Rai Bahadur Curumsey Damjee (also spelled Karamsi or Kasamshi Damji) JP[1] (1844-1918)[2] was a noted businessman.[3] Hailing from Waghura, a small village in remote Kutch he migrated to Bombay (now Mumbai) at a young age and became a very successful businessman, working with the Bombay Port Trust.[4]

Work and award

Damjee's company, Curumsey Damjee and Sons, was involved in work at Bombay Port.[5] He was given the honorific title "Rao Bahadur" by the then British government in India for his good community work on 1 January 1899.[6]

Religion and community

The Curumsey Damjee Community Hall at the Dariya Sthan (Kutchi Lohana Mahajan) Masjid Bunder, Mumbai was named after him.[4] He also co-edited a 1902 version of Bhramanand Kavya, an important Swaminarayan Scripture, written by Brahmanand Swami. A copy of this book was referred to in the Catalogue of Marathi and Gujarati books of the British Museum, Dept. of Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts in 1915.[7]

Charity and scholarship

Damjee instituted three Public Charitable Trusts. First the R. B. Sheth Curumsey Damjee Arogya Bhuvan Trust that has a sanatorium in Matheran. Second, the R. B. Sheth Curumsey Damjee Mathura Waghora Dharamsala Trust that has a dharamsala in Waghora. Third, the R. B. Sheth Curumsey Damjee Swaminarayan Temple Charity Trust that funds various activities of the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Mumbai.[4] An annual scholarship was instituted at the University of Mumbai after him. This scholarship was worth Rs. 250/- and was given to the top most student among Kutchi Lohana community.[8]

References

  1. ↑ The Bombay university calendar, Volume 2. University of Bombay. 1925. p. 642.
  2. ↑ "Rao Bahadur Sheth Curumsey Damjee (1844-1918)". Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
  3. ↑ Mahadev Haribhai Desai; Narahari Dvārakādāsa Parīkha; Hemantkumar Gunabhai Nilkanth (1968). Day-to-day with Gandhi. Sarva Seva Sangh Prakashan. Retrieved 27 March 2009. Page 205
  4. 1 2 3 "About Rao Bahadur Sheth Curumsey Damjee". Archived from the original on 16 May 2008.
  5. ↑ Sorabji M. Rutnagur (1927). Bombay industries. Indian textile journal. Retrieved 27 March 2009. Page 604
  6. ↑ Roper Lethbridge (1900). The golden book of India: a genealogical and biographical dictionary of the ruling princes, chiefs, nobles, and other personages, titled or decorated, of the Indian empire. Macmillan. Retrieved 27 March 2009. Page 132
  7. ↑ James Fuller Blumhardt (1915). Catalogue of Marathi and Gujarati printed books in the library of the British museum. B. Quaritch. Retrieved 27 March 2009. Page 112
  8. ↑ University of Bombay (1930). Bombay university handbook. University of Bombay. Retrieved 27 March 2009. Page 333
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