Memoir of Rao Bahadur Ranchhodlal Chhotalal, C.I.E.

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A MEMOIR

RAO BAHftDUR
RANGHHODLAL GHHOTALAL.

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A MEMOIR

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RAO BAHADUR
RANCHHODIvAL CHHOTALAL, CLE.

Rao Bahadur Ranchhodlal Chhotalal, CLE.

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OF

l\ao 35atjatsur
&antf)l)o&lal Cpotalal, CX<£.,

Late Member of the Legislative Council, Bombay,
and Founder of the Mill Industry of Gujarat.

COMPILED BY

S. M. EDWARDES, C.S.I., C.V.O.,

LATE OF THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE (BOMBAY),

PROM MATERIALS COLLECTED BY

SIR H. EVAN M. JAMES, K.C.I.E., C.S.I.,

LATE OP THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE (BOMBAY),
FORMERLY COLLECTOR OP AHMAD ABAD AND COMMISSIONER, N.D.

Printed for Private Circulation only.

EXETER :

WILLIAM POLLARD & Co. Ltd., NORTH STREET.

1920.

*8761

CONTENTS.

Page.
Introduction - - - - - i

Chapter I Caste, Parentage and Birth - i

„ II Boyhood, Marriage, and Education - 8

„ III Service under the Bombay Government 12

„ IV Commercial Enterprises - - - 19

„ V Local Self-Government - - -26

„ VI Politics - - - - - 44

,, VII Public Charities, Character, and Death 53

Index And Glossary - - - - - 67

INTRODUCTION.

It was for many years my ambition to write a memoir
of Rao Bahadur Ranchhodlal Chhotalal, one of the ablest,
most courteous and most progressive Hindu gentlemen
with whom it was ever my lot to be associated during my
thirty-five years' career in India. It was to assist in the
fulfilment of this object that some years after I had left
Ahmadabad, Mr. Ranchhodlal's grandson, the late Sir
Chinubhai Madhavlal, Bart., C.I.E., kindly entrusted
me with a long typewritten account of his grandfather's
career, prepared by Mr. Trikamlal Damodhardas, a High
Court pleader of Ahmadabad, which he was anxious that
I should use in the preparation of the long contemplated
biography. I also collected further information from other
friends and acquaintances, among whom I must particularly
mention Rao Bahadur Bulakhidas, late District Deputy
Collector ; Mr. Trikamlal Dinanath, who supplied me with
certain information and statistics relating to the mill industry
in Gujarat, and Mr. A. H. A. Simcox, I.C.S., who, in 1916,
while he was serving as Collector of Ahmadabad, sent me
a very useful note on the water-supply and drainage s}Tstem
of that city. The India Office records were also consulted,
and Mr. Iy. Robertson, C.S.I., Secretary to the Bombay
Government, helped me with some valuable details. A
variety of circumstances prevented me from utilising the
collected materials and commencing to write the memoir
of my old friend until the close of 1919 ; and then, alas ! I
began to realise that the energy requisite for such a com-
pilation was no longer vouchsafed to me. L'homme propose,
Dieu dispose. Almost in despair, I appealed to another
retired Indian Civilian, Mr. S. M. Edwardes, who served,
like myself, in the Bombay Presidency, to write the memoir
for me and so assist me in paying my last tribute to the

ii RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAI, CHHOTALAL.

memory of my old friend, the founder of modern Ahmada-
bad, and he most kindly consented. The following pages,
descriptive of the career and character of Rao Bahadur
Ranchhodlal, are thus the work of Mr. Edwardes, who has
freely utilised the typewritten memorandum of Mr.
Trikamlal Damodhardas and the rest of the scattered
materials above-mentioned. The author has enhanced the
value of the publication by the inclusion of a combined
index and glossary designed to assist English readers who
may be unacquainted with Indian terms and nomenclature.
And now I am fain to add a brief word to the tale set
forth in the succeeding pages. Between April, 1888, and
November, 1891, I held the appointment of Collector and
Magistrate of Ahmadabad and Commissioner of the Northern
Division at the very time when Mr. Ranchhodlal Chhotalal
was immersed in the heavy task of introducing an improved
water-supply and a modern system of sanitation into the
populous capital of Gujarat. Mr. Ranchhodlal was at
that date President of the Ahmadabad Municipality, having
been appointed a year or two before my arrival by Lord
Reay's Government. He was the first Indian gentleman
chosen for the post, in pursuance of the policy of Lord
Ripon of associating Indians with the work of local self-
government ; and in his capacity as President he became
responsible for all the executive work of the municipality.
The appointment was no sinecure, as anyone with experience
of urban administration in India will readily admit.
Scarcely a day passed, while I was in Ahmadabad, that Mr.
Ranchhodlal did not call upon me early in the morning to
consult me about improvements and reforms or to report
the progress of his schemes. Consequently, I soon became
on terms of great intimacy with him and learned to appre-
ciate his tact, ability and modesty. His actual achievements
in municipal administration are described in a later page,
as also his successful introduction into Gujarat of the cotton-
spinning and weaving industry. The latter work formed
the basis of the large fortune which he gradually accumu-

INTRODUCTION. Ill

lated — a fortune which was subsequently developed by his
son and grandson I have been told by leading men of
business in Ahmadabad that Ranchhodlal could have
accumulated much greater wealth, had he elected to devote
his whole time to the textile industry instead of spending
a large portion of the day on the problems of urban improve-
ment. After I left Ahmadabad, Mr. Ranchhodlal became
a member of the Legislative Council of the Governor of
Bombay. His work on the Council was marked by the
same sincerity and the same degree of personal application
that had characterised his work in Ahmadabad.

Mr. Ranchhodlal was one of the few Hindu gentlemen I
have known who maintained throughout life an un-
questioning and unshaken attachment to the faith of their
ancestors. This devotion was combined with a most
progressive spirit in material and mundane affairs. I well
remember how once, after his return from Bhimnath, a
remote and very holy spot in the Himalayas, whither he
had made a pilgrimage with some of his family, he sought
my assistance in carrying out certain projects designed for
the benefit of the pilgrims who annually visited the shrine.
He was anxious that the flights of steps leading to the
sacred waters should be repaired or rebuilt, and that certain
sanitary works, the value of which he had learnt to appre-
ciate in Ahmadabad, should be constructed. He believed
that if I, as District Magistrate, appealed on his behalf
to the Deputy Commissioner of the district, with whom
he was personally unacquainted, and remitted the money
required for these projects to him, there was greater possi-
bility of the amount being advantageously expended.
Gladly did I write to the officer, explaining the situation
and Ranchhodlal's object, and in due course received
a cordial reply, as a result of which Ranchhodlal forwarded
through me a sum of two thousand rupees to meet the cost
of the necessary works.

Reference is made in the pages of this memoir to
Ranchhodlal's son, Madhavlal, with whom I was also

IV RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

acquainted. His death on April 4th, 1900, marked the
close of a calm and uneventful life, and the fortunes of the
family were then transferred to the keeping of his son,
Chinubhai, upon whom the mantle of Ranchhodlal had
truly fallen. For not only was he a great captain of
industry, controlling two of the largest and most successful
cotton mills in India, but, like his grandfather, he played
a prominent part in civic affairs, and gave on a princely scale
to philanthropic and educational objects. The progressive
educational policy which marked Lord Sydenham's term of
office as Governor of Bombay, found in Sir Chinubhai a warm
supporter. He gave £60,000 for scientific and technical
education at Ahmadabad, £20,000 to the Gujarat College,
and £6,666 to the Sydenham College of Commerce in Bombay.
These handsome donations, together with his active partici-
pation in public affairs, brought their natural reward. In
1 910 Sir Chinubhai Madhalval received a knighthood, and
three years later a baronetcy, being the first member of the
Hindu community to receive the latter distinction. His
death in March, 1916, at the comparatively early age of
fifty- two, closed a career which seemed to be imbued with the
spirit of Ranchhodlal's achievements and offers an inspiring
example to his young son, born in 1906, who is now the
guardian of the family wealth and traditions of service for
the public weal. May the latter uphold worthily the
standard set by bis distinguished great-grandsire, of whom
it may be truly said : —

' ' His life was gentle ; and the elements
So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, ' This was a man ! '"

H. E. M. James.

MEMOIR OF RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL
CHHOTALAIy, CLE.

Chapter I.

Caste, Parentage, and Birth.

Ranchhodlal Chhotalal, the subject of this memoir,
belonged to the Sathodra division of the Nagar Brahmans
of Gujarat, which takes its name from the village of Sathod
in the Baroda State, whither, according to tradition, sixty
families of Nagar Brahmans of Vadnagar were transferred
during the thirteenth century a.d., by a ruler of the ancient
Vaghela dynasty. The Nagar Brahmans, whose other
more important divisions are the Vadnagar and the Vishal-
nagar or Visnagar, have a long and illustrious history.
Modern research has shown that they were originally the
priests of the powerful Gurjara tribes, who entered India
from the Central Asian steppes in the trail of the Hunas
or White Huns during the fifth and sixth centuries a.d., and
whose name survives in that of the Gujars of the present day.
These Gurjaras, who are shown by inscriptions to have
ultimately developed into the Pratihara sept of Rajputs,
founded kingdoms at Broach and at Bhinmal in Southern
Rajputana ; while the ancestor of the famous Guhilots or
Sisodiyas of Mewar — the proudest of the Rajput septs —
was actually, as Professor D. R. Bhandarkar has proved,
a Nagar Brahman from Vadnagar (Anandapur), a town
now included, like Sathodra, in the Baroda State. The

2 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTA^AL.

Nagar Brahmans as a class may therefore be said to have
an ancient and historical connection with those early Huna-
Gurjara invaders, whose upper ranks gradually crystallised,
after their settlement in India, into the leading Rajput
clans of Sisodia or Guhilot, Parihara or Pratihara, Chahu-
manas or Chauhans, Pramaras or Pawars, and Solankis,
otherwise known as Chalukyas.1 This fact may account
largely for the political ability and capacity for public affairs
which undoubtedly distinguishes the Nagar Brahmans of
Gujarat. " The Nagara community," wrote General Le
Grand Jacob, " is very powerful in the Peninsula (Kathia-
war) ; they are by profession a corps diplomatique, and
devoted to the arts of government. They are a shrewd
race, and work their way into almost every Darbar by their
ability and tact ; most of the native servants of Government
are of this class."2 The Sathodra Nagars, to whom Ranch-
hodlal belonged, are mentioned by Wilson as belonging to
the Madhyandin Shakha of the White Yajurveda and as
being resident in various cities and towns of Gujarat.
According to the latest information there are few, if an}7-,
of them now residing in the village of Sathod.

Ranchhodlal's ancestors were true to the official tradi-
tions of the Nagar caste. One of them, Vallabhji Kanji,
held the office of chief minister in Malwa ; another, on the
maternal side, named Umedram, served as Vazir to the
Babi chiefs of Balasinor, a state now included in the Rewa
Kantha Political Agency, and was succeeded in the same
office by his son, Harshadrai ; while Anand Rai Mashraf,
Ranchhodlal's great grandfather on his mother's side, was
the minister of Kamal-ud-din Khan Babi, known usually
by his title of Jawan Mard Khan, the last Mughal viceroy
of Gujarat, whose family is now represented b}' the Nawab

1 W. Crooke, on Rajputs and Mahrattas, in Journal Royal Anthropo-
logical Institute, vol. xl, 1910; Vincent H. Smith, Akbar, p. 85, and
Oxford History of India, pp. 173, 181.

J Quoted on p. 99, vol. ii, of Indian Caste, by J. Wilson, 1877.

CASTE, PARENTAGE AND BIRTH. 3

of Radhanpur, a native state in the Palanpur Agency.1
The Mughal Emperors of Delhi continued to appoint
viceroys to Gujarat until 1748 ; but their power was purely
nominal. For absolute anarchy reigned in the province,
which was ravaged impartially by the hostile leaders of
the Peshwa's and the Gaekwar's armies, by the Rajas of
Jodhpur, by the agents of the Nizam-ul-Mulk, and by local
Moslem chiefs like the Babis, to whom Jawan Mard Khan
himself belonged, the Jhaloris who settled at Palanpur, and
Momin Khan, who began to scheme for the independence
of Cambay about 1736. In 1745, during this period of
anarchy, Anand Rai Mashraf was assassinated,2 and in 1753,
Kamal-ud-din Khan (Jawan Mard Khan) was expelled
from Ahmadabad by Raghunath Rao Peshwa and Damaji
Gaekwar, two of the leaders of the Maratha power.

Anand Rai Mashraf left behind him a daughter, Prankor,
who subsequently married Udayashankar, an orthodox
Nagar Brahman, and bore him a son, Chhotalal, the father
of Ranchhodlal, whose history is herein set forth. Udaya-
shankar, after serving the ex- Viceroy for some time at
Patan, accepted an appointment in the service of Damaji
Gaekwar, and eventually died at Patan in 1799, leaving
behind him his widow, Prankor, and two sons, Chhotalal,
born in 1781, and Lalbhai, who was born two years later.
At this date the practice of Sati (Suttee) was universal ; and
the lady Prankor, whose attachment to her husband was
only equalled by her orthodoxy, determined in spite of

1 The Babis were an Afghan family of importance. The first Babi
entered India with the Emperor Humayun. Bahadur Khan Babi was
appointed Faujdar of Tharad in the reign of Shah Jahan. In 1693 his
son, J afar Khan, obtained the Faujdari of Radhanpur and other districts,
with the title of Safdar Khan. In 1704 he was made Governor of Bijapur
(in Gujarat) and in 1706 of Patan. The Babis also founded the Junagadh
and Balasinor States.

2 His murderer is said to have been a son of Jawan Mard Khan, who
had quarrelled with his father, and suspected Anand Rai of poisoning his
father's mind against him.

4 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

remonstrance to immolate herself upon her husband's pyre.1
The ceremony took place upon the banks of the sacred
river Sarasvati ; and here, at the spot where their mother
passed out of their lives, the two boys built a temple which
Ranchhodlal, honouring the memory of his pious grand-
mother, caused to be repaired about two- years before his
death.

The two sons, thus bereft of both parents, faced the
future bravely. Chhotalal, the elder and more able of the
two, managed to obtain the post which his father had held
under the Maratha government at Patan, where, in addition
to the discharge of his official duties, he studied Persian to
such good purpose that he was able to read Persian medical
works with ease and acquired a considerable reputation for
his treatment of diseases. Chhotalal in due time married
Labhma, daughter of Umedram, the chief minister of
Balasinor, who is described as having possessed " every
womanly virtue." Their first child was a daughter, whom
they named Mohotiba. Upon her Chhotalal and his wife
lavished all their love, and she in return rendered them
affectionate obedience. At the age of eight she was married,
according to Hindu custom, to a Nagar Brahman boy of
high family, who died before his girl-wife had completed
her twelfth year. The disabilities of Hindu widowhood
pressed heavily upon Mohotiba, who was forbidden by caste
rules to remarry, and was obliged to contemplate an unhappy
future in which the performance of minor household duties
would alternate with the performance of the penances pre-

1 The practice of Suttee was finally abolished by Regulation XVII of
1829, during Lord William Bentinck's administration. The Regulation
applied to Bengal only, but was followed by similar enactments in the
Bombay and Madras Presidencies. The practice of Suttee is very ancient ;
it was well established in the Punjab in the fourth century B.C. ; whole-
sale burnings of women were perpetrated by the Rayas of Vijayanagar.
The feeling in favour of the rite is not quite extinct yet. A case occurred
in Bihar as late as 1905, and sporadic cases during the nineteenth century
are on record. (See V. A. Smith, Oxford History of India, pp. 663-66.)

CASTE, PARENTAGE AND BIRTH. 5

scribed for widows in the Shastras. The spectacle of their
only daughter's ill-fortune told so heavily upon Chhotalal
and his wife that they determined to relinquish their home
and pass the remainder of their lives in seclusion. With
this object Chhotalal, who was now in his thirty-eighth
year, handed over all his property and effects to his brother,
Lalbhai, and set forth with his wife, his widowed daughter
and one servant to the sacred city of Benares. The journey
was long and tedious. Railways were then unknown ; the
roads were rough and unmetalled, and ran through tracts
inhabited by robbers or infested by wild animals. Yet
Chhotalal and his small party, patiently bearing the diffi-
culties of the journey, reached Benares in safety about
three months later. Here they abode for two years, during
which time a second daughter was born to them, whom they
named Kashiba after her birth-place.1 They then moved
to another place of great sanctity, Mathura on the river
Jumna. Here likewise they rested for two years, and then,
in response to repeated entreaties from Lalbhai, and finding
that time had laid a healing hand upon their grief, they
resolved to return to Gujarat.

