For more than five centuries, Indian merchants — most of them Bhatia Hindus from Sindh and Kutch — were the financial backbone of Muscat. They served as bankers, customs farmers, royal advisers, and brokers across an ocean-spanning network that linked the ports of the Indian subcontinent to the Persian Gulf, East Africa, and beyond.
This is their story: of daring sea voyages, community temples built far from home, fortunes made and crises survived, and an enduring presence that shaped Oman's commercial history as profoundly as any ruling dynasty.
This is their story: of daring sea voyages, community temples built far from home, fortunes made and crises survived, and an enduring presence that shaped Oman's commercial history as profoundly as any ruling dynasty.
The Bhatias of MASQAT
Ancient Roots: Muscat and the Indian Ocean World
Human activity around Muscat reaches back to the sixth millennium BCE. At Ras al-Hamra, just north of the city, archaeologists have uncovered the burial sites of ancient fishermen — well-formed graves that hint at organised ritual and settled community life. South of the city, fragments of Harappan pottery confirm that Muscat was already touched by the great Indus Valley civilisation, the same culture that would eventually give rise to the mercantile communities of Sindh and Gujarat.
The port's strategic value was recognised early. In the first century CE, the Greek geographer Ptolemy described it as Cryptus Portus — the Hidden Port — while Pliny the Elder called it Amithoscuta, noting its sheltered waters and trading importance. Over subsequent centuries, Muscat passed between empires: a Sassanid invasion in the third century, conversion to Islam in the seventh, domination by the Abbasid caliphate, and eventual consolidation under local Omani dynasties whose wealth rested substantially on maritime commerce.
The ruins of a Hindu temple at Qalhat — the principal port of Oman in the fifteenth century, reported by S. B. Miles — stand as the earliest firm evidence of Indian merchant settlement in Oman. By the time the Portuguese arrived in force in 1507, Hindu traders from Gujarat and Sindh were already an established presence along the entire coast.
As the fleet approached Khor Fakan, the Portuguese observed several vessels sailing away in the direction of Cape Mussendom. They now learned that these dhows contained the Hindoo traders from Kutch, escaping with their property; very little booty was consequently found in the town.
S. B. Miles, Countries and Tribes of the Persian Gulf (1919)
S. B. Miles, Countries and Tribes of the Persian Gulf (1919)
The Portuguese Era and the Sindhi Bhatias (1507–1648)
The Portuguese commander Afonso de Albuquerque attacked Muscat in July 1507 in a campaign of extraordinary brutality. After overcoming Persian forces defending the city, he massacred most of the remaining inhabitants. The Portuguese then occupied Muscat for 140 years, from 1508 to 1648 — and the architecture of their colonial fortifications still stands in the city today.
Far from destroying the Indian trading presence, the Portuguese occupation intensified it. The Portuguese depended heavily on Indian Hindu merchants in their attempts to monopolise Indian Ocean trade. Their most important Indian partner in Muscat was the trading community of Thatta, the great city of Sindh situated on the Indus River.
Thatta and the Trade of Sindh
Thatta was then a city of extraordinary commercial energy, boasting an estimated 40,000 weavers of calico and fine cloth, 20,000 additional artisans, and 60,000 traders, bankers, and grain merchants. Its Bhatia merchants — called Banians or Beniani by the locals and Europeans alike, sent to Muscat a rich cargo of goods: embroidered cashmere shawls, silk, cotton yarn, opium, ghee, indigo, grains, sugar, and sugar candy.
The Bhatias also financed Muscat's pearl fishing industry. So central were they to the customs revenues of the Portuguese garrison that, as British observers noted, the Portuguese position in Muscat was entirely dependent on the duties collected from Indian Ocean trade — trade conducted overwhelmingly by Indian merchants.
Thatta was then a city of extraordinary commercial energy, boasting an estimated 40,000 weavers of calico and fine cloth, 20,000 additional artisans, and 60,000 traders, bankers, and grain merchants. Its Bhatia merchants — called Banians or Beniani by the locals and Europeans alike, sent to Muscat a rich cargo of goods: embroidered cashmere shawls, silk, cotton yarn, opium, ghee, indigo, grains, sugar, and sugar candy.
