Thread by @SortedEagle

Untold History : The story of the Jagat Seths, who once dominated the economy of Bengal & lay the foundations of Marwari enterprise in India, began with Hiranand Sahu, purportedly a jeweller turned moneylender, who is said to have left home in Nagaur in circa 1650.

His search for better prospects took him to Patna, a prosperous city & important business hub by then where he started off with moneylending & banking operations.
Hiranand Sahu prospered quickly, & as was not among those involved in 17th century banking operations, he sent his…

…sons to other cities to expand his scope of business. Son Manik Chand was sent to Dacca, the then capital of Bengal, with the twin motives of expanding the existing family banking network & simultaneously tapping the lucrative Dacca market which at the time was a trading….

…Mecca for silk, cotton & opium. Manik Chand proved particularly gifted. He soon flourished & gradually took to financing large scale trade.
In the process, he extended his financial clout to befriending Murshid Kuli Khan, Aurangzeb’s appointed diwan of the Subah of Bengal.

As diwan & a rather able one at that, the treasury & all financial transactions gradually came under Manik Chand’s control. This brought him in serious conflict with Prince Azim-ush-Shan, the grandson of Emperor Aurangzeb, the then Viceroy of the Subah of Bengal, Bihar & Orissa,

…which necessitated his transfer to Mauksusabad (Murshidabad). Prince Azim-ush-Shan likewise was transferred to Patna. When Murshid Kuli Khan shifted base to Mauksusabad in 1704, his dear friend Manik Chand followed suit, shifting his headquarters to the new city & setting up…

…a palatial residence in Mahimapur which stands to this day.
Meanwhile, in Delhi, Emperor Aurangzeb’s breathed his last in 1707. His death marked the beginning of the decline of the mighty Mughal Empire with a quick succession of less able rulers hastening its disintegration.

With the empire tottering, Murshid Kuli Khan saw his power and influence rising in Bengal.
By 1717, the influence of the Mughals had waned sufficiently to let Murshid Kuli Khan exert his influence as the virtual ruler of Bengal. Trade with the Europeans flourished greatly under..

..him, which further fuelled Manik Chand’s growth & financial clout as Murshid Kuli Khan’s banker, economic advisor & mentor.
Manik Chand died in 1714. As he had no heir, his nephew & adopted son, Fateh Chand, took over the reins of the family fortunes.

Fateh Chand proved even better than his predecessor & his expertise in financial matters & astuteness as a banker–trader took the family to the peak of its luminescence, so much so that Emperor Mahmud Shah in 1723 bestowed the title ‘Jagat Sheth’ (Banker to the World) upon him.

Fateh Chand’s banking & hundi network was extensive. It had a presence in all major cities & key trading hubs across the subcontinent. Moreover, the house enjoyed nearness to both the Nawabs of Murshidabad & the Mughal emperors of Delhi.

The house of Fateh Chand Jagat Sheth acted as the Nawab’s treasury, considering the geographic extent of the Nawab of Murshidabad’s influence, operated much like a central bank. It loaned money to zamindars, collected interest, dealt in bullion, had seigniorage rights & minted…

..coins for both the state as well as foreign traders, financed trade, exchanged money, controlled exchange rates, operated extensive hundi operations, collected & retained 2/3rd of the revenue from the Bengal-Bihar-Orissa on behalf of the Nawab, made remittances to the emperor.

When Fateh Chand died in 1744, his grandson Madhab Rai (the son of his eldest son Anand Chand, who had predeceased him), took over as the next Jagat Sheth, while his cousin Swarup Chand (son of Fateh Chand’s second son) was bestowed the title ‘Maharaja’.

The wheels of political fortune had meanwhile turned & Alivardi Khan was the Nawab of Murshidabad now.
The Marathas are said to have repeatedly raided & looted Murshidabad, on one occasion even leaving the Jagat Sheths poorer by ₹2 crore. But that supposedly did not dent their..

..liquidity or fortunes in any significant way. To put the cousins’ wealth into perspective, popular folklore has it that they possessed so much gold & silver that it could stop the flow of the Bhagirathi.
According to East India Company historian Robert Orme, Madhab Rai Jagat….

..Seth was the richest man of the time in the known world.
Alivardi Khan’s reign came to an end with his death in 1756. As he had no male heir, his grandson Siraj-ud-Dowlah succeeded him as Nawab of Bengal at the age of 23. Young, haughty & beset right from the outset with palace

..intrigues, threats of invasions, dissenting family members, scheming local rajas & other notables of the time, including Jagat Sheth, his year long rule was troubled & marked by one of the darkest chapters of India’s history.

It all started with an ever-ambitious British East India Company seeking to further consolidate their position in Calcutta, much to the resentment of the Nawab Siraj-ud-Dowlah, who, history has it, put paid to their ambitions a crushing blow to the East India Company stronghold..