On their way back they visited the famous Girnar
mountain, about ten miles east of Junagadh in Kathiawar,
which rises 3,500 feet above sea-level. Arriving at the foot
of the mountain late in the evening they lost their way in
the darkness and reached their destination after great delay.
An aged ascetic — the only living creature in the place where
they halted, hungry and fatigued — took pity on them,
provided them with water and a few edible roots, and
permitted them to pass the night in his company. In the
course of conversation with the Sadhu, Mohotiba enquired
whether her parents would be blessed with a son, to which
he replied in the affirmative, adding that the god Hari
would send a son " who would become famous for good
deeds." On the following day the party set forth again
on their journey to Patan, halting for a few days on the way

1 Kashi is a synonym of Benares.

6 RAO BAHADUR RANCHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

at Dakor, a celebrated place of pilgrimage in the Kaira
district, where there is a temple of Ranchhodji or Krishna.
Here on the 15th of the dark half of Chaitra Samvat, 1879,
i.e., April 29th, 1823, Chhotalal's wife gave birth to a son,
whom his parents named Ranchhod in honour of the deity
of Dakor.1

After his return, Chhotalal resumed his official career
and served at Patan until 1828, in which year the British
Government found it necessary to sequestrate the Gaekwari
districts of Petlad, Kadi, Dabhoi, Amreli, and Songhad,
together with certain revenues from Kathiawar, Mahikantha,
and Rewa Kantha in satisfaction of a debt aggregating more
than one crore and seven lakhs of rupees due by the Gaekwar,
Sayaji Rao. The collection of the revenues of these districts
and the general control of their administration was entrusted
to the Gaekwar 's chief minister, Vithal Rao Devji, who
fixed his headquarters at Amreli. During a visit to Patan he
met Chhotalal and recognising his ability, offered him the
appointment of Bakshi or Army Paymaster, which Chhotalal
accepted. The latter thereupon moved with his family from
Patan to Amreli, his son, Ranchhod, or Ranchhodlal, being
at the time about six years old. Vithal Rao Devji, dying in
1831, was succeeded by his brother, Govind Rao, who held
office only until April, 1832, when by an agreement sanctioned
by Lord Clare, Governor of Bombay, the sequestrated
estates were restored to the Gaekwar, and Govind Rao, who
together with his brother, Vithal Rao, had incurred the
displeasure of Sayaji Rao Gaekwar, was dismissed from
office by the latter. Chhotalal shared the fate of Govind
Rao, who was forbidden by the Gaekwar to enter Baroda ;
and the two families therefore emigrated to Ahmadabad,
where Govind Rao and Chhotalal both purchased houses
in Desai's Pol. Ultimately however in 1841, the Gaekwar
relented and gave the Devji family permission to return to
Baroda, whither they were followed by their devoted friend,

1 The image of Ranchhod at Dakor is said to have been brought from
Dwarka by a Rajput named Bodhano.

CASTE, PARENTAGE AND BIRTH. 7

Chhotalal, who remained with his family at Baroda till
within a few years of his death.

Chhotalal appears from such accounts as exist to have
been a man of sterling character. Orthodox in his views,
he performed the daily duties of his religion with scrupulous
regularity and was careful to carry out other ceremonies
enjoined by the Shastras upon the Brahmanical classes.
His household was orderly and well-managed, and the
members of the famity were united by bonds of mutual
affection and esteem. Though his monthly salary at
Amreli and Baroda was by no means excessive, his econo-
mical habits enabled him to effect savings, which, invested
in good securities, formed the foundations of a respectable
competence for his later years. His work as Bakshi, in
which there must have been ample opportunity for pecu-
lation, was discharged with honesty and efficiency. To a
dignified, almost austere, manner, he united a rare suavity
of speech, scorning to use the pronoun " thou," and address-
ing even children in terms redolent of courtly Persian
etiquette. Always abstemious in diet and eschewing self-
indulgence in any form, Chhotalal throughout his life
cultivated the habit of self-reliance and never entrusted to
others work which he felt himself capable of performing.
The natural devotion and gravity of his character, coupled
with the love of his wife and children, enabled him to bear
the heaviest sorrows of his life, namely the widowhood of
his elder daughter, Mohotiba, and the desertion of the
younger, Kashiba, whose husband, to whom she had been
married at the age of eight, suddenly left home for an
unknown destination and was never heard of again. The
burden of these misfortunes, accepted with the true Hindu
spirit of resignation, must have been lightened by the sight
of his only son, Ranchhod, waxing daily in health and
strength throughout his childhood and giving proof of a
natural disposition to follow the example of his devoted
parents and imbibe the lessons of a tranquil and well-
ordered home.

8

RAO B4.HADUR RANCHHODIAL CHHOTALAI,

Chapter II.

Boyhood, Marriage, and Education.

Ranchhodlal's boyhood was uneventful. The fact that
he was their only son was doubtless responsible for the
unusual care taken by his parents to shield him from harm ;
for we learn that he was never permitted to go abroad in
the company of strangers and that arrangements were made
at home for his recreation, a few chosen boys of his own
age being admitted to the house as his playmates. These
precautions were naturally relaxed as he grew older, and
b>y the time he had reached the age of thirteen he was
accustomed to move about with as little - restraint as other
boys of his age. The influence of this upbringing is perhaps
indicated by his predilection for chess-playing with his
elders — a form of amusement in which he showed con-
siderable skill. When he was eight years old his Upanayana
or investiture with the sacred thread was celebrated,1 and
in the same year he was married to Jethiba, the daughter
of a wealthy government official, named Bapuji Mansukhram
who held the office of principal Sadr Amin2 in the city of
Ahmadabad. Jethiba, whose name will be mentioned in
later pages, is described as a bright and intelligent girl,
who had been taught reading and writing and elementary
accounting, and had acquired a fair knowledge of household
management and economy in her father's home. Of a
devout nature she was a constant visitor to the temple

1 The meaning of tne word Upanayana is " introduction to knowledge,"
for by it a Brahman acquires the right to study. From the moment of
investiture with the triple cord he enters the first of the four stages of a
Brahman's life, namely that of Brahmachari.

: This post was equivalent to that of a First Class Subordinate Judge
in these days.

BOYHOOD, MARRIAGE AND EDUCATION-. 9

which her father erected in the street, where she subse-
quently lived with her husband Ranchhodlal, and her
charity, which was not the least of her virtues, took the
form of grants of free medicine and free food to all classes,
and of clothing and vessels to the Brahmans and mendicants
who visited her house for alms.

Ranchhodlal was six years old when he commenced his
education at a private school in Amreli. Education in those
days was of a perfunctory and limited type, for no regular
schools had been established by the State and there were
very few books to read. Up to the middle of the nineteenth
century the indigenous schools, as the late Mr. K.N. Kabraji
has recorded, were owned by so-called Mehetajis, penurious
men of limited intellect, who often held their classes on the
verandah of a house free of rent. Chairs and tables were
unknown, and very few pupils possessed slates or pencils,
their place being taken by a portable wooden board, on
which the pupil wrote with a reed pen dipped in a chalky
fluid and which was repainted at Divali by the Mchetaji for a
small fee. When his parents moved, as recorded above, to
Ahmadabad, Ranchhodlal was sent to an elementary school
of this type kept by one Tuljaram Master and acquired there
a smattering of Gujarathi literature. Thanks, however, to
his father Chhotalal, who was a good Persian scholar,
Ranchhodlal was taught the rudiments of the Persian
language, which was at that date in constant use in the
couits and offices of government, and having made good
progress under his father's personal tuition, was placed
for further study under Munshi Bapubhai, a Nagar Brahman,
and later under Maulvi Faizuddin, both of whom were
Persian scholars of some repute. Nor was Sanskrit forgotten.
When Ranchhodlal was thirteen, his father arranged for him
to study the sacred language under a Pandit named Bindu
Vyasa, with whose assistance he made rapid progress in both
Sanskrit literature and philosophy, showing considerable
aptitude for the intelligent discussion of some of the intricate
problems enshrined in that language. His success in

10 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

mastering Persian and Sanskrit served to direct his mind
towards fresh fields of study, and he determined to learn
English. But here the difficulties in his path were greater.
No proper English schools were in existence ; suitable
teachers were very scarce ; the extent to which the language
was used in Gujarat was very limited, and the public had
not yet begun to appreciate the advantages of English.
He was obliged, therefore, at first to attend a private school
opened by a Portuguese and later to engage as tutor a
Marathi-speaking native of the Deccan. But he soon
mastered all that they could teach and left them with a
feeling of disappointment that his progress had been so
slight.

At this juncture fortune befriended him. The British
Resident at Baroda, whose headquarters were at Ahmadabad,
had a Daftardar named Sarabhai, whose son, Bholanath,1
was one of Ranchhodlal's friends. The visits of Ranch-
hodlal's father Chhotalal, in company with Govind Rao
Devji, to the Resident on official business had led to an
acquaintance between Chhotalal and Sarabhai, which soon
ripened into friendship. Sarabhai, like Chhotalal, was a
good Persian scholar and also possessed a tolerable knowledge
of English, and believing in the value of the latter language
had engaged able tutors for his son. Arrangements were
soon made for Ranchhodlal to share Bholanath's studies,
and within a comparatively short time Ranchhodlal had
attained sufficient mastery of the language to enable him
to continue his work unaided. He was never averse from
seeking assistance from those willing to help him, and at
one period of his life, when he was employed at Gogha, he
learnt much from an English missionary who was stationed
there. But, broadly speaking, the foundation of his

1 This boy afterwards became Rao Bahadur Bholanath Sarabhai, who
served Government in the Judicial Department, and was closely associated
with the establishment in Ahmadabad of the Prarthana Samaj, of which
he acted as President for several years. He composed seveial poetical
works, which are still widely read.

BOYHOOD, MARRIAGE AND EDUCATION. II

knowledge of English was continuous study in his own
house, whereby he acquired a proficiency which attracted
the attention of British officials in his earlier years and
enabled him in later years to take an active share in the
debates in the Bombay Legislative Council. Those of us
who know India of the twentieth century and have witnessed
the extraordinary proficiency in English which many Indians
acquire while still young, may be disposed to make light
of Ranchhodlal's mastery of the language. But if we
recollect that he achieved his object before the days of the
Board of Education and before the establishment of a
properly organised department of Public Instruction we
shall surely not hesitate to pay a tribute both to his natural
intelligence and his tenacity of purpose.

12 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

Chapter III.

Service under the Bombay Government.

In a petition which Rachhodlal submitted to Government
in September, 1854, he states that he finally completed his
education in 1842 and in the same year was appointed
private clerk on a monthly salary of Rs. 10 to Mr. A. W.
James, Assistant Collector of Customs at Ahmadabad, who
afterwards became a District Judge in the service of the
East India Company. Two years later, 1844, he entered
the service of Government as clerk on Rs. 20 per mensem
in the Customs department at Gogha on the Gulf of Cambay,
which, at that date, still retained a certain commercial
importance, and had not yet seen its trade supremacy
threatened by the rival town of Bhavnagar. Here Ranch-
hodlal's abilities seem to have attracted the notice of his
superiors ; for Mr. Remington, the District Judge of
Ahmadabad at that date, recommended him to the favourable
notice of Mr. Thomas Ogilvy, the Political Agent of Rewa
Kantha, who appointed him in 1845 English clerk in the
Agency Office on a salary of Rs. 30 per mensem. From that
date his abilities earned him rapid promotion. In 1846, he
was promoted to a post on Rs. 40 per mensem, and in the
following year was deputed to serve at a monthly salary of
Rs. 60 in the Hereditary Offices in Ahmadabad. But his
late chief in the Rewa Kantha Agency was loath to lose his
services, and only four months after his transfer to Ahma-
dabad he was recalled to Rewa Kantha to fill the appointment
of Daftardar1 on a salary of Rs. 75, raised subsequently
to Rs. 150 per mensem. In the capacity of Daftardar,

1 Literally " Record-Keeper " ; the principal native revenue-officer on
the establishment of the head of a district.

SERVICE UNDER GOVERNMENT. 1 3

Ranchhodlal was able to render material assistance to
Government on more than one occasion. When, for example,
a Commission was appointed to enquire into the rights and
financial condition of the Girasias, Watandars, Desais and
Majumdars of Rewa Kantha, Ranchhodlal's tact and
knowledge of the conflicting claims of the various parties
were largely instrumental in effecting a speedy settlement
of a somewhat complicated problem. His assistance was
equally valuable in connection with a boundary dispute
between the British Government and the Rajpipla State,
which is bounded partly by the Mehwas estates of Rewa
Kantha and partly by British districts and the territory of
the Gaekwar.

Ranchhodlal's services were duly brought to the notice
of the Bombay Government, who shortly afterwards
appointed him Assistant Superintendent of Pavagarh1 in
the Panch Mahals district — a post corresponding to that
of Assistant to the Political Agent in these days and the
highest appointment to which an Indian in the political
department of the Government could at that date aspire.
The Panch Mahals district formed part of the territory of
the Maharaja Sindia, who eventually transferred it to the
British in 1861 ; but from 1853 until the date of transfer the
actual administration was conducted by the British Govern-
ment, who introduced order into the chaotic Maratha revenue
system, and abolished the transit duties and other vexatious
levies of the former government. Ranchhodlal, whose
salary was Rs. 300 per mensem, was for all practical purposes
the representative of the Bombay Government in this

1 Pavagarh, from which the appointment received its name, is a famous
hill-fort in the Kalol Taluka of the Panch Mahals district. Seized by
Chauhan Rajputs in 1300 a.d., it was reduced by Sultan Mahmud Begara
in 1484, after a two years' siege. The Emperor Humayun took it in 1535.
In 1573 it fell into the hands of Akbar. Sindia seized it about 1761, and
Colonel Woodington captured it from Sindia in 1803. It was restored in
1804 to Sindia, in whose possession it remained until 1853, when the
British took over the management of the Panch Mahals.

14 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

corner of foreign territory. It speaks highly for his abilities
and the confidence which he inspired that he obtained this
appointment when he was barely thirty years of age. The
British officers of the Political Department under whom
he served, notably Messrs. Ogilvy and Samuel Mansfield,
Major Browne and Major Fuljames, were not slow to
recognise Ranchhodlal's industry and intelligence and the
punctilious character of his official work, and even after he
had become involved in the unhappy charges which led
to the Bombay Government dispensing with his services,
they found it difficult to believe that he had wittingly
receded from the strict standard of integrity which he
observed while still serving under their orders.

Ranchhodlal had held his new appointment at Pavagarh
for only a brief period when the storm broke over his head.
Considering his services to Government in his early years
and the distinguished and important part which he later
played in the commercial and municipal history of Ah-
madabad, one would fain draw a veil over the transactions
which resulted, justly or unjustly, in the close of his career
as a servant of Government. But without some reference
to these matters Ranchhodlal's biography would be in-
complete, and the very repetition of the tale may perhaps
serve to point the moral that a man is master of his own
destiny and may rise, even as Ranchodlal did, victorious
over the mistakes and folhes of earlier years. Before giving
the bare facts of the case reflecting on Ranchhodlal's
integrity, it is but fair to mention that his Indian biographer
declares the whole unhappy affair to have been the direct
outcome of the intrigues of Ranchhodlal's enemies. To
support this view he refers to the mutual hostility which
subsisted at this time between the subordinate officials
and clerks of the Baroda Residency and those of the Political
Agent, Rewa Kantha, whose headquarters were also at
Baroda ; to the enmity felt towards Ranchhodlal in par-
ticular by the native agent to the Baroda Resident, who
endeavoured for some time to embroil the young Daftardar

SERVICE UNDER GOVERNMENT. 15

with his official superiors without much success, and even
attempted to force him to give false evidence against one
Narsupant, a subordinate official of the Residency, in a
prosecution arising out of charges deliberately and in-
geniously fabricated against the latter ; and finally to the
determination of Ranchhodlal's enemies, many of whom
were doubtless jealous of his rapid promotion, to make
the appointment of a new Political Agent — a man " who
knew not Joseph " — the occasion for humbling Ranch-
hodlal's pride and requiting him for his consistent repulsion
of their dishonest advances.

The story is concerned with the succession of an adopted
prince to the gadi (throne) of the Lunawada State in Rewa
Kantha, the chief of which is a Solanki Rajput, descended
from a dynasty which ruled at Anhilwada and is supposed
to have established itself at Virpur in a.d. 1225. About two
centuries later the family removed to Lunawada, having
probably been driven across the river Mahi by the increasing
power of the Muhammadan Kings of Gujarat.1 In June,
1849, the chief of Lunawada, Fateh Sing Partab Sing, died,
and as he had no heir he adopted a few hours before his death
one Dalpat Sing, a distant relative, who died in October, 1851.
Accordingly Mambai, the mother of the late Rana Fateh
Sing, adopted in February, 1852, one Dallel Sing Salam Sing
as Dalpat Sing's successor ; but she too died unfortunately
before the Political Agent, Rewa Kantha, could discuss
the matter with her and give official countenance to her
choice. Her death was the signal for various competitors
to lay claim to the succession, and doubtless opened the
way for a great deal of intrigue. Eventually, however, the

1 Lunawada was originally tributary to both the Gaekwar and Sindia-
The rights of the latter, guaranteed by the British Government in 18 19,
were transferred by him with the cession of the Panch Mahals in 1861.
The chief town, Lunawada, is so called after the god Luneshwar, whose
shrine still stands outside the Darkuli Gate of the town. About the
beginning of the nineteenth century the town was a centre of the trade
between Malwa and Central Gujarat.

