Virji Vora
A paramount Jain merchant and financier during the height of the Mughal Empire.
Chronology: 1590 – Present
Origins & Early Life
Virji Vora (c. 1590–c. 1670s) was an Indian merchant from Surat during the Mughal era. The East India Company Factory Records describe him as the richest merchant in the world at the time.
Pivotal Works & Achievements
According to English records, his personal worth is estimated to be worth 8 million rupees, a substantial amount of money at the time. He has been variously described as a "merchant prince," and a "plutocrat." The business activities of Virji Vora included wholesale trading, money lending, and banking. He established a monopoly over certain imports in Surat, and dealt with a wide range of commodities including spices, bullion, coral, ivory, lead, and opium. He was a major credit supplier and customer of the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company. == Early life == The records of the East India Company frequently mention the business activities of Virji Vora, but little is known about his origins or family background.
Enduring Legacy & Impact
He has been variously described as a Jain merchant. In 1968, Prof. K. H. Kamdar wrote a paper on him based on material from the Bombay Archives and Jain documents in Surat and Baroda. According to this research, Virji was a Sthanakvasi Jain of the Lonkagacchiya group...
Source: Wikipedia