ગુજરાતી
English
Ahmedabad, 4 June 2026
On April 24, 1837, at five o’clock in the evening, a house caught fire in the Machilipeeth area of Surat, a major trading centre, which spread throughout Surat and killed more than 500 people. 10 thousand houses were destroyed in the fire.
70 thousand people became homeless. The fire was so fierce that its smoke could be seen for 20-30 miles.
From the beginning of the nineteenth century till 1837 and beyond, Surat was ravaged by tragedies. Trade and commerce disappeared. The city was reduced to ruins. Traders, businessmen and artisans migrated to Mumbai. The population of the city which was 1,57,185 in 1818 declined to only 80 thousand in 1847.
beginning
The fire started somewhere between the houses of Farmaji Nariman and Dadabhai Alpaiwala and Mehta Shapoorji in Mohalla Maghya of Machilipeeth Ugman.
The Parsiwad of Machilipith and the city center were burnt to ashes. There was a strong wind so the fire kept blowing. If the inhabitants of a place are helpless and load as much belongings as possible into carts and leave their relatives to seek shelter in other huts, the fire will drive them there.
Wood was used in the windows, doors and roofs of the houses, so the fire went out of control. The fire started due to burning of coal or oil and incense in the house of Dinshah Manchershah Ruwala. Within no time, five houses were burnt. Such balls of fire arose from it that within a few hours the fire spread up to three miles.
The entire city was ruined, a new scrap business was established. The ruins for miles around were like a graveyard. Heaps of garbage and burnt debris were visible.
Earlier on Monday, seven people had died in the stampede. While trying to save the luggage, 32 people got trapped and died. Many women burned to death during childbirth. Ten men came out dead from the well and the tank. Died after being buried under the debris of the fire.
next day
The next day at 11 pm, a fire broke out in Salabatpara and 50 houses were burnt there too. As soon as this fire was extinguished, on the same day a fire broke out in the house of a storekeeper in Sagarampara. The fire spread to Parsiwad of Rustampara. Eight houses of Parsis, Bhandaris, Muslims and a total of 40 houses of Khatris were burnt to ashes.
Hundreds of areas of Surat kept burning for three days. The holocaust had happened.
According to various books and articles written on Surat, about 500 people died in this terrible fire.
destroy houses
In the suburbs, 6250 and 3123 houses were burnt to ashes.
259 in Machilipith, 647 in Soni Chakla, 1147 in Kanpith, 363 in Ranitalav, 998 in Wadifalia, 390 in Sanghadiavad, 876 in Khaptiya Chakla, 581 in Bhagatlav, 992 in Gopipara, 524 in Haripara, Salabatpura and Begampura. 721 houses were burnt to ashes.
loss
The total loss was estimated at Rs 46,86,500. In which only the damage cost of houses was estimated, other damages were not included.
How many millionaires suddenly came on the streets. The owners of five houses had no place to live.
Rumors spread that ‘Mother was angry and because of that this disaster happened.’
It has been told that there has been damage to houses worth Rs 15 lakh and total property worth Rs 30 lakh.
Didn’t get help
When the fire broke out, he asked for water from the wells of nearby houses but the neighbors refused to give him water. Therefore this fire did not extinguish and later spread everywhere.
Some threw their valuables into wells to save them from being looted, some lost their lives trying to take them out. Some people who went to rescue people who had fallen into the well after the fire, collapsed as soon as they entered inside.
People also jumped into the well to escape the fire and they also died.
help
Bombay merchants, the Parsi community and in 1837 the British East India Company was given a grant of one thousand pounds – 50 thousand rupees from London.
By November, merchants bringing grain into the city were exempted from paying taxes upon entering the city for two months. Apart from this, reward was also given to the merchant who brought grains to the city.
Mumbai businessmen also contributed about Rs 1 lakh 25 thousand to help Surat.
People lived in the surrounding villages. Some philanthropists like Bahmanji Mancherji Bhavnagari, Meharwanji Horamji Farajrawala, son of late Seth Barjorji Enty, Khansaheb Ardeshar Dhanjishah Bahadur, Bhanshaliji Manekchand Roopchand provided food and clothes to the helpless people living in the city.
The Parsis opened their Dharamshala for these destitutes. Shethiyas and businessmen of Mumbai sent an amount of one lakh rupees. Even the names of Parsi donors are mentioned in various Parsi documents.
Seth Jamsetji Jijibhoi sent a special ship from Mumbai to Surat to distribute large quantities of food items, clothes and cash to the poor at his own expense.
In Surat’s Vahorwad, where people went to extinguish the fire in another log, their area also got caught in the fire. The entire district was burnt to ashes. Some women took shelter in the mosque. But the mosque also came under fire.
Robbery
Baggage wagons charged five to seventy-five rupees per round fare. The overcharger will be caught in the middle of the vehicle and the luggage will be left behind and the luggage left in the middle will be stolen. People would go crazy and crazy.
20 rupees for the cart to carry the goods and 2 rupees for lifting the box.
a series of disasters
Surat’s troubles increased in the second half of the nineteenth century. Repeated derailments, epidemics and fires further compounded the disaster. There was an outbreak of cholera in 1864. Five years later, on May 8, 1869, in Chowk Bazaar
62 shops burnt down in terrible fire
On Saturday, April 6, 1889, at 2:00 PM, a fire broke out in the shop of a Parsi named Dinshah Khurshedji, located in the Katpitiyavad area of Burhanpuri Bhagol. The blaze started while some fuel, oil, or incense was being heated. The fire quickly ignited the grass on the roof and spread rapidly in all directions. Shops surrounding the market area began to burn. The various commodities stored within the shops—such as oil, incense, acids, sulfur, and lead—served to further fuel the conflagration.
By evening, the areas of Ruwala Tekro, Kansravad, Bundelavad, and Haripara had been engulfed by the flames. The towering inferno was visible from a distance of 20 miles. The fire engines available at Sudharai proved ineffective; in fact, several barrels belonging to these engines were themselves consumed by the fire. Consequently, additional fire-fighting equipment had to be brought in from Vadodara to bring the blaze under control.
On August 21, 1837, a devastating flood struck the Tapi River. The floodwaters began to recede three days later. However, the people had barely begun to recover from this natural disaster when, just five days later—on the 29th—another flood struck the region. The waters finally subsided on September 1.
The year 1837 was plagued by a succession of calamities, occurring both before and after this specific incident. At that time, the responsibility for the security and administration of Surat rested with a Parsi gentleman named Ardeshir Dhanjisha Kotwal Bahadur. He served as the Kotwal (Chief of Police) appointed by the British authorities.
Ardeshir Kotwal was charged with ensuring the safety and security of the city. However, given the manner in which disasters—such as the floods and the fire—had occurred, resulting in significant loss of life and property, the British administration became displeased with him and initiated legal proceedings against him.
He was burdened by a debt amounting to five lakh rupees. Furthermore, his relationship with Robert Davis Luard—the newly appointed Judge of Surat—was strained. Consequently, he was accused of abusing his official position to waive a debt owed by the heirs of the Harigovandas Nakhubhai lineage of Surat. He stood trial on these charges but was ultimately acquitted, having been proven innocent. During the Emergency, Ardeshir Kotwal served the city with distinction. Luard, the Judge of Surat, filed a lawsuit against him—an episode that came to be known as the ‘Great Surat Case’—in which Ardeshir was ultimately acquitted. Although he retired in 1846, he continued to render honorary service during the fire of 1848 and the railway project of 1849. He passed away in 1856, followed by his son, Jahangir, in 1859.
**Fire Incidents Over 31 Years**
According to records from the *Surat Sudharai* (Surat Municipality), between 1869 and 1900, a total of 121 fire incidents—ranging from minor to major—occurred in Surat. During the first half of the nineteenth century, under the rule of the Company Government, the city possessed no means to protect its inhabitants from such natural calamities.
**Books**
There are numerous books dedicated to the history of Surat. Ishwarlal Ichharam Desai—a freedom fighter, Congress leader, educationist, and historian—authored a book on the history of Surat titled *Surat Sonani Murat* (Surat: The Golden Image).
Bahmanji Behramji Patel wrote a book titled *Parsi Prakash*. The *Gujarat State Gazetteer* and the *Bombay Gazetteer* also contain references to the catastrophic damage caused by this fire. Documents pertaining to these events can be found in the *Annual Register: World Events 1837–1838*. However, British records lack specific details regarding the exact number of fatalities. Dr. Mohan V. Meghani, an author, has written a book on the history of Surat on behalf of the Chunnilal Gandhi Vidya Bhavan (Public Education Society), Surat. Hiralal Parekh’s book, *Arvachin Gujaratnu Rekhadarshan*, draws upon an old notebook maintained by Mehtaji Chhaganlal Vidyaram Raval, as well as the writings of Narmad. Based on these early reports, several books mention that Lord Reay, the Governor of Bombay, also visited Surat following the disaster. Reports regarding these events were published in the *Mumbai Samachar* newspaper on April 30, 1837. In the Gujarat government’s book on the Surat district titled ‘Gujarat Rajya Sarva Sangrah,’ and in the book ‘Nineteenth Century Surat.’ (Jay Shukla — Based on information from the BBC) (Google translation from Gujarati; view original report)