The Bhatias also financed Muscat's pearl fishing industry. So central were they to the customs revenues of the Portuguese garrison that, as British observers noted, the Portuguese position in Muscat was entirely dependent on the duties collected from Indian Ocean trade — trade conducted overwhelmingly by Indian merchants.
Narutem and the Fall of the Portuguese
The role of the Bhatias in ending the Portuguese occupation is one of the most remarkable episodes in this community's history. When the Ya'ariba rulers of Oman laid siege to Muscat in 1650, their decisive ally was a Bhatia merchant named Narutem, who served as the main supply agent for the Portuguese garrison.
The Portuguese commander, enchanted by Narutem's daughter, sought her hand in marriage. Narutem, unwilling to consent to this, responded by secretly sabotaging the garrison's supplies and inviting the besieging Imam to attack at the moment of maximum weakness. The Portuguese were expelled.
For this act of loyalty, Narutem and his family were permanently exempted from taxation — and the Bhatia community was granted permission to build a temple in Muscat. Oral tradition attributes the founding of Muscat's first Hindu temple to the Sindhi Bhatias, a temple dedicated to the deity Govindaraj, whose idol was brought from Basra where the Hindu community there was facing persecution.
The role of the Bhatias in ending the Portuguese occupation is one of the most remarkable episodes in this community's history. When the Ya'ariba rulers of Oman laid siege to Muscat in 1650, their decisive ally was a Bhatia merchant named Narutem, who served as the main supply agent for the Portuguese garrison.
The Portuguese commander, enchanted by Narutem's daughter, sought her hand in marriage. Narutem, unwilling to consent to this, responded by secretly sabotaging the garrison's supplies and inviting the besieging Imam to attack at the moment of maximum weakness. The Portuguese were expelled.
For this act of loyalty, Narutem and his family were permanently exempted from taxation — and the Bhatia community was granted permission to build a temple in Muscat. Oral tradition attributes the founding of Muscat's first Hindu temple to the Sindhi Bhatias, a temple dedicated to the deity Govindaraj, whose idol was brought from Basra where the Hindu community there was facing persecution.
Motishwar Mandir
By Banksboomer - Own work
The Motishwar Mandir (Shri Shiva Temple), Old Muscat/Muttrah
Nestled between the sea and the rugged Omani mountains, the Motishwar Mandir — also known as the Shri Shiva Temple — stands as one of the oldest and most significant Hindu temples in the Middle East, a spiritual sanctuary that has anchored the region's Hindu heritage for over a century.
The temple was built in 1909 by the Sindhi and Kutchi Bhatia merchant community, whose presence in Muscat dates back far earlier — to 1507, when Bhatia traders from Sindh first settled in the city. According to oral tradition, the temple's principal idol has an even older history: it is believed to be nearly 400 years old, brought to Muscat from Basra, Iraq, by Bhatia merchants fleeing religious persecution in the late 17th or early 18th century, and later enshrined when the temple itself was consecrated in 1909.
The Banian Community: Freedom and Prosperity
Under the Al Busaidi dynasty — which came to power after a civil war in the 1740s — the Indian community continued to prosper. The new rulers proved no less tolerant than their predecessors. In January 1765, the Danish explorer Carsten Niebuhr spent two weeks in Muscat and left a vivid portrait of the Banian community he found there.
Under the Al Busaidi dynasty — which came to power after a civil war in the 1740s — the Indian community continued to prosper. The new rulers proved no less tolerant than their predecessors. In January 1765, the Danish explorer Carsten Niebuhr spent two weeks in Muscat and left a vivid portrait of the Banian community he found there.
"In no other Mahometan city are the Banians so numerous as in Maskat; their number in this city amounts to no fewer than twelve hundred. They are permitted to live agreeably to their own laws, to bring their wives hither, to set up idols in their chambers, and to burn their dead."
Carsten Niebuhr, 1765
Carsten Niebuhr, 1765
This freedom of religious practice — to maintain temples, keep cows, cremate their dead — was the decisive factor attracting Bhatias and other Hindus to Muscat in preference to many other Gulf ports. Under the benevolent rule of Ahmad b. Said (1743–82), the community founded a second temple in Muscat: a Haveli of the Pushtimarg sect, a Vaishnavite tradition that had spread from Thatta to Kutch and Gujarat in the late seventeenth century. Eventually Muscat would have four Hindu places of worship.
