Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c6: Part II: Economic Condition

Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c6

Language: English

Part II: Economic Condition

Rural Life

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*General remarks* :-- India is an essentially agricultural country even to-day and its economic structure is very different from an industrial country.¹ In India, the source of production is land; its power, the ploughing animal; and its implements, the wooden plough, the toothed harrow, the smoothing board, the levelling beam, the sowing drill and a few others, for instance the pick and the hoe, various contrivances for raising water, a few mattocks, spades and rakes. The proportion of land which is irrigated by canals is still not very large and the crops usually depend on favourable monsoons at the appropriate seasons.² There are no violent dislocations of economic life except for periodical famines, a locust pest or, as it used to be in olden times, a band of invaders. When these epidemics have passed, life in the countryside resumes its normal activity. The life is essentially stereotyped and unprogressive, but extremely simple and continuous. Usually a whole community of people claiming a common descent and bound by a number of common social and religious ties, inhabits a number of adjoining villages. The village is usually composed of a number of such communities (or *baradaris*, ‘brotherhoods’). Given favourable monsoons and not too exacting an administration, the Indian peasant as a rule feels quite satisfied with his lot. He meets the ordinary demands of his everyday life with a cheerful heart and goes about his vocation with a feeling not very different from happiness and contentment. Under these conditions, if he finds suitable opportunity, he confers one of his many chlildren in marriage and invites to the celebration practically all his community and friends, as far as his means permit him. In his leisure hours he sings his popular ballads and folk songs in the common village courtyard (*chowpal*). The younger ones gather round in another corner and recite their favourite ghost stories and other lore. Under unfavourable conditions, the peasants, and particularly the women folk, resort more frequently to their gods and deities or the spirits of their forefathers and popular saints and in response to their prayers and offerings watch eagerly for clouds with a tearful eye. In the worst extremities of life they are reconciled to the irresistible workings of fate (*kismet*) and take misfortunes and disaster with a superhuman calmness and passive resignation. Life has very few good things to offer to stimulate their desires or promise their fulfilment. This has been the basis of Indian agricultural life for untold centuries in Hindustan.

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¹ Compare Indian Year Book, 1931, p.29 for the present classification of occupations :--‘If we add the pastoral and hunting occupations, the percentage (of agricultural population) rises to 73, while a considerable portion of the unfortunately large number of persons in the category of vague and unclassifiable occupations are probably labourers closely connected with the occupations of the land’.

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² The irrigated area was 12.1% of the total cropped area in 1931 (vide, I.Y.B., 1931).

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The attitudes of mind and modes of thought that have grown out of these conditions have moulded the life of an Indian village community. We have referred to its political aspect in an earlier chapter. Economically speaking, the village is a self-sufficient unit with an organic and well developed economic structure, if by organic life we mean the team wrok of a community to supply the needs and to fulfil the desires of its members. In fact, if an Indian village community were isolated physically from the rest of the world (as it is psychologically, in most cases) its economic organization would remain more or less unaffected. The leading feature of an Indian village community is a harmonious co-ordination of the specialized functions of its various component groups of workers. Everyone has his special function assigned to him; in fact, he is also born and brought up to it. For instance, of the various social groups, the husbandman takes to the tilling and the harvesting of crops which provide food for all the members of a village community. The rest of the members contribute to the productive process in a subsidiary manner. The women folk lend a hand in the various forms of farm labour, and look after animals and stock. The carpenters employ themselves in making and mending ploughs and other implements, the cultivator supplying them with wood. The blacksmiths supply the iron parts of the implements and repair them when necessary. The potters supply the household utensils. The cobblers make and mend the plough harness and shoes. In fact, everyone has his contribution to make, the washerman, the barber, the cowherd, the milkman, the water-carrier, the scavenger, even the beggar, the priest, the astrologer and the popular doctor and magician. Again, the produce of the field feeds a number of rural industries for instance, the making of ropes and baskets and the manufacture of sugar, scents, oils, etc. It finds occupation for a number of crafts namely, those of weavers, leather-workers, dyers, woodworkers and calico-printers. A group of people is set apart for the exchange of village produce. In one quarter of an Indian village, one comes across a tiny market where grain, cloth, sweetmeats, and other necessities of life are sold by petty shopkeepers. There is sometimes even a money-changer in a corner of the village market who changes coppers and cowries for silver and makes a small fortune in the process of conversion. Sometimes, the services of the local goldsmith come to his aid in testing the purity of the metal of a coin. The periodical fairs serve for bigger exchanges of commodities and for the supply of what one might call the luxuries of peasants, e.g., copper and mixed metal utensils, lead and tinsel ornaments, children’s toys, etc. The Indian village is not without its local politicians and even statesmen. The *chowpal* is full of discussions about individual quarrels and questions of caste behaviour. Somebody is even deeply thinking of the dangers of commercial wealth of village shopkeepers and expounds his political theories with all the pretensions of a Demonsthenes.¹ But outside their particular village or group of neighbouring villages, the rest of the world is one big mystery for them. This has been the structure of an Indian village in Hindustan, though signs of its decay are fast approaching under the strain of new economic forces.²

