The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v1.c19.s7.11

v1.c19.s7.11

Another industry which seems to have made considerable headway in our period was sugar. We have already (*supra* p. 650) cited evidence to show that Bengal was probably one of the earliest homes of sugar-cane cultivation. Suśruta mentions that the *pauṇḍraka* canes (which grew in the Pauṇḍra country) were noted for the large quantity of sugar which they yielded. In the thirteenth century Marco Polo noticed that sugar was one of the important commodities of export from Bengal.² Early in the sixteenth century the Portuguese traveller, Barbosa, found Bengal competing with South India in the supply of sugar to different parts of India, Ceylon, Arabia and Persia.³