Harchandrai Vishandas C.I.E. (1 May 1862 – 16 February 1928), was a British Indian attorney, politician, and mayor of Karachi in modern-day Pakistan. He is considered a great

Sindhi Sindhi may refer to: *something from, or related to Sindh, a province of Pakistan * Sindhi people, an ethnic group from the Sindh region * Sindhi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them People with the name * Sarkash Sindhi (1940–2012 ...

and “the father of modern Karachi.” His social, educational, and political services rendered to the people of Sindh are so great that he is now recognised as one of the makers of modern Karachi. He was one of the first six young Sindhi men who graduated from Elphinstone College in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

prior to 1887. After completing

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...

in 1885, Harchandrai accepted a junior position in the Shikarpur court, but soon resigned to begin a

law practice In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professi ...

in Karachi. He was the elected Honorary Secretary of Karachi

Bar Association A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence. The word bar is derived from the old English/European custom of using a physical railing to sep ...

just after its establishment in 1890, and served for a full 38 years. Harchandrai was the elected as a member of Karachi Municipality in 1888, and then served a term of ten years as its president between 1911–1921. As

mayor of Karachi Mayor of Karachi ( Urdu: ) is the executive of the Karachi metropolitan corporation and the Karachi local government system of the city of Karachi which is the third tier of governance in Pakistan after Federal and provincial governments. P ...

, he oversaw a major beautification project, which involved development of new roads, parks, residential and recreational areas. He was subsequently appointed to the

Viceroy's Executive Council The Viceroy's Executive Council was the cabinet of the government of British India headed by the Viceroy of India. It is also known as the Council of the Governor-General of India. It was transformed from an advisory council into a cabinet consistin ...

and was an Ex officio member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom until his death in 1928.

Early life

Seth Harchandrai Vishandas was born in 1862 in the village of

Manjhand Manjhand Sindhi (مانجهند) Urdu (مانجھند) is a town in Jamshoro District, Sindh, Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's ...

in tehsil

Kotri Kotri ( sd, ڪوٽڙي, ur, ) is a city and the headquarters of the Kotri Taluka of Jamshoro District of Sindh province in Pakistan. Located on the right bank of the Indus River, it is the 29th largest city in Pakistan by population. Name Th ...

, Sindh. He was born into a Bharvani family known for its public-spirited members. His received his primary education at a school in Manjhand founded by his father,

Seth Vishandas Nihalchand Vishandas Nihalchand (1843-1929) was a Sindhi Hindu politician, social reformer, and philanthropist. He belonged to a merchant-landowner bhavnani family settled in Sindh of British India. Seth Vishandas established many cotton ginning and ric ...

. After completing his primary, Harchandrai was sent to Kotri for middle education at a

missionary school The Mission School (sometimes called "New Folk" or "Urban Rustic") is an art movement of the 1990s and 2000s, centered in the Mission District, San Francisco, California. History and characteristics This movement is generally considered to hav ...

, and boarded there in a spacious

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a bun ...

. He was subsequently admitted to NJV High School in Karachi. He

matriculated Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now. ...

in 1878 and went to live with his maternal grandfather. Thereafter, Harchandrai went to

for higher education and read law at Elphinstone College, which he later patronised as his Alma mater. He received his law degree in 1882.

Professional background

Legal field

Harchandrai was a lawyer and a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister ...

under Queen Victoria, and later King’s Counsel under King Edward VII and King George V. Harchandrai initially took on a subordinate role in Shikarpur court. Persuaded by his father, he soon resigned and began his own law practice in Karachi in 1886. He was elected honorary secretary of the Karachi Bar Association.

Mayorship of Karachi

Harchandrai was elected mayor of the

Karachi Municipal Committee Karachi Municipal Committee was a public corporation established in 1853 in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. History The Karachi Conservancy Board was established to control cholera epidemics in Karachi during British rule in 1846. The board was upgraded ...

in 1911 until 1921. Under his mayorship, civic improvements led to the installation of

gas lamps Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, such as hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly ...

along the city's streets and the introduction of footpaths. Electricity was introduced in Karachi in 1913 by Mayor Harichand Rai. That’s why Karachi was called (and still is) ‘city of lights.’ Interestingly, it didn’t become common in US till 1920, even though the electric bulb was invented there. He was also responsible for development works which led to shifting the course of the

Lyari River Lyari River ( ur, ) is a small ephemeral stream that flows through the Pakistani megacity of Karachi from north east to the center and drains into the Arabian Sea at the Manora channel. It is one of the two rivers of Karachi, the other one being ...

, which opened up land for development.

Social services and politics

Seth Harchandrai played a role as a freedom fighter of India. Harchandrai was the first

to join the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

and served the cause of

national independence The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

with dedication. He was influential in Congress; the 28th session of Congress in 1913 was held in Karachi largely due to the efforts of Harchandrai, his father Seth Vishandas and Ghulam Mohamed Bhurgari. He and his father served as chairman and Secretary of reception committee for that session. and he later presided over many Congress conferences in Sindh. Harchandrai was a believer of Hindu-Muslim unity and was a Sufistic. The

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...

made him a member.

Death

Harchandrai Vishandas died on 16 February 1928 in Delhi. When the British Simon Commission was sent to India to dispute and review the working of 1919 reforms, the Congress party pressed for its

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict so ...

. Harchandrai's vote was required for that purpose. Thus, he chose to leave Karachi against the advice of his doctor and friends, so determined he was to record his vote against the Simon Commission. However, on his way from the railway station to the Assembly Hall, Harchandrai suddenly died. On 16 February 1934, on his sixth death anniversary, a statue of Harchandrai was unveiled in front of Karachi Municipal Corporation Building. It was removed shortly after the partition of India in 1947.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vishandas, Seth Harchandrai 1862 births 1928 deaths Indian National Congress politicians 19th-century Indian lawyers Sindhi people People from Jamshoro District Indian independence activists from Pakistan Elphinstone College alumni Lawyers from Karachi Politicians from Karachi Dewan Bahadurs Companions of the Order of the Star of India Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India 19th-century King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire 20th-century Indian lawyers