1 6 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

Bombay Government accepted Dallel Sing, the choice of
the deceased queen-mother, and he was formally installed
as the ruling chief of Lunawada on September 22nd, 1852.

By 1854 rumours and reports had reached Major Wallace,
who was then Political Agent of Rewa Kantha, regarding
Ranchhodlal's activities in connection with the Lunawada
succession, and in that year Ranchhodlal was suspended
from office and definitely charged by Major Wallace with
receiving in May, 1853, through his wife, Jethiba, a bribe
of 8,000 Baroda rupees from the Chief of Lunawada, on the
score of his having assisted Dallel Sing in succeeding to the
gadi by his supposed official influence as Daftardar of the
Rewa Kantha Agency. After some correspondence
Ranchhodlal was tried on this charge before a Special
Commissioner, Mr. Hebbert, and was acquitted. The
prosecution relied chiefly upon a statement by one Jani
Lakshmiram Deoshankar, the chief Karbhari of Lunawada,
that on the 25th May he had paid the amount above-
mentioned to Ranchhodlal's wife, Jethiba, at their house
in Ahmadabad. Though Jani was shown conclusively to
have received the sum from the Raja of Lunawada, there
were various discrepancies in his account of the subsequent
transaction. In Ranchhodlal's defence, his wife, Jethiba,
pleaded an alibi, stating that on the 25th May, the date on
which she was alleged by the prosecution to have received
the rupees, she was at the village of Dakor, forty miles
away from Ahmadabad, with her family priest Ambalal.
She supported this story with a petition, purporting
to have been presented by Ambalal on 26th May to the
Police Jamadar at Dakor, asking for redress in the
matter of a minor assault which had been made upon him.
The original petition was produced at the enquiry held by
the Special Commissioner. It was subsequently shown
however that the Dakor register-book, in which the petition
had been filed, had been tampered with, and that in all
probability the petition, upon which the alibi mainly rested,
was a forgery. This led to the prosecution before the

SERVICE UNDER GOVERNMENT. 1 7

Political Agent of three persons for tampering with the
village records, all of whom were convicted and sentenced
in the first instance, but were subsequently released on a
ruling of the High Court at Bombay that the three accused
were not subject to the jurisdiction of the Rewa Kantha
Agency. Ranchhodlal having thus been acquitted, the
question of his reinstatement in the service of Government
had to be decided, and in reply to a letter from the Bombay
Government soliciting his opinion, Major Wallace wrote a
long report criticising Mr. Hebbert's judgment adversely
and declaring that, in his view, the alibi put forward by
Ranchhodlal's wife was false. The Government, accepting
Major Wallace's opinion, dispensed with Ranchhodlal's
services and declined to employ him again in any capacity.

The case then entered upon a new phase. Ranchhodlal,
smarting under the implied opprobrium, whether deserved
or undeserved, asserted that the fraud in respect of the
village documents at Dakor was not committed by anyone
in his interests but at the instance of his enemies, and he
proceeded for the first and last time in his life to prefer
a charge of forgery against one man and of perjury against
another, whom together he held responsible for his undoing.
So far as the law was concerned, Ranchhodlal was again
successful ; for although the former accused was acquitted,
the latter was found guilty and punished, while both Mr.
Gray and Mr. Walter, the magistrate and judge respectively
of Ahmadabad, who dealt with the cases, declared their
belief that Ranchhodlal was innocent of the charge of
corruption originally brought against him by the Political
Agent. For reasons, however, which it would be tedious
to give in detail, the Bombay Government, after the most
mature and scrupulous consideration of all the facts and
evidence, could not bring themselves to alter their opinion,
and in May, 1859, issued a formal order declining to restore
Ranchhodlal to the public service. Mr. Gray, the magistrate,
who still believed in Ranchhodlal's innocence, made a final
effort to persuade the Government to revise their order,

1 8 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

but only succeeded in eliciting at the end of August, 1859,
a re-statement of the Government's conviction that their
final order was justified.

Thus Ranchhodlal passed out of the service of Govern-
ment. The proceedings from first to last had occupied
five years, during which period he had been obliged to devote
much of his time to endeavouring to clear himself of almost
the gravest accusation that can be made against a public
servant. The bare facts have been recorded, not with the
object of re-opening the question of Ranchhodlal' s guilt,
which, it must be admitted, received the most patient and
ample consideration from those with whom the final decision
lay, but rather with the intention of throwing into stronger
relief the well-deserved success which he attained in latei
years and the great services which he afterwards rendered
both to the public and to the Government, whose salt he
had once eaten. The misfortune which befell Ranchhodlal
might have soured and broken a weaker and less capable
man. Ranchhodlal rose superior to his fate, and at the
close of a long career in the service of his countrymen was
able to inspire the British officials and others who knew
him with the same feelings of affection and respect which
he had aroused in those under whom he commenced his
official career in Rewa Kantha. His natural fortitude
and mental capacity were directed into fresh channels, and
the shadows which closed around this period of his life
vanished before the signal achievements of his later years.

COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES. 19

Chapter IV.

Commercial Enterprises.

During the ten years of his career as a Government
servant, from 1844 to 1854, Ranchhodlal had from time to
time contemplated the possibility of revivifying Indian
industry by the application of European methods and
machinery ; and with the help of his friend, Major Fuljames,
had obtained details of the textile industry from England.
In 1850, at a time when the Bomba3^ Presidency was wholly
destitute of cotton spinning and weaving plant, Ranchhodlal
made his first attempt to found the textile industry of
Ahmadabad. A prospectus was issued ; a local weekly,
the Ahmadabad Samachar, was employed to give publicity
to his project ; and the shroffs and bankers of the town
were approached with a view to the provision of the required
capital. But the merchants of Ahmadabad, though possessed
of ample means to finance several mills, were conservative
in their views and shrank from co-operating with Ranchhodlal
in so novel a departure from their time-honoured lines of
business. Ranchhodlal thereupon approached the mer-
chants of Baroda and other places and met with a more
favourable reception. The initial expenditure required for
the erection of a mill was estimated at about two lakhs of
rupees, half of which amount was to be provided by a
certain Mr. Landon, who had already erected a ginning-
factory at Broach on the strength of information supplied
by Ranchhodlal, and the other half was to be furnished by
Ranchhodlal and certain other promoters, chief among
whom were the leading Baroda bankers, Gopal Mehral and
Shamal Bhecher, Gaurishankar Oza, the chief minister of
the Bhavnagar State, and the Raja of Rajpipla. This
project however never materialised.

20 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

Meanwhile the advantages offered by the establishment
of an indigenous cotton-spinning and weaving industry had
attracted notice in other parts of the Bombay Presidency.
In 1851, a well-known merchant of Bombay, Mr. Kavasji
Nanabhai Davar, projected a similar scheme to that of
Ranchhodlal and eventually opened the first spinning and
weaving mill in Bombay in 1854. Mr. Landon, to whom
reference is made above, built a spinning mill at Broach
about the same date, while four years later, in 1858, Manekji
Nasarvanji Petit opened a second textile mill in Bombay
island. The example of these pioneers encouraged Ranch-
hodlal to persevere with his own projects, and eventually
in 1859 he succeeded in establishing the first mill in
Ahmadabad, the company which owned it being known
as the Ahmadabad Spinning and Weaving Company Limited.
The capital involved amounted in the first instance to one
lakh of rupees, divided into twenty shares of Rs. 5000 each,
and the mill contained at first 2,500 spindles only and no
looms. Much delay occurred between the foundation of
the mill in 1859 and its actual opening in 1861. The Suez
Canal bad not at that date been opened and all vessels from
England had to sail to India via the Cape ; the ship which
was bringing out the machinery for the new mill caught
fire and was lost at sea. The machinery, which had been
ordered in England through the late Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji,
was however fully insured and with the sum so realised
fresh machinery was purchased. In the meanwhile the
English engineer, Mr. C. Dall, who had been specially
engaged for the mill and had reached India some little
time previously, died before the arrival of the new plant.
When it eventually did reach India, it was decided to land
it at Cambay, owing to the complete absence of railway
communication between Bombay and Ahmadabad. To
Camba}^ therefore Ranchhodlal himself proceeded and
there spent four months watching the machinery being
unloaded and packed on to country bullock-carts. Further
delay occurred after the machinery had been delivered in

COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES. 21

Ahmadabad. Four European engineers in succession were
engaged to erect it in the mill, but all of them proved un-
satisfactory and had to be dismissed after completing a
portion only of the task. In this predicament Ranchhodlal
himself set to work to erect the machinery with the assistance
of a Hindu astrologer, Sankleshwar Joshi, who knew some-
thing of applied mechanics, and made considerable progress.
He was eventually relieved of further anxiety by the. arrival
of a new European engineer, Mr. Edington, who, after
completing the erection of the engine, boiler and other
machinery, served for two years, 1861 to 1863, and put the
whole mill into good working order.

At the outset the mill barely paid a dividend of six per
cent, and Ranchhodlal therefore determined to increase
the original capital by the issue of new shares of Rs. 1000
apiece, to increase the number of spindles from 2,500 to
10,000, and to establish a weaving department with 100
looms. On the departure of Mr. Edington, Ranchhodlal
was fortunate in obtaining the services of Mr. Whittle, who
managed the mill for the next four years, added fifty new
looms, and supervised the business so successfully that
the shareholders received a dividend of nine per cent, and
a substantial sum was annually carried over to the reserve
fund. The condition of this reserve fund enabled Ranch-
hodlal to erect a second mill in 1872, containing about 14,500
spindles and 800 looms. This mill prospered also until
1875, when a disastrous fire destroyed practically the entire
building, which was uninsured. Nothing daunted,
Ranchhodlal set to work to rebuild it at his own expense,
without calling for further assistance from the shareholders ;
and by the installation of machinery of a new and improved
type, he managed within a comparatively short time to wipe
off the losses incurred in the fire. The capital of the mill
was raised from 6-| lakhs to nearly 10 lakhs of rupees, each
shareholder receiving scrip worth Rs. 500 for every thousand-
rupee share originally held by him.

The success attending these two ventures enabled Ranch-

22 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHOD^AI, CHHOTALAL.

hodlal to establish a third ginning, spinning and weaving
mill in the name of his son, Madhavlal, at Sarangpur in 1877.
The original capital was 3^ iakhs, divided into 350 shares of
1,000 rupees each, and the paid-up calls aggregated 2 lakhs
and 80,000 rupees, the balance being made up from savings
carried to the reserve fund. Half of the capital was sub-
scribed by Ranchhodlal himself and the other half by a few
of his personal friends who subsequently, as the annual
profits continued to rise, sold some of their stock in the
open market. In 1877, 1878, and 1879, the number of
spindles and looms was largely increased, and the savings
accruing from careful management enabled Ranchhodlal
to pay up the whole of the unsubscribed capital. The
shareholders also profited by the issue to them of a fresh
certificate equal in value to their original holdings. The
capital of the mill was in this way doubled, and not long
afterwards was trebled as a result of the steadily-increasing
profits of its working. The market value of the shares
rose to more than six times their face value. The credit
for this result lies chiefly with Ranchhodlal's son, Madhavlal,
who was manager of the mill from the date of its establish-
ment ; and in due course his mantle fell upon his son,
Chinubhai, afterwards known as Sir Chinubhai Madhavlal.
Bart., who inherited the business instincts and capacity of

his grandfather.

*
The, example of Ranchhodlal and his son was not lost

upon their fellow-citizens, many of whom had hitherto

done little except hoard their accumulated riches. In 1871

the late Rao Bahadur Becherdas Ambaidas, C.S.I. , built a

mill ; another, named after Jamnabhai Mansukhbhai, was

opened in 1877 '> other new mills appeared in 1881, 1882,

1883, and 1887. The industry continued to expand, so that

by the time of his death Ranchhodlal witnessed the triumph

of his labours as a pioneer and a vast addition to the wealth

of Ahmadabad. A statement prepared in 1916 shows that

in that year there were sixty-two mills in Ahmadabad,

containing about 990,000 spindles and 21,000 looms, besides

COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES. 23

a match factory, hosiery factories and oil mills. The mere
figures of machinery however do not represent adequately
the value of the enterprise in which Ranchhodlal led the
way. The introduction of the textile industry generated
a larger spirit of commercial courage in the merchants of
Ahmadabad and taught them the value of European business
methods ; regular employment was provided for thousands
of the poorer people of Gujarat, who would otherwise have
suffered more or less acutely during periodic seasons of
crop failure and drought ; the value of landed property
rapidly increased, and the rise in wealth and importance
of the old city, which, during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, had been one of the most splendid places in
India, soon justified its being ranked as the second city of
the Western Presidency. Of this steady industrial expansion,
Ranchhodlal, once the pioneer, became in turn the guiding
genius. He presided by invitation at the opening cere-
monies of new mills ; he presided by universal consent at the
deliberations of the local millowners' association ; he was
adviser-in-chief to all those who sought to emulate his
success. He was ever on the look-out for chances of develop-
ing the natural resources of his country. In 1882 he
interested himself in the subject of iron-smelting, obtained
samples of iron ore and submitted them for analysis to an
official expert, and from the samples had a few tools made
for use in the smithy of his Shahpur mill. Two years later,
1884, he formed a company, he himself being one of the
managing agents, to develop the iron and coal deposits of
the Panch Mahals district. The scheme however was
abandoned, as the Bombay Government were unwilling to
concede the mining rights in the district on the terms and
conditions laid down by Ranchhodlal.

Ranchhodlal was a firm believer in the value of personal
application to the daily routine of business and personal
supervision of his commercial undertakings. In a country
where the desire for quick profits has led on more than one
occasion to insane speculation and mercantile fraud, the

24 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODI^AI, CHHOTALAL.

conduct of Ranchhodlal's business offered a most salutary-
example to all who desired to participate in the growth
of the new industry. With speculative schemes he would
have nothing whatever to do, and at the time of the famous
share mania in Bombay, which resulted from the civil war
in America and the consequent failure of the American
cotton supply, he turned a deaf ear to more than one
tempting offer from the promoters of the well-known Back
Bay Reclamation scheme. The same considerations led
him to limit the number of his own mills, for fear
lest the efficiency of those already established might be
impaired. Up to the time of his death he visited his own
mill twice a day, entered every department, conversed with
the workmen and issued personal orders on innumerable
details, and even at the age of seventy, when most men have
relinquished active duty, he might be seen standing for
hours among his me«i, discussing points connected with
the output or administration of the factory. " Every
individual employee," writes his Indian biographer, " had
ready access to him, and he would listen to what they had
to say with wonderful patience. While he never let them
know he was their master, he yet had the knack of exacting
from them work to their utmost capacity. He was a friend
to all. He never lost his temper. Never at rest, he was
also never in haste. Invariably guided by reason and not
mere sentiment, he conveyed his instructions with telling
effect. He treated all impartially, and was careful not to
overlook just claims. He loved all his men and they all
loved him in return .... They will long cherish the
memory of his kind treatment, his sound advice, and his
sympathetic efforts to promote their welfare."

Briefly, the story of the introduction into Gujarat of the
now flourishing cotton spinning and weaving industry is
the tale of Ranchhodlal's struggle to fashion for himself
a new career. Though lacking the advantage of a mer-
cantile training, and without influence and resources,
Ranchhodlal's force of character enabled him to surmount

COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES. 2$

all obstacles and to divert the trade of Ahmadabad into
new and wider channels. The material reward which
crowned his diligence and perseverance was very great ;
his personal wealth increased pari passu with the industry
which he founded ; he was known far and wide as the
Merchant-Prince of Gujarat. He realised fully the truth
of the saying : " The night cometh when no man can work,"
and having mastered every detail of his business he worked
without remission until the end. The commercial promi-
nence of the capital city of Gujarat at the present day is
the fruit of his earnest endeavour.

26 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

Chapter V.

Local Self- Government.

