Amba Prasad

Amba Prasad was born in Delhi in about 1860, in an eminent business family. His father Lala Gopal Rai, and grandfather, Lala Gulab Singh were respected and influential traders and bankers of Delhi. Little is known of his childhood and education, but it is believed his early education was at his family home in the Khari Baoli area of Delhi. He studied at the Anglo-Sanskrit Victoria Jubilee High School which had been founded by Lala Chunna Mal of Chandni Chowk.

As a young businessman he was successful and went into the chemical industry manufacturing and trading in dyes and chemicals. He started a trading company - Amba Prasad Jadavjee & Co. - in partnership with a Jadavjee. He was a pioneer in early advertising and introduced colorful and graphic labels for his products. He later sold the rights to these labels and trade marks to companies like Ciba and Bayer. In 1922, he was also one of the founder members of the elite Roshanara Club,which had the first cricket field in Delhi at Roshanara Bagh. He was one of the few non royals invited to attend the Delhi Durbar to celebrate the coronation of King George V in 1911. For the trading community he founded the Kirana Committee of Delhi, which is one of the oldest trader associations in India.

Being very religious, he built several temples and dharamshalas in Delhi, Vrindavan and Mathura, amongst other places. He also developed several ghats for religious ceremonies and bathing on the banks of the Yamuna river, in Delhi. But these have been swallowed by the Ring Road, as the Yamuna flows much further away now. He died in 1950, aged about 90 years.