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The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v1.c19.s8.t1: 1. Internal Trade

The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v1.c19.s8.t1

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1. Internal Trade

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Oddly enough, we know much less about the inland commerce of ancient Bengal than about her foreign trade. The reason for this is that inscriptions, which form the most important source of our information concerning the early economic life of the people, do not, and cannot by their nature be expected to, deal with internal traffic. Nor do foreign travellers and historians help us in the matter, for their chief interest lay in the foreign trade of the province.² Yet the early development of a considerable foreign trade, to which reference will be made later, presupposes the existence of a certain amount of internal commerce. Occasional reference in later inscriptions also confirm this view. The mention of *haṭṭa-pati* (supra p. 282), *śaulkika* (p. 278) and *tarika* (p. 278) (officers in charge of markets, customs, tolls and ferries) in the land-grants indirectly testifies to the brisk nature of internal trade, and shows that the state derived from it a considerable revenue. The principal centres of inland trade were obviously the towns. The Koṭālipāḍā Plates (supra p. 51) bear witness to the fact that Navyāvakāśikā was a rendezvous of merchants and businessmen.³ The Dāmodarpur Plates (*supra* p. 49) tell the same tale in regard to Koṭivarsha.

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² Compare, for instance, the accounts contained in the *Periplus of the Erythraean Sea* and Marco Polo's *Travels*.

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³ We have references to ships and dock-yards and to customs-officers called *vyāpāra-kāraṇḍaya* or *vyāpārandya* in the two grants of the time of Dharmāditya, and *vyāpārāya-viniyukta* in the Grant of Gopachandra. These were, as Pargiter points out, obviously officials "charged with the duty of looking after trade" (*IA.* 1910, p. 212).

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We learn from the *Kathā-sarit-sāgara*¹ that Puṇḍravardhana had a great market-place and streets lined with shops. Besides the towns, a certain amount of business was probably done in the villages also. The Dāmodarpur Plate No. 2 mentions a *haṭṭa* or market in connection with the purchase of a plot of land.² The Khālimpur Plate of Dharmapāla records the grant of four villages along with their *haṭṭikā*, which, according to Kielhorn, means “market dues.”³ The Irḍā Plate similarly mentions the grant of a village “along with its market-place” (*sa-haṭṭa*),⁴ while the Bhāṭerā Plate speaks of shops (*haṭṭiya-gṛiha*) and big markets (*haṭṭa-vara*) in some of the donated villages.⁵

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¹ Tawney's tr., ii. 86.

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² *Ibid.* iv. 254.

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³ *EI.* xv. 153-54.

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⁴ *Ibid.* xxii. 155, 158.

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⁵ *Ibid.* xix. 282.

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The chief routes of internal trade were probably the waterways of the province, in proximity to which stood the principal towns. The rôle of the rivers in the economic geography of Bengal cannot be over-estimated. They fertilised the soil by the silt which they carried; they eliminated, to a large extent, the need for artificial irrigation; and being navigable far inland throughout the year, they served as ‘corridors’ or ‘natural routes’ for long-distance traffic. It is probable enough, although statistical data are lacking, that throughout the ancient and mediaeval periods they bore the greater part of the inland traffic of the province. Apart from the rivers, a certain amount of trade probably passed along land-routes. The itineraries of Fa-hien and Hiuen Tsang point to the existence of such land-routes connecting some of the important cities of the province. The Chittagong Plate of Dāmodara (*supra* p. 253) mentions a public road (*rāja-patha*), passing by the side of a village. In recent years Mr. K. N. Dikshit has discovered the remains of two ancient embanked roads in the neighbourhood of Dhanora.⁶

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⁶ *ASI.* 1922-23, p. 109.

Cites (2)