Notwithstanding his strenuous work as a pioneer of
industry, Ranchhodlal found time during the last thirty
years of his life to devote constant attention to municipal
work in Ahmadabad. The city came into the possession of
the British Government in 1818, after the downfall of the
Peshwa, and profited not a little by the abolition of certain
vexatious taxes, known as town duties, which had been
levied upon the citizens by the Gaekwar's government. Trade
immediately revived, particularly a valuable trade in opium
and Kashmir shawls which passed through the city on their
way to the coast-port of Gogha. To afford additional
protection to the traders of the city it was determined to
repair the city walls, which were in a ruinous condition,
and under the auspices of Mr. Borrodaile the people of
Ahmadabad collected a fund known as " The City Walls
Restoration Fund," which was administered by a committee
composed of the Collector, the District Judge and two Indian
members. By 1832 the city walls had been thoroughly
repaired from the proceeds of this voluntary cess, and the
fund still had a considerable balance to its credit. It was
decided that this balance should constitute the nucleus of
a general fund for the improvement of the city. The public,
realising that their subscriptions had been advantageously
utilised, were willing to continue to subscribe annually to
the new general fund, the administration of which was
vested in a regular urban committee charged with the duty
of supervising and improving the sanitation of Ahmadabad.
The city thus forestalled to some extent the municipal
arrangements which were subsequently extended throughout
the Presidency, excluding the city of Bombay, by the

EOCAE SELF-GOVERNMENT. 27

promulgation of Act XXVI of 1852, and indeed continued
its own system of urban administration for rive years after
that Act had come into force. On the 14th January, 1875,
with the general consent of the inhabitants, the city was
brought under the provisions of the Act of 1852, and twenty-
four years later, on 19th November, 1874, a regular municipal
board was created under the Bombay Municipal Act VI
of 1873. A further step forward was taken when Lord
Ripon's Government conferred the right of local self-
government upon all citv municipalities by the promulgation
of the Bombay District Municipal Amendment Act II of
1884. The Board of 1874 was re-constituted on the
1st January, 1885, the system of election to the Board
being for the first time introduced. Up to this time the
Board had consisted of ten ex-officio members and twenty-
two non-officials, or thirty-two in all. By the revised
arrangements of 1885, this number was reduced to thirty,
of whom ten were to be ex-officio members, twelve were to
be non-officials elected by the people, and eight were to
be non-official nominees of the Bombay Government. It
was also subsequently decided that the President of the
Board, who hitherto had always been the Collector of
Ahmadabad, should be nominated from among the non-
official members, and in consequence of this innovation
the membership of the Board was reduced to twenty-nine,
including the President, fourteen being elected and fifteen
nominated members. About 1889 the Board's numbers
were again increased to thirty, of whom fourteen members
were elected by the ratepayers, two were elected by the
educated and professional classes, and fourteen, including
the President, were nominated by Government. Finally,
in 1894, the total membership of the Board, or General
Committee, was increased to thirty-three by raising the
number of nominated members to seventeen.

Ranchhodlal entered upon his municipal career in 1868,
when he accepted a seat on the municipal committee as a
nominee of the Bombay Government. From that date

28 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAI, CHHOTALAL.

until 1883 he served continuously as a member of the Board
and laid the foundation of that knowledge of urban require-
ments which subsequently enabled him to play so prominent
a part in the municipal history of the city. He found time
to study the leading works on sanitary science and hygiene,
and made himself fully acquainted with the details of the
municipal machine and with the actual conditions of life
in Ahmadabad. The opportunity of turning his study
to practical account occurred in 1883 when the permanent
chairman of the municipality, Mr. J. F. Fernandez, resigned
and the Bombay Government, which had noted Ranchhodlal's
grasp of municipal questions, appointed him to fill the
vacanc}7'.

At the time Ranchhodlal became chairman of the
municipality, Ahmadabad had an unfortunate reputation
for unhealthiness, notwithstanding that it possessed a dry,
porous soil and that the average depth of its subsoil water
was more than twenty feet below surface-level. The
mortality rate of Ahmadabad was the second highest in the
Bombay Presidency, and during the five years prior to 1883
averaged forty-nine per mille ; diseases such as cholera,
dysentery and ague, appeared every year in more or less
epidemic form and caused the death of hundreds of the
population, whose health was undermined by the grossly
insanitary state of the city. Overcrowding, the want of a
proper drainage system, the absence of a pure water-supply
and the presence within the residential area of dangerous
and offensive trades were among the causes which contributed
to swell the mortality statistics, and of these the two which
in the opinion of Ranchhodlal's predecessor most urgently
demanded attention were the system of sewage disposal
and the water-supply. Ranchhodlal's first movement
towards grappling with these problems consisted in drafting
in December, 1883, an(i circulating among his colleagues
on the muncipal committee a memorandum of instructions
and suggestions, in which he drew pointed attention inter
alia to the pollution of the city's wells by percolation from

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT. 20.

the Khalkuvas or cesspools, to the fact that in some parts
of the city even this primitive system of cesspools was
wanting, and to the immediate need of removing the night-
soil depots to the south-east of the urban area and providing
more rapid and up-to-date means of transit to the depots
for the filth and sewage of the city. He suggested also that
the evil effects of overcrowding should be impressed upon
the public by means of lectures and pamphlets, that the
Municipality should formulate a programme of street
improvement, and that both Government and the Muni-
cipality should endeavour to check the further overcrowding
of the urban area by refusing to sell unoccupied land within
its limits for building purposes. He drew a comparison
between the death-rates of Ahmadabad and of Bombay,
Poona and Broach, pointed out the immense benefits which
had accrued in London and Bombay by the practical applica-
tion of the rules of sanitar}r science, and besought his
colleagues to set their faces sternly against the fatalism,
so prevalent among the people of India, which checks and
discourages human efforts to ameliorate the material con-
ditions and circumstances of life.

Ranchhodlal's memorandum, so far as the official
authorities were concerned, met with well-deserved praise.
" The memorandum," wrote the Sanitary Commissioner
to the Bombay Government in May, 1884, "is, I think, a
remarkable document for a native gentleman to have
written, as it exhibits a breadth of view and a masterly
appreciation of some of the main questions that affect the
public health in that city." The Army Sanitary Commission
in London, to whom the memorandum had been submitted
in the form of an appendix to the Sanitary Commissioner's
report, described it as " a very remarkable sanitary report,"
as " a model report of its kind," and pointed out that it
threw most useful additional light upon the causes of fever
in Indian towns. " Mr. Ranchhodlal," they added, " has
rendered a great service to sanitary improvement by
preparing it."

30 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAI, CHHOTALAL.

The more difficult part of Ranchhodlal's task was to
persuade his colleagues on the municipal committee of the
value of his ideas and to have his proposals translated into
practice. With this object he called continual meetings of
the managing committee during his first year of office,
besides special and quarterly general meetings to test the
general sense of the Board, and succeeded in obtaining
sanction for certain minor improvements in the method
of dealing with street-sweepings and garbage, for the con-
struction of open gutters to carry off storm water, and for
the erection of improved reservoirs for watering cattle.
He also carried to completion, at the cost of about Rs. 70,000,
a new arterial thoroughfare, now named after Sir James
Richey, a former Collector of Ahmadabad, for the con-
struction of which sanction had been obtained by Mr.
Fernandez, his predecessor in office. This road proved not
only a convenience to the growing traffic of the city but
also a benefit to the health of the locality through which it
passed. Yet Ranchhodlal had not yet aroused the " sanitary
conscience " of his colleagues ; and in the belief that the
constant repetition of his theme must in time affect their
placid conservatism, he devoted a considerable portion of
the annual administration report of the Municipality for
the year 1883-84 to a detailed re-statement of the urgent
requirements of the city. He showed that of 41,000 houses
in Ahmadabad, 8,800 were furnished with the primitive
and insanitary cesspits, known locally as Khalkuvas, and
that the remainder had no provision whatever for the
disposal of house-sewage, which was usually emptied
directly on to the public streets and lanes. He drew atten-
tion to the very insanitary condition of the narrow streets,
known locally as Pols, which occupied a considerable portion
of the inhabited area. The main thoroughfares of Ahma-
dabad at this date were metalled and drained, but the Pols,
being totally devoid of even surface and storm-water
drainage, were in a sodden and putrifying condition and
offered a fertile soil for the epidemics of cholera which

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT. 3 1

occurred annually after the outburst of the monsoon. On
the subject of the removal of refuse he provided figures and
estimates showing the cost of laying down a light railway,
supporting them with a report from the Amritsar muni-
cipality in the Punjab, which had already adopted this
method of dealing with town refuse. To these primary
needs, including specially a proper water-supply, he added
the removal from the city of dangerous and offensive trades,
the widening of narrow streets and roads, the building of
dials (tenement buildings) for the poorer classes, the regula-
tion of milch-cattle stables, and the erection of primary
school buildings. For the establishment of a drainage
system, waterworks, and a sewage farm, Ranchhodlal
estimated a probable capital outlay of about 15,00,000
rupees ; and on the assumption that the Municipality
could obtain a loan of this amount at five per cent, repayable
in fifty years he proposed that a special tax, amounting to
about twelve annas per head, should be levied upon the
city. The imposition of such a tax, he argued, would cost
the people less in the end than they would have to pay for
the provision and upkeep of properly constructed khalkuvas
and tankas (reservoirs) for the storage of drinking water,
such as were then maintained in the more favoured parts of
the city. But to obviate the chance of even so small a cess
pressing hardly upon the poorer inhabitants he suggested
that the Municipality should in the first instance make a
general valuation of all immovable property in the city,
and regulate the incidence of the tax on the basis of that
valuation. Moreover, while recognising fully the duty of
the citizens to provide by such means these urgently required
improvements, he requested Government to assist their
endeavours by advancing the necessar}* loan at four per cent.,
by conceding to the Municipality the right to receive the
sale-proceeds of the occupancy rights of all unoccupied lands
within municipal limits, and thirdly by paying the Muni-
cipality compensation for the loss of the octroi fees on
country liquor which had resulted in 1881 from the require-

32 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAI,.

merits of the Government liquor-monopoly and farming
system.

So far as the water-supply of Ahmadabad is concerned,

it must not be supposed that in formulating his schemes

Ranchhodlal was breaking wholly new ground. The old

system of tanks for the storage of rain-water and wells,

coupled with an additional supply pumped from the river

Sabarmati, was so insanitary and anachronistic that more

than one scheme had been formulated for its supersession.

The tanks leaked and collected all sorts of impurities ; the

wells, surrounded by cesspools and rarely cleaned, were

thoroughly polluted ; while the river water was rendered

unpotable and dangerous to health by the universal practice

of washing animals, clothes and utensils in the river, by the

free admission to it of sullage water, and by the proximity

of a night-soil depot, slaughter-houses, dyeing factories and

tanneries. The pumping plant itself, erected in 1847 from

the City Walls Restoration Fund during the Collectorship of

Mr. Fawcett, had been from time to time improved, but was

nevertheless inefficient and designed on lines that could

scarcely be called strictly hy genie. Schemes for a new water

supply had been prepared by an engineer named Ferguson

in 1874, by Mr. Hatherly in 1876, by Mr. Borrodaile in 1878,

by Mr. Pottinger, executive engineer for irrigation works

in Gujarat, about the same date, by Mr. Playford Reynolds

in 1883, and by Mr. Doig in 1884. These schemes however

were " merely suggestions backed by rough estimates based

on the express wishes of the Collector or the Municipality

as to the quantity of water required per head of population

and the pressure at which the supply was to be delivered."

and were therefore in turn abandoned. In 1885 the

Bombay Government, acting upon the request of Ranch-

podlal, who was re-elected Chairman at the beginning of

that year and became President in the following September

under the provisions of Act II of 1884, agreed to lend the

services of Colonel Walter M. Ducat, R.E., Consulting

Sanitary Engineer, to the Ahmadabad Municipality for

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT. 33

one month for the purpose of preparing plans and specifi-
cations for drainage and water- works.

Up to this point Ranchhodlal's policy had met with no
serious opposition. No sooner however had Colonel
Ducat's plans been submitted for approval to the municipal
commissioners than considerable hostility was manifested
to the scheme both by Ranchhodlal's colleagues in the
municipality and by the general public. It was widely
held that the proposals framed by Colonel Ducat and
supported by Ranchhodlal were impracticable and too
costly, that they were ill adapted to the climatic conditions
of Ahmad abad, would entail unduly heavy taxation, and
might conceivably impose a heavy burden of debt upon
the muncipality. Mass meetings, at which Ranchhodlal's
opponents on the Board presided, were held daily to protest
against the schemes, and the native Press fanned the
opposition with unjustified misrepresentation and frequently
with bitter invective. Ranchhodlal himself attended several
of the meetings and after listening patiently to criticism,
which was not always free from personal rancour, sought
by calm exposition of the facts to explain to his audience
the merits of the proposals. The hostilities culminated
in a monster meeting held at the Tanksal1 and attended
by thousands of all classes, in the hope of intimidating the
President. It was bruited abroad that if Ranchhodlal
attended and declined after open discussion to recede from
his position, personal violence might perhaps be resorted
to. Ranchhodlal was no coward. He attended the
meeting, which greeted his arrival with hisses and other
signals of dissatisfaction, and endeavoured by patient and
reasoned explanation to remove misapprehension. But
the crowd, which had been worked up by methods only too
common in India, first shouted him down and refused him
a hearing, and then proceeded to pelt him with garbage and

1 Tanksal in Hindustani means " a Mint." The building here men-
tioned is probably the remains of the Emperor Jahangir's Mint.

34 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAI, CHHOTALAL.

stones. A party of mounted police, which had been sent
by the Collector to protect him, managed to escort him
without injury from the meeting to his house.

For the time being, therefore, progress in the direction
advocated by Ranchhodlal remained in abeyance. His
scheme, though rejected by the managing committee under
the circumstances outlined above, had still to be laid before
a general meeting of the whole municipality. A meeting
was called on 22nd June, 1886, to consider Colonel Ducat's
report, at which Ranchhodlal himself, after explaining
the circumstances in which the Colonel's services had been
lent by the Bombay Government, moved that the report on
the water-supply be approved and adopted. The proposal
was seconded by Major Robb, the Civil Surgeon. An
amendment was at once moved by a member of the oppo-
sition to the effect that the cost of Colonel Ducat's water-
supply scheme was excessive and that a further report
should be made by a committee of nine persons, appointed
ad hoc, on the desirability of improving and adding to the
existing pumping-service. The amendment was carried by
a majority of three. On the following day Ranchhodlal
returned to the charge and moved that Colonel Ducat's
drainage scheme be approved and adopted, being again
supported by Major Robb. This proposal shared the same
fate as the former. Ranchhodlal and his supporters were
outvoted ; ignorant conservatism for the time being won
the day. Every effort was made by Ranchhodlal to bring
his colleagues to a sense of their duties ; he improvised a
water-supply from the Sabarmati for his own mills ; he
laid down small drainage works and a small model sewage
farm in the wide compound surrounding his house ; he
invited his colleagues to witness the working of this plant
and tried to prove to them by ocular demonstration the value
of the rejected proposals. Persuasive presentation of his
plans and reasoned argument were of no avail ; his opponents
remained obdurate, and found moreover unexpected sup-
port in the views of Sir Theodore Hope, formerly Collector

EOCAI, SELF-GOVERNMENT. 35

of Ahmadabad and at this date a member of the Viceroy's
Council, who, having been requested to give his views on
the proposals, wrote a long minute from Simla in October,
1886, condemning Colonel Ducat's schemes in the strongest
terms. Sir Theodore Hope, whose views were widely-
circulated in Ahmadabad and were also published in the
Bombay Gazette, recommended his Ahmadabad friends to
have nothing to do with underground drainage and to con-
centrate their forces instead on perfecting the removal of
sewage by hand and on the surface-removal of sullage.

Sir Theodore's opinion, though unquestionably wrong,
was a powerful weapon in the hands of Ranchhodlal's
adversaries, and for the time being rendered active prosecu-
tion of Colonel Ducat's plans impossible. Ranchhodlal
however, who realised that this distinguished official had
been misled by hasty generalisations from the entirely
different conditions and circumstances of other parts of
India, notably of Lahore in the Panjab, replied to Sir
Theodore's Hope's report in an elaborate memorandum,
defending his own proposals and exposing the blunders of
Sir Theodore Hope and his expert adviser. This memoran-
dum he disseminated among his colleagues and the public
of Ahmadabad, and at the same time wrote a temperate and
practical letter to Sir Theodore Hope, pointing out the
fallacies of his arguments and the costly impracticability
of his alternative recommendations. He also gave a
practical demonstration of the truth of one of Colonel
Ducat's chief contentions by sinking a trial well in the river
bed at Dudheshvar and demonstrating that double the daily
quantity of water required by the city could be easily raised
by machinery from a single well of the diameter and depth
recommended in Colonel Ducat's scheme. Nor did he
forget the educative influence of public discussion in the
Press and wrote more than one letter combating the theories
and statements of his opponents and justifying the detailed
schemes of the expert. The latter, as may be imagined,
was not disposed to accept Sir Theodore Hope's rather

36 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

pontifical pronouncement in silence, and on 30th November,
1886, submitted to the Secretary to Government in the
Public Works Department, with whom rested the final
verdict as to the adoption or rejection of his scheme, a
lengthy and somewhat caustic refutation of the views of
Sir T. Hope. Matters remained in an impasse however
for some little time longer, during which Sir Theodore Hope
wrote a further minute to Ranchhodlal, Dr. Thomas
Blane}' of Bombay was invited to give his views on the
drainage problem, and Ranchhodlal continued his endeavours
to educate the public mind and disarm opposition. At
length on 2nd February, 1887 the report of the sub-
committee appointed in June of the previous year to
recommend an alternative water-supply scheme, was
presented to a special general meeting of the Municipality.
This sub-committee accepted Colonel Ducat's scheme in
extenso with minor modifications, but recommended that
the capital outlay on the scheme should not exceed five
lakhs of rupees. The general meeting was twice adjourned
owing to protracted discussion ; but at length on 3rd March,
after a two hours' discussion, the Municipality passed by
sixteen votes to ten a resolution moved by Professor Abaji
Vishnu Kathavate and seconded by Mr. Hugh Fraser, that
Colonel Ducat's water supply scheme, as modified by the
sub-committee, should be adopted and that the sub-
committee's estimate of five lakhs should be raised to six
lakhs in order to admit of the provision of iron distributing
pipes of rather larger diameter.

