Shantidas Zaveri (1585-1659) was a famous jeweller and sarraf of Ahmadabad, he sold and design jewellery to cater to the needs of the Mughal court and other rich people of the state. He operated as a sarraf and a wholesaler as well. It is said that he breathed the business environment of Ahmadabad.

One can judge from the Jain Aitihasik Rasmala as well as Ahmavadno Itihas, rich information pertaining to life and origin of Shantidas. This can be correlated from Mirat-i-Ahmadi. He was an Oswal Jain (a sect of Jainism, primarily the adherents of Svetambara Jainism). Interestingly enough his father Sahasrakiran had migrated from Osian, a place 30 Km. away in the North-West of Jodhpur in Rajasthan, in the second half of the 16^th century and settled down in Ahmadabad.

The Jains who belonged to Osian are called Oswal Jains. Jain Aitihasik Rasmala mentions that Shantidas was a Kshatriya and closely related to Sisodia dynasty. His grandfather Vatsasheth and great-grandfather Padam Shah or Harpal Sheth belonged to the family of Samant Sangram Singh and Kumarpal of Sisodia dynasty. Sisodias gave protection to Jainism in their earlier period. Some of the rulers encouraged trade and commercial activities as well. So Shantidas was originally a Kshatriya. This was a tradition in Jainism since the time of first tirthankar Rishabhdeva. Most of the tirthankaras were kshatriyas.

Jain migration from Rajasthan started as early as the reign of Akbar. Jahangir established peace with Mewar, the only state which had declined to accept the friendship offered by Mughals. This facilitated the Jains to travel all over the Mughal Empire.The arrival of the European companies furnished another reason of the movements of Jain merchants from one place to another. This migration process continued till the reign of Aurangzeb. But at the dawn of the 16^th century, the Jains were mainly concentrated in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

When Sahasrakiran, the father of Shantidas, settled down in Ahmadabad, he learnt the skills related to jeweller profession probably in a shop owned by a Jain. Shantidas inherited this skill. He also set up the sarraf business. Basically he was a court jeweller. The earliest reference is extant from a farman which he procured from Jahangir in 1622 A.D. It refers to Shantidas as ‘Zaveri’ indicating his association with the business of jewels. Another farman of Jahangir, places Shantidas under the protection of Nizamuddin Asaf Khan, so that the former ‘should offer gifts and presents and every kind of jewellery’ to the Emperor. English Factory records also refers to him as the “deceased king’s jeweller”.

Jewellery was not the only business in which Shantidas was interested. The Dutch accounts refers that he purchased a large quantity of cloves from the Dutch.  He also provided huge loans to Europeans in order to finance their trade. Being a merchant and a sarraf, Shantidas seems to have controlled the local money market as well.

As Ahmadabad had evolved a strong mahajan tradition, Shantidas utilised the mahajan institution to persuade the political authority to take action against the Europeans. In 1618 A.D., he brought pressure on Itimad-ud-Daula, the subahdar, and his son Asaf Khan to hold an assembly of merchants and officials in the presence of Sir Thomas Roe, the British diplomat, who visited Ahamadabad at that time. They assembled in the court and discussed the issue. On Roe’s advice the merchants agreed to purchase Cartaz for the safe conduct of their ships and goods. Roe, on his part, advised the commanders of the company’s ship not to molest the Surat, Cambay and Gogha ships owned by Gujaratis.

According to Makarand Mehta Shantidas’s popularity or influence with the Mughal court cannot be explained solely in terms of his business relations. He was, undoubtedly, an expert jeweller, but there is a strong Jain tradition that Prince Shahjahan addressed him as mama or maternal uncle. Jahangir gave this title of mama to Shantidas and also appointed him as Nagarsheth of Ahmadabad. As the Nagarsheth of Ahmadabad, he was the chief merchant in the town, and also could act on his own as a link between the whole merchant community of the city and the Government. The clearest illustration of his position as a link between these two occurs during and after Murad Bakhsh’s revolt of 1657 A.D. When Murad took a substantial loan from the merchants of Surat worth Rs. (5,00,000/-) and Ahmadabad (50,00,000/- Rs.), and out of this whole amount Rs. 5,50,00/- was taken from the sons and brothers of Shantidas. Later at the event of war of succession, Shantidas went to the combined camps of Murad and Aurangzeb, and received a farman from Murad with the guarantee of repayment of this loan. After a few days Aurangzeb killed Murad, however he accepted all the responsibility of Murad’s debt and Shantidas have another farman from Aurangzeb for the same purpose. The most important thing in this episode was, Aurangzeb used him as an intermediary to conciliate the people of Ahmadabad and especially the wealthy business community.

It is also interesting that he provided not only loans to the princes, but he had a great influence over the Mughals. One of the farmans of Shah Jahan, which he addressed to the mutasaddis of the subah of Ahmadabad informs them that Shantidas who was a loyal jeweller of the royal court, owns shops, havelis and gardens in Ahmadabad. Orders them not to allow anyone to seize or occupy them or interfere with his right of collecting rents from them. They were directed to see that the Shantidas and his children were not molested by anyone in any way so as to enable them to carry on their business peacefully. In another farman, Shah Jahan addressed to the Hukkam, ummal and mutasaddis of the ports of Hindustan informs them that Shantidas always despatches agents to different ports of the empire to purchase jewels and other precious articles. Orders them not to interfere with the agents of Shantidas in any way and allow them to move about freely and safely throughout their jurisdiction during their visit so that they might transact their business with perfect peace of mind.

Apart from all these things Shantidas was a religious man. He held influential position among the Jains of Gujarat. He spent lavishly for constructing the temple of Chintamani-Parswanath in the Bibipur suburb (now called Saraspur) of Ahmadabad in 1625 A.D. He took equal interest in the advancement of religious learning. He helped the monks in setting up Paathshalas.

The man, who manipulated every state apparatus and religious leadership to advance the interests of his mercantile pursuits, he was a versatile person suited well in both in the grooves of business and politics of the 17^th century Mughal Gujarat. He is famous as a Gujarati merchant in history, but the truth is had a Marwari mind on his body.