Humanitarian King Jai Prithvi Bahadur Singh
Raja JPB Singh |
Raja Jai Prithvi Bahadur Singh of Bajhang Nepal was a passionate advocate of world peace and brotherhood, a preacher and a thinker of Humanism. Born as the fifty-fifth prince of Bajhang on August 21, 1877. He graduate from Calcutta University, and started the publication of 'Gorkhapatra' (the first newspaper in Nepal) in 1899, established the first Nepali language school, and brought-out many books for students in 1901. He served as Consular General in Calcutta from 1902-1905 and returned to Kathmandu with a hand press to meet the shortage of text books in Nepali language.He was a leader of the World Fellowship Movement. he published the history of Japan in 1907 and visited England as the Chief Editor of Gorakhapatra in 1908 where he was honored by Emperor Edward VII with the title of honorary Colonelship. Jai Prithvi's magnum opus was 'Tatwa Prasamsha,' a book on Humanism in Nepali which came out in 1913. He was a author of several books in Nepali language, notably 'Prakrit Vyakarna' and 'Shikshya Darpan'.
Satyavadi Higher Secondary School Bajhang |
Some of the areas of his contributions (direct or indirect) are abolition of slavery and sati, establishing and leading the first Nepali newspaper 'Gorkhapatra', opening up schools, industries and dispensaries. Jai Prithvi has played a vital role in initiating land reforms, publishing books, constructing roads and so on, first he established a school named Satyavadi school, an iron industry was established, a dispensary was established with doctors from Calcutta medical college on deputation. In 1910, he initiated land reform programmes, and land registration for the general public was started. He was chief of the court (Bharadari Sabha) 1907-1913.
While he was working for the Humanistic Movement in Nepal, the First Great War (1914-1918) broke out which shocked all humanists and plunged the whole world into chaos. As countries lost their grip on stability, a new wave of cynicism enveloped humankind to an extent never experienced before.
At a time when countries one after another were going bankruptcy and sinking into chaos, and the intellectuals were groping for values that could rescue humanity from the global morass, Jai Prithvi roused the attention of the world to ward the need of Humanism. His movement on Humanism struck a fresh note of peace and brought solace to humanity.
Handing over the rule of his state to his brother he went to Nainital India in 1916 to work eight years on a manuscript in three volumes "Humanism" to propagate his idea of world peace, unity, and brotherhood and then in 1924, he migrated to Bangalore,India to build the Jaya Bhavan, a residential mansion.
The first Humanistic Club was established by Jai Prithvi in 1928. His publications include Humanism, Vols. I-III, 'The Humanist' Journal, and 'The Flag of Peace,' a collection of verses on peace. He also undertook extensive travel in Europe between 1929 and 1933 to promote the humanistic movement visiting USA, Japan, China, and almost all Asian Countries and established branches of the Humanistic Club.
In 1935, Jai Prithvi visited Abyssinia (Ethiopia) to serve the war victims. But four years later, then Rana rulers of Nepal and British India, who were growing suspicious of his popularity and global activism, put him under house arrest for one year where he passed away in 1940.
Source: http://nepal.humanists.net
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