This book details the life and public career of one of India’s legendary individuals—Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, the first Indian knight and baronet. Born of humble origins, he went from collecting and selling empty bottles to building a business empire through the nineteenth-century China Trade. Hailed as one of India’s greatest philanthropists of the colonial era, Jejeebhoy utilized his wealth for copious charity for the people of Bombay and western India. But he was also an ambitious and canny actor within the colonial framework, whose ambitions went beyond altruistic desires to benefit society. Jejeebhoy belonged to the collaborationist class that emerged under early colonialism. This class—which also included prominent figures like Dwarkanath Tagore, the merchant prince from Bengal—served as an important medium between the imperial and Indian cultures. However, the limits of collaboration for Indians were evident—Jejeebhoy faced many bureaucratic and cultural obstacles in his encounters with the imperial order. His efforts to promote himself and indigenous capabilities bear testimony to Indian ingenuity under the colonial regime.

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