Page 30 - Gujar Mal Modi

forced to sell all his assets including his landed property worth thousand or ru-

pees at throw-away prices to flee the State in the shortest time.

This episode made Mr. Modi take the firm decision to shift his business interests
outside the princely State to the territories ruled by the British, where the capital

could be better protected and where there would almost be no chance of facing
humiliation and insult at the hands of the administrators. However, the problem

or convincing the father who was conservative in his ideas about moving out of
the State remained. This problem continued to worry the young Modi who was

keen to expand his industries and at the same time not to displease his father.

The personal life of Mr. Gujarmal Modi was also not free from troubles. He had to

face many misfortunes but that did not shake his self-confidence. Between his
first marriage in 1914 and the year 1931, he lost ten children. In 1931 there was

yet another misfortune in the family when his only surviving daughter from the
first wife died. His first wife had been suffering from what is known in medical

parlance as a fibroid uterus and was therefore unable to bear healthy children.
This caused great disappointment to the young Modi who was a staunch believ-

er in the Hindu way of life in which the birth of a son is considered essential for
ensuring salvation after death. The absence of a male issue in the family made

him ponder over the futility of this world. Mr. Modi started brooding. For hours
together he would sit and meditate. What was the use of all the wealth and hon-

our when there was no one to share them with, he wondered. He left for Hard-
war, the sacred town on the banks of the river Ganga and stayed in the jungles

of Rishikesh for many days in search of peace of mind. His father hinted that the
family might adopt his younger brother, Mr. Harmukh Rai, as a son. This was re-

sisted by Gujarmal. The bold reaction shown by him to this suggestion speaks
volumes of the mental make-up of the man. “If the void created by the absence

of a male issue in the family can be filled in this way”, he said, ‘I can regard the
sons and daughters of the whole mankind as my own”. Adoption of a male issue,

thus, became out of the question.

Then Mr. Modi’s father-in-law hinted that he would be willing to give the hand of
his younger daughter in marriage to Mr. Modi, but he declined the offer. Mean-

while his worries continued to grow and this had an adverse effect on his physical

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