Meherwan Byramshaw Jessawala was born on 22 November 1930, the youngest child of Byramshaw ("Pappa") and Gaimai Jessawala, fourteen years after his brother Eruch; his sisters were Manu and Meheru. In Nagpur in 1930, Meher Baba had indicated to Gaimai, "Eruch is my son; I will give you another," and two months later Meherwan was born. When Baba was told of the birth, he told the family to name the boy Meherwan.
On 1 August 1938 the Jessawala family left everything to come to Baba, when Meherwan was about eight. Placed at first with relatives at Akbar Press, he was brought to Baba at Jabalpur in December 1938 and stayed with the women mandali, the first boy to do so. As a child he travelled with Baba and the women on the Blue Bus tours and spent the war years with Baba's party in places such as Dehra Dun. He later recalled, "He became my father and mother. I looked to Him for everything."
In 1943 Baba sent the family to Poona, where they lived at Bindra House for the next forty-seven years; the house became Baba's halting place between his travels. Before Baba set out on the New Life in October 1949, he called Meherwan to the car and said, "I am taking Eruch with Me. He will be looking after Me and I want you to look after the family." Meherwan answered, "Yes, I will do as you say," and that promise shaped the rest of his life. At his father's wish he finished his education, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry; in 1951 he passed his final examination after Baba ordered him to start studying with only days to spare. He hoped to live in the ashram like Eruch, but Baba told him, "Take the first job that you find."
In Poona Meherwan helped find bungalows for Baba, including Guruprasad in 1951, and sent medical supplies and other necessities to Meherazad; from 1961 he organized the regular transport of soft Poona water for Baba's bath. At the 1958 sahavas Baba called him "Eruch's brother and my jewel, an original jewel. From head to foot he is mine." When his father Pappa died in 1959, Meherwan's concern was not the death itself but whether he had kept Baba's order to be in bed at ten o'clock that night.
In 1990 Bindra House was sold, and Meherwan, his mother Gaimai and his sister Manu moved to Meherazad, where he lived until his death. As Baba's resident mandali passed away, he took a more active role in sharing stories of his life with Baba with pilgrims in Mandali Hall. He wrote My Life with Meher Baba and was one of the editors, with Ward Parks, of Meher Baba's Tiffin Lectures compiled from Chanji's notes. He died on 15 July 2016.