A Self-Sufficient Community
The Masqat Banians maintained a remarkable degree of cultural cohesion far from home. Kutchi or Gujarati remained the language spoken within the community, though most learned Arabic for business. Accounts were kept in Gujarati script. Indian dress styles were maintained, and dietary laws were strictly observed. The community kept a herd of cows to ensure a steady supply of milk and dairy — cows that, in the words of later travellers, were treated with profound affection and ceremonial respect.
The Masqat Banians maintained a remarkable degree of cultural cohesion far from home. Kutchi or Gujarati remained the language spoken within the community, though most learned Arabic for business. Accounts were kept in Gujarati script. Indian dress styles were maintained, and dietary laws were strictly observed. The community kept a herd of cows to ensure a steady supply of milk and dairy — cows that, in the words of later travellers, were treated with profound affection and ceremonial respect.
Although the Beniani live entirely upon vegetables, rice, milk, and butter, yet they are generally fat, and possess strong constitutions, while the leprosy, so common among other classes in the East, is rarely to be met with among them.
Vincenzo Maurizi, History of Seyd Said, Sultan of Muscat (1819)
Vincenzo Maurizi, History of Seyd Said, Sultan of Muscat (1819)
The Banian community was governed in political matters by a nagar seth— the most respected member of the community who acted as its representative with the sultan's government. This body would later be formally organised as the Mahajan, which administered the community's schools, temples, cow herd, and properties donated by merchants who died without heirs.
Maurizi also observed in 1819 that the sultan had granted the Beniani many privileges, and that there were by then 4,000 Banians in Muscat — though this figure likely includes Matrah and surrounding areas. By 1838, the British traveller J. R. Wellsted reported a Banian population of around 1,500 in Muscat alone, rising rapidly under the "mild administration" of Sultan Said.
There are more Banians here than in any other city of Arabia. They possess a small temple, are permitted to keep and protect a certain number of cows, to burn the dead, and to follow, in all other respects, the uninterrupted enjoyment of their respective religious tenets, without any of that arbitrary distinction of dress which they are compelled to adopt in the cities of Yemen.
J. R. Wellsted, Travels in Arabia (1838)
J. R. Wellsted, Travels in Arabia (1838)
The Kutchi Bhatias Ascendant (1785–1850)
The Sindhi Bhatias who had dominated Muscat during the Portuguese era could not hold their position indefinitely. Three forces combined between 1785 and 1820 to end their commercial supremacy.
The Decline of Thatta
First, the economy of Thatta — the heart of Sindhi trade — collapsed. The city's decline had begun with the end of Portuguese commercial networks and the shift of Indian Ocean trade toward the British-centred system based on Surat and later Bombay. Trade was drawn away from the Indus. At the same time, the intolerant Muslim Talpur dynasty, established in 1783, persecuted Hindu merchants throughout Sindh. Then, in the final blow, the Indus River changed course, leaving Thatta some five miles from its principal transportation route. By 1809, a British observer described the once-great city as a picture of "poverty and depressed commerce," its streets deserted, its bazaar barely functioning.
The Kutchi Opportunity
As Sindhi fortunes declined, those of the Kutchi Bhatias rose. Kutch, an arid and rugged territory east of the Indus mouth, had always maintained closer ties with the sea than with the land — its many fine ports, especially Mandvi, made it naturally oriented toward maritime trade. The ruler Godji II (1760–78) actively developed Mandvi's shipbuilding industry. When a new dam in Sind in 1802, followed by famine in 1812 and earthquake in 1819, drove Kutchis from their farmlands, many turned to the sea lanes they knew so well.
The Kutchis had every commercial advantage over the Sindis in Muscat. They served as shippers rather than middlemen, transporting cotton yarn, piece-goods, and goods from the Gujarati ports to Muscat's markets. Their overheads were lower, their prices more competitive, and their trading network in India was secure and extensive. Where the Sindi merchants had been in direct competition with the Omani sayyids as middlemen, the Kutchis served the sayyids as shippers and agents.
Sindhi Bhatias Move to Bahrain
The Sindhi Bhatias were not destroyed — they simply moved. As Kutchi merchants dominated Muscat, the Sindis relocated to Bahrain, where they established a near-monopoly on the pearl trade. Their communities in Bahrain and Dubai remain large and influential to this day.