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¹ Compare I.K., III, 49; compare Gupta, Bengal, etc., 158 for the remarks of an old Bengali poet and writer on the wealth of the village petty shopkeepers :—‘They sell and buy and in the process they draw to themselves the wealth of the people’.

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² Compare a description of a village organization in I.G.I.; IV, 280-281; also Gupta, Bengal, etc., 163.

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In the period under review, the village community was a working institution in full vigour, and determined the economic outlook of the vast majority of the population of Hindustan. Its leading economic feature was production mainly for purposes of local consumption. Industries on a large scale were carried on in a few localized areas which were as a rule situated at the mouth of certain navigable rivers through which raw materials could be imported with facility, or else in the close vicinity of an area where raw material was available in sufficient quantities to feed them. Apart from a very few inland centres of other provinces, Bengal and Gujarat, because of their shipping facilities, were the chief industrial provinces which worked certain industries, collected the surplus of finished products from the inland centres of other provinces and exported them abroad. In this manner, while the vast majority occupied itself with agricultural pursuits, a small proportion engaged in trade and industry, and a few rich people lived on commerce with foreign nations.¹ This gave rise to a little urban life in a few big towns which also served as the seat of local or provincial administration. The towns were usually walled and protected and also served as centres of refuge to the neighbouring population in times of danger and insecurity. In times of peace, they served as centres of distribution of agricultural produce and industrial goods. In general we might say that though the towns led the country in social and intellectual culture, they were not of sufficient economic importance to modify the economic outlook of the people as a whole.²

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¹ Compare, the observations of Mahuan in Bengal. *J.R.A.S.*, 1895, p.530.

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² Compare the Indian Year Book (1931), p.22 for the ratio of 10.2: 89.8 between the urban and the rural population of India. 'The progress of urbanization in India—if there has been any progress at all—has been very slow during the past thirty years, the whole increase being less than one per cent.' p.21, *ibid.*

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An important factor in the economic life of the people was the administrative machinery. It shared the fruits of peasant labour and employed industrial labour on a small scale. In its turn, it gave some sort of security for the peaceful pursuit of agricultural vocations and incidentally gave certain facilities for the transport of goods from one part of the country to another. On the whole, any big improvement in the method of production, a more equitable distribution of the economic wealth or a better adjustment of the economic position of the various social classes, was outside the policy of the State. On the other hand, as has been shown above, the State was interested in perpetuating the low standard of economic life of the masses of the people. The economic framework of society worked as best it could within the limits of its productive capacity. It involved division into classes, disparity of incomes and a general degradation of the status of the productive labourer, but all these social factors had been adjusted into the system, over which a structure of culture and artistic developments was raised which still endears itself to all sorts of social dreamers and political philosophers. There was no economic revolution, for none was wanted. The land was almost limitless in potential wealth and resources and equally vast in extent which set serious limits to administrative exactions and to the domination of the ruling classes as a whole. Finally, there was no established standard of comfort, a fact which made matters easier for the ruling classes.

