Death of a great scholar in Indology
 |
| Shri. Giridharlal Manandhar |
An eminent Nepali scholar in Indology, Shri. Giridhar Lal Manandhar
passed away on 25th February 2015 in Kathmandu, Nepal. He was the
son of Professor Thakur Lal Manandhar, scholar and historian of Nepali and
Newar culture, and co-author of Long
Pilgrimage, a book which is considered to be one of the classics in Indian
philosophy.
“He was one of the most revered
intellectuals in the ancient Indian system of living, viz. Swadharma”- said S.
Rajendu, one of his friend. “He was a well-read man and witnessed the visits of
many great personalities to the Ashram, including Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the
then Indian President, to Kathmandu to meet his father’s guru, Shivapuri Baba”.
Govindananda Bharati, also known
as Shivapuri Baba, was born in Akkikkavu, near Guruvayoor, Kerala state in
A.D.1826. He travelled around the world on foot and ship for forty years and
met great personalities like Sri Ramakrishna and Maharshi Arabindo in India and
Queen Victoria, Albert Einstein, Madam Curie, etc. in Europe. He attained
Samadhi in Dhruvasthali, near Pashupatinath Temple in Gaushala, Kathmandu.
Govindananda reached Kathmandu
in the second decade of the 20th century. Many great personalities,
both foreign and local, including the King of Nepal, came to meet him many
times in his ashram at Shivapuri and Dhruvasthali. From there, Thakur Lal Manandhar
met him and became a disciple of Govindananda Bharati. With Thakur Lal’s help,
a British man John Godolphin Bennett wrote a manuscript on the life and
messages of this great saint.
Bennett sent the manuscript to
Thakur Lal in 1962. Govindananda never
said yes or no to print the manuscript as a book due to the inclusion of the
first chapter on his life. Soon after the Samadhi of Govindananda in February
1963, Thakur Lal sent his son Giridhar Lal to Bombay to meet the publisher,
Orient Longman. Apparently, they refused
it due to some technical issues. Thakur
Lal then sent the manuscript back to England, and later, with the consent of
Bennett’s estate, Hodder and Stoughton, published
this manuscript in 1965, titled Long
Pilgrimage. This book is now considered to be one of the classics in spiritual
Indian philosophy.
Giridhar Lal Manandhar, ancestrally
coming from a merchant family in Kathmandu, was the founder of a pharmaceutical
company SIMCA Laboratories. He had a deep interest in the teachings of the
Shivapuri Baba. Giridhar Lal lived in
Nepal and England, and became a practitioner of Swadharma. “During my tenure as a Lecturer at Kathmandu I met him
many times. His talks on these topics are extremely intelligent and he was a member
of the intellectual class in Kathmandu”- Rajendu said. In 2006, he republished
Long Pilgrimage, since it had not been available in the market for a long time.
Giridhar Lal’s interest in
protecting Shivapuri Baba’s Samadhi at Dhruvasthali was instrumental in
preserving this sanctuary. His cremation took place on the banks of the Bagmati
river near Pashupati temple in Kathmandu, close to the Ashram of the Shivapuri Baba.
He is survived by his wife, three daughters and four grandchildren.
“Mr. Manandhar was the person who made the messages of a great
Malayalee saint universal” – Rajendu concluded.