Thus Ranchhodlal's efforts were at length crowned
with success. The sanction of the Bombay Government
was quickly obtained, and in April, 1887, Ranchhodlal
obtained the permission of the Municipality to raise a
loan of six lakhs of rupees. The sanction of the Government
of India was not received till May, 1888, and the actual
works were commenced in March of the following year.
The intermediate period was spent by Ranchhodlal in
superintending the construction of the large well in the

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT. 37

river-bed at Dudheshvar, which formed one of the salient
features of the scheme, and in subjecting the well
to a series of tests, which proved conclusively to the satis-
faction of all concerned, including Sir T. Hope who visited
Ahmadabad to inspect the work, that a constant supply
of potable water was now assured. Finally on nth June,
1891, the Governor of Bombay, Lord Harris, opened the
completed works, which comprised a pumping plant capable
of supplying in twelve hours' working 1,300,000 gallons
of water and 51 miles of piping. The scheme, which cost
according to the final estimate a little more than *]\ lakhs
of rupees, was carried out under the supervision of Mr.
Doig and his assistant, Mr. Fardunji, of the Public Works
Department; Messrs. Little ,^G. B. Reid, and H. E. M/W"**^^
James, who successively held the office of Collector of Jl^
Ahmadabad, lent official support to the undertaking ; and,
finally, the Government of Lord Reay, who preceded Lord
Harris, assisted the Municipality by obtaining for it a loan of
three lakhs at 4-| per cent, for the completion of the work.
The scheme has abundantly fulfilled the expectations
of those who advocated its introduction. Since its com-
pletion as the result of Ranchhodlal's efforts, a second high-
level reservoir has been built with a capacity of 318,000
gallons ; to the two sets of engines and pumps provided
in the original undertaking a third set was added in 1898,
which, like the former, can deliver 1,800 gallons per minute
to the high-level reservoir ; a fourth engine has now been
installed at a cost of nearly one lakh, and the question of a
fifth engine is also under expert consideration. The water
supply is constant, notwithstanding that the consumption
per head has reached the high figure of twenty-six gallons
inside the walled area and twenty-five gallons outside; but the
increase of population and the excessive consumption in
the northern parts of the city have necessitated the additional
plant mentioned above and have also led to the laying of
a new twenty-inch main for the supply of water to the
suburbs and to the former twenty-seven-inch main being

38 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAI, CHHOTAI.AI,.

reserved purely for the supply of the city proper. The city
of Ahmadabad owes a debt of gratitude to Ranchhodlal for
his persistent advocacy of Colonel Ducat's proposals, which
cannot be measured in words, and the most ardent of his
former opponents now eulogize his prescience and per-
severance for the public weal.

In the matter of the drainage of the city, Ranchhodlal's
policy was not marked by the same degree of success. The
system, which Ranchhodlal wisely desired to supersede,
consisted of the removal of night-soil by hand and its
subsequent transport to two very offensive depots at
the Jamalpur and Shahpur gates of the city. He arranged
in 1885 for its removal by tramway to a spot outside the
city walls, known familiarly as Bagh Firdaus, " The Garden
of Paradise." Local opposition to the scheme of under-
ground drains, which he favoured, had received considerable
support from the published opinion of Sir Theodore Hope
already mentioned ; and Ranchhodlal determined, as his
first move in the struggle, to have a sub-committee appointed
with ample powers to investigate the subject at issue and
make recommendations to the municipal board. This
sub-committee, which commenced work in November, 1886,
reported without delay in favour of the removal of sullage
water by pipes as a temporary measure ; and at a meeting
of the municipal committee in the following month Ranch-
hodlal succeeded in gaining approval to a proposal that for
the area within the city walls the proposals of the sub-
committee should be tentatively adopted, and that in the
extra-mural area glazed earthenware pipes should be used
to carry the sullage to a distance of two miles to the south
of the city. The financial aspect of the proposal was reserved
for further discussion. Opposition however was still so
strong that the Municipality at a subsequent meeting in
December declined to sanction the proposals and declared
definitely in favour of the removal of sullage by hand.
Their decision was condemned by the Commissioner, N.D.,
and by the Sanitary Commissioner, Deputy Surgeon-

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT. 39

General T. G. Hewlett, who described the Municipality's
scheme as a mere make-shift, which would in the end
cost the citizens of Ahmadabad a great deal more than a
proper arrangement of permanent drains ; and the Bombay
Government, concurring with their opinion, refused sanction
to the Municipality's proposals and instructed the officials
concerned to use their influence to secure the substitution
of a proper drainage system. Then followed meetings
to discuss the views of Government, the Sanitary Com-
missioner himself being present as a visitor at one of the
meetings to explain the details and principles of under-
ground drainage, and to endeavour to allay the mistrust
of the majority. His efforts were fruitless ; for on 8th Feb-
ruary, 1888, the Municipality definitely rejected Ranch-
hodlal's tentative scheme for a two-mile drain from the
Maunda gate to a model sewage farm and declared again
for the hand-service system. On this occasion Ranchhodlal's
usual tenacity of purpose seems temporarily to have deserted
him, for instead of continuing the struggle with his recalcitrant
colleagues, he appears to have forwarded their resolution
with a recommendation that the Municipality should be
allowed to make trial of the imperfect and costly system
of hand-removal. The Commissioner N.D. and the Bombay
Government however declined flatly to countenance so
futile a scheme, and matters remained in statu quo until
14th May, 1888, when doubtless with the double object of
*' saving their faces " and avoiding a direct challenge to
Government, the Municipality resolved to instal underground
drainage in one part of the city as an experimental measure
and sanctioned a sum of one and a half lakhs of rupees for
the purpose. Plans and estimates for the work were pre-
pared by Mr. Baldwin Latham, the well-known sanitary
engineer, and the work was practically completed by the
close of 1893. Additional funds were voted by the Muni-
cipality for house-connections with the main drains, and
these were steadily augmented as the value of the system
impressed itself upon the public mind. It is noteworthy

40 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

that the scheme was initiated in the very parts of the city
which had offered the strongest opposition to it from the
beginning ; yet no sooner was its satisfactory working
manifested than the inhabitants of those parts were urgent
in their demands for house-connections and for the further
extension of the scheme. By 1897 there was a general
demand for the extension of the drainage scheme to other
parts of the city, and under the auspices and direction
of Ranchhodlal, plans and estimates involving an expenditure
of eight lakhs of rupees were prepared and submitted for
sanction to the Bombay Government. The approval of
Government, coupled with their sanction to raising the
requisite loan, was received by the Municipality after
Ranchhodlal's death in 1898. For all practical purposes,
however, the scheme which Ranchhodlal had first advocated
in 1883 was on the high road to completion before his death,
and, though on one occasion his determination seems to
have faltered, it is chiefly to his work and to the support
which he received from Government and its officials that
Ahmadabad has been saved in great measure from the
epidemics of cholera and similar diseases which annually
took a heavy toll of the city in former days.

At the present time the underground drainage s}'stem,
which has proved entirely successful, has been introduced
into the south-eastern and south central portion of the
intra-mural area. The sewage flows by gravitation to
Jamalpur, whence it is pumped out to a thriving and
well-conducted sewage-farm. Plans for an extension of
the system to the whole of the walled area, which is estimated
to cost eleven lakhs of rupees, have been prepared by Mr.
Baldwin Latham, and a new pumping-engine, costing
nearly a lakh of rupees, was ordered during 1916. Now
that the war no longer places an embargo upon the raising
of loans by local bodies, the Municipality may be confidently
expected to complete the work initiated by their former
President and his English advisers. The amount spent
upon the scheme up to 1917 reached the considerable sum

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT. 4-T

of nearly 15^ lakhs, to which will before long be added a
further sum of eleven lakhs devoted to auxiliary works
of prime necessity. The underground drainage system of
Ahmadabad at the outset was wisely confined to sullage
only and not adapted, as in Bombay, to the removal, of
both sullage and storm- water. It is now generally admitted
that, where monsoon conditions prevail, it is neither advisable
nor practicable to attempt to deal with both sullage and
storm- water in one system. That Ranchhodlal should have
succeeded in introducing the underground system at all
is alone sufficient to keep his memory green in Ahmadabad.
There are some who, with experience of the present condition
of the city's streets during the months of the monsoon,
are apt to deplore the fact that a scheme for the surface
drainage of the city was not prepared with the drainage
scheme. But one must bear in mind the extraordinary
opposition which Ranchhodlal encountered in respect both
of the water-supply and drainage schemes and, rather
than cavil at omissions which the experience of a later
generation rightly considers important, pay a tribute of
admiration to the man who secured the two prime needs
of modern urban life in the face of the superstitious ignorance
and blind hostility of the general public. Had Ranchhodlal
lived longer, with his great faculty for work unimpaired,
he would assuredly have turned his attention to the problem
of surface drainage and have dealt with it as successfully
as he dealt with the two major problems of his municipal
career. There are people still living who can remember
seeing him perambulating the city with Baldwin I,atham,
and calmly considering the details of his scheme amid the
overt hostility and abuse of most of the traders and vakils.
Few Indians would have had the moral courage in such
circumstances to persist with their plans. But Ranchhodlal,
physically and morally, was a man of stout heart ; he held
on his course undeterred by threats and fear of unpopularity.
His achievement is to-day a source of pride to the citizens
of Ahmadabad.

42 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODI^AI, CHHOTALAL.

One of the salient features of Ranchhodlal's municipal
administration was his constant personal supervision of the
large works which he induced the Municipality to establish.
Every morning he visited the works while they were in
progress, suggesting alterations here and additions there,
and, though possessed of no professional training as an
engineer, was able to discuss the technical details of the
construction with the experts and even to make suggestions,
free from professional and departmental bias, which they
were on occasions only too willing to accept. The manage-
ment of his own business and constant attendance at public
and private meetings were never permitted to interfere
with his municipal duties ; in addition to his outdoor work
in the mornings he worked at the municipal office for three
hours every day and except on very rare occasions always
attended municipal meetings. In this wa}r he was respon-
sible for introducing several reforms in the general urban
administration. Public dispensaries, schools and institutes
benefited from his constant supervision ; technical scholar-
ships were granted to deserving students of the Victoria
Jubilee Technical Institute ; an institution for home medical
relief was founded ; he induced the Bombay Government
to pay a sum of Rs. 83,000 to which the Ahmadabad Muni-
cipality had long made claim and to sanction the participa-
tion of the Municipality in the proceeds of the sale of
occupancy rights in vacant lands within the city. Tracts
of land which for years had been the breeding-grounds -of
cholera and malaria were during his administration re-
claimed and converted into building sites ; and when the first
cases of bubonic plague occurred in the city, the measures for
disinfection and prevention which were immediately carried
out under his orders checked the spread of the disease and
obviated the necessity for the stringent and harassing pre-
cautions which caused so much annoyance and such heavy
expenditure in other parts of the Bombay Presidency.
His interest in municipal affairs never flagged ; even during
a visit to Mahableshwar for the sake of his health he con-

LOCAL, SELF-GOVERNMENT. 43

tinued his work, and he was busy with municipal matters
till within a few hours of his death.

Ranchhodlal was a keen and accurate observer, a logical
reasoner and a man of equable temper. Once convinced
of the truth of a particular opinion, he was ready to support
it patiently against all criticism without resort to anger,
intrigue or retaliation, in the conviction that its truth must
ultimately be made manifest. Avoiding any display of
passion, he was ever ready in his public speeches and official
reports to say a good word for his opponents and faithfully
to represent their views, even though he himself might
differ from them. In the height of controversy he
was careful to avoid hurting the feelings of those who
declined to accept his opinions and policy, and the respect
which he invariably showed to all did much to assuage
the bitterness of the conflict. His singleness of purpose,
his capacity, his diplomatic handling of municipal questions,
impressed all those with whom he came in contact. Suc-
cessive Collectors of Ahmadabad, Mr. H. E. M. (now Sir
Evan) James, Mr. G. B. Reid, Mr. C. E. Frost, Mr. M. C.
Gibb, and Mr. P. J. Mead, from time to time recorded their
sense of his devotion to the interests of the city and
emphasized the value of his ripe experience and wisdom.
Mens aqua in arduis might well have been chosen as his
motto, for the temporary failure of his plans and the open
hostility of the market-place were alike powerless to shake
his courage and constancy.

44 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

Chapter VI.

Politics.

Ranchhodlal's achievements in the commercial and
municipal spheres having been described, it becomes neces-
sary to glance at his activities in the domain of politics,
including therein both his work as a member of the Pro-
vincial Legislative Council and his policy as a member or
supporter of the Indian National Congress. The Indian
Councils Act of 1892, which was initiated b}^ discussions
during the Vicero}^alty of Lord Dufferin, provided for the
appointment by nomination or otherwise of additional
members to the various provincial councils, thus opening
the way for the closer association of leading Indians with the
legislative activities of the provincial governments and
leading direct^ to the famous Morley-Minto reforms of
1909. Ranchhodlal's merits were so conspicuous that the
Bombay Government felt no hesitation in appointing him
an additional member of the Legislative Council in 1892,
and in re-appointing him twice in succession on the expiry
of the statutory period of membership. His tenure of office
thus lasted for six years, during which period he displayed
in regard to public affairs the same moderation and the
same reasoned judgment which had characterized his
handling of municipal problems. Though fully in sympathy
with the aspirations of his own countrymen, Ranchhodlal
was nevertheless unfavourably disposed towards Western
methods of public agitation. He believed in the theoretical
fitness of liberal principles, but considered that the wholesale
application of them to the problems of India, as she was in
his day, might conceivably end in disaster, and that towards
established authority a policy of conciliatory argument
was to be preferred to that of blind opposition and resistance.

The first piece of legislation to arouse his interest was the

politics. 45

Mahuda1 Bill, which was designed to check the drinking
habit among the people of Thana district and of some parts
of the Kolaba district. The Bill excited considerable
controversy throughout the Presidency and was opposed
by bodies like the Bombay Presidency Association and the
Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, by many piominent members
of native society, and b}' the vernacular Press. Their chief
argument seems to have been that the restrictions embodied
in the Bill constituted a serious infringement of the liberty
of the people and that to their way of thinking " Thana free "
was better than " Thana sober." Ranchbodlal, himself
a strict teetotaller and enemy of intemperance, considered
that these arguments were fraught with danger to the health
and happiness of the people immediately concerned and
might react unfavourably on the general morality, and in
his capacity of President of the Temperance Association
of Ahmadabad he contributed to the Times of India and the
Bombay Gazette between June and October, 1892, a series
of articles refuting the arguments of the opponents of the
Bill and justifying the need for it by a careful array of
facts and statistics. The Bill was subsequently passed into
law. Ranchhodlal drew public attention to the question
of temperance on other occasions also. At a Legislative
Council Meeting held in August, 1894, while commenting in
his speech on the Budget upon the increase in the Abkari
revenue, he expressed regret that this should have been
occasioned, as he believed it to have been, by a decided
increase in the consumption of spirituous liquor and begged
the Council to devise some measure whereby the people
might be protected from the vice of drinking. In the
following year he strongly urged Government to alter the
system of farming the Abkari revenue, as it then existed
in the districts outside Bombay, advocating the introduction
of the system followed in the latter city and the enhancement
of the rate of duty in all large towns. Government, however,
for very good reasons preferred to adhere to the arrange-

1 See page 70 (Index) for meaning.

46 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODI^AI, CHHOTALAI,.

ments whereby the public exchequer annually receives not
less than a certain fixed sum on account of still-head duty
on liquor issued from a central distillery, and the liquor
farmer has a direct interest both in the suppression of illicit
distillation and in the supply to the public of the quantity
of liquor required for normal consumption.

