The South Asian Times
1863-64: | Goddess Padmavati appeared in dream of Mahuva Nagar Sheth Shree Raghavji Tejpalji Gandhi and conveyed that his wife will give birth to narkesari son whose fame will spread worldwide and as an auspicious sign from his house an ancient Lord Parwanathji idol will be discovered. Discovered Lord Parswanathji’s idol as per forecasting of Goddess Padmavati. |
25th August 1864: | Born to Nagar Sheth Shree Raghavji Gandhi & Smt. Manbai at Mahuva |
1879: | Got married to Miss Jiviben |
1880: | Passed Matriculation examination from Alfred High School, Bhavnagar. Stood first in Gohilwad district - obtained Sir Jashvant Sinhji Scholarship 1880 |
1880: | Family shifted to Bombay for higher education of Virchandbhai. Admitted to Elphinstone College. |
1884: | Passed B.A. with hons. Same year Mastered 14 languages and had become scholar in all world religions, Indian economics, trade and commerce. |
1885-86: | Joined as an article clerk in the firm of Govt. solicitors Ms. Little, Smith, Friar and Nicholson. While the year is on confirmed but according to reliable sources it could be 1890-1893 whenVirchand Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi were together for their experiment on dietetics. He also used to help Mahatma Gandhi understand Indian Law. At that time virchand Gandhi was studying for solicitor’s examination (Reference: Mahatma Gandhi’s Autobiography ‘Story of My Experiments with Truth, part2, chapter III, First Case) |
| April 1886: | He succeeded in getting the tax per head for pilgrims to Shatrunjaya Tirth abolished by convincing Col. Watson and the governor of Bombay, Lord Reay. |
| 1891: | Went to Calcutta, learnt Bengali and with documentary evidences successfully helped Jains to win legal battle against an English man’s tallow factory at Sammet Shikhar Tirth. The factory was closed. |
| 1892: | Muni Atmaramji invited for 1893’s world religion parliament to represent Jainism. But as he couldn’t visit, he for six months trained and deputed Virchand Gandhi. |
| 1893: | Could be officially first Gujarati youth to land on USA soil accompanied with a personal Gujarati cook for vegetarian diet. |
| 1893: | Defends Hinduism, Indian culture and represents Jainism at first World Parliament of Religions, Chicago. At the parliament he also praises King Akbar for his religious tolerance. Virchand Gandhi, Swami Vivekanand and Dharamapala drew equal attention and captivated everyone (Reference: Henry.S.Olcott –old diary leaves) |
| 1893: | Also acknowledged as interesting speaker in World’s first Real Estate Congress from India. (Reference New York Times) |
| 1894: | Swami Vivekanandji from Chicago wrote a letter to diwan of Junagadh, Shree Haridas Desai and praised Virchand Gandhi as following “Now here is Virchand Gandhi, the Jain whom you knew well in Bombay. This man never takes anything but mere vegetables even in this terribly cold climate and tooth and nail tries to defend his countrymen and the religion.” It seems Great Swami Vivekanandji through his quote tried to portray VRG as lion when he used phrase tooth & nail tries to defend his countrymen and religion. |
| 1894: | Translated a rare book ‘ Unknown life of Jesus Christ’ from French to English. |
| 1893-95: | (1) Lectures in various American cities on Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism under the ages of 'School of Oriental Philosophy'. (2) Publication of the book 'An unknown Life of Jesus Christ' in Chicago. (3) Came to London - Lecture on Indian Philosophy in a meeting chaired by Lord Reay. In between attained Bar at Law in Britain but date and year is not known. (4) Established ‘Society for the Education of Women in India’ (SEWI) at Chicago, 6558 Stuart Boul, where Mrs. Charles Howard was appointed its secretary. (After Virchand Gandhi’s first visit to West, Mrs.Howard wrote a letter as secretary of SEWI to VRG which was printed in book ‘Glimpses of Jainism and Biography of Forgotten Hero: Shri Virchand Raghavji Gandhi’ by Pannalal R.Shah (Appendix-7, page 101to 106)). |
| 1895: | Returned to the motherland, lectured under the ages of Arya Samaj, Buddhiwardhak Sabha and other organizations. Founded the Hemchandracharya Class. |
| 1896: | Represented Mumbai province in Indian National Congress’s Poona gathering. On January 25th accompanied Mark Twain on his visit to Mumbai and visited Byculla Jain temples. Same year made second trip to America along with his wife upon an invitation on 21st August. A day prior to the departure (on 20th Aug), he was felicitated by Shri Mangrol Jain Sangit Mandali. The meeting was presided over by Shri Premchand Raichand (Bombay’s cotton king and one of the main donors of Bombay University). On hearing in America about the drought in India organized a Drought Relief Society and collected Rs. 40,000 and arranged for a shipment of food-grain to India. |
| 1897: | Went to England regarding the Shatrunjaya Tirth case. (Reference: Book ‘Glimpses of Jainism and Biography of Forgotten Hero: Shri Virchand Raghavji Gandhi’ by Pannalal R.Shah, page 83) |
1899: | On September 23rd returned to India for short time, was felicitated at a meeting where Justice Mahadev Govind Rande was the president. (Reference: book ‘Glimpses of Jainism and Biography of Forgotten Hero: Shri Virchand Raghavji Gandhi’ by Pannalal R.Shah, appendix 6, page 95-page 98). Same year was sole delegate from India at the International Conference for commerce. Till 1901 delivered 535 captivating speeches in USA and Europe on a plethora of subjects like Indian international trade system, Indian economic and industrial outlook, real estate, ancient history of Indian civilization, science of eating, yoga, concentration, hypnotism, astral vision and astral body, occultism, vegetarianism, world religions and won many medals. |
| 1901: | Mysteriously health deteriorated, resulting lung hemorrhage (Lung Hemorrhage reference: Open Court Magazine, 1902). In July, Barrister Virchand Gandhi returned to Mumbai, India. On 7th August died at the age of 37. |
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