Shantidas Jhaveri
Encyclopedia
Shantidas Jhaveri was an influential Indian jeweller, sarraf (bullion trader) and sahukar (moneylender) during the Mughal era
. He was the wealthiest merchant in the Ahmedabad
city during the 17th century. He was also a philanthropist
, who made donations to temples and schools.
Jain from the Marwar
region. His father Sahasra Kiran had migrated from Osian to Ahmedabad in the late 16th century. Shantidas expanded his father's jewelery business by setting up a sarrafa (bullion trading) business.
and Dara Shikoh
indicate that he was asked to offer jewelery to the Mughal royalty. In 1639, Asaf Khan the brother of Nur Jahan and the father of Mumtaz Mahal
purchased a large quantity of jewels from Shantidas. After he died, the Emperor Shah Jahan forced Shantidas to take back the jewels and refund the money.
Shantidas also traded with the European companies
, as well as Persian and Arab traders, in commodities such as clove
s. In September 1635, Shantidas and some other merchants from Surat
and Ahmedabad, lost their goods to English pirates. He used his influence and political connections to recover his loss from the English.
Shantidas was also a moneylender: most of the capital lent to the Dutch East India Company
(VOC) in India came from Shantidas and his close associate Virji Vora
. In 1627, he lent Rs. 10,000 to the English at an interest rate of 1% per month.
Jain community. He spent a substantial amount of money on conducting the sanghas
and protecting Jain temples. He helped the monks in setting up pathshalas (schools). A contemporary Sanskrit language document states that he took great interest in maintaining manuscripts, and encouraged the monks to develop literature.
In 1622, Shantidas started the construction of the Chintamani Parshvanath
temple at Saraspur, Ahmedabad
. The construction was completed in 1638, and cost Rs. 9 lakhs (900,000). The temple has been described in the writings of the foreign travelers such as the German adventurer Johan Albrecht de Mandelslo
.
Shantidas also participated in the contemporary religious politics. At that time, there were several Jain factions (gachhas) within the Svetambara
Jain sect, and Shantidas belonged to the Sagar gaccha. Muktisagar, a monk of the Sagar gaccha was a close friend of Shantidas, and in 1625, he had installed an idol in the Chintamani Parshawanath temple constructed by him. Shantidas wanted to see Muktisagar become an acharya
(the highest leader of a Jain order), but the request was declined by Vijayadeva Suri, a senior acharya belonging to the Tapa gachha. Shantidas sought help of Shrimalla, a merchant from Cambay, who had played an improtant role in Vijayadeva's prmotion to the acharya post in 1601. With his influence, Muktisagar was appointed as an acharya in 1630, under the name "Rajsagar". Later, Shantidas planned a shastrartha
(religious debate) between Vijayadeva Suri and Muktisagar (Rajsagar Suri) in Jalore
. His intention was to raise the prestige of his faction (and perhaps, to increase his own influence), but Muktisagar lost courage and backed out of the debate before it began.
Shantidas also led a boycott against the Lonka gaccha, which criticized idol worship (something that Shantidas's own gachha accepted). In September 1644, he exerted his influence to enforcing a ban against the Lonkas, with respect to inter-marrying and inter-dining. The Lonkas of Ahmedabad complained to the Emperor Shah Jahan, but the Emperor refused to intervene in the matter.
As the Subahdar (Governor) of Gujarat, Shah Jahan's son Murad Baksh
granted the village of Palitana
to Shantidas Jhaveri in 1656. Palitana later emerged as a major pilgrimage centre for the Jains.
and Aurangzeb
suggest that the Mughal royalty maintained good relations with him. Jehangir is said to have conferred the title of "Nagarsheth" upon Shantidas.
In 1645, the Mughal prince Aurangzeb
desecrated the Chintamani Parshvanath temple constructed by Shantidas, after being appointed the Governor of Gujarat. According to the French traveler Jean de Thévenot
(1666), Aurangzeb caused a cow to be killed in the temple premises, destroyed the noses of all idols in the temple, and then converted the place into a mosque called Quvval-ul-Islam (the Might of Islam"). Shantidas complained to Aurangzeb's father Emperor Shah Jahan. In 1648, the Emperor issued a firman declaring that the building should be handed over to Shantidas, and a wall should be raised between the mihrab
s (niches in the mosque walls) and the rest of the original temple building. It also declared that the Muslim fakir
s housed in the mosque premises should be removed, and the materials carried away from the temple should be restored.
