Founded, inspired and guided by
- Shri Moolchand Pareek
- Shri Girdhardas Mundhra
- Shri Narottamdas Swami
- Shri Shambhudayal Saxena
- Shri Agarchand Nahata
- Shri Falgun Goswami
How It Began
The History of Bharatiya Vidya Mandir
Professor Nathuram Khadgawat
As told by Professor Nathuram Khadgawat
India's independence brought Partition's upheaval with it, and thousands of displaced people in Bikaner had been forced to abandon their studies midway. Professor Nathuram Khadgawat was among the scholars who saw education as the way back — and on 9 August 1948, August Kranti Diwas, his efforts drew together a circle of educators, writers and philanthropists willing to build it. Ten days later, on Raksha Bandhan, Rajasthan's Education Minister inaugurated Bharatiya Vidya Mandir in Bikaner.
Growth followed steadily: Rajasthan Bal Bharati came under Bharatiya Vidya Mandir's management in 1954, Bharatiya Vidya Mandir Shodh Pratisthan was established in 1957 to anchor its research work, and a Central Council was formed in 1970 to govern it all. The following year, Bharatiya Vidya Mandir published the first issue of Vaichariki and began the run of Rajasthani and Hindi literary titles — Gogaji Chauhan Ri Rajasthani Gatha, Naagadaman and Ranmall Chhand among them — that still fill its catalogue today.
Four decades in, rising costs brought the organisation to a genuine crisis. It found its footing again through the support of Seth Govind Das Malpani, Thakur Prem Singh, Shri Shankar Sahay Saxena and Shri Anil Bordia — and, in the years that followed, the founding families' own next generation stepped forward to secure its future for good.
Founder Legacy
The people behind the mandir
Bharatiya Vidya Mandir was not built by an institution but by individuals who put their names and their means behind a single idea: that education and cultural memory belong to everyone, not only to those who can afford them.
Seth Girdhardas Mundhra
The Founder & Visionary
A towering figure of post-independence philanthropy, Seth Girdhardas Mundhra believed that a nation rebuilds itself through its classrooms. In 1948 he put that conviction behind Bharatiya Vidya Mandir, funding free schooling for working-class children who had been forced to abandon their studies.
He served as President of Rajasthan Bal Bharati and had already secured land to build it a permanent home when he died, leaving the plan unfinished. Both his sons, Shri Madhodas Mundhra and Shri Jagmohan Das Mundhra, carried his commitment to BVM forward.
Shri Madhodas Mundhra
Patron & Author
Shri Madhodas Mundhra carried the founding vision into its second generation, widening BVM's literary programme and authoring works of his own — among them Sukhi Jeevan, still in the BVM catalogue today.
When four decades of independent operation had left the organisation in financial difficulty, he stepped in at the management committee's request: Shri Charity Trust, of which he was Managing Trustee, took on its funding. On 1 April 1988 the Trust formally established Girdhardas Mundhra Sikshan Sansthan as the governing body for every institution under the BVM name, renaming several of them in his father's honour.
Dr. Bithal Das Mundhra
Group Chairman & Patron
Simplex Infrastructures Limited, the Kolkata-headquartered construction major Dr. Bithal Das Mundhra leads, became a benefactor of Bharatiya Vidya Mandir in 2005. Under his guidance the partnership has since underwritten BVM's technical training wing and moved its publishing division to Kolkata, where Vaichariki became a bi-monthly magazine in 2010.
He now chairs the Managing Committee overseeing every arm of BVM, from its schools and research institute to the training programmes run with Simplex on live construction sites across the country.
1948
The Founding Circle
Sixteen names stand behind the institution's first year — men who lent it their guidance, their support, and their means, in a Bikaner inaugurated on Raksha Bandhan by Rajasthan's Education Minister.
Ably supported by
- Shri Satyanarayan Pareek
- Shri Madhodas Vyas
- Shri Someshwar Pandya
- Shri Bhanwarlal Mahatma
- Shri Babulal Vyas
With the financial support of
- Shri Khushalchand Daga
- Shri Ram Gopal Mohata
- Shri Shrigopal Mohata
- Shri Bhagirath Mohata
- Shri Motichand Khajanchi
"We aimed to provide education for the working class who had to discontinue their studies, ensuring no one was left behind in the journey of knowledge."