The Dhanji Morarji Family

The Dhanji Morarji Family

The Dhanji Morarji family is more popularly known as the ‘Seth Dhanji Morarji Shabica family’ after the German rifles which they were trading in World War II57. The family trade was then based in the Masirah islands as the British infantry had a base there. Dhanji Morarji, who was from Mandvi, Kutch, in fact came from Zanzibar to Sur in the 1790s on the special request of Sayyid Said Bin Sultan to act as a representative of Omani interests there58 . In Zanzibar, the family traded in dry dates, dry lemon, cinnamon, cloves and other spices. The ships they used to trade in would stop in Kutch, Mandvi, Karachi, Gwadar, Hormuz, Sur, finally moving on to Zanzibar, trading in all the ports as they went along. Dhanji’s son, Purshottam Dhanji would travel to Khaimal and Jalan by donkeys to pursue trade and provide the interiors with essentials. Hemlataben, a scion of the Dhanji Morarji family today, reminisces that it would take two weeks for these traders to reach Khaimal from Sur on donkeys, and at least 4 days by sea using sail boats. The journey from Sur Bay to Muscat Bay would be usually through wind propelled boats in high tide, sometimes using row boats when the tide was low.

Portrait of Dhanji Morarji © Dhanji Morarji Family Portrait of Purshottam Dhanji © Dhanji Morarji Family

57 Details of the Dhanji Morarji family have been sourced from personal interviews with

Hemlataben, a senior member of this family. 58 See Goswami (2012) for more information on the Indian trade connections of Oman-

Zanzibar and Kutch.

She remembers that her family traded in tarpolines, spices like turmeric and chilly and groceries. Today, the family is established in a variety of businesses ranging from trade in foodstuff, running a supermarket and textiles.