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1. *The produce of the land.*—Nearly all cultivation was done on land which furnished food for men and fodder for animals.¹ It is difficult to speak of the size of an average holding or even of the proportion of the population which took to active husbandry. We can roughly state that leaving aside those who were engaged in domestic labour and crafts, all others took to cultivation on land. There are no detailed references to the system of cultivation then in vogue, but probably it was not very different from the present system.² The agricultural produce of the country as a whole could not have been very different from what it is to-day except for the newly introduced cultivation of tobacco, tea, coffee and the extension of jute crop and the like. It appears, however, that medicinal herbs, spices and fragrant wood were grown in larger quantities, and found a market in and outside India. Pulses, wheat, barley, millet, peas, rice, sesame and oilseeds, sugarcane and cotton were the chief crops.¹ The area round about Kara and Manikpur (near Allahabad) was considered to be exceptionally fertile and grew good quality rice, sugarcane, and wheat which were exported to Delhi in great quantities.² As a result of canal irrigation introduced under Firuz Shah Tughluq, the area round Hissar and Firuzabad added to the existing cultivation of sesame and pulses the culture of wheat and sugarcane.³ Among other improved crops, the rice of Sirsuti was reputed for quality and found a ready market in Delhi.⁴ The usual method of storing the stock of grain was in grain-pits or khattees which preserved the grain for a very long time.⁵

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¹ Compare A.A., I, 79-80; *ibid.*, II, 6, for the crops of *singhara, salak*, *khus, kaseru*, which are grown on the surface of water and probably existed before Akbar, as they did under him, but their proportion to land crops was negligible.

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² Compare K.K., 709, where Amir Khusrau, beyond praising the skill and ingenuity of Indian peasants in general terms, gives no details. Compare K.R., II, 145, for the employment of Persian water-wheels on the Meghna in Bengal. Compare for a parallel the use of Persian water-wheels in Samarqand in the 13th century. Britschneider, I, 76; compare their use in Oudh (mentioned by Malik Muhammad Jaisi) under the name of *Rahat*, P., 52. Compare Babur's account in B.N., 249-50, for a more systematic survey. He refers to the use of Persian wheels in Lahore, Dipal-pur, Sirhind and thereabout; the use of large leather buckets (*pur*) drawn by a pair of bullocks in Agra, and Bayana; and the use of what is now called a *Dhenkli* for a constant supply of water. For a description of *dhenkli* see I.G.I., XXI, 125-6. Compare also Macauliffe, I, 22, for similar arrangements in other parts of Hindustan.

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¹ Compare, in connection with the growth of cotton, the cultivation of a kind of giant cotton plant (Deva kapas) growing full six paces in height and attaining an age of twenty years. Up to twelve years, the tree grew good spinning cotton. Vide Yule, II, 393, and note. For the introduction of smoking under Akbar, the Memoirs (waqai‘) of Asad Khan, composed under Jahangir.

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² K.R., II, 24.

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³ B., 568.

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⁴ K.R., II, 14.

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⁵ I.K., V, 66. For a description of Khattee, compare Tod, III, 1563 :— ‘These pits or trenches are fixed on elevated dry spots, their size being according to the nature of the soil. All the preparations they undergo are the incineration of certain vegetable substances and lining the sides and bottom with wheat or barley stubble. The grain is then deposited in the pit, covered over with straw, and a terrace of earth, about eighteen inches in height, and projecting in front beyond the orifice of the pit, is raised over it. This is secured with a coating of clay and cow-dung which resists even the monsoon and is renewed as the torrents injure it. Thus the grain may remain for years without injury while the heat which is extricated checks germination, and deters rats and white ants. Masalik-ul-absar, however, notes that the colour of the grain underwent a change through long storage.

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Among the fruits of the Gangetic plains, the mango was especially popular. The mango was easily the best of all fruits, even preferable to the melons of Islamic countries.⁶ This, however, is a delicate point, for Babur never forgets the melons of his country when he goes about Hindustan. In fact, he had some of the best musk melon plants of Kabul brought to India and planted in his garden at Agra.¹ Even some time after Babur, the cultivation of these melons was not extensive in Hindustan.² Among other fruits we may note the growth of a variety of grapes, dates, pomegranates, plantains, Indian melons, peaches, apples, oranges, grape-fruit, figs, lemons, *karna*, *jhong*, *khirnee*, *jaman*, jack-fruits and numerous others.³ Cocoanuts were abundant on the coasts.

