Annual Mahāvīra Nirvāṇa Lecture: The Money Nexus

By the 1660s, the mighty Mughal Empire controlled the Indian subcontinent and impressed the world with its strength and opulence. Yet hardly two decades would pass before fortunes would turn, Mughal kings and governors losing influence to rival warlords and foreign powers. How could one of the most dominant early modern polities lose their grip over empire? In this lecture, Sudev Sheth proposes a new point of departure, focusing on multilingual and hitherto unexplored evidence about a prominent Jain business family entrenched in bankrolling Mughal elites and their successors. Analyzing how four generations of the Jhaveri family of Ahmedabad financed politics, he offers a fresh take on the dissolution of the Mughal Empire, the birth of princely successor states, and the nature of economic life in the days leading to the colonial takeover of India.

Host or Publisher The Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs