A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c18.35

c18.35

At the end of the tenth century, the political situation in China became normal again, and the Sung government of the day showed great interest in foreign trade. It became a government monopoly and strenuous efforts were made to increase it. Eager to take advantage of the new conditions, the Cholas sent ‘embassies’ to China. One such trade delegation left towards the end of Rājarāja's reign and reached China in 1015 after spending over three years on the way. Another, sent by Rājendra I, reached the celestial court in 1033, and a third went in 1077. The chief articles of merchandise in this long-distance trade were necessarily goods that carried great value for small bulk. For instance, the chief imports of Siraf were aloes wood, amber, camphor, precious stones, bamboo, ivory, ebony, paper, sandalwood, Indian perfumes, drugs and condiments. The import of horses to India from Arabia was important at all times, and grew to great proportions after the rise of the Bāhmani and Vijayanagar kingdoms in the fourteenth century. The Portuguese, as we have seen, sought to acquire a monopoly in this trade when they gained command of the routes in the Indian waters. Imports into China were of two distinct categories of goods: manufactured textile fabrics mostly of cotton, spices and drugs; and, by far the more valuable intrinsically, jewels and semi-precious substances like ivory, rhinoceros horn, ebony, amber, coral, various aromatic products and perfumes. This trade was at first welcomed in China; but in the twelfth century, the drain of currency and precious metals resulting from this expansion of the trade in luxuries caused serious concern to the Chinese government. They therefore prohibited the export of precious metals and coined money, and put restrictions on the trade with ‘Ma'bar’ and ‘Kulam’—that is the Coromandel coast and Quilon. All the same, the trade continued with more or less regularity to the end of the thirteenth century. The testimony of the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela (1170) on conditions of trade in Quilon under Chola rule is worth citing: ‘This nation is very trustworthy in matters of trade, and whenever foreign merchants enter their port, three secretaries of the king immediately repair on board their vessels, write down their names and report them to him. The king thereupon grants them security for their property, which they may even leave in the open fields without any guard. One of the king's officers sits in the market, and receives goods that may have been found anywhere, and which he returns to those applicants who can minutely describe them. This custom is observed in the whole empire of this king.'