Thread by @Shudhatmaa

कर्मों की विचित्रता दर्शाती एक कथा : जगत शेठ
The Jagat Seths belongs to Jain family and the title of the eldest son of the family. The family sometimes referred to as the House of Jagat Seth, were a wealthy business, banking and money lender family from Murshidabad, Bengal

The history of Bengal, of India, actually, changed with the Battle of Plassey. And most of us probably know that the man who financed that battle was called Jagat Seth. The thing is, Jagat Seth was not a person, but a family title.

In fact, there never was a person called Jagat Seth. The ‘Jagat Seth’ who actually bankrolled Plassey was called Mahtab Rai. Jagat Seth was simply a title conferred by an emperor, and can be interpreted as ‘banker or merchant of the world’.

The house was founded by Jain Hiranand Shah from Nagaur Rajasthan, who came to Patna in 1652. In 1707, Jagat Seth Manikchand helped Prince Farrukhsiyar financially to become the Mughal Emperor.

In award, Farrukhsiyar conferred the title of Jagat Seth on Manik Chand, the head of the family, meaning "banker or merchant of the world". This indicates the favour the family had gained at the Mughal court.

It is here that Sahu began his banking and money-lending operations, quite possibly laying the foundations for Marwari enterprise in India. He also sent his sons to other cities to expand the business. One of those sons, Manik Chand, arrived in Dhaka,

the then capital of undivided Bengal, and proved so gifted in the business of making money that he was soon rubbing shoulders with none other than Murshid Kuli Khan, the diwan of the Subah of Bengal, appointed by Emperor Aurangzeb.

In effect, Manik Chand became the collector of revenues and the nawab’s treasurer, and the family wealth simply kept growing to the point where the House of Jagat Seth was being compared to the Bank of England, and was quite certainly among the richest families in the world.

In his book ‘Plassey: The Battle that Changed the Course of Indian History’, Sudeep Chakravarti writes, “For several decades, the Seths displayed a particular knack to back the winning horse. Even create the winning horse.”

Roben Orme, the official historian of the British East India Company described Jagat Seth as the greatest banker and money changer known in the world at that time.”

The historian Ghulam Hussain Khan believed that "their wealth was such that there is no mentioning it without seeming to exaggerate and to deal in extravagant fables". They built up their business towards the last quarter of the 17th century and by the 18th century,

It was perhaps the largest banking house in the country. In the 1750s, their entire wealth was estimated to be 14 crores. Jagat Seth was extremely influential in financial matters in Bengal and had a monopoly of minting coins there

It was Manik Chand’s adopted son Fateh Chand - who had raised the family’s wealth and influence to unimaginable heights - who earned the title of ‘Jagat Seth’ from Emperor Mahmud Shah.

From minting money, selling and purchasing gold, collecting revenues and remittances, and dealing with foreign traders, to controlling exchange rates and lending to emperors and zamindars the House of Jagat Seth was no less than a central bank.

Problems, however, set in when Siraj-ud-daulah took over from his grandfather, Nawab Alivardi Khan, as ruler of Bengal. Siraj’s hotheadedness and foolish arrogance led him into direct conflict with the Jagat Seths, ruining a relationship which had existed for centuries.

The Jagat Seth and other wealthy bankers funded the British for the conspiracy.

Any members of the conspiracy group had no intention to found British rule in India, instead they were just concerned about their political futures.

After the Battle of Plassey, Mir Jafar became the new Nawab. He organised the killing of Jagat Seth Mehtab Chand and his cousin Swarup Chand, in 1763, and threw their bodies off the ramparts off Munger Fort

Madhab Roy's son, Kushal Chand, was granted the title of Jagat Seth, but with the transfer of the treasury and mint to Kolkata by the British, the need of a private banker at Murshidabad was vastly diminished.

Kushal Chand was only 18 years old when he became the Seth. He lacked his father Mehtab Chand's political shrewdness and was a spendthrift. Thus the fortunes of the Jagat Seths began declining. Govindchand, the next Seth, died in 1864, succeeded by Gopal Chand and Gulab Chand.

By then, the fortunes of the family had declined by a considerable amount. Nonetheless, the House of Jagat Seth, as well another palace in Kathgola built by Harreck Chand, one of the latter members of this once proud family, still stand as witnesses to the enormous wealth

and influence of the Jagat Seths. Today, the principal mansion is a museum, on the way to Nasipur Rajbari from Hazarduari Palace. It contains remnants of the mint, personal possessions of the Jagat Seth family, including documents, coins from various historical eras,

muslin and other extravagant clothes, Banarasi sarees embroidered with gold and silver threads, and many more such treasures. And that is how one of the wealthiest families on the planet who used to lend to kings fell down.

यह कथा हमें कर्मों की विचित्रता और संसार की असारता बताती है। @jain_kriti_ @jain_dheeraj @JainMaggii @Sameeksha_India @prithvi525 @kothariamber @AayushiJ18 @pratiksha2715 @CAKanikaJain1 @vishizzz @vizagji @vishalbeingjain @QwertyDistant

Just to put it into prospect : They controlled 12% of the Global GDP at that time. That was the richness of Jains back then, We read it in stories that certain Jain families were richer than the rulers, here is another example of the same.