संग्रहालय के भारतीय सिक्कों पर NUMISMATIC SOCIETY OF INDIA, VARANASI के GOLDEN JUBILEE VOLUME में प्रकाशित उनका लेख, शब्दशः –
THE COLLECTION OF INDIAN COINS IN THE RAIPUR MUSEUM
BALCHANDRA JAIN
The museum at Raipur was established in the year 1875 by late Mahant Ghasidas, the then ruling chief of the Nandgaon State, now a tahsil of the Durg district of Madhya Pradesh. In 1953, the management of the museum was taken over by the State Government and the new institution, named the Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum, came into existence, in which the old Raipur Museum was merged. Accordingly, along with other exhibits, a small collection of 102 coins and 41 medals Was transferred to the new museum which formed the nucleus of its coin-collection. The above coins are said to have been found in the Balaghat district and various places of the Chhattisgarh, while the medals which belong to the Indo-British period of the Indian history, were received from the Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of the former Central Provinces.
During his term of appointment as the Asstt. Curator of this museum, Shri V. P. Rode (1953-56) made numerous efforts to increase the collection and he succeeded in acquiring 117 coins. These were received from the Deputy Commissioner, Raigarh district (A/ 9, R 2, and E 3), Shri Bhura, a businessman of Seoni (A1 and E 9), Shrimati Doongaji, Raipur (A 19), Shri Narayanlal Parmar, Raipur (B. 1), Shri Banjari, Raipur (E 13) and Dr. Kothari of Raipur (60 foreign coins including ancient Roman coins).
Thus, the strength of the coin-collection of the museum at the end of the month of October 1956, when the writer of these lines, assumed charge of it, was: 219 coins, 41 medals and 2 tokens.
I had come on transfer from the Central Museum, Nagpur where I was holding charge of a collection consisting of about 10,000 coins that represents almost all the periods of Indian history. Naturally, I was not satisfied with the then strength of the collection of the Raipur Museum and I decided to make fresh efforts to build up a representative collection of coins of the various periods. Fortunately, in the early months of 1957, the discovery of a gold coin in the Betul district was reported and ultimately, the coin was presented to the Raipur Museum by the Deputy Commissioner of that district under the orders of the Commissioner of the Bhopal division. The coin when examined was found to be the issue of the Bahamani king Mahmud II, son of Muhammad II. That was a good beginning.
In the same year, Shri Vidya Charan Shukla M. P., Nagpur, donated to the museum, one tiny gold and five copper coins from the collection of his father, late Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla, the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. The copper coin included an ancient Chinese coin found in the Bilaspur district and four uninscribed local coins of ancient South Kosala. Similarly, Shri Ramchandra Swarnakar of Katni (M. P.) was pleased to spare from his collection, 2 silver and 32 copper coins of the British period. At the same time, thirteen Ellichpur mint copper coins of Mughal emperor Muhammadshah and six other coins of the modern Indian States were acquired by me from various sources, Thus the strength of the collection of the museum on the 31st of March 1958 was : gold 11, silver 70, copper including bronze etc. 206 and medals 43. A list of these was prepared and published in March 1958.
The financial year 1958-59 witnessed the largest acquisitions; in all 6 gold, 256 silver and 898 copper coins were added to the collection during that year. Of these 2 gold coins of Kalachuri Gangeyadeva which were found at village Karitalai in the Murwara tahsil of the Jabalpur district and 167 silver Mughal coins were presented by the Collector, Jabalpur district; 15 silver coins including the issues of the English East India Company having the names of William IV and queen Victoria and those of the old Bhopal State (Shahejahan Begum) were received from the Tahsildar of Raisen (M. P.); while a lot of 30 silver and 8 copper coins of the Sultans of Malava came from the Collector, Sehore district. It was in that year that 4 gold, 10 silver and 25 copper coins were purchased from the museums of Nagpur, Lucknow and Madras while two silver coins of Victoria, one bronze Pañchala coin and five coins of the modern Indian States were obtained locally.
Shri S. N. Bhargava of Nagpur possesses a very good collection of ancient and modern Indian coins. Acceding to my request, he very kindly presented 54 copper coins and a clay sealing to the museum. His donation of a few early indigenous coins called for the immediate endeavour to enrich the collection by acquiring the early cast, and uninscribed coins, and coins of cities, guilds, republics and early dynasties. Incidentally, in the month of April 1958, when I was on a tour of Bhopal in my private capacity, I met a coin-collector of Vidiśã who possessed about 2,000 ancient Indian coins collected by him from Vidiśã and Ujjain. The collection was examined jointly by Shri K. D. Bajpai, the then Curator of the Archaeological Museum, Mathura, and myself. We purchased the lot comprising about 1,700 coins for our respective museums for a total price of Rs. 500/-. The collection was divided in two equal shares, and the one which came to the Raipur Museum contained 32 silver and 803 copper coins including the silver punch-marked, early cast and uninscribed, tribal coins of Eran and Ujjain, coins of the city of Vidisa, coins of Ramagupta, Western Kshatrapas, Naga kings of Padmavati and many other ancient Indian coins.¹
In 1959-60, the first coin added to the collection of the museum was a gold coin of Narasimhagupta which was purchased from Varanasi. Coins found in the Sirpur excavations of 1956 (one gold coin of Prasannamatra, one Chinese copper coin) and 104 copper Kalachuri coins and that of Paseva (117 billon coins of the Sultans of Delhi and one Śrīdāma coin) were also added to the cabinet in that year. The most important acquisition of the year was the hoard of 46 gold coins of Mahendraditya and 3 gold coins of Kramāditya discovered in the village Pitaiband of Raipur district.
During last year (1960-61), the Collector, Raipur district, presented two hoards consisting of 119 silver coins of the Mughal emperors and 84 silver coins of the Bhonsle rulers of Nagpur (issued in the name of Ahmedshah from Katak mint ?). Third hoard was received from the Tahsildar of Sibora, district Jabalpur. It contained 138 copper coins of the Sultans of Malava, most of which are the issues of Hosangshah. Similarly, three silver seals of the old Bastar State and one Indo-British medal were transferred to the Museum from the Jagdalpur treasury under the orders of the State Government. Twenty coins were received in donation from private sources.
The strength of the coin-collection of the Museum has now increased to 73 gold, 432 silver and 1493 copper coins, from a nucleus collection of 143 coins and medals which existed on the 21st March 1953, the day of opening of the Museum.
1. Some of them are being published in this Volume. See pp. 303-308, ante.
2. JNSI, Alt. Comm. Vol., pp. 184-187.
यहां यथासंभव शुद्धता का ध्यान रखा गया है, किंतु गंभीर शोध-अध्ययन में उद्धृत करने, संदर्भ के लिए कृपया मूल स्रोत का उपयोग करें।
इस तरह की बहुमूल्य जानकारियां, जो अतीत से वर्तमान का संबंध जोड़ती रहें,निरन्तर प्रकाश में लाते रहें। साधुवाद,
ReplyDeleteआदरणीय बालचंद्र जैन जी के सद्प्रयासों को और विस्तीर्ण स्वरुप दीजिए।
सिंह साब को बहुत धन्यवाद इन सबके लिए।