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A Life of Many Parts: Kasi Viranna—A Seventeenth Century South Indian Merchant Magnate

Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110 067, India

In the second-half of the seventeenth century, Madras emerged as an autonomous commercial town, under the control of the English East India Company, in the Coromandel region of south India. Its prime concern was to obtain Indian textiles for the European markets, through Indian merchants, some of whom came to exercise a powerful role in the commercial and civic life at Madras. One such personage was Kasi Viranna, who, as Chief Merchant, commanded a multi-faceted influence at Madras from 1662 till 1680. Coming from a humble background, he rose to become a merchant tycoon, having close ties with several English officials. He was also a community elder amongst the Indians, with influence which equalled that of the English governor at Madras.

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