Son of a small merchant, Bhanwarlal Doshi had started out with just Rs 30,000 and built a Rs 600 crore business before giving it all up to become a monk.
Former billionaire Bhanwarlal Raghunath Doshi holds the rare feat of renouncing his massive wealth to lead the life of a ‘Sanyasi’ or monk. Once called the ‘Plastic King’ of Delhi, Doshi stunned the country when he decided to give up his Rs 600 crore business empire to become a Jain preacher.
It was 2015 when Doshi took the surprising decision of giving up the life of plenty to become an alms seeker. Doshi owned international trading house DR International. He had started business with Rs 30,000 from his father who was a small textile merchant in Rajasthan.
In a massive ceremony held in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad, Doshi became 108th desciple of Jain Acharya in front of lakhs of people in attendance. Doshi was once honoured by Adani Group chief Gautam Adani who was also reportedly present at the ceremony.
He became a monk under the discipleship of Surishwarji Maharaj, becoming the 354th postulant. According to reports, turning to monastic way of life was not an abrupt decision by Doshi but one he had been contemplating for years since 1982. He was driven towards spirituality after listening to Jain lectures. After over three decades, he decided to take the big step.
The ceremony where Doshi turned a monk was massive with nearly 500 hotel rooms housing the attendees and 1,500 bearers served food at the ceremony. Apart from nearly 1.5 lakh samayiks or spectators, nearly 1,000 sadhus and sadhvis were also present. The size of the assembly hall was a massive 3.25 lakh square feet with food, water and sherbet distributed in an area of 35,000 square yards.
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 "Once Delhi’s ‘Plastic King’, businessman gave up Rs 600 crore empire to become ‘Sanyasi’, Gautam Adani attended ceremony")
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