Chandanaji

Acharya Chandanaji was a Jain sadhvi, or nun, and the founder and spiritual head of Veerayatan, a charitable organisation set up in Bihar more than 50 years ago. In 1987 she became the first Jain sadhvi to be given the title of Acharya ^[2]. She was named for the Padma Shri in 2022 in the field of social work, from Bihar ^[1].

Renunciation and study

Chandanaji was born on 26 January 1937 and took monastic vows at 14 ^[2]. She then kept a vow of silence for 12 years, during which she studied Jain, Buddhist and Vedic texts; she earned the Darshanacharya from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and the Shastri title in logic and grammar from Banaras Hindu University ^[2].

Schools beside temples

She saw education as the way out of poverty, and her motto was that wherever there is a temple there should be a school ^[2]. Veerayatan built schools and colleges in Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Nepal and elsewhere, which have reached more than two lakh children and young people ^[2]. Its eye hospitals in Bihar and at Palitana have treated about 35 lakh people and carried out about 3.5 lakh eye operations ^[2]. The organisation also ran relief work after the Kutch and Nepal earthquakes, floods, the tsunami and the Covid-19 pandemic ^[2].

She wrote on Jain philosophy and, as an artist, created a museum at Rajgir ^[2].

Chandanaji died in Pune in April 2026, aged 89, and her last rites were held with state honours ^[3].