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⁶ Compare the estimate of Amir Khusrau, Q.S., 166-7. Compare W.M., 74 for an interesting discovery of the Tradition of the Prophet in support of the superiority of the mango.

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¹ B.N., 357.

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² Compare the account of Haji Dabir who was provided with some melons in Delhi, but they were obviously not indigenous. Z.W., II, 770.

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³ Compare the account of Barani and Afif, B., 569-70, A., 128, in addition to Amir Khusrau in Q.S., 166-7.

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The Sultans of Delhi and other rulers appear to have taken pains to improve the quality of Indian fruit and the system of gardening as a whole. Firuz Tughluq carried out a big programme of laying gardens, which led to a general improvement in the quality of most of the fruits mentioned above.⁴ According to his chronicler, he laid out 1,200 gardens in the neighbourhood and in the suburbs of Delhi, eighty on the Salora embankment, and forty-four in Chitor.⁵ Rajputana maintained and even extended this tradition of laying gardens. Apart from Chitor, Dholpur, Gwalior, and Jodhpur, other places also took up the improved methods of fruit cultivation and gardening. In Dholpur especially, gardens shaded the route to the city for a distance of seven krohs (about 14 miles)⁶. Special attention was paid to the culture of pomegranates in Jodhpur, and the Lodi Sultan Sikandar confidently declared that Persia could not produce pomegranates which would compare favourably with the Jodhpur variety in flavour.⁷

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⁴ Compare also A., 295-6, for these improved varieties, especially seven different varieties of grapes.

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⁵ *Ibid.*

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⁶ Compare the fruits of Chitor in the time of Malik Muhammad Jaisi. P., 419-20; compare T.A., I, 324. for the destruction of Jodhpur gardens by the soldiers of Sikandar Lodi.

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⁷ Compare the account of *Tarikh-i-Daudi*, f. 45. Compare Amir Khusrau’s description of a ‘smiling pomegranate’ in *I.K.*, IV, 330.

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The culture of flowers is of very ancient date in Hindustan. They have been remarkable for their charm, smell and variety. A number of them like the *Tulsi* and the marigold have become partly sacred, being associated with many religious rites and offerings. The gift of flowers was a common courtesy among the Hindus. Important social occasions and domestic ceremonies were always accompanied by offers of flowers and flower-garlands. For instance, it was difficult to imagine a newly wedded couple or their bed without wreaths of flowers. Whole chapters of their books have been devoted by Amir Khusrau and Malik Muhammad Jaisi to the description of the flowers of the land. We will revert to flowers at the close of our paper. It is worth while remembering in this connection that Babur did not make any improvement in the quality or the variety of Indian flowers in his kingdom, beyond introducing a variety of rose from Gwalior into his garden at Agra.¹

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¹ Compare T.F., I, 391. ² Q.S., 101. ³ For instance ‘Mukhlisa’, E.D., II, 239. ⁴ Compare Yule, II, 393.

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Reference in this connection may be made to fragrant woods, for instance, sandal-wood and aloes, which were grown in Hindustan. Assam was specially reputed for a particular quality of aloe-wood which was sent as an offering to some of the most famous temples in the land. Bughra Khan did not forget to include some of this wood among his gifts to his son, Sultan Mu'izz-du-din Kaiqubad.² Similarly certain medicinal herbs used as antidotes for poisons and for snake-bites, were grown in the country.³ Among spices, pepper and ginger and other spices were grown in some parts of Gujarat in large quantities.⁴

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An enumeration of domestic and wild animals and fowl is difficult, for their number is legion. In the absence of the present land communications and the measures of security which have led to the elimination of considerable numbers of wild animals, it is easy to picture the old landscape full of wild and domesticated animals. Outside Africa and Australia, India is still one of the few countries which possess a great variety of wild animals. Among the species which have now become rare, if not extinct, were the rhinoceros, a variety of hunting falcons and the lion.