After becoming the emperor, Aurangzeb acknowledged the influence of Shantidas in the merchant community. In 1657, Shah Jahan's son Murad Baksh
had compelled Shantidas to lend him Rs. 5.5 lakh
(550,000). After Shah Jahan's death, Aurangzeb imprisoned Murad. Shantidas managed to secure from the new emperor, a firman ordering the imperial dewan
Rahmat Khan to pay him Rs. 1 lakh from the royal treasury as part of the loan recovery. Aurangzeb also sent a firman asking him to convey the emperor's goodwill to the merchants and other inhabitants of Ahmedabad.
family of modern India, which owns the Arvind Mills
, traces its ancestry to Shantidas through Lalbhai Dalpatbhai, the great-great-great-grandson of Khushalchand.
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
. He was the wealthiest merchant in the Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad also known as Karnavati is the largest city in Gujarat, India. It is the former capital of Gujarat and is also the judicial capital of Gujarat as the Gujarat High Court has its seat in Ahmedabad...
city during the 17th century. He was also a philanthropist
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
, who made donations to temples and schools.
Early life
Shantidas Jhaveri was an OswalOswal
The Oswal are a social group of people from the Indian States of Rajasthan and Punjab. Oswals are primarily adherents of Svetambara Jainism, but a few are Digambaras and some are Hindu adherents of Vaishnavism....
Jain from the Marwar
Marwar
Marwar is a region of southwestern Rajasthan state in western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. In Rajasthani dialect "wad" means a particular area. The word Marwar is derived from Sanskrit word 'Maruwat'. English translation of the word is 'The region of desert'., The Imperial Gazetteer...
region. His father Sahasra Kiran had migrated from Osian to Ahmedabad in the late 16th century. Shantidas expanded his father's jewelery business by setting up a sarrafa (bullion trading) business.
Business activities
Shantidas sold jewelery to the rich, including the Mughal royalty and nobility. Farmans from Emperor JahangirJahangir
Jahangir was the ruler of the Mughal Empire from 1605 until his death. The name Jahangir is from Persian جهانگیر,meaning "Conqueror of the World"...
and Dara Shikoh
Dara Shikoh
His Highness, The Imperial Prince Dara Shikoh was the eldest son and the heir apparent of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal. His name دارا شكوه in Persian means "Darius the Magnificent"...
indicate that he was asked to offer jewelery to the Mughal royalty. In 1639, Asaf Khan the brother of Nur Jahan and the father of Mumtaz Mahal
Mumtaz Mahal
Mumtaz Mahal born as Arjumand Banu Begum was a Mughal Empress and chief consort of emperor Shah Jahan...
purchased a large quantity of jewels from Shantidas. After he died, the Emperor Shah Jahan forced Shantidas to take back the jewels and refund the money.
Shantidas also traded with the European companies
East India Company (disambiguation)
The East India Company, also known as the English East India Company and the British East India Company, was a historical English, and later British, company, founded in 1600, and chartered with the monopoly of trading with Southeast Asia, East Asia, and India.East India Company may also refer to...
, as well as Persian and Arab traders, in commodities such as clove
Clove
Cloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to the Maluku islands in Indonesia and used as a spice in cuisines all over the world...
s. In September 1635, Shantidas and some other merchants from Surat
Surat
Surat , also known as Suryapur, is the commercial capital city of the Indian state of Gujarat. Surat is India's Eighth most populous city and Ninth-most populous urban agglomeration. It is also administrative capital of Surat district and one of the fastest growing cities in India. The city proper...
and Ahmedabad, lost their goods to English pirates. He used his influence and political connections to recover his loss from the English.
Shantidas was also a moneylender: most of the capital lent to the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
(VOC) in India came from Shantidas and his close associate Virji Vora
Virji Vora
Virji Vora was an Indian merchant from the Surat during the Mughal era. The East India Company Factory Records records describe him as the richest merchant in the world at the time. According to the English records, his personal worth is estimated to be worth 8 million rupees, a substantial amount...
