Seth Vishandas Nihalchand

Seth Rai Bahadur Vishandas Nihalchand (Sindhi: سیٹھ وشنداس نیھالچند‎) was a Hindu Sindhi of Modern era. He belonged to a merchants, land-owners bhavnani family which was settled in Sindh of British India. Seth Vishandas had settled many of cotton ginning, cotton bailing-press and rice thrashing factories in different places of Sindh as in Manjhu, Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Dadu and Badin. He also took part in political and social services.^[1]

Early life

Birth and education

Seth Vishandas was born in Manjhu, a village in tehsil Kotri, Sindh of Talpur dynasty in 1843 AD, one month before the invasion of Sindh and annexation to British India. He was a pure Sindhi as his father and mother both were of Sindhi origin. When he was only 18years old when he left his home for a seek of a teacher. He walked all the way from Sindh to Punjab where near Lahore he found a famous saint Gulabdas with whom he stayed for a long time and instructed.

Family

Seth Vishandas married to Seth Dunimal Tilokchandani’s (a businessman from Manjhand) daughter Beejhalbai and had three sons. Seth Harchandrai Vishandas, a famous lawyer and politician. He is also known as father of modern Karachi was the eldest son of Vishandas. Seth Sukhdev Udhavdas, a landlord and cotton merchant born in Manjhu in 1896 and died at his birthplace in 1932. And Seth Srichand. Seth Vishandas had also four daughters. Gungalbhai, Panjalbai, Motibai and Chandibai.Seth Vishandas father’s name is Seth Nihalchand Lakhmichand (1798–1865) who was born in Manjhu and had a brother Lilaram.

Professional life

Mercantile background

Seth Vishandas had much vast lands and commerce, which after on management, brought him in the list of wealthiest men in Sindh. He was a landlord of the time and running cotton ginning, cotton bailing-press and rice thrashing factories at Manjhu, Nawabshah, Badin, Dadu and Hyderabad. He was a big timber contractor and he allowed the poor to sell wood to make a living and also permitted them to graze their cattle on his land.

Local and political affairs

He attended first, second, third session of Indian National Congress. In fact the 28th session of Congress in 1913 was held in Karachi largely due efforts of him, his son Harchandrai and Ghulam Mohamed Bhurgari. He and Harchandrai served as Chairman and Secretary of reception committee in that session.^[2] He was a member till his death of Karachi District Local Board and the president of Kotri Tehsil Local Board. The deti-Leti system was fostering in Hindu society, to provide radical cure to this disease, he composed a book and sent free to different Panchayats. He then started visiting village to village, town to town, instructing Panchayats and educating public. At his place of birth, Manjhu, he founded a school, he built a library in Kotri. At Hyderabad where he had taken up residential quarters, known as Vishin Nagar, he opened a school, a hospital, a Rest house and a grain shop. In credit of his role as a social reformer, he was conferred with the title of Rai Bahadur.

Death

Afflicted by asthma problem, Seth Vishandas died in 1929, in Hyderabad, Sindh. Two of his sons died in his lifetime, Harchandrai in 1928 and Odhodas in 1926. Vishandas’ other son, after 3 years of his death, Seth Srichand died in Manjhu in 1932. Vishandas left behind over 8,000 acres of land and two huge ginning factories which were distributed equally in his sons.

References

• Seth Vishandas: a great philanthropist by khadim Hussain Soomro

External links

• Seth Vishindas Nihalchand 1843-1929
• Rai Bahadur Vishindas Nihalchand pp. 126-128
• Seth Vishandas: a great philanthropist by khadim Hussain Soomro