Colonial Calcutta was not only the administrative capital of British India until 1911 but also a crucial node in the global circuits of imperial capitalism. While British firms dominated formal political authority, the everyday functioning of the colonial economy depended heavily on indigenous commercial communities. Among these, the Marwaris—merchant-financiers originating from the Marwar region of Rajasthan—emerged as one of the most influential groups shaping the economic, architectural, and political life of the city.
This chapter examines Marwari contributions during the colonial period with three specific emphases: (1) their role in mediating colonial capitalism, (2) their engagement—direct and indirect—with the freedom struggle, and (3) their transformation of Calcutta’s urban and architectural landscape, particularly in Burrabazar. The chapter also situates the Gwalior War of 1843 and the political significance of Gwalior Fort within broader Marwari mercantile–nationalist networks.
Marwari migration to eastern India accelerated in the early nineteenth century, following the consolidation of British power in Bengal. Drawn by the commercial opportunities generated by the East India Company, Marwaris established themselves as brokers, bankers, and wholesalers, particularly in grain, cotton, jute, and opium. Burrabazar became their primary spatial anchor, functioning as a dense mercantile enclave within the colonial city.
As C.A. Bayly has shown, indigenous merchant capital was not displaced by colonial rule but rather reconfigured to serve imperial markets.[1] Marwari traders exemplified this process: operating through kinship-based trust networks, hundi credit systems, and interregional connections, they enabled the circulation of capital in ways that often bypassed colonial banking institutions.
By the late nineteenth century, sections of the Marwari elite transitioned from intermediary trade to industrial ownership. Tirthankar Roy notes that this shift marked a critical phase in Indian capitalism, as merchant groups reinvested profits into manufacturing, especially jute and textiles in Bengal.[1] This transformation altered the ownership structure of colonial industry and laid the foundations for Indian industrial capitalism.
[1] Tirthankar Roy, The Economic History of India 1857–1947, Oxford University Press, 2011.
[1] C.A. Bayly, Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion, Cambridge University Press, 1983.