. In 1627, he lent Rs. 10,000 to the English at an interest rate of 1% per month.
Religious and political activities
Shantidas was a devout Jain, who was highly influential in the GujaratiGujarati people
Gujarati people , or Gujaratis are an ethnic group that is traditionally Gujarati-speaking and can trace their ancestry to the state of Gujarat in western India...
Jain community. He spent a substantial amount of money on conducting the sanghas
Sangha (Jainism)
In Jainism, Sangha can mean the assembly of monks, nuns, lay men and women of a region. It can also mean an order of monks and nuns, along with its branches...
and protecting Jain temples. He helped the monks in setting up pathshalas (schools). A contemporary Sanskrit language document states that he took great interest in maintaining manuscripts, and encouraged the monks to develop literature.
In 1622, Shantidas started the construction of the Chintamani Parshvanath
Parshva
Pārśva or Paras was the twenty-third Tirthankara "Ford-Maker" in Jainism . He is the earliest Jain leader generally accepted as a historical figure. Pārśva was a nobleman belonging to the Kshatriya varna....
temple at Saraspur, Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad also known as Karnavati is the largest city in Gujarat, India. It is the former capital of Gujarat and is also the judicial capital of Gujarat as the Gujarat High Court has its seat in Ahmedabad...
. The construction was completed in 1638, and cost Rs. 9 lakhs (900,000). The temple has been described in the writings of the foreign travelers such as the German adventurer Johan Albrecht de Mandelslo
Johan Albrecht de Mandelslo
Johan Albrecht de Mandelslo was a seventeenth-century German adventurer, who wrote about his travels through Persia and India. Born at Schönberg in Mecklenburg, Germany. After traveling to Isfahan with a diplomatic mission, he separated from the party and made his way to India, where he made...
.
Shantidas also participated in the contemporary religious politics. At that time, there were several Jain factions (gachhas) within the Svetambara
Svetambara
The Śvētāmbara is one of the two main sects of Jainism, the other being the Digambar. Śvētāmbara "white-clad" is a term describing its ascetics' practice of wearing white clothes, which sets it apart from the Digambara "sky-clad" Jainas, whose ascetic practitioners go naked...
Jain sect, and Shantidas belonged to the Sagar gaccha. Muktisagar, a monk of the Sagar gaccha was a close friend of Shantidas, and in 1625, he had installed an idol in the Chintamani Parshawanath temple constructed by him. Shantidas wanted to see Muktisagar become an acharya
Acharya
In Indian religions and society, an acharya is a guide or instructor in religious matters; founder, or leader of a sect; or a highly learned man or a title affixed to the names of learned men...
(the highest leader of a Jain order), but the request was declined by Vijayadeva Suri, a senior acharya belonging to the Tapa gachha. Shantidas sought help of Shrimalla, a merchant from Cambay, who had played an improtant role in Vijayadeva's prmotion to the acharya post in 1601. With his influence, Muktisagar was appointed as an acharya in 1630, under the name "Rajsagar". Later, Shantidas planned a shastrartha
Shastrartha
Shastrartha was a kind of philosophical and religious contests in ancient India in which scholars participated to reveal the inner meaning of scriptures ....
(religious debate) between Vijayadeva Suri and Muktisagar (Rajsagar Suri) in Jalore
Jalore
Jalor, also known as Jalore , is a city in Rajasthan state of western India. It is the administrative headquarters of Jalor District.- Geography :...
. His intention was to raise the prestige of his faction (and perhaps, to increase his own influence), but Muktisagar lost courage and backed out of the debate before it began.
Shantidas also led a boycott against the Lonka gaccha, which criticized idol worship (something that Shantidas's own gachha accepted). In September 1644, he exerted his influence to enforcing a ban against the Lonkas, with respect to inter-marrying and inter-dining. The Lonkas of Ahmedabad complained to the Emperor Shah Jahan, but the Emperor refused to intervene in the matter.