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2. *Village Manufactures and Cottage Industries.*—On the basis of agricultural produce, a number of crafts and industries were carried on on a small scale in the village. The labour employed in these industries was hereditary; the implements and the method of work were both crude and the output meagre. But through generations of exclusive employment and inherited traditions of efficiency and skill, the quality of the products was excellent and their artistic value great. The social status and the limited opportunities of village craftsmen discouraged them from making progress beyond certain limits. Moreover, they were not adequately protected against administrative oppression.¹ The introduction of Muslim craftsmen may have done something towards removing the social disabilities of the class as a whole, but in the long run Muslim influence succumbed to the older traditions. When Babur came to Hindustan no appreciable modification in the social character of these vocations was visible, for he finds all the craftsmen organized in rigid and exclusive castes.²

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¹ Compare Amir Khusrau I.K., II, 19-20, for oppressive regulations in the case of oil manufacturers of Delhi; compare also Gupta, Bengal, etc. 158, for the position of betel-leaf sellers in the colony of Bir in Bengal who in case of oppression could not offer any resistance beyond a wail of despair, ‘*duhai*’.

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² Compare also P., 19: Macauliffe, I, 284; K.K., 740.

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The more important manufactures based on agricultural produce were those of unrefined sugar, scents and spirits. We will refer to sugar later on. Scents and scented waters were manufactured where facilities existed for the development of the industry. A whole class of scent merchants, for instance, existed in Bengal and were known as *Gandha Baniks*.³ Rose-water was commonly used to sprinkle on friendly gatherings and social parties for its cooling and refreshing effect. Among other scents, Malik Muhammad Jaisi makes a particular mention of two strong scents or ottos named *Maidu* and *Chuvai*, but their specific variety is not clear.⁴

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³ Gupta, Bengal, etc. 163.

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⁴ P. (hin) 143; compare also T.M. (II), 124, for a present of an elephant load of white and red flowers and of a variety of scents ‘the smell of which looked down upon the gardens of paradise’ which Qutub-ud-din Aibak presented to Muhammad bin Sam of Ghur.

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The manufacture of spirits and liquors is very old in Hindustan. In very ancient days beers were manufactured from unrefined sugar, *mahwa*, barley cakes and rice.⁵ To this Amir Khusrau also adds the use of sugarcane in the manufacture of drinks.¹ Other varieties were made out of Indian date-palm and cocoanut juice.² In Bengal, where facilities for the manufacture of practically all varieties of strong drink existed, spirits were openly sold in the markets.³

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⁵ Compare J.A.S.B., 1906, J.C. Ray—‘Hindu method of manufacturing spirits’.

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¹ K.K., 740, 772; also B., 285.

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² Compare Mahuan, *J.R.A.S.*, 1895, 541; also Vambery 29. For the variety manufactured from Mahua (Bassia Latifolia) compare Ibn Batuta K.R., II, 11 who compares it to the taste of dates ‘dried in the sun’. Compare Babur who finds this drink distasteful. B.N., 26. For its strong intoxicating effect see P., 329. Babur considers the drink manufactured from the palm ‘on the whole, good stuff’ and the other variety from cocoanut, quite strong and nice. B.N., 262. Nicolo Conti speaks of a cheap beer made of ground rice and mixed with water and some ‘redde coloure’ all tempered with the juice of ‘Tall’ tree. Frampton, 137.

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³ Compare Mahuan *J.R.A.S.*, 1895, 531.

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Among other important manufactures, mention may be made of a variety of oils, which were manufactured through the familiar process of the oil-press (ghan) still in use at the present day.⁴

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⁴ Compare Gupta, Bengal, etc. 158.

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Among home industries, the most important were those of the weaving and spinning of cotton. The various processes of weaving and spinning were the same as are employed in Indian villages to-day.⁵ The finished piece of cloth was sold by the piece and even by weight for cash payment or in return for other goods. Other minor industries included cap-making, shoe-making and the making of arms of all kinds, especially bows and arrows. The better class of bow-makers used silk for bow-strings, cane for the arrows and steel for arrow-heads. The blacksmiths had a fairly busy time. The process of smelting iron-ore was widely understood by blacksmiths. Besides various agricultural implements and arms of iron, locks, keys, and razors were articles of common use in Indian homes.⁶ Goldsmiths and silversmiths had attained even greater skill in their work, to which reference will be made later. *Jarau* or inlay work had become very popular and all classes of women, rich and poor, were fond of using ornaments with inlay-work.⁷

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⁵ Compare two very interesting descriptions of the processes given by Kabir, who was the son of a weaver (*vide* Shah, 125, 169, 102) and Lalla of Kashmir (*vide* Temple, 225).

