The Marwaris: Tracing the Rise and Growth of the Trading Communities from <i>Marwar</i>

The rise and growth of a community are of vital importance for a historian, as it apprises not only about that particular community but also about the socio-economic and cultural fabric in which the community operates. The central objective of this article is to see how the merchant communities from Marwar, who began as traders and bankers, went on to become leaders on the economic and political landscape of Indian history. The article attempts to discuss the major key factors that enabled the Marwari community to seize control of almost half of India’s private industrial assets in the years after Indian independence. This study highlights the Marwari community’s role in economic activities in modern Indian history by tracing their social mores, traditional roots, risk potential and work ethics that eventually helped the community rise during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.