Municipal finance was another subject to which Ranch-
hodlal drew attention in debate. He deprecated the practice
followed by the Bombay Government of obtaining advances
from the Government of India at four per cent, and charging
municipalities four and-a-half per cent., on the ground that
the additional half per cent, was needed to cover all risks.
" This procedure," he said, " may have been right when the
Government of India were paying interest at four per cent,
on Government paper. But as now Government happily
are able to command any amount of money at three and-a-
half per cent., it is but fair that they should charge the local
government at that rate, in order to enable the latter to
charge the same rate or not more than four per cent, to
local bodies." If this course was impossible, he urged that
municipalities should be empowered to repay their loans
from Government by borrowing in the open market.

In the course of the same speech, delivered in 1895,
he referred at some length to the vexed question of the
closing of the mints to the free coinage of silver. Ranch-
hodlal's views, which he also ventilated in a series of letters
and memorials, were opposed to the re-opening of the mints
to free coinage, by reason of the great fall in the value
of the rupee and the reduction in the rate of the English
exchange which must have followed a reversal of the policy
adopted by the Government of India in 1893. On the
other hand, he saw no reason why the Government should
not make an appreciable profit by coining rupees for their
own use, and referring to the current ratio of silver to rupees
and to the fact that a balance of twenty-five crores of rupees
was at that time lying idle in the Government treasuries,
he calculated that on the basis of one-twelfth of allov in the

politics. 47

rupee Government would realize the handsome profit of one
crore and fifty-nine lakhs, if they were to invest only six
crores of their balances in the purchase of silver and coin
it into rupees in their own mints. These and other argu-
ments in favour of re-opening the mints to their own coinage
Ranchhodlal pressed not only upon the Government of
India, but also upon the Viceroy, Lord Elgin, to whom he
submitted a special memorandum embodying his views,
His arguments did not impress the Government of India
and the Home authorities, who subsequently decided
upon the establishment of a gold standard for India
in order to maintain the enhanced rate of exchange which
followed the closing of the mints. The subject is now of
little more than academic interest, particularly to those
who have watched the rupee exchange rate rise to 2s. 8d.,
but it has been mentioned as being one of the matters which
absorbed Ranchhodlal's attention during his later years.

As one of the pioneers of the cotton industry of Western
India, Ranchhodlal naturally held strong views about the
countervailing duty on cotton goods manufactured in
Indian mills, which was imposed in 1896 at the instance of
the millowners of Lancashire. His views, which he pub-
lished in the Bombay press and embodied in a memorial
to the Government of India in January, 1896, were briefly
to the effect that as the cloth woven in Indian mills was
coarse and suited only to the poorer classes, the proposed
excise duty would be an unjustifiable burden upon the
latter ; that the imposition of the tax would be certain to
create an impression that the Government of India desired
to discourage the Indian mill industry in the interests of
Lancashire ; that it would discourage the introduction of
labour-saving machinery ; that if the Native States, as
seemed inevitable, were forced to follow the lead of the
Government of India, the constant advice tendered by the
latter to the various Durbars to abolish taxes on local
manufactures would be stultified ; and that it was obviously
unnecessary and unfair to levy a countervailing duty on

48 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

coarse cloth of a kind which could be proved never to have
been imported from Lancashire. Whatever sympathy the
Government of India may have had with these views, they
were naturally obliged to bow to the decision of the authorities
in England, and the Bill providing for the levy of the counter-
vailing excise duty was accordingly passed, literally in
obedience to the demand of the Lancashire electorate.
Ranchhodlal's second objection, as noted above, was a
very accurate forecast of Indian feeling on the subject,
for the maintenance till quite a recent date of the duty on
locally manufactured goods was widely accepted as con-
clusive proof that the authorities were positively encouraging
India's industrial backwardness in the interests of British
manufactures. The grievance of the Indian millowner has
been finally laid to rest during Mr. Austen Chamberlain's
tenure of office as Secretary of State on grounds which
recall the protest of Ranchhodlal twenty years ago.

Ranchhodlal was likewise opposed to some of the recom-
mendations of the Indian Factory Commission appointed
in 1884-85 to consider the amendment of the Factories
Act. Like other leading millowners, he was invited to give
his opinion on the proposal to restrict the number of working
days for women employed in factories, and declared himself
opposed to any measure, such as this, which would operate
to restrict the operatives' opportunity of wage-earning.
His arguments on this subject were on the whole less
convincing and less acceptable than the practical suggestions
which he made on another occasion for the detection and
prevention of cotton-adulteration. On this subject he was
an acknowledged expert and tendered valuable advice to
Government.

Ranchhodlal's sympathy with the aspirations of his
countrymen and his position in the commercial world led
naturally to his participating in the deliberations of the
Indian National Congress. He had been elected a delegate
on the occasion of the first session of the Congress in Bombay,
and in 1893, when the sixth Provincial Conference met at

politics. 49

Ahmadabad, Ranchhodlal accepted the post of Chairman
of the Reception Committee. During the deliberations
he was personally responsible for resolutions advocating the
modification of the rules regarding the levy of fines for the
use of land for non-agricultural purposes, and demanding
a system of local option in regard to the opening of liquor
shops in urban areas. His general attitude towards Govern-
ment, forming, as it does, a striking contrast with that of
some of the more vociferous politicians of a later day, is best
shown in the following extract from his speech as Chairman
of the Reception Committee : —

"It is a matter of regret that the misunderstanding
" should exist in some quarters that the persons who
" take part in these conferences are discontented with
" the present administration of the country. If such
" were the fact, I for one would have hesitated to take
" any part in such an assemblage ; but I fully believe
" that the educated people of the country think it their
" duty to try their best to promote the true happiness
" of their fellow-countrymen by all constitutional
" means, and are actuated with the best and most loyal
" motives to sacrifice their time and money for the
" public good. No honest person can for a moment
" doubt that the people of this country are in a variety
" of ways very greatly benefited by the present adminis-
" tration of the country, and they must therefore be
" most grateful to the present Government. Still,
" however well meaning a Government may be, there
" must always be some points in their administration
" in connection with which improvements ma}^ be
" necessary, and it is therefore desirable that intelligent
*' and experienced persons in the country should try and
" represent their views to Government regarding these
" improvements in a loyal and respectful manner.
" There is no reason to suppose that any responsible
" officer of Government would be unwilling or slow
" to receive such representations."

50 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAI,.

These pacific words, with their underlying determination
to give credit where it is due, would scarcely commend
themselves to some modern Congressmen by whom constant
misrepresentation and abuse of the Government and its
officials are apparently regarded as the high-water mark of
political sagacity.

On the subject of foreign trade, Ranchhodlal was an
advocate of protection against all countries that did not
follow the doctrine of Free Trade. America, France,
Germany, Canada, Australia, and some other British colonies
all imposed a heavy and sometimes almost prohibitive duty
on foreign goods with a view to the protection of their -own
industries. Was it just, he argued, that India should be
made to grant free importation from such countries, at least
so far as manufactured articles other than raw material,
machinery and articles of food were concerned ? England
extended the indulgence of free imports to India, and it was
therefore only just that her goods should be imported
duty-free into India ; but why should not India protect
her paper-industry at Poona by imposing a dut}^ on German
paper in view of the fact that German}^ imposed a heavy
duty on yarn imported from Ahmadabad ? Why should
American cloth be imported free into Bombay when woollen
carpets from Ahmadabad were subject to a heavy duty in
New York ? These questions still await a final answer.
Since Ranchhodlal wrote, the demand for Protection, even
against British goods, has grown more insistent, and is one
of the chief elements in the cry for fiscal autonomy which
the Indian politician considers the panacea for all ills. It
is probable that before long the whole question of tariffs
will have to be tackled by the liberalised administration
introduced by the Government of India Act of 1919.

This resume of Ranchhodlal's activities in the political
sphere may conclude with a few remarks on his attitude
towards the question of widow-remarriage. Some few
years ago, as the result of an agitation headed by a well-
known Parsi philanthropist, the late Mr. B. M. Malabari,

POLITICS. 51

the Bombay Government was pressed to take legislative
action against " enforced widowhood " and " infant mar-
riage." Ranchhodlal, on being consulted officially by
Government on the subject, laid down the perfectly sound
proposition that as the matters at issue were closely bound
up with Hindu social and religious customs, it was mani-
festly undesirable that the State should interfere with them.
He deprecated the use of the term " enforced widowhood,"
on the ground that a Hindu widow of respectable birth,
however deplorable her condition might be, willingly set her
face against re-marriage from religious conviction and a sense
of honour, and that it would be extremely difficult for
Government to distinguish between the few instances in
which widowhood might truly be described as " enforced "
and the great mass of cases in which the widow voluntarily
accepted the conditions and penances prescribed by Hindu
belief and custom. Government had, in his opinion, gone
as far as was desirable in legalizing widow-remarriage by
Act XVIII of 1856, and it was manifestly improper that
it should now take further powers to compel an unwilling
widow to re-marry. Contact with Western thought and
civilisation was bound, in Ranchhodlal's opinion, to soften
the asperities of ancient Hindu custom, and it was wiser
policy to await the gradual alteration of harsh beliefs by
such agency than to endeavour to hasten the process by
legislation. Ranchhodlal freely admitted the justice of
the charges levelled by reformers against the system of
infant marriage ; but he laid stress at the same time on the
fact that the evil was a social one and could therefore be
best dealt with by society. To invite the legislature to
usurp the function of society was tantamount to disturbing
the social order and striking at the very root of social
rights and privileges. Ranchhodlal's advice was un-
questionably correct. Matters have advanced since his day ;
but it is doubtful whether the progress of public opinion
even now has been sufficiently marked to warrant the
interference of Government in customs which date back

52 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAI, CHHOTALAL.

to hoary antiquity. As education, particularly the educa-
tion of women, extends among all classes, and provided the
advocates of reform act in consonance with their outward
professions, the general community will in time spontaneously
relinquish customs and beliefs that date back to less en-
lightened and less philanthropic ages.

PUBLIC CHARITY, CHARACTER AND DEATH. 53

Chapter VII.

Public Charity, Home Life, Character
and Death.

The large fortune which Ranchhodlal amassed by his
own efforts was freely spent on charitable objects irrespective
of caste and class. Hospitals, educational institutions,
technical and literary societies, urban development, all
profited from time to time by his benevolence. Up to the
year 1878, Ahmadabad possessed only one institution for
medical relief, besides the Government Civil Hospital,
namely the Becherdas dispensary, founded by the late
Rao Bahadur Becherdas Ambaidas, C.S.I. Realising that
this dispensary was unable to treat more than a small
proportion of the urban population, and that further
medical relief was essential, Ranchhodlal in 1878 built
and equipped at his own expense a large dispensary in the
railway suburb of Ahmadabad. By 1881 the success of
this institution was assured and Ranchhodlal therefore
offered to transfer it to the charge of municipality, which
agreed to the proposal on condition that the donor provided
funds for its maintenance. Ranchhodlal immediately
offered an endowment fund of Rs. 20,000 ; and subse-
quently, after the dispensary had been placed under muni-
cipal management, he bestowed further sums for the
extension of the main buildings, to admit of the housing of
indoor patients and of an increased hospital staff, and
offered an additional sum of Rs. 5,000 for the cost of accom-
modating distressed persons of the middle and lower classes,
who could not afford to pay the visiting fees of doctors and
were at the same time too ill to visit the dispensary as out-
door patients. To provide food for this class of patients

54 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

he also gave an annual donation of Rs. 500. Located in a
convenient centre, this dispensary has proved an undoubted
boon to the people of Ahmadabad and surrounding villages ;
more than 20,000 persons are treated by it every year, and
its extension and efficiency are promoted by regular donations
from the charitably disposed.

The subject of medical relief for women did not escape
Ranchhodlal's attention. In 1885 he offeied an endowment
of Rs. 20,000 for the provision of a women's hospital ; but
the matter was for the time being shelved as the Govern-
ment were unable, owing to financial stringency, to promise,
their usual contribution to the funds of the new institution.
Ranchhodlal however, after a little delay, revived the
question, and in addition to the endowment previously
promised offered to pay half the salary of the medical
woman in charge of the hospital, provided that her total
emoluments did not exceed Rs. 200 a month. On this
occasion a Government grant was forthcoming, with the
result that on April 1st, 1889, the hospital was opened under
the title of the Victoria Jubilee Female Dispensary.

Not content with these two institutions, Ranchhodlal
opened about the year 1895 a Home Medical Relief Institu-
tion, which bears his own name. His object was to provide
medical relief for such of the poorer classes as might be
unable to walk to a charitable dispensary, including the
services of a doctor who would visit them in their own
homes. A pensioned servant of Government, who had
held the rank of first-class hospital assistant, was engaged,
and for the first year of its working the total cost of the
institution was borne in equal shares by Ranchhodlal and
the municipality. Thereafter, as the work proved success-
ful, Ranchhodlal placed it on a permanent basis by an
endowment of Rs. 25,000, and handed over its maintenance
to the municipal authorities. The scheme has proved of
benefit to thousands of bed-ridden patients.

At a later date Ranchhodlal, who had remarked the
success attending the dispensary founded by him in the

PUBLIC CHARITY, CHARACTER AND DEATH. 55

railway suburb, offered a sum of Rs. 70,000 towards the
expense of raising it to the status of a recognised Civil
Hospital, but the Bombay Government unable at the time
to provide the prescribed grant-in-aid were reluctantly
forced to decline the offer. Baulked in this direction,
Ranchhodlal decided to extend the scope of his arrangements
for medical relief by the establishment of a travelling
dispensary. He therefore set aside a sum of Rs. 20,000
for the regular distribution of medicines to the poorer
villagers of the Daskroi taluka, in which the city of Ahmada-
bad is situated. He also provided medical relief at his
own proprietary village of Auganaj.

Education was another subject very close to Ranch-
hodlal's heart. When the Gujarat Arts College, which
since 1879 has been affiliated to the Bombay University,
was about to be established, Ranchhodlal devoted several
thousand rupees towards its maintenance fund, and after-
wards, as one of the Board of Directors, made every effort
to promote the interests of the College, giving handsome
donations towards the cost of the building and providing
at his own expense a number of rooms in the students'
residential quarters. He also founded a monthly scholarship
of ten rupees, tenable for the whole period of the collegiate
course, for students of his own caste. The lower classes
also were not forgotten ; for he established in the Shahpur
ward of the city a vernacular school for the education of
the children of his mill-operatives, which bears his own
name, and many a poor student benefited by Ranchhodlal's
catholic benevolence, receiving pecuniary aid towards the
purchase of books and the payment of school fees. On the
subject of female education also Ranchhodlal's views were
progressive. His knowledge of the Hindu Shastras acted
as a constant reminder that in former ages women freely
partook of such education as was then available and fre-
quently played no inconsiderable role in the social and
intellectual life of ancient India. The almost universal
ignorance of Hindu women in his own day struck Ranchhodlal

56 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

as a reproach to his countrymen and as inconsistent with
the ancient ideals of Hinduism. These views underlay his
foundation of a girls' school at a cost of Rs. 12,000 in the
Khadia ward of the city. He supplemented this sum at
a later date with a donation of Rs. 2,000 for the provision
of scholarships for the more intelligent girls ; and after his
death, his son Madhavlal crowned the work by purchasing
a new school building in a more convenient situation and
securing the permanent maintenance of the school.

Among Ranchhodlal's miscellaneous charities may be
mentioned his contribution towards the building of a
dharmashala1 near the Sabarmati railway junction ; his
erection in the Khadia ward of a hall for religious and social
gatherings, costing more than Rs. 7,000 ; his donation of
Rs. 7,000 to the Sanatan Vaidik Dharma Samrakshak Sabha —
a society which he founded for the weekly discussion of
religious topics ; the establishment of a free kitchen for
poor railway-travellers ; his donation of Rs. 2,000 to the
Gujarat vernacular society to defray the cost of propaganda
directed against intemperance ; his liberal donation towards
the Imperial Institute in London ; public dinners to the
poor ; the building of ghats at various tirths and holy places
for the convenience of pilgrims ; and lastly, the establish-
ment of an asylum for orphans of both sexes in the Shahpur
ward of Ahmadabad. In this institution orphan children
of all castes were boarded and clothed at Ranchhodlal's
expense, the boys, as they grew up, being given work in his
mills and the girls being married and settled in life under
the auspices of their patron and protector. The orphanage
still nourishes and carries on the beneficent objects of the
founder.

