Now everyone knows about Beri Thimmappa. Have you ever heard about Kasi Viranna?

Kasi Viranna succeeded Beri Thimmappa as the Chief Merchant of East India Company. Other credits to Kasi Viranna :
* He floated the first Joint Stock Company in India ” Cassa Verona & Company”
* He was so close to the Golconda Sultanate that he went by a Muslim name too, Hasan Khan.
* He built a mosque in Moore Street that opened its doors shortly before his death in 1680
* The earliest prohibition of sati was when the Governor decreed that Kasi Viranna’s wife could not be cremated with him.
* Received a 30 gun salute when he died.

Beri Thimmappa and Kasi Viranna were also big financiers of East India Company’s textile trade

(inputs from Mr Muthiah’s column in The Hindu and the web)