Page 11 - Gujar Mal Modi

CHAPTER FAMILY, BOYHOOD AND
ONE EARLY EDUCATION

Mr. Gujarmal Modi belonged to a family which had a tradition of business. His
great grand-father Mr. Ram Baksh Modi was a simple, kind-hearted, hardworking

and honest businessman. He had set up his business in Mahendra Garb which
was then known as Kanaur and was the capital of the state of Nawab of Jhajjar.

Until 1857 Mr. Ram Baksh Modi a 1-ranged civil supplies for the armies of the
Nawab. During the first rebellion of 1857 when the British Regent was compelled

to leave the state of Jhajjar, he ensured his safe conduct to Rewari. Later, when
the rebellion was suppressed and the princely state of Jhajjar came under the

sway of the British, the responsibility of arranging civil supplies for the British
forces stationed at Kanaur was once again entrusted to the experienced and ca-

pable hands of the Modi family. The State was later on given by the British to
Maharaja Mahendra Singh of Patiala as a reward for the help rendered by him to

the British during the re hellion. The name of Kanaur was then changed by the
Maha raj a to Mahendra Garh after his own name, and the Modi family was now

asked to arrange civil supplies for the British forces stationed at Patiala. It was,
thus, that the business activities of the Modi family came to be extended to Pati-

ala where Mr. Ram Baksh Modi established a branch of his business.

After the death of Mr. Ram Baksh in 1857, the family business was ably carried on
by his son Mr. Chiranji Lal Modi, the grand-father of Mr. Gujarmal Modi. As time
passed, the task of arranging civil supplies for the whole range of British canton-

ments from Kanpur to Peshawar came to be entrusted to the Modi family and

this work was carried on by them efficiently and to the entire satisfaction of the
armed forces. For the sake of efficiency and convenience, Mr. Chiranji Lal shifted
the headquarters of his family business to Multan (now a part of West Pakistan)

with additional branches at Kanpur and Ambala and also at Naushera and Jul-

lunder. It was at Multan that on 21st October, 1875, Mr. Chiranji Lal was blessed

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