Though necessarily less known to the official public and
the outer world, Ranchhodlal's household and private
charities in no wise lagged behind his public benefactions.
His Indian biographer is our authority for the statement

1 Literally " a pious edifice " ; a rest-house for wayfarers, corresponding
to the South Indian Choultry 01 Chuttrum.

PUBLIC CHARITY, CHARACTER AND DEATH. 57

that Ranchhodlal's house was pre-eminent in this respect
among the whole Brahman communit}^ of Gujarat. Food
and clothing were daily distributed to mendicants of every
class ; railway tickets were purchased for Brahmans and
ascetics bound upon long journe3Ts to distant shrines ;
needy Pandits, poor students, struggling poets were helped
according to their needs and their merits. To meet all these
claims upon his benevolence he set aside in early years a
tenth, and in later years almost three-quarters, of his
princely income. No element of caprice or vanity marred
his charity ; he gave of his great wealth to them that needed
it because he believed it to be his duty to do so.

As may be imagined, Ranchhodlal's home life was
singularly happy, and the obedience and affection which he
had shown to his parents was in due course repaid to
him in full by his own children. Ranchhodlal's mother died
in 1863 ; his father in 1869 ; but the heaviest blow that
befell him was the death of his wife, Jethiba, in 1876, when
he was in his fiftieth year. Thereafter he lived for his
children alone, for he never married again, widening the
mental outlook of his son and grandson by lessons drawn
from his own experience and by daily discussion with them
of both public and private affairs. So long as he lived they
rendered him unquestioning obedience, and the peace of the
home was never broken b}^ minor disagreement nor over-
shadowed bj^ domestic strife. Ranchhodlal's daily life
was ordered with the same care as his business undertakings.
He rose at five a.m., and after the performance of his ablu-
tions spent two hours in the religious rites or karmas pre-
scribed for Brahmans in Hindu lore. Then for an hour or
so he would walk or drive in the open air, and after visiting
the mills and the municipal works under construction in
various quarters of the city would return home about noon
for the mid-day meal. From an early age his first morning
meal consisted of a little tea and a plum steeped in candy
syrup, so that he was quite ready for his mid-day dinner
after his exercise in the open air. On his return to the

58 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAI, CHHOTA^AI,.

.house he bathed again .donned the silken cloth of the orthodox
Hindu, performed the minor Vaishvadeva sacrifice, and then
sat down to his meal in company with the male members
of the household. Dinner ended, he spent a couple of hours
in reading business and official correspondence and also
the newspapers, of which he subscribed to a large number.
This work, together with the interviewing of visitors, lasted
till about five p.m., when he would drive to the Municipal
office and there transact business until eight-thirty or nine
p.m. Returning home, he repeated the evening prayers,
took a light supper, and then at ten p.m. retired to his
couch for the night.

Socially Ranchhodlal was an agreeable personality. He
was always accessible to visitors and was ever ready with
advice and assistance to those who needed it. Europeans,
Indians of all castes, rich capitalists, struggling traders and
mendicants, all gained free admittance to his home or office
and met with equal consideration at his hands. He kept his
worries and troubles to himself, never allowing the cares of
outside life to intrude upon the peace of his home. He
affected the utmost simplicity of dress and, in spite of his
wealth and commercial standing, bore himself with such
humility and absence of pretension that the poorest of his
callers and acquaintances felt at ease in his presence. No
scandal, no rumour of evil ever touched his private life
which, like his public career, was fully occupied in devising
plans for the happiness or welfare of those around him. He
was a genuine disciple of peace, in that he never tried to force
his views upon others, but was content to represent them
in tactful language, free of all trace of passion or intolerant
contempt. He was averse likewise from identifying himself
with ultra-radical principles and opinions, in the belief
that these would necessarily arouse fierce resistance to the
policy of their holders, and that reform in any direction
must, to be successful, come from within rather than be
enforced from without. Thus, orthodox and conservative
Brahman as he was, he was able, without incurring odium

PUBLIC CHARITY, CHARACTER AND DEATH. 59

or censure, to point out and in a measure correct some of
the defects which had become apparent in the ancient
religion and social customs of his country. With all his
innate conservatism none kept a mind more open to the
progressive spirit of the age, and none showed greater
capacity than he for gauging the force and tendency of
public opinion.

In personal appearance Ranchhodlal was of medium
height, with an aquiline nose, large eyes set well apart, and
a high intellectual brow. At all seasons of the year he was
accustomed to wear a long black coat, with a Kashmir
shawl thrown over his shoulder, and a turban of a deep
crimson colour. The latter was often not rewound for two
or three months at a time ; the coat frequently lacked a
button here and there ; both often needed a good brushing
to rid them of fragments of cotton-waste picked up in the
daily visit to the mills. But, as remarked above, Ranch-
hodlal was simple, almost careless, in the matter of dress,
and was far too deeply absorbed in commercial and municipal
problems to be able to devote attention to his personal
appearance. He did not meet with any less respect on this
account from the public, for his courtliness of manner and
obvious good breeding produced far more impression than
his harmless eccentricities of dress.

As mentioned above, Ranchhodlal was an extremely
orthodox Nagar Brahman. From the date of his upanayana
ceremony, when he was eight years old, until his death at
the age of seventy-six, not a day passed that he did not
repeat the Sandhya V and an prayers and perform all the
religious ceremonies prescribed by Hindu lore. His faith
in the Brahmanic religion remained ever unshaken, and under
his orders Brahmans were engaged daily to recite hymns
and sacred texts from the Vedas for the preservation of the
health and prosperity of the family. In the case of illness
in the household, special appeals and gifts were offered to the
god Rudra ; on one occasion, some years before his death,
he performed a Gayatri Purascharana sacrifice at enormous

60 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTAI.AL.

cost, distributing very liberal dakshina or cash presents
among the Brahmans who attended the ceremony ; while
in 1896 he arranged for the performance on a magnificent
scale of the Sahasra Chandi Yajna on the highest peak
of the Aravalli hills, where there is a famous shrine of the
mother-goddess Ambika. His belief in the various deities
of the Vedas and Puranas was sincere, and throughout his
life he took particular pleasure in hearing stories and legends
from Hindu myth and epic. Coupled with his devotion
to the gods and goddesses of Hinduism was a very tender
regard for animal life, and the slaughter of animals was
rigidly proscribed in the various sacrifices which he performed.
The sight of the blood of a goat streaming upon the altar
of a goddess moved him on one occasion so deeply that he
made a personal appeal to the Rana, within whose territory
the shrine lay, to abolish the custom of sacrificing live
animals. On the occasion of a solar or lunar eclipse,
when according to Hindu ideas every worthy action is
rendered a thousand times more meritorious and more
pleasing to the gods, Ranchhodlal would visit with his
family the most sacred places in India, such as Benares,
Hardwar and Prayag (Allahabad) and there distribute
large sums in charity. On one occasion his Indian bio-
grapher spent a few days with him, at the time of an eclipse,
in Chandod Karnali on the banks of the sacred river Narbada,
otherwise known as the Rewa, which rises on the summit
of the Amarkantak plateau in Central India and enters the
sea below Broach in the Bombay Presidency. " We all
went to the river bank," writes his biographer, " where we
counted our beads until the eclipse was over. It was a
touching sight to see the old gentleman, clad only in his
bright yellow silken wrap, seated with his right arm across
his breast on a pile of darbha grass and muttering the mantras
(sacred formulae) with deep faith and mental concentration.
His features bore the impress of serenity and he looked
like one of the Oriental sages or Rishis of old time meditating
on the glory of the Supreme Being."

PUBLIC CHARITY, CHARACTER AND DEATH. 6l

Ranchhodlal was very fond of hearing Haridasa Kathas,
especially on the anniversaries of the death of his parents
and sisters, and during the last six months of his life he
arranged for the weekly recitation in his house of poems
in praise of Rama and Krishna composed by modern writers
and devotees. Every part of the Sruti, the Smriti and the
Pur anas, dealing with the glory of God and enjoining
morality and the subordination of the lower elements in
human nature to its spiritual side, commanded his deepest
reverence and admiration. Not a single Vrata (vow)
prescribed by the Shastras, no matter how difficult or costly
its performance might be, was neglected in his household.
The dana or religious gifts, which play so large a part in the
performance of such ceremonies, were granted with un-
sparing hand, and the Brahmans profited by the gift to them
of hundreds of cows and of provision for their sustenance
for twelve months. Horses, together with funds sufficient
to feed them for a veer, and quantities of emblematic gold
flowers, consecrated on various occasions to his household
gods, were likewise distributed among the priests of his
faith. Yet while thus observing the customs and practice
of Hindu orthodoxy, Ranchhodlal was tolerant of any
other faith that appeared to him to be based upon true
morality. His absence of bigotry, and indeed his attitude
of tolerance led on occasions to his ideas being widely mis-
construed by his own co-religionists and to the prevalence of
a suspicion that his faith in Hinduism was unstable.
Nothing could have been further from the truth. To
the end of his long and active .Hfe, Ranchhodlal remained
a devout Hindu, staunch to the faith of his fathers. Lesser
minds could not understand that genuine devotion to one's
own creed is not necessarily incompatible with an attitude
of tolerance towards the ideals and tenets of other faiths.

From the refined character of his personal religion
doubtless arose his strong sense of duty in worldly affairs.
No personal inclination, no afterthought was allowed to
conflict with what he believed to be his obligations towards

62 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAI, CHHOTAIAL.

others ; and once he had pledged his word or made a promise
no amount of argument or moral pressure sufficed to make
him resile from it. His trustworthiness in this respect
became proverbial in Ahmadabad. Even in the most
trifling matters of everyday routine no consideration of
personal convenience was allowed to interfere with engage-
ments entered into with others, and he was scrupulously
careful to avoid making any promise which he felt in any
way doubtful of his ability to perform. Forbearance was
another notable trait in his character, and the oanskrit
motto which headed his notepaper, meaning " There is no
weapon like forbearance," may be truly considered to have
been one of the guiding principles of his life. In the face
of great provocation, he never gave way to anger nor lost
control of himself ; the most irritating circumstances failed
to ruffle his temper ; and in the height of bitter controversy
his language was always that of a calm and dispassionate
advocate. His patience, when attacked, was so great that
others, who sided with him, were sometimes disposed to
take up the cudgels on his behalf. When, for example, the
waterworks were under construction and Ranchhodlal,
on his daily rounds of inspection, was greeted with abuse
and insult by the more ignorant citizens, his family berged
him to relinquish all active interest in his projects and so
obviate the chance of contumely. " Their insults," replied
Ranchhodlal, " surely do me no harm, for what I have
been doing is for their good, and from good no evil can
result. Their treatment of me resembles that of children
who, when bitter medicines are administered to them, kick
and abuse those around them in ignorance of their beneficial
effects, but are grateful when recovery follows. These very
people will soon discover their mistake and instead of
cursing will bless me." He lived to see this prophecy
fulfilled to the very letter. Many other instances of his
forbearance live in the memories of his contemporaries and
need no mention here. Let it suffice that his patient toler-
ance at length turned many a scoffer and opponent into an

PUBLIC CHARITY, CHARACTER AND DEATH. 63

admirer and friend, and that it is gratefully remembered
to this day by people of all classes in Ahmadabad.

With this forbearance towards the foibles of others
Ranchhodlal combined a capacity for close and regular
supervision of the work of his subordinates. This was
particularly noticeable in his household affairs, which, as
he was wont to remark, are apt to become disorganised,
even where a hundred servants are employed, if the master
of the house is lacking in vigilance. These views were
responsible for his rising at an unusually early hour, when
guests were staying in the house, in order to see that his
servants were up betimes and ministering to the visitors'
requirements ; they were likewise responsible when there
was illness in the home, for his close personal superintendence
of the sick chamber. Once the doctor had been called in
and had given his orders, it was Ranchhodlal himself who
saw that the treatment was duly carried out. Yet he was
not a hard master, and was naturally disposed to make
allowances for the errors and failings of those beneath him
rather than to magnify and punish them harshly. Con-
sequently there were few who were not proud to serve him
and who did not consider themselves well repaid if they
earned his confidence and commendation.

Ranchhodlal's equanimity of temper has already been
remarked, and this virtue coupled with a surprisingly
retentive memory and a natural ability to grasp the salient
features of a problem, enabled him on more than one
occasion to render great assistance both to Government
and the public. Thus at the time when serious Hindu-
Mahommedan riots had broken out in Bombay and sectarian
feeling was running high in various centres of the Presidency,
Ranchhodlal contrived by conciliatory measures and
address to avert a rupture between the Hindu and Moslem
populations of Ahmadabad. Again, during the early years
of the disastrous plague epidemics, when the people of
Bombay, Poona, Surat and other places were suffering
much from regulations designed in all honesty to combat

64 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAI, CHHOTALAI,.

the spread of the disease, Ranchhodlal by dint of the studied
moderation of his langrage and his reasoned explanation
to Government of the popular needs and apprehensions,
was able to secure for Ahmadabad immunity from the more
vexatious rules and restrictions which unfortunately led
elsewhere to disturbances and the temporary dislocation
of business. And here we may remark that while deeply
attached to his own country and compatriots Ranchhodlal
never permitted their complaints or dissatisfaction to lessen
his fundamental regard and respect for the British. As
in the case of the early plague regulations, Ranchhodlal's
views, like those of his countrymen, were occasionally
opposed to those of Europeans ; but such divergences of
policy and opinion never overshadowed the admiration
which he openly showed for the courage and practical
efficiency of the latter. He believed firmly in the bona- fides
of the Englishman, whether official or non-official, and on
that very account held a far stronger position as the leader
and spokesman of his countrymen in Gujarat than could
have been attained by a less broadminded or less impartial
critic.

Ranchhodlal died on the 26th October, 1898, in his
seventy-sixth year. His intellectual and mental faculties
remained unimpaired to the last. But for several years
before his death he suffered from a chronic pulmonary
complaint which ultimately proved fatal. Entire cessation
from active work, when the disease was in its early stages,
might perhaps have arrested its progress ; but Ranchhodlal
was far too deeply engrossed in public and private work to
embrace a life of idleness, and made shift therefore to fight
the enemy with tonics and other medicines. The pain
which accompanied the malady usually attacked him after
midnight, and one who was an inmate of his house describes
Ranchhodlal awaking from sleep and perforce sitting up
for hours until the agony had passed. Later the attacks
at night became more violent and he was not free from
occasional pain during the day. Expert medical advice

PUBLIC CHARITY, CHARACTER AND DEATH. 65

was sought and every remedy was tried ; but the disease
had obtained too firm a hold to yield to treatment. Other
symptoms supervened ; his digestion failed in spite of
careful dieting ; symptoms of old age became more marked.
In several letters written about this time he remarks upon
his growing lack of energy and contemplates the relinquish-
ment of active work, but is afraid to follow this course lest
the change should aggravate his illness. His friends and
relatives besought him often to take a prolonged rest, but
he could not be persuaded to give up the habits of a lifetime,
and was actually engrossed in municipal affairs till within
a few hours of his death. The day before he died he seemed
a little better and went for a drive. But during the night
and the following morning the pain became almost un-
bearable. Many persons called to enquire about him,
and were admitted to his presence ; and from all of them
he asked forgiveness for any wrong he might have done
them. His medical attendant strove to alleviate the pain,
and during such momentary relief as he could give, Ranch-
hodlal murmured his final prayers to God. At length,
after oxygen had been administered and further relief had
become impossible he sank into a condition of semi-coma
and passed away quietly at eleven p.m.

The news of his death was received with wide-spread
regret. Telegrams and letters of condolence poured in from
a wide circle of friends and acquaintances ; English and
Indian alike gave public expression to their sense of loss.
At six a.m. on the following morning his body was cremated
with the full rites of the Hindu religion, and during the
twelve months following his death his son, Madhavlal,
devoted a very large sum of money to the performance of
the various ceremonies prescribed for the welfare and repose
of the souls of the dead.

Ranchhodlal's death deprived Ahmadabad of the most
distinguished of its citizens, deprived the province of Gujarat
of its leading merchant prince, and robbed the State of one
of its most loyal and devoted subjects. His achievements in

66 RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAI, CHHOTA^AI,.

the field of commerce and urban government justly entitle him
to high rank in the company of those able and distinguished
men, both English and Indian, whose lives have been devoted
to helping India along the path of progress. He will live
long in the memory of the city, whose welfare he sought
with such courage and consistency. His unfaltering
optimism, his public spirit, his unfailing courtesy, his
patriotism and catholic philanthropy — these are the
keynotes of a career which must ever remain a source
of pride and inspiration to his countrymen*

INDEX AND GLOSSARY.

67

INDEX AND GLOSSARY.

