A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c18.40

c18.40

The accounts of one English and two Dutch factors, who spent some years in Masulipatam and its neighbourhood, give an unusually vivid picture of the state of industry and trade on the east coast, particularly in the Golconda region. The country was mainly agricultural; in lowlands the staple crops were rice, millets and pulses, while, on a smaller scale, the dye crops, indigo and chay-root, were produced for the weaving industry. Tobacco, then recently introduced, was grown largely for export. Cotton was not grown extensively, but was brought from the interior. The chief minerals were iron and steel of high quality, manufactured some distance inland, and exported from Masulipatam. Diamond-mining on an important scale had developed at Kollūr. Among industries cotton-weaving stood by itself. It was practised all over the area, both for local consumption and for export in large quantities. The weavers worked in their own houses, but as they depended on advances of capital from buyers they had to produce the quality and quantity of goods prescribed by their customers. There were two main classes of cotton goods—plain goods like calico and muslin, brown, bleached or dyed; and patterned goods of the type now called ‘prints’ made of either calico or muslin, with coloured patterns produced by the indigenous processes. This work was carried out mainly on the coasts and carefully adapted to the needs of markets in Java and the Far East, each with its own peculiar tastes and requirements. The export trade for plain goods was localized on the Golconda Coast, while Pulicat specialized in the patterned variety.