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⁶ Compare I.K., IV, 47-9; B., 365; K.K., 744, 749.

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⁷ Compare *Akharawat*, 25-6, for the fondness of poor women-folk for *Jarau* work; also G., 13, where A.S. Beveridge considers *‘Jarau’* as ‘*Jawahir*’ or jewels. The term is used even at the present day in the original sense of inlay-work.

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A class of craftsmen in Bengal also worked conch-shell into various ornaments. Brass-workers similarly, employed themselves in making jugs, cups, large plates of brass, cooking and other vessels, bells, idols, lamp-stands, betel-leaf boxes, etc.¹ There was even a class of drum-makers and makers of other musical instruments.² Other modest industries consisted of the making of ropes and baskets, earthen pots, leather-buckets, fans, etc. etc.

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¹ Compare Gupta, Bengal, etc. 162-3.

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² Ibid., 158.

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3. *Standard of economic life.*—To complete the discussion of rural life, a word may be added as to the standard of economic life in the villages. Of the produce of land, a large share went to the state, in the form of the land-tax and various perquisites. Of the remainder, a customary share was fixed for various classes of domestic and other labourers. The peasant and his family kept the rest for their own use, gradually consuming the produce, and making special use of it on the great occasions of domestic life, namely, at birth, marriage and funeral celebrations. A certain proportion went to the share of the priest and the temple, and the rest was consumed by the peasant and his stock of domestic animals. In a certain sense the menial and domestic labourers, for instance the carpenter, the smith, the potter, the washerman, the scavenger, etc. were better off, for no animals and not many respectable priests encumbered their lives. Their despised isolation gave them some sort of security against external interference. Like the peasants they also spent their meagre resources on domsestic ceremonies and the upkeep of family customs, and lived on a bare pittance, usually indebted to the local money-lender like all other producing classes.³

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³ Compare Gupta, Bengal, etc. 189, for a reference to money-lenders.

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It is difficult to convert the possible grain surplus of the peasant or of other labourers in the village into a cash money-value for comparison with other classes whose standards of income will be discussed later. As compared with them, the peasant usually worked hard and unceasingly, almost day and night during certain seasons of the year. His exacting labour was shared by his wife and other members of the family.⁴

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⁴ For woman's share in the rural labour, Shah, 87, 170.

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In return for all this labour he was lucky if he could obtain a square meal every day. There are very few and very vague references to the life of the peasants, but it can be asserted with confidence that their lot was very miserable and they lived constantly in a state of semi-starvation.¹ When you have said that people go nearly naked you have practically exhausted the topic of clothing and you can write little about furniture when the possessions of a family are limited to a couple of bedsteads and a scanty supply of cooking vessels.² We shall refer to the subject again in a later part.

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¹ Compare an extreme case mentioned by Mukandram where the cowife of a fowler lives on rice soup and stale curry and sleeps on a straw bed. Vide J.D.L., 1929, 223.

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² Moreland, India, etc. 255. Compare also Amir Khusrau's opinion in K.K., 204-5, where he frankly declares that 'every pearl in the royal crown is but the crystallized drop of blood fallen from the tearful eyes of the poor peasant.'

Industries and Commerce

1. Industries

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There is ample evidence to show that many industries of considerable importance were developed in Hindustan during this period, the more important of them being textiles, metal-work, stone-work, sugar, indigo and paper. A portion of the luxuries for the upper classes was supplied from outside. There were no factories or large-scale industrial enterprises in the modern sense of the term. Usually, the producers of a commodity in small towns arranged with dealers of those goods in a big city to supply them with finished goods for distribution inland or for export outside. Sometimes the producers also disposed of their stock at the periodical fairs. The large scale exporters of goods, usually living in coastal towns also arranged directly with the manufacturers or through their agents, for the purchase and supply of finished goods. In some places enterprising business men engaged a number of craftsmen to manufacture articles under their own supervision. Of such organizations or factories, the best equipped and most efficiently organized were those of the Sultans of Delhi, or, at a later date, of the various minor rulers in the provinces also. These factories were known as *Karkhanas* or work-shops and have been referred to earlier. The royal factories at Delhi sometimes employed as many as 4,000 weavers of silk alone besides manufacturers of other kinds of goods for the royal supply.

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Some idea of the royal demand may be gathered from the fact that Muhammad Tughluq used to distribute 200,000 complete robes of honour twice every year, in the spring and the autumn; those of the spring consisted chiefly of goods manufactured at Alexandria, while those of the autumn were made of goods partly manufactured at Delhi and partly imported from China and Iraq. Similarly, Muhammad Tughluq employed no less than 4,000 manufacturers of golden tissues for brocades used by ladies of the royal *haram* or given away in presents to *amirs* and their wives. Practically every article of royal use, for instance caps, shoes, curtains, tapestry, waistbands, sashes, embroideries, saddles, etc. was supplied by these *Karkhanas*.¹ The Karkhanas similarly manufactured vast stores of fine muslins and other goods for gifts and presents to other monarchs in return for similar gifts from them.² We have no record of the wages of the workmen who were employed in these royal establishments until we come to the time of Akbar. On the whole the State left the manufacture and distribution of all manufactured goods free of State control. Ala-ud-din Khalji alone of all the Sultans of Delhi made a bold attempt to control the market of Delhi but his reasons were administrative and political rather than economic and do not help us to elucidate the various aspects of the industrial situation in the country.

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¹ Compare the account of *Masalik-ul-absar*. E.D., III, 578; and Notices, etc. I have followed the figures of the French version.

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² Compare for instance the stores of Mandu. T.I., 247 : and the account of the embassy of Ibn Batuta to China for fine cloth.

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1. *Textiles.*—The manufacture of textiles was the biggest industry of Hindustan. It included the manufacture of cotton cloth, woollen cloth, and silks. Cotton was extensively grown in the country. Wool could always be procured from mountainous tracts, though sheep were also reared in the plains. The finer qualities of woollen stuffs and furs were largely imported from outside and were almost exclusively worn by the aristocracy. Silk-worms were reared in Bengal,³ though it is not clear whether they were the true silk-worms (i.e., the mulberry-eating insect.) In any case a greater supply of silk yarn was imported. The allied industries of embroidery, gold thread work and dyeing, were also carried on in many big cities of Hindustan. On the whole the quality of Indian textile products was excellent, and the output was sufficient to meet the demands of internal consumption. Bengal and Gujarat also exported very large quantities of cotton and other goods to various countries. The manufacture of fine stuffs was limited to the demands of a small class of well-to-do people. The poorer classes, as has been explained in the previous part, used the products of their own looms and only bought fine cloth for certain festivals and for marriages and other social occasions.

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³ Compare the account of Mahuan. J.R.A.S., 1895, 532. Compare I.G.I., IV, 206-7, on the history of the silk industry in India :--'It is probably correct that the most ancient references to silk by Sanskrit authors denote one or other of the non-domesticated worms and not the true silkworm of modern commerce. All the passages that speak of the mulberry-

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The stuffs worn by the rich usually consisted of a variety of silks, fine muslins, fine linen, brocade, satin and a variety of furs—beaver, ermine, marten, sable.¹ In cold weather while the rich used furs and fine wool, the poor wore stuffed cotton and a variety of rough blankets. The manufacture of fine cloth had attained an unusual degree of excellence. Of this we have many poetic and fanciful descriptions from the pen of Amir Khusrau who in spite of his enthusiastic exaggerations of language, reveals to us a great deal of refinement and skill among the workers.² Deogir and Mahadeva-nagari in the

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¹ Compare the description of Khusrau. Q.S., 32-3; compare also B., 311, for the prohibitions of Sultan Ala-ud-din Khalji which were designed to control the needs of the nobles and extended to the sale of brocade and gold-cloth, the finer silks of Delhi and Khambayat (or Cambay), the Shustari, the Bhirain, the Deogiri and certain other varieties of cloth.

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² Compare for instance his description of Bengal muslin in one place : it was so fine and light that a hundred yards of this muslin could be wrapt round the head and one could still see the hair underneath. *Vide* Q.S., 32-3. In another place he compares the cloth of Deogiri with its richly coloured pieces to ‘tulips of the hills and roses of the garden’. In one place he compares the *Deogiri* cloth to a drop of water in fineness and transparence. A hundred yards of this cloth could pass through the eye of a needle and yet it was so strong that the needle could not pierce through it. A person, according to Khusrau, wearing this cloth looked like one uncovered, ‘only smeared with pure water’. The author thinks that *Deogiri* cloth was good enough to tempt a fairy and was incomparably better than silk and brocade. (*Vide* F.K., 11, K.K., 867 and Add. 25,807, folio 459.)

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worm in early Hindu literature refer to an imported and not a locally produced silk. Neither this worm nor the plant on which it feeds has ever been found in indigenous condition in India—certainly never in the parts of India where seri-culture exists.' The introduction of silk-worms in Bengal may be due to Chinese influence like the introduction of Chinese paper, which will be described presently.

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Deccan were famous centres of cloth manufacture and gave their names to the cloth of their make which was considered to be of exceptional fineness and beauty.¹ Of the other well-known varieits of fine cloth, we read the names of *Bairamia*, *Salahiya*, *Shirin*, *Kattan-i-Rumi*, *Siraj*, *Qibab*, to mention only a few, though their precise nature is not clear. Probably these designations carry local and particular associations which it is not easy to unravel at present. Delhi was a great centre in the North, but it is not clear if its fame was due to its being a market of fine goods or because of their manufacture. The price of a complete piece of fine muslin of exceptional excellence went up to 100 Tankas.² There was a large stock of fine muslin, silk and brocade in Delhi and probably also in other large towns.³

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¹ Compare *ibid.*, K.F., 11. ² Compare Ibn Batuta. K.R., II, 90-1. ³ Compare for instance Malfuzat, 289, where Timur notes with satisfaction that among other goods he collected silk and brocade in the sack of Delhi past ‘all estimate, number, limit or calculation’. ⁴ Compare Q.S., 100-1, where Khusrau describes a piece of cloth the texture of which was so fine that the body was visible through it. One could fold a whole piece of this cloth inside one’s nail; yet it was large enough to cover the world when unfolded. ⁵ Compare *J.R.A.S.*, 1895, 531-2.

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Bengal and Gujarat led the whole of Hindustan in the manufacture and export of textile goods. The harbour facilities of these provinces and their commercial relations with the outside world helped them in building up an extensive textile industry.

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The accounts of Amir Khusrau, Mahuan, Varthema and Barbosa all bear witness to the excellence of Bengal manufactures. Amir Khusrau is warm in the praise of stuffs which Bughra Khan, the governor of Bengal, presented to his son Sultan Mu‘izz-ud‘din Kaiqubad.⁴ Mahuan, on his visit to Bengal, enumerates five or six varieties of fine muslins, gold embroidered caps and silk handkerchiefs.⁵ The accounts of Varthema and Barbosa are in substantial agreement, only the former finds more abundance of cotton cloth in Bengal than anywhere else in the world. He mentions a variety of fine cloth named *Bairam*, *Namone*, *Lizati*, *Caintar*, *Douzar*, *Sinabaff*, the nature of which is not clear. Barbosa observes that a kind of sash named *Sirband*, made in Bengal, was much esteemed by Europeans for the head-dress of ladies, and by Persians and Arab merchants for use as turbans. Arab merchants were similarly fond of using Bengal *Sinabaffs* for shirts.¹ Among articles of internal consumption, *dhotis* and *saris*, both of silk and cotton, were manufactured in large quantities.²

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¹ For the account of Varthema, 212, for Barbosa, Vol. II, 145.

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² Mr. Gupta gives an interesting account of *dhoti* and *sari* manufactures in Bengal in *J.D.L.*, 1929, 224-231. He tells us for instance, that four distinct varieties of silk *saris* were made, namely *Kala Pat Sadi*, *Agun Pat Sadi*, *Pater Bhumi* and *Kanchi Pat Sadi*. Among other varieties of silks he mentions *Neta*, *Tasar* and *Pater Pachhda*. He gives numerous descriptions of the designs and texture of the *saris*. Similarly he mentions a variety of