At the chief trading centres in the Batineh may be found a small number of Hindoo merchants from Cutch, who have established themselves on the coast for many centuries. These Banians render indispensable service to Arabs of all classes — as bankers, brokers, and moneylenders — and not only acquire considerable fortunes for themselves, but give Arabs a controlling influence in commercial transactions.
S. B. Miles, Countries and Tribes of the Persian Gulf (1919)
S. B. Miles, Countries and Tribes of the Persian Gulf (1919)
The Pioneer Families
The Kutchi Bhatia presence in Muscat was built family by family, voyage by voyage. Many of the great merchant houses trace their origins to a young man who boarded a wooden dhow at Mandvi or Mundra with little more than the clothes on his back and the determination to build something in a distant port. These are some of the families whose stories have been recorded.
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The Bhimani Family Mandvi, Kutch · Est. late 18th century Rowji Bhimani of Mandvi was the first member of his family to establish trading relations with Muscat. His grandson Gopal Mawji Bhimani rose to become a pivotal political figure — among the Banians who encouraged Sultan Said to pursue Zanzibar. The Bhimanis were the first family to control the customs franchise in Muscat, a contract worth 180,000 dollars a year by 1802. Together with the Shivji Topan family, the Bhimanis were described by scholars as "the two most prominent Indian families whose roles were vital for the nineteenth-century commercial expansion of Oman." |
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The Ratanshi Gordhandas Family Kutch Mundra "More than 150 years ago, a young Gordhandas sat in a wooden dhow from Kutch Mundra, with nothing but the clothes on his back, not even a passport or travel papers. All he had were two gold bangles, which he brought to begin his business in Oman." |
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Jethalal Naranjee Gandhi Mundra, Kutch · Est. 1918 "A young schoolboy named Jethalal, son of Naranjee Gandhi, came home to his small village of Mundra in Kutch-Gujarat and was told by his mother that a country raft was leaving for Muscat and he should board it. With just a pair of clothes in a cotton handbag, he left in 1918." |
The Jerajani Family Kutch · Est. late 19th century "Gopalji Valji Jerajani started his business in Muscat and Muttrah with the export of khajur (dates), clothes, food items, and pearls, for which he set up a factory in the late 1800s." |
Visoomal Damodardas Thatta, Sindh · Est. c. early 1800s "Visoomal Damodardas migrated from Thatta, Sindh, to Oman nearly 200 years ago, establishing business in the wilayat of Musannah. The company dealt in general trading and the export of Omani dates and dried lemons, and the import of grains, spices, and foodstuffs." One of the last Sindhi Bhatia families to maintain a significant presence in Muscat. |
Commercial Dominance: The Era of the Kutchi Bhatia
In the 1830s, Sultan Said turned his attention increasingly toward Zanzibar and East Africa, where he would eventually relocate his court. During his extended absences, the commercial affairs of Muscat were left almost entirely in the hands of the resident Bhatia community. Both the treasurer and the chief customs official of Muscat were Kutchi Bhatias. Said's shift — from active commercial middleman to plantation owner in Zanzibar — left a vacuum in the Muscat market that Kutchi merchants rushed to fill.
According to Banian traditions, it was a fleet belonging to a Bhattia mercantile family of India that brought Said b. Sultan from Muscat to Zanzibar, and "provided extra armed ships and manpower in his wars with Mombasa." This Bhattia family was none other than that of Shivji Topan which, together with the Gopal Bhimani family at Muscat, were the two most prominent Indian families whose roles were vital for the nineteenth-century commercial expansion of Oman.
M. Reda Bhacker (1992)
M. Reda Bhacker (1992)
Banking, Land, and the Customs Farm
The customs franchise — the contract to collect port duties — was the most lucrative single commercial arrangement in Muscat, awarded annually to the highest bidder. It was held by Banian families for most of the nineteenth century. The Bhimanis held it first; by the 1860s, Ratansi Purshottam's family was deeply involved. The rent by 1802 was 180,000 dollars a year — a sum representing a large portion of the sultan's entire income.
