Curumsey Damjee

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. "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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