..Fort William, in Calcutta, in 1756. It led to the capture of East India Company’s small private army and other British prisoners of war and their subsequent incarceration in a tiny, suffocating cell—the infamous ‘Black Hole of Calcutta’—which resulted in their death overnight.

The confrontation between Siraj-ud-Dowlah's army & Robert Clive’s modest forces took place one fateful rainy day in June, 1757, on the banks of Bhagirathi. Nawab’s army was predictably defeated. A fleeing Nawab was later captured & murdered by Mir Jafar’s son, Mir Miran’s men.

The historically significant battle, better known as The Battle of Plassey, changed the course of Indian history in that it ultimately paved the path for British rule in India.
Mir Jafar, as agreed in his secret pact with Robert Clive, was appointed Nawab of Murshidabad,

..but being no more than a puppet ruler, he was forced to pay such exorbitant compensatory sums to the British (as per pre-war treaty with Robert Clive) that it left the state bankrupt. Omichand never saw the cut he was promised, thanks to Robert Clive’s unscrupulous ways.

Mir Kasim, who succeeded Mir Jafar as Nawab, tried to restore Murshidabad to its former glory to the extent of even engaging the British unsuccessfully. After his defeat, incensed at the treacherous role played by the Jagat Sheths during the Battle of Plassey, he murdered both…

..Madhab Rai & Swaroop Chand, threw their bodies off the ramparts of the Monghyr Fort (in Bihar). This was in 1763.
The Battle of Buxar followed in 1764 in which the British scored their 2nd decisive victory against the combined forces of Mir Kasim, the Nawab of Bengal;

Shuja-ud-Daulah, the Nawab Wazir of neighbouring Awadh province; and the fugitive Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II (who had taken refuge in Awadh).
The Battle of Buxar changed the status of the East India Company from a trading entity to a territorial power & turned them virtually…

..the masters of Bengal & Bihar. It helped them wrest diwani rights from Emperor Shah Alam II at the Treaty of Allahabad which allowed them to directly collect revenues in Bengal & Bihar. It marked the beginning of Britsh rule in India & the turning point of the reversal of…

…Jagat Sheths’ fortunes.
With the ascent of the British, Jagat Sheths’ once stranglehold over the money market of Bengal as state bankers & treasurers diminished. The revenues that the British collected & the trading grants they enjoyed after the Treaty of Allahabad obviated…

..their dependence on the Jagat Sheths for loans or selling of bullion to them (to be minted into currency).
After Madhab Rai & Swaroop Chand’s death, Kushal Chand (son of Madhab Rai) was granted the title Jagat Sheth, while Udwat Chand (son of Swaroop Chand) was bestowed the…

..title ‘Maharaja’. Kushal Chand was said to have been extravagant, spending exorbitantly & donating huge amounts, in spite of the fact that their businesses were falling apart. There also are rumours about Kushal Chand having stashed away a huge cache of precious metals, jewels,

..coins & other valuables; but to this day, it has remains untraced.
With their traditional sources of income drying up gradually, in a bitter twist of fate, Jagat Seths’ now had to turn to the British to meet their expenses. Robert Clive offered them a yearly grant of ₹3 lakhs,

..but Kushal Chand, too proud to accept such paltry a sum (when the monthly household expenses of the family, even in these times of adversity, was no less than ₹1 lakh) declined it.
Kushal Chand died at 39 without an heir, as his son Gokul Chand had died when he was barely 20.

He was succeeded by Harreck Chand, who is credited with having built the still surviving Kathgola Palace in Murshidabad. Harreck Chand had two sons: Indra Chand & Bishen Chand. The family treasures had almost dried up by now & the last of the Jagat Seths fabulous treasures…

..were just memories of the past. Indra Chand, who succeeded Harreck Chand, was later succeeded by his son Gobind Chand, under whom the last of the family treasures were sold off to make ends meet. The family had no choice but to turn to the British again, who mercifully granted

..a pension in view of the services rendered by his ancestors to the British. Gobind Chand had no issue & so adopted Gopal Chand. The family pension was now reduced to ₹1,200. After Gopal Chand’s death, his widow adopted Golab Chand, whose son Fateh Chand was the last notable…

..of the long lineage of wealthy, illustrious bankers, who once were the financial emperors of India.
After Fateh Chand’s death in 1912, almost nothing was left of the once mighty Jagat Seths except perhaps the rebuilt house at Mahimapur, the Kathgola Palace & the Adinath Temple

..within it. As if nature too had turned against them, the grander edifices of the Jagat Seths were either swallowed up by the meandering Bhagirathi or devastated by the Great Assam Earthquake of 1897.
The Bezos, Musks & Gates of today are no match 😊🙏🏾
Text By : Joseph Rozario