The Watumull Family’s Legacy: Building a Business Empire in Hawaii

In 1915, Jhamandas Watumull, a 29-year-old Indian entrepreneur, arrived on Hawaii’s O’ahu island to establish a retail outlet for his import venture with his partner, Dharamdas. They officially registered their business, Watumull & Dharamdas, on Honolulu’s Hotel Street, offering exotic merchandise such as silks, ivory crafts, brassware, and other curios from the East. Dharamdas passed away from cholera in 1916, leading Jhamandas Watumull to summon his brother, Gobindram, to manage their Honolulu store while Jhamandas oversaw their operations in Manila. Over the subsequent years, the brothers traveled between India and Hawaii as they solidified their commercial undertakings. Today, the Watumull name is widely recognized across the islands; the family is deeply intertwined with Hawaii’s rich history, with interests ranging from garment manufacturing and real estate to education and arts philanthropy. As the first South Asians to migrate to the island from India, they are now counted among its wealthiest families. “Slowly, slowly, that’s how we did it,” Jhamandas recounted to a local Hawaiian publication in 1973. Born in pre-independent India, Jhamandas was the offspring of a brick contractor in Hyderabad, Sindh province (now part of Pakistan). His family was educated but not affluent. After an accident left his father paralyzed, Jhamandas’s mother funded his journey to the Philippines, where he began working in textile mills. In 1909, he launched his own trading business in Manila with his partner, Dharamdas. His grandson, JD Watumull, states that Jhamandas and Dharamdas relocated to Hawaii after a downturn in their Manila business, which occurred when the US, then occupying the Philippines, restricted its ties with foreign enterprises. Their Hawaiian business was renamed East India Store shortly after Jhamandas’s brother, Gobindram, took over its management. In the years that followed, the business expanded into a significant department store with branches in various parts of Asia and Hawaii, according to SAADA, a digital archive of South Asian American history. In 1937, Gobindram erected the Watumull Building in Honolulu’s Waikiki neighborhood to serve as the company’s headquarters. By 1957, the multi-million-dollar business had grown to include 10 stores, an apartment house, and various commercial developments, as per SAADA. The Star-Bulletin newspaper characterized the store’s offerings—linens, lingerie, brass, and teak wood curios—as imbued with “romance and mystery,” capable of transporting one “to distant lands and fascinating scenes.” As Hawaii emerged as a popular destination for affluent tourists in the 1930s, shirts in vibrant colors featuring island motifs, known as the ‘Aloha shirt,’ became a highly sought-after souvenir. According to Dale Hope, an expert in Hawaiian textile and patterns, the Watumull’s East India Store was among the first establishments on the island to feature designs with Hawaiian patterns. These designs were initially commissioned in 1936 by Gobindram from his artist sister-in-law, Elsie Jensen. “Instead of Mount Fuji, she’d have Diamond Head, instead of koi [she’d] have tropical fish, instead of cherry blossoms [she’d] have gardenias and hibiscus and all the things we know here,” Hope explained. Nancy Schiffer, in her book Hawaiian Shirt Designs, notes that the designs were sent to Japan, where they were handblocked onto raw silk. Schiffer states, “These subtle floral patterns, modern and dynamic in concept, were the first Hawaiian designs to be produced commercially.” William Devenport, in the book Paradise of the Pacific, adds, “They were sold by the boat load and were exhibited as far away as London.” Lila, Gobindram’s daughter, informed Hope that the Watumull’s Waikiki store attracted American movie stars such as Loretta Young, Jack Benny, Lana Turner, and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, who came to purchase these shirts. “More and more we are finding out that Watumull has become a synonym for Hawaiian fashions,” Gulab Watumull remarked in a 1966 interview published in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The Watumulls subsequently acquired the Royal Hawaiian Manufacturing Company, where the first matching family aloha wear was created. Despite their achievements, it would be decades before the Watumull brothers—Jhamandas and Gobindram—were granted US citizenship. The Hawaii Business Magazine reported that their early years in the country were marked by discrimination and restrictive immigration laws. In 1922, Gobindram married Ellen Jensen, an American citizen whose citizenship was revoked under the Cable Act for marrying an immigrant ineligible for US citizenship. Jensen later collaborated with the League of Women Voters to reform the law and successfully regained her citizenship in 1931. Gobindram became a citizen in 1946, following the enactment of a law that allowed Indians to obtain citizenship through naturalization. Meanwhile, his brother Jhamandas continued to divide much of his time between India and Hawaii. During India’s partition in 1947, the Watumull family relocated from Sindh to Bombay (now Mumbai), leaving behind a significant portion of their property, according to SAADA. Jhamandas’s son, Gulab, eventually arrived in Hawaii to join the family business and ultimately assume its leadership. In 1955, the brothers divided the business, with Jhamandas and Gulab retaining the retail segment, while Gobindram’s family took over the real estate division. Jhamandas permanently moved to Hawaii in 1956, a few years after the deaths of his wife and one of their sons, and became a US citizen in 1961. Over the years, the family remained dedicated to the welfare of India and its people. Elliot Robert Barkan writes in Making it in America that Gobindram was an active participant in the Committee for India’s Freedom, frequently traveling to Washington to advocate for the country’s independence. Sachindra Nath Pradhan notes in the book India in the United States that Gobindram’s home in Los Angeles was “a Mecca for people concerned with Indian independence.” In 1946, the Watumull Foundation sponsored a series of lectures by Dr S Radhakrishnan—who later served as India’s president—at American universities. Gobindram’s wife, Ellen, was instrumental in bringing an international parenthood conference to Delhi in 1959, which led to the establishment of India’s first birth control clinics. The family’s philanthropic endeavors have consistently included, and continue to include, funding for educational institutions in Hawaii and India, endowments for Honolulu-based art programs, and the promotion of Indian-Hawaiian exchange. Many of the Watumull brothers’ grandchildren are now employed within Hawaii and its surrounding regions. In recent years, as the family business shifted its primary focus to real estate, the last Watumull retail store closed in 2020. The company expressed its gratitude to customers “for years of good business and good memories.” Watumull Properties acquired a marketplace spanning 19,045 sq m (205,000 sq ft) in Hawaii last year. JD Watumull, the company’s president, stated, “The Hawaiian Islands continue to be our family’s focus today and in the future.” For updates, follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC disclaims responsibility for the content found on external websites. Information regarding our policy on external linking is available for review.