Room 113, School of Arts and Sciences
Central Campus
In this lecture, Sudev Sheth will share insights from his new book Bankrolling Empire: Family Fortunes and Political Transformation in Mughal India, published by Cambridge University Press, 2024. The book demonstrates how a family of diamond dealers deployed wealth and information to maneuver around political leaders and survive the collapse of the Mughal Empire and the rise of native princes and the British East India Company. The story highlights the unique role played by Gujarati bankers in the practice of government by Indian and colonial rulers. Sheth employs new and unconventional sources- Persian diaries, Gujarati poems, French trading manuals, Marathi letters, Sanskrit hymns, and Dutch shipping records to tap into the fascinating lives of these entrepreneurs. Spanning several political dynasties and still thriving today as a billion-dollar family firm in its fourteenth generation, the history and legacy of the Jhaveri family helps us see state power and social change through fresh eyes. How did they negotiate with politicians and others, and what insights can we gain for our own times?
Sudev Sheth is Senior Lecturer in History at the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management & International Studies and in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania where he teaches across the School of Arts & Sciences and the Wharton School. He was previously on the faculty at Harvard Business School where he held the Harvard-Newcomen Fellowship in Business History.