Beyond the customs house, Banian merchants became the primary bankers of Arab society. The local population — farmers, fishermen, date growers — had few assets beyond their land, houses, and date palms, which they pledged as collateral for loans to tide them over from one harvest to the next. The level of indebtedness was high, and foreclosures were common. By the end of the nineteenth century, Ratansi Purshottam and his Banian colleagues owned most of the prime real estate in both Muscat and Matrah.
Ratansi also played an important role in internationalising Muscat's trade. As Indian and Arab sailing ships were replaced by European steamers, he adapted — trading arms through London and Hamburg firms, and exporting Omani dates to the United States. The Banians were, in the words of Vincenzo Maurizi, "the great Bankers of Arabia."
The Four Pillars
During the late nineteenth century, four merchants were acknowledged as the commanding figures — or "four pillars" — of Hindu commercial society in Muscat. They were even given nicknames corresponding to the four high cards in a deck:
During the late nineteenth century, four merchants were acknowledged as the commanding figures — or "four pillars" — of Hindu commercial society in Muscat. They were even given nicknames corresponding to the four high cards in a deck:
The Ace |
Dowlatgirji Manrupgirji — a Gosain Brahmin from Kutch, who owned a business in Masqat but continued to reside in a monastery outside Mandvi, entrusting daily operations to a manager. |
The King |
Ratansi Purshottam — grain merchant, banker, land owner, arms dealer, and dominant commercial figure of the port. |
The Queen |
Virji Ratansi— an important banker known as Bayt Bkah (after a Masqati coin) for his financial operations. |
The Jack |
Damodar Dharamsi— who occasionally held the customs farming contract, one of the most powerful financial positions in Muscat. |
Crisis and Renewal (1868–1900)
Crisis and Renewal (1868–1900)
1856 |
Death of Sultan Said — Accession of Thuwaini b. Said, who concentrated on politics rather than commerce, leaving trade increasingly in Bhatia hands. The community reached approximately 2,000 and had become the dominant economic power in Muscat. |
1868 |
Imam Azzan b. Qays seizes Muscat — A fundamentalist Ibadi regime is established. The Imam removes the Bhatias from their financial posts and extends strict Ibadi social regulations — banning tobacco, musical instruments, and imposing dress requirements — to all inhabitants. Hindus, whose ceremonies involve bells, gongs, and drums, frequently fall foul of the new authorities. |
1868–71 |
The Great Exodus — The Banian community, over 2,000 strong, dwindles to a mere 250. Most of those who leave are family members and elderly merchants rather than the active traders themselves — an important distinction for understanding what follows. |
1871 |
Turki b. Said restores moderate rule — A new, younger generation of Kutchi Bhatias emerges to assume commercial leadership of the port, unencumbered by the practices of the older establishment. |
c.1900 |
Recovery — The Banian population is back to 1,500. Families begin returning to Muscat. Ratansi Purshottam's family, among the first to return, sets the pattern for the community's renewed prosperity in the early twentieth century. |
The crisis of 1868–71 has sometimes been cited as evidence of Muscat's permanent commercial decline after the death of Sultan Said. Scholars now view this interpretation as overstated. The exodus was primarily of dependants and retirees; the commercial infrastructure — networks, banking relationships, property — largely survived. The restoration of moderate government in 1871 brought a new wave of young Kutchi Bhatias who rebuilt the community with fresh energy.
Primary Sources and Further Reading
- Calvin H. Allen Jr., "The Indian Merchant Community of Masqat," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. XLIV (1981)
- Carsten Niebuhr, Travels Through Arabia and Other Countries of the East (Edinburgh, 1792)
- Vincenzo Maurizi, History of Seyd Said, Sultan of Muscat (1819)
- J. R. Wellsted, Travels in Arabia (London, 1838)
- Joseph Barlow Felt Osgood, Notes of Travel; or, Recollections of Majunga, Zanzibar, Muscat, Aden, Mocha (1854)
- S. B. Miles, Countries and Tribes of the Persian Gulf, 2nd ed. (London, 1919)
- M. Reda Bhacker, Trade and Empire in Muscat and Zanzibar (1992)
- Samuel Kutty and Sandhya Rao Mehta, Oman–India Ties Across Sea and Space
- Wikipedia contributors, "Muscat, Oman," The Free Encyclopedia