The story
Munshiram Manoharlal belongs to a family of publishers who were the pioneers in Indological publishing in India. The origins of the family business can be traced back to 1870 in Lahore where books were published under the name of the ancestral company which was founded by Mehar Chand Jain. He named it Meharchand Lachhmandas. Mehar Chand Jain, a respected literary figure, had translated the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs, into English. The British government in India decorated him for his work. The company slowly expanded and its publications were being sold at bookstores all over the country.
Meharchand Lachhmandas was the first to publish several classic, essential, and perennial texts in the field of Indology, and became a major Indological publisher with a long list of published titles. It had a vast collection of manuscripts and publications from around the world at its bookshops. Lahore was the centre of education at that time and the company's bookshops specialized in Indology. It flourished for three subsequent generations, i.e., Lachhman Das Jain, Munshi Ram Jain, and Manohar Lal Jain.
In 1947, just before the partition of India, the offices, press, bookstore, and residence were burned down in rioting. Fortunately, the women and children of the family had been evacuated earlier to Amritsar. Soon afterwards, Manohar Lal Jain was forced to flee to Amritsar to take refuge, and with the help of kind Muslim neighbours, he escaped safely across the border. The family was once again united, but with no business or assets.
After the partition of India, there was a split in the family business. Manohar Lal Jain separated from the parent company Meharchand Lachhmandas to set up his own bookselling and publishing company. In 1948, he sold the jewelry his wife had brought with her from Lahore, and with that money, steps were taken to re-establish the business. Since Manohar Lal Jain was a well-known publisher with an excellent reputation, it was not difficult for him to restart the business. His services to the literary world were recognized and the business flourished once again.
In 1952, Munshiram Manoharlal was founded as a bookselling and publishing company at Nai Sarak in Delhi. It soon gained popularity and respect and became a leading Indological publisher, bookseller, and library-supplier from India. Munshiram Manoharlal's publications, along with other publications from the Indian subcontinent, were now being marketed aggressively in the South Asian market and exported to countries all over the world.
Manohar Lal Jain died in 1988 due to cardiac arrest. Subsequently, MRML was run by his son, Ashok Jain and grandson, Vikram Jain. Ashok Jain died in 2021 and MRML is now owned by Vikram Jain.
From Wikipedia’s article on Munshiram Manoharlal, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3