Shantidas Jhaveri

Shantidas Jhaveri
Born	1580s
Died	1659
Residence	Ahmedabad
Other names	Shantidas Zaveri, Shantidas Jawahari, Shanti Das, Santidas
Citizenship	Mughal Empire
Occupation	Trader and moneylender
Title	Nagarsheth (city chief)

Shantidas Jhaveri (c. 1580s–1659) 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.

Shantidas Jhaveri was an Oswal 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 jewellery retail business by setting up a sarrafa (bullion trading) business.

Shantidas retailed jewellery to the rich, including the Mughal royalty and nobility. Farmans from Emperor Jahangir and Dara Shikoh indicate that he was asked to offer jewellery 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 (British East India Company and Dutch VOC), as well as Persian and Arab traders, in commodities such as cloves. 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.

He however became most influential as 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. These associations provided him with excellent profits and strong and constant flow of gold-denominated interest payments, making him a wealthy man.

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