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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Vishandas Nihalchand
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1843
| birth_place = [[Manjhu]], [[Talpur dynasty|Kingdom of Sindh]] (Present day: Manjhu, [[Jamshoro District]], [[Sindh]], [[Pakistan]])
| death_date = 1929
| death_place = [[Hyderabad, Sindh|Hyderabad]] (Sindh), [[Bombay Presidency]], [[British India]] (Present day: Hyderabad, Sindh, [[Pakistan]])
| nationality = [[British Indian]]
| other_names =
| known_for =
| occupation = [[Commerce]], [[politics]], [[social work]], [[businessperson]]
}}
'''Vishandas Nihalchand''' (1843-1929) was a [[Sindhis|Sindhi]] [[Sindhi Hindus|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 [[Rice huller|rice threshing]] factories in different areas of [[Sindh]], such as [[Manjhu]], [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]], [[Nawabshah]], [[Dadu District|Dadu]] and [[Badin]]. He also was involved with Sindh political and social services.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lQNuAAAAMAAJ&q=rice+thrashing|author=Khadim Hussain Soomro|title=Seth Harchandrai Vishandas|year=2001|publisher=Sain Publishers, 2001 original from the University of Michigan|pages=13}}</ref>

==Early life==
===Birth and education===
Seth Vishandas was born in [[Manjhu]], a village in [[Tehsil]] [[Kotri]], [[Sindh]] of [[Talpur dynasty]] in 1843 AD, one month before the invasion of Sindh and [[Partition of India|annexation]] to [[British India]]. He was full-blooded [[Sindhis|Sindhi]], as his father and mother both were of [[Sindhis|Sindhi]] origin.

When he was 18 years old, he left his family home to seek a teacher. He walked all the way from [[Sindh]] to [[Punjab region|Punjab]], and near [[Lahore]], he found a famous [[Hindu saints|saint]] called Gulabdas who became his [[guru]] for many years.

===Family===
Seth Vishandas‘s father was Seth Nihalchand Lakhmichand of [[Manjhu]], who was born in 1798 and died in 1865. Vishandas had one brother, Lilaram.

Seth Vishandas married Beejhalbai, the daughter of Seth Dunimal Tilokchandani, a businessman from [[Manjhand]]. The couple had three sons: the eldest, [[Seth Harchandrai Vishandas]], was a lawyer and famous politician who became known as the “father of modern [[Karachi]].“ Seth Udhavdas Vishandas, the second son, was born in Manjhu in 1896, took on the family business as a landlord and cotton merchant, and died in his hometown in 1926. Seth Srichand was the third son. Vishandas also had four daughters: Gungalbhai, Panjalbai, Motibai, and Chandibai.

==Professional life==
===Mercantile background===
Seth Vishandas owned vast lands and commerce, which after successful management, made him one of the wealthiest men in [[Sindh]]. Along with being a [[landlord]] and managing cotton and rice factories, he was also a large-scale [[timber]] contractor who allowed the poor to sell [[wood]] from his land to make a living. Vishandas was also known to permit low-income cattle owners to graze their cattle on his land.

===Local and political affairs===
He attended the first, second, and third sessions of [[Indian National Congress]]. The 28th session of Congress in 1913 was held in Karachi largely due efforts of Vishandas, his son Harchandrai, and [[Ghulam Mohamed Bhurgari]]. He and Harchandrai served respectively as Chairman and Secretary of the reception committee during that session.<ref>{{cite book|title=They Too Fought for India's Freedom: The Role of Minorities |publisher=edited by Asgharali Engineer|year=2006|page=218|isbn=9788178710914|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-XQCYl6T1vIC&q=Seth+Harchandrai&pg=PA218}}</ref> Vishandas was a member of the Karachi District Local Board and the president of [[Kotri]] Tehsil Local Board until his death.

===Social reformer===
Vishandas opposed the injustices within the [[Dowry system in India|Deti-Leti system]] long before any official [[reform]] was attempted or enacted. He wrote a book promoting a radical cure for this societal ill and sent a free copy to various [[Panchayats]]. He then traveled from village to village, town to town, instructing [[Panchayats]] and seeking to educate the public about why and how reform should be instituted.

Vishandas‘s ideas and efforts were part of the [[Indian independence movement|pre-independence]] pioneering movement toward the abolition of the dowry system. A decade following Vishandas‘s death, the then-[[Provincial Assembly of Sindh|provincial government of Sindh]] passed an enactment known as the Sind Deti Leti Act of 1939, which was the earliest official attempt to bring an end to the [[Bride burning|evils within dowry system]]. While this early enactment was unable to achieve the desired impact, as were other similar failed Deti Leti reform attempts of the 1950s, it sparked a gradual movement that finally culminated in India’s Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

Vishandas also is remembered for being a proponent of education and investing in the betterment of the communities in which he lived. He built a library in [[Kotri]] and founded schools in [[Manjhu]], his place of birth, and in [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]], where he had taken up residential quarters (known as ''Vishin Nagar''). He also established a hospital, [[Guest house|Rest house]], and [[Public distribution system|grain shop]] in Hyderabad.

In credit of his role as a social reformer, Vishandas was conferred with the title of [[Rao Bahadur|Rai Bahadur]].

==Death==
Afflicted by [[asthma]] complications, Seth Vishandas died in 1929 in [[Hyderabad, Sindh]]. Two of his sons died during his lifetime, Harchandrai in 1928 and Udhavdas in 1926. Three years after his death, his third son Srichand died in 1932. Vishandas left behind over 8,000 acres of land and two huge ginning factories, which were distributed equally among his sons and grandchildren.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=J2_aAAAAMAAJ&q=Seth+Vishandas&dq=Seth+Vishandas&hl=en&ei=XAIrToTuGI668gOY-qnzCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA Seth Vishandas: a great philanthropist ''by'' khadim Hussain Soomro]

==External links==
*[http://www.dalsabzi.com/Books/Sindhi_surnames/chapter_16.htm#BHARWANI Seth Vishindas Nihalchand 1843-1929]
*[https://books.google.com/books?ei=K-4qTu7BOsSp8QOylcX4Cw&ct=result&id=lQNuAAAAMAAJ&dq=seth+harchandrai&q=R.B.+vishindas#search_anchor Rai Bahadur Vishindas Nihalchand pp. 126-128]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=J2_aAAAAMAAJ&q=Seth+Vishandas&dq=Seth+Vishandas&hl=en&ei=XAIrToTuGI668gOY-qnzCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA Seth Vishandas: a great philanthropist ''by'' khadim Hussain Soomro]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nihalchand, Seth Vishandas}}
[[Category:Sindhi people]]
[[Category:1843 births]]
[[Category:1929 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian social workers]]
[[Category:People from Hyderabad District, Pakistan]]
[[Category:Rai Bahadurs]]
[[Category:People of British India]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Pakistan]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians]]
[[Category:Philanthropists from Sindh]]
[[Category:Indian landlords]]

Seth Vishandas Nihalchand - Revision history

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