Kolkata, like many other metropolises has been home to a plethora of people from different corners of this nation and the world. Marwaris, Tamilians, Chinese, Parsis, Muslims, Armenians and Brits, and of course the Jains. A very close knit and moneyed community, Jains had migrated to Bengal from Rajasthan seeking new fortunes in its then rich shores. While Kolkata became their home much later, it was actually Murshidabad, where they first came to live during the Nawabi rule.

Sheherwali, is what Jains from Murshidabad are known as - a sheherwali is a 'city-bred' Jain - ‘city’, because Murshidabad was the erstwhile capital of Bengal under the Mughals, which later shifted to Kolkata during the British rule.

Sheherwalis were mainly merchants and bankers who worked in tandem with the prosperous Nawabs of Bengal.

The name Jagath Seth, a title meaning ‘banker to the world’ conferred on a wealthy merchant family of that time, however, like Shakespeare’s eponymous character Brutus, is associated with a dark period in Bengal’s lustrous history – it is but a fact that the ‘Seths’ were responsible in coalescing with the British to put an end to the rule of the Nawabs in Bengal, and thereby establishing the first footprints of the colossal British Empire in the sub-continent.

While Bengal, during the Mughal era was a veritable goldmine – offering rich profits to traders dealing in agriculture, precious stones, silks and ivory – Murshidabad was seen as the ‘icing on the cake’ by flourishing tradesmen. It is said Robert Clive after visiting the city had famously said that its men were richer than any he had seen in London.

…. but that is a thing of the past – for now, it’s a different reality - the once resplendent and beautiful city of Murshidabad, on the banks of the Bhaghirathi is among the poorest districts in India.