Virji Vora was one of the most powerful merchant of the seventeenth century India. His commercial activities extended to far-flung lands, and the list of commodities he traded in is endless. He has been variously described as a “merchant prince.”

Early Life

For a man of high and far-flung commercial interests, little is known about his family background. He has been variously described a Hindu/Jain merchant prince and a Muslim. Professor K.H. Kamdar based on materials from the Bombay Archives and Jain documents in Surat wrote a brief paper on Virji Vora in 1968,[ref] and claimed that Virji Vora was a Sthanakavasi Jain of the Lonkagacchhiya group and may have been a member of the Shrimali Oswal Porwal caste grouping. Apart from this, Virji Vora was deeply involved in religious activities, for he was a lay leader (Samghapati Sanghavi) of his community. A Samghapti was required to possess adequate knowledge of the Jain lore. This would indicate that Virji himself possessed a proficiency in Jain learning.[ref]

Perhaps the first reference to Virji Vora was made in an English letter from Surat dated March 22, 1619 which recommends that being a servant to Virjee Vora (Virji Vora) merchant of this city, Hacka parrache (Hak Parekh) should be entitled to “courteous useuage” of English ships at Swally harbor of Surat.[ref]

Business Activities

In the year 1619, Virji Vora was already a well-established merchant. It is also possible that Virji belonged to an already established Jain merchant family. By 1619, Virji had his agents working for him in Burhanpur, Agra, Ahmedabad, Baroda and so on.  Virji Vora had his agents all over India and as far as Iran and Phillippines.[ref] Virjis’s commercial activities also extended to the Persian Gulf, Red Sea.

Spices were very important commodity of trade for Virji who brought large quantities of pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and mace and dictated their prices. Virji exercised such influential control over the market that in 1648 the English correspondents claimed that Virji along with some other merchants in Surat annually engrossed all the supplies of cloves and raised prices to Rs. 62 and Rs. 65 per maund. [ref]Virji even bought all the available mace and nutmeg. Virji also brought large quantities of cloves from the Dutch at Rs. 45 per maund and sold them at Rs. 62 to Rs. 65 per maund. [ref] Apart from a merchant,Virji acted as a banker and dealt in bullion. In 1668, he had cornered thousands of maunds of quicksilver[ref] and vermilion, enough to supply the whole country for many years. Virji also bought large quantities of ivory, English and Dutch textile, and copper.

Relations with the Europeans

The English records of the time are full of references to Virji reflecting with varying emotions of frustration, anger and appreciation for him.  In 1616, the English forwarded letters of credit from Virji to his agent in Burhanpur. In 1621, Virji tried to make arrangements with the English for the transportation of his goods. In 1625 the English letters complained that Virji had cornered all the pepper brought from Deccan and forbade Deccan merchants to sell it to anyone. Moreover, when the English tried to purchase pepper from the Deccan, they failed miserably as Virji had outbid the English in the Deccan. In the end the English were compelled to purchase pepper from Virji who demanded a fraction higher in prices along with twenty-five chests of the best coral that they procured from Europe.[ref]

The English and Dutch were trading in coral, but Virji soon monopolized it and purchased so much coral that he was unwilling to take more unless at very low prices. Virji even lent money to the Company on various occasions, for example, in 1630s the English borrowed 30,000 rupees at one percent, per month for three months certain.[ref] Again in 1647 Virji lent money to the English in their voyage to Pegu in Burma, and for this he even advanced 10,000 old pagodas at 1-1/6 percent per month. He even had some disputes with the English over payment of interest. The English were heavily dependent on Virji for money as in 1669 the English owed him Rs. 6,000,000.

English factory records of November 1670 claimed that at the time the French Company owned a huge debt to the family of Virji Vora.[ref]

Relations with the Mughals

Virji Vora was generally on favorable terms with the Mughal authorities in Surat, with the result he even secured special concessions from them. However, Virji also came in conflict with Hakim Sadra (Masih-Uz-Zaman) who extorted money from mercantile communities in Surat.  He even imprisoned Virji Vora. On this matter, Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan summoned Virji to his court to explain the case. The result was that Virji was set free and Masih-Uz-Zaman was removed from his office.[ref]

Last Days

In 1670 Virji tried to stop the landing of French ships as they had huge debts to him. Perhaps the last reference to Virji came in the year 1670 when Khawaja Minaz took delivery on his behalf. It is possible that after 1670 Virji due to his old age took retirement from his commercial activities and died soon after.