As the Subahdar (Governor) of Gujarat, Shah Jahan's son Murad Baksh
Murad Baksh
Murad Baksh was the youngest son of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and empress Mumtaz Mahal, he was the Subedar of Balkh until he was replaced by his brother Aurangzeb in the year 1647....
granted the village of Palitana
Palitana
Palitana is a city in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, India. It is located 50 km southwest of Bhavnagar city and is a major pilgrimage centre for Jains.-History:...
to Shantidas Jhaveri in 1656. Palitana later emerged as a major pilgrimage centre for the Jains.
Relations with the Mughal authorities
As the court jeweler, Shantidas had access to the Mughal household, and was highly influential in the Mughal court. The Jain tradition states that Shantidas was addressed as mama (maternal uncle) by the Emperor Shah Jahan. Farmans issued by the Mughal emperors Jehangir, Shah JahanShah Jahan
Shah Jahan Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) (Full title: His Imperial Majesty Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan...
and Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb
Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir , more commonly known as Aurangzeb or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir , was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707.Badshah Aurangzeb, having ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for nearly...
suggest that the Mughal royalty maintained good relations with him. Jehangir is said to have conferred the title of "Nagarsheth" upon Shantidas.
In 1645, the Mughal prince Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb
Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir , more commonly known as Aurangzeb or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir , was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707.Badshah Aurangzeb, having ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for nearly...
desecrated the Chintamani Parshvanath temple constructed by Shantidas, after being appointed the Governor of Gujarat. According to the French traveler Jean de Thévenot
Jean de Thévenot
Jean de Thévenot was a French traveller in the East, who wrote extensively about his journeys. He was also a linguist, natural scientist and botanist....
(1666), Aurangzeb caused a cow to be killed in the temple premises, destroyed the noses of all idols in the temple, and then converted the place into a mosque called Quvval-ul-Islam (the Might of Islam"). Shantidas complained to Aurangzeb's father Emperor Shah Jahan. In 1648, the Emperor issued a firman declaring that the building should be handed over to Shantidas, and a wall should be raised between the mihrab
Mihrab
A mihrab is semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla; that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying...
s (niches in the mosque walls) and the rest of the original temple building. It also declared that the Muslim fakir
Fakir
The fakir or faqir ; ) Derived from faqr is a Muslim Sufi ascetic in Middle East and South Asia. The Faqirs were wandering Dervishes teaching Islam and living on alms....
s housed in the mosque premises should be removed, and the materials carried away from the temple should be restored.
After becoming the emperor, Aurangzeb acknowledged the influence of Shantidas in the merchant community. In 1657, Shah Jahan's son Murad Baksh
Murad Baksh
Murad Baksh was the youngest son of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and empress Mumtaz Mahal, he was the Subedar of Balkh until he was replaced by his brother Aurangzeb in the year 1647....
had compelled Shantidas to lend him Rs. 5.5 lakh
Lakh
A lakh is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand . It is widely used both in official and other contexts in Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and is often used in Indian English.-Usage:...
(550,000). After Shah Jahan's death, Aurangzeb imprisoned Murad. Shantidas managed to secure from the new emperor, a firman ordering the imperial dewan
Dewan
The originally Persian title of dewan has, at various points in Islamic history, designated various differing though similar functions.-Etymology:...
Rahmat Khan to pay him Rs. 1 lakh from the royal treasury as part of the loan recovery. Aurangzeb also sent a firman asking him to convey the emperor's goodwill to the merchants and other inhabitants of Ahmedabad.
Legacy
Khushalchand (1680-1748), the grandson of Shantidas, was also a prominent merchant, and paid ransom to the Marathas to save Ahmedabad from plunder. Khushalchand's son Vakhatchand (1740- 1814) was also a noted businessman. The LalbhaiKasturbhai Lalbhai
Kasturbhai Lalbhai was an Indian industrialist. He was widely perceived as a nationalist businessman akin to G. D. Birla.- Early life :...
family of modern India, which owns the Arvind Mills
Arvind Mills
Arvind Mills, the flagship company of the Lalbhai Group, is one of India's leading composite manufacturer of textiles. Its headquarters is in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It manufactures a range of cotton shirting, denim, knits and bottomweights fabrics. It is India's largest denim manufacturer ...
, traces its ancestry to Shantidas through Lalbhai Dalpatbhai, the great-great-great-grandson of Khushalchand.