Abkari (from Persian ab-kari,
the distillation or sale of
[strong] waters, and the
excise levied upon such
business. In every district
in India the privilege of
selling spirits is farmed to
contractors, who manage
the sale through retail-
shopkeepers. In Bombay
the manufacture and sale
of liquor is controlled by
the provisions of an Abkari
Act, and the details of the
system of Government con-
trol vary in certain parts
of the Presidency) . . 45

Ahmad abad (capital of Gujarat
in 230 2'N. and 72° 35' IS,.,
on the B.B. and C.I. Rail-
way. Founded by Ahmad
Shad [141 1-43] on the left
bank of the Sabarmati
river ; enclosed by walls
20 feet high, entered by
fourteen gates. Subjugated
by Akbar in 1572, it was
one of the most splendid
cities in Western India
during the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries ;
seized by the Marathas in
1753 ; stormed by the Brit-
ish in 1 780. It came finally
into British possession in
1818. The city contains

many ancient buildings of
historic and architectural
interest, and is a famous
centre of industry), i_iv, 6,
8, 9, 10, 12, 16, 17, 19, 21-
23> 25, 26ff, 53#, 63, 64, 65

Ahmad abad, Medical Institu-
tions of . . 53.55
,, Municipality of 26//
„ Unhealthiness of 28, 30, 31

Ambaial, family priest of

Jethiba . . . . 16

Ambika (or Amba Mata, one of
the aboriginal mother-god-
desses of the pre-Aryan
inhabitants of India, sub-
sequently absorbed by
Brahmanism into the Hin-
du Pantheon and identified
with Kali, Bhavani and
Parvati, who are different
aspects of Mahadevi, the
Sakti and consort of Maha-
dev or Siva. Ambika is a
favourite goddess in Guja-
rat and Kathiawar) . . 60

Anand Rai Mashraf . . 2, 3

Aravauj Hh,i,s . . . . 60

B.
Babis, the .. 3 & note

Baroda (capital of the Gaek-
war's possessions in 220 18'
N. and 73° 15' E., 6i£
miles S.E. of Ahmadabad.
The city proper is enclosed
by the old fort- walls, and

68

RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

contains many temples
and fine buildings, inclu-
ding the Baroda College,
the State Library, the
Countess of Dufferin Hos-
pital, the old Palace of the
Gaekwar, and the Nazar
Bagh Palace, in which are
stored the Gaekwar'sjewels
valued at more than 3 mil-
lion rupees), 1, 6, 7, 10, 14, 19

Baroda, Bankers of 19

,, Gaekwar of . . . . 3,6

Bechardas Ambaedas, Rao
Bahadur .. 22,53

Bhavnagar( capital of Bhav-
nagar State in Kathiawar,
on the Gulf of Cambay.
Founded in 1723, it is one
of the principal harbours
of export for cotton in
Kathiawar. The chief of
Bhavnagar is a Gohel
Rajput) .. .. 12

BholanaTh Sarabhai, Mr. 10 <S- note

• C.
CHHOXALAIv Udayashankar,

Birth . . 3

Education . . 4

Marriage . . 4

Pilgrimages . . . . 5

Service at Patau .. 4,6
Appointed Bakshi . . 6
Moves to Ahmadabad 6'
Character . . . . 7

Death . . . . 57

CHINUBHAI MADHAVLAI,, Sir,

CLE. (first Hindu Baronet) iv, 22
" City Walls Restoration

Fund," The . . 26,32

Commission, Army Sanitary 29
Cotton Spinning and Weaving

Industry, Growth of 22,23

I).

Dadabhai Navroji, Mr. . . 20
Dakor (place of pilgrimage in
Kaira district in 220 45' N.
and 730 11' E., lying on a
branch of the B.B. and C.I.
Railway. The chief object
of interest is the temple
of Ranchhodji or Krishna) 6, 16

Daixei, Sing Salam Sing, of

Lunawada .. 15,16

Darbha (a sacred grass, Cyno-
don dactylon, belonging to
the borage species, which
is supposed to purify
everything that it touches
and is used constantly in
Hindu religious ceremo-
nies. It is regarded as a
part of Vishnu himself, a
festival being held in its
honour on the eighth
day of the light half of
the Hindu month Bha-
drapad) . . . . 60

Daskroi (headquarter taluka
of Ahmadabad district,
with an area of 345 square
miles) . . • • 55

Desai (in Western and South-
ern India in former days
a native official or petty
chief in charge of a district
or tract of country ; the
office was often hereditary.
These officials in the Dec-
can were usually known as
Deshmukhs. The Desais
and Deshmukhs lost their
official status under British
rule) .. -.13

INDEX AND GLOSSARY.

69

Devji, Vithai, Rao . . 6

,, Govinb Rao . . 6

Drainage (of Ahmadabad) . . $8ff

Ducat, Colonel W. M. 32, 36

Duties, Cotton Excise 47. 48

E.

ECUPSE, Solar

60

Fernandez, Mr. J. F. 28, 30

Foreign Trade and Protection 50
FULJAMES, Major . . 14, J 9

Gaekwari Districts, Seques-
tration of

Gibb, Mr. M. C. . .

GlRASiA (holder of a giras or
portion of land given for
subsistence to the cadets of
chieftain's families. Later
the term giras was applied
to the blackmail paid by
, a village to a turbulent
neighbour as the price
of his protection and for-
bearance ; and the title of
girasia, indicating its pos-
sessor to be a cadet of the
ruling tribe, consequently
became in several instances
a term of opprobrium) . .

Gogha (town in the Dhand-
huka taluka of Ahmada-
bad district, on the Gulf
of Cambay, 193 miles
north-west of Bombay) 10

Gujarat Arts College

13

H.
Haridasa Katha (religious

poems and recitatives) . . 60

Harris, Lord . . • • 37

Hewlett, T. G. . . 38, 39

Home Medical Relief 42, 54

HOPE, Sir Theodore . . 34-37

Indian Councils Act of 1892 . . 44
Indian National Congress 44. 48

J-

James, Mr. H. E. M. (now Sir

Evan)
JETHIBA, Parentage of
,, Marriage of
„ Attainments and Char-
acter
„ Charged with receiving
a bribe

43

8.9

Nature of Defence
Death of . .

16
16, 17
•• 57

Kamal-ud-din Khan (Jawan

Mard Khan) . . 2, 3 c~ note

Kashiba, Birth of . . . . 5

„ Desertion of • • 7

Kavasji. N. Davar, Mr. . . 20

Khalkuva (a cesspool) 29, 30, 31

Labhma (wife of Chhotalal),
Marriage of . .
„ Death
Lalbhai Udayashankar,
Birth of
„ Receives Cbhotalal's
Effects

4
57

70

RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

Landon, Mr. . . 19, 20

Latham, Mr. Baldwin 39, 40, 41

I/rjNAWADA (a second-class

Native State in the Rewa

Kantha Agency, with an

area of 388 square miles) 1 5, 16

M.

Madhavlai, Ranchhodlai,

iii, 22, 56, 65

Madhyandin Shakha (a par-
ticular subdivision of
Brahmans based upon the
fact that its members
treasure and follow a par-
ticular shakha, < i.e.,
"branch," "copy," or
" recension " of the Vedas.
Those holding a particular
shakha are said to belong
to it and to be identified
with it. The name Madhy-
andin is derived from the
sandhya (junction) or sea-
son of worship at noon, to
which the Madhyandin
Brahmans attach much im-
portance) . . . . 2

Mahi Kantha (a group of
States forming a Political
Agency under the Bombay
Government, with an area
of 3125 square miles. The
most important Chief in
Mahi Rantha is the Maha.
raja of Idar) . . 6

Mahtjda or Mhowra (a country
liquor distilled from the
flowers of the Mahna tree
(Bassia lati folia), the chief
Government distilleries
being situated at Uran on
Karanja Island in Bombay
Harbour) . . 45

Majumdar (a grade of public
officials under the Native
Governments, who were
usually paid for their ser-
vices in a district by an
assignment on the revenue,
Under Sivaji in the Dec-
can, one of the eight Prad-
hans or ministers was a
Majumdar or auditor-
general) .. .. 13
Malabari, Mr. B. M. . . 50
MAiyWA ( an extensive region
now included for the most
part in the Central India
Agency, lying between the
Narbadaon the south, the
Chambal on the north,
Gujarat on the west, and
Bundelkhand, was the seat
of famous Hindu King-
doms prior to the 13th
century . . . . 2
Manekji, N. Petit, Mr. . . 20
Mead, Mr. P. J. . . . . 43
Mehetaji (a Native School-
master) . . 9
Mints, Closing of the 46, 47
Mohotiba (daughter of Chho-

talal), Marriage of . . 4
,, Widowhood of . . 4, 7

N.

Nagar Brahmans, the 1, 3, 59
,, Origin of . . ..1,2

,, Character of . . 2

Narbada, the (an important
and very sacred river,
styled Rewa in the Hindu
Epics and Namados by
Ptolemy, which rises in
Central India and flows
inio the sea near Broach,

INDEX AND GLOSSARY.

71

after a total course of 801
miles)

60

0.

Ogilvy, Mr. T.

12, 14

P.

Palanpur (State in Bombay
Presidency which with
Radhanpur and smaller
states forms the Palanpur
Agency. The capital, Pal-
anpur, is a very old settle-
ment, mentioned in the
eighth century . . 3

Panch Mahals (district in the
Northern Division, Bom-
bay Presidency, compris-
ing 1,606 square miles and
divided into two parts by
a strip of the Bariya State
of the Rewa Kantha
Agency) .. 13,23

Patan (town in 2 30 51' N. and
720 10' E. in Baroda State,
formerly famous as Anhil-
vada, founded in A.D. 746
by a Chavada Ruler and
subsequently held by So-
lankis and Vaghelas. The
last Vaghela Chief was
overthrown by UlughKhan
in 1298. Modern Patan,
which is surrounded by a
lofty wall pierced by nu-
merous gateways, is chiefly
the product of Maratha
efforts, and has arisen on
the ruins of the ancient
city. It still contains the
remains of some of the
ancient buildings) 3,4, 5, 6

Pavagarh (hill-fort in the Kalol
Taluka, Panch Mahals dis-
trict, 2,800 feet above sea-
level) . . 13, 14

Pols (blocks of houses or quar-
ters, peculiar to Ahmada-
bad, which vary in size ■
from small courts of five to
ten houses to large quar-
ters of the city containing
as many as 10,000 inhabi-
tants. Each block has
generally a main street
with a gate at either end) 6, 30

Prankor (daughter of Anand

Rai Mashraf), Marriage of 3
„ Death of . . • • 3.4

Puranas (" Popular Sectarian
Compilations of Mythology,
Philosophy, History and
the Sacred Law, intended
for the instruction of the
unlettered classes, includ-
ing the upper divisions of
the Sudras " ; the books,
which are of various dates,
contain much matter car-
ried down from remote
antiquity. The Vayu

Purana, one of the oldest,
was finally edited perhaps
in the fourth century A.D.) 61

R.

Ranchhodji (a name of

god Krishna)
Ranchhodlal Chhotalal

the
.. 6

. . i-iv

,, Caste

..1,2

,, Ancestry
Birth

..2,4
.. 6

,, Boyhood

8

72

RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHOTALAL.

RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAI, —

„ Thread Ceremony . . 8
„ Education . . . . 9- 1 1

„ Enters Government

Service . . . . 12

„ Appointed Daftardar 12
„ Appointed to Pavagarh 1 3
„ Attitude of Baroda sub-
ordinate Staff towards 14, 15
„ Accused of taking bribe 16
„ Prosecution and Acquit-
tal . . 16, 17
„ Nature of Defence 16, 17
„ Deaves Government

Service . . 17, 18

„ Commercial Career 19-25
„ Early Attempts to
found Textile Indus-
try . . 19, 20
„ Establishes first mill . . 20
,, „ second mill 21
,, ,, third mill 22
„ Mercantile Activity 23-25
„ Municipal career 26-43
„ Member of Municipal

Board . . . . 27

„ Appointed Chairman . . 28
„ Issues Memo, on Sani-
tation . . 28, 29
„ Proposals for Sanitary

Improvement 30, 3 1

„ Meets with opposition 33-35
,, Obtains sanction for

Water Supply . . 36

„ His Drainage proposals

38-40
„ Other Municipal acti-
vities . . 41, 42
„ Political career 44-52
„ Member of Legislative

Council . . . . 44

„ Supports Mahuda Bill 45
„ Views on Temperance 45

RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL —

Views on Municipal Pi-
nance . . 46
Closing of

Mints 46, 47
Cotton

Duties 47, 48
Factory Le-
gislation 48
Protection . . 50
Widow-re-
marriage 5°-5*
Attitude at National
Congress . . 48-50

Public Charities 53-56

Medical Relief 53-55

Educational Benefac-
tions . . 55. 5&
Miscellaneous and Pri-
vate Benefactions . . 56
Home Life . . 57
Daily Routine 5 7, 5 8
Character .. ..58
Personal Appearance . . 59
Orthodoxy .. 59-6 1
Services to Govern-
ment . . 63, 64
Attitude towards Euro-
peans . . . . 64
Death . . . . 64
Funeral Ceremonies . . 65
Rajpipla (State in the Rewa
Kantha Political Agency,
lying between 2 i° 23' and
2i°59'N. and 73°5' and
740 E. with an area of
15 17 square miles. The
chief is a Rajput) 13, 19
Rajput Tribes . . ..1,3
RJ3AY, Lord . . ii, 37
RErx>, Mr. G. B. . . . . 37
Rewa Kantha (a Political
Agency with an area of
4,972 square miles, com-

INDEX AND GLOSSARY.

7S

prising six large and fifty-
five small Native States,
subordinate to the Bombay
Government)

12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
Richey, Sir James.. .. 30

Robb, Major . . . . 34

S.

Sabarmati (river flowing from
the Hills of Mewar through
Ahmadabad, the water-
supply of which it pro-
vides, into the Gulf of Cam-
bay, with a course of about
200 miles) . . 32, 34, 56

Sabha, Sanatan Vaidik Dhar-
ma Samarakshak (an As-
sociation for the advance-
ment of the Hindu religion
and discussion of religious
topics) ., ..56

Sadr Amin (designation of a
class of Native Judges,
superseded in Bombay by
Act XIV of 1869, the high-
est rank being styled "Prin-
cipal Sadr Amin," the
second rank " Sadr Amin,"
f and the third rank " Mun-
sif") .. ..8

Sandhya Vandan (daily reli-
gious devotions performed
in the morning and evening
and at noon by orthodox
Brahmans) . . 59

Sankxeshwar Joshi .. 21

Sarasvati (a holy river of
Western India, rising at
the south-west end of the
Aravalli range and flowing
through Palanpur, Rad-
hanpur, Baroda into the
Lesser Rann of Cutch ) . . 4

Sathod (village in Baroda State) 1

Sathodra Nagars, see Nagar
Brahmans

Shastras (the Law Books or
sacred writings of the
Hindus, from Sanskrit sha-
stra, " a rule," " a religious
code," " a scientific trea-
tise ") . . . .7, 61

Smriti (venerable Hindu writ-
ings, such as the Sutras,
which are classed as tra-
ditional learning (smriti)
in opposition to the older
Vedas which are regarded
as sruti (inspired revela-
tion) . . . . 61

Sruti (inspired revelation, i.e.,

the Vedas ; see Smriti) . . 61

SUTTEE (or SaTI, the practice of
voluntary self-immolation
by a Hindu widow on her
husband's funeral-pyre) . . 4

T.

TiRTH (any holy place of pil-
grimage, frequently situ-
ated at the confluence of
two rivers, and visited by
large numbers of Hindu
pilgrims at various seasons
of the year) . . ..56

U.
Udayashankar, Marriage . . 3
,, Service . . . . 3

Death .. 3

Upanayana (the ceremony of
investiture of a Brahman
boy with the sacred triple
cord, hung from the left
shoulder and falling on the
right hip. It takes place

74

RAO BAHADUR RANCHHODLAL CHHOTALAL.

between the ages of five
and nine, and marks the
entrance of the Boy to the
stage of a Brahmachari,
the first of the four stages
in the life of a Brahman) ..8,59

V.

Vedas, the (the Rigveda, the
Samaveda, the Yajurveda
and the Atharvaveda, which
constitute the oldest litera-
ture of the Indo-Aryans) 59, 60

Victoria Jubilee Female Dis-
pensary . . 54

Vishalnagar (town in Bar-
oda State, lying t o the
south-east of Patan, found-
ed by the first ruler of the
Vaghela dynasty) . , 1

W.

Watandar (holder of a watan,
i.e., hereditary right to a
share in land or in the
district and village estab-
lishments, the emoluments
consisting of a certain

quantity of rent-free land
or of an annual payment
in cash or in kind in return
for services rendered to
the community)

13

Water-Supply, History of 32-38
Wallace, Major 16, 17

Yajna (literally worship [in
prayer or praise] ; also a
sacrificial rite, or sacrifice ;
the latter being the usual
meaning) . . 60

Yajurveda., the White (The
Yajurveda, which contains
matter from the Rigveda,
prose formulae and sacri-
ficial prayers, exists in two
collections — the Krishna,
or Black, and the Shukla,
or White. It is regarded as
one of the four Vedas or
books of inspired revela-
tion, and certain classes of
Brahmans observe and
identify themselves with
one or other of the two
main collections) . . 2

+w

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