The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c26.s3.3

c26.s3.3

The main source of our wealth was agriculture. The natural fertility of the soil in most parts, copious rainfall and irrigation facilities provided since the early times and their systematical reinforcement by Firoz Tughluq, combined with the industry of our peasants led to the production of so much of corn that it not only supplied the need of the country but was also exported abroad. Rich crops, such as, cotton, sugar-cane, lintels, oilseeds, poppy, Indigo, etc., were produced on a large scale. Fruits of numerous variety were produced in many parts of the country. We have already seen in a previous chapter that a considerable portion of the revenues of Firoz Tughluq came from gardens. But, though agriculture was the occupation of the bulk of the people, there were many important industries in the rural as well as the urban areas. Centuries before the advent of the Turks, our country was industrially well organised. There were guilds and crafts in the villages and in towns which carried on widespread commerce. Inspite of the absence of State support, these industrial institutions survived the shocks of foreign invasions and internal revolutions. There were two kinds of industries—those that were under state patronage and those that were purely private. The Sultans had their own *karkhanas* or workshops in Delhi, which employed many thousands of weavers of silk and other stuffs. Every year thousands of yards of silk and cotton cloth were produced by the royal workshops for preparing robes of honour. There were other kinds of workshops, such as, those for gold and silver articles and embroidery, and so on. As for private industries, the most important among them were the textile industry, including the manufacture of cotton, woollen and silk cloth, dyeing industry, printing industry, calico printing industry, sugar industry, metal work, paper industry, stone and brick work and various other industries, such as inlay of stone work, enamelling etc. There were some minor industries, such as, shoe-making, manufacture of arms, manufacture of liquors, brass and other metal industries and clay industry. Textile industries were common to all the provinces of the country; but Bangal and Gujarat were particularly renowned for the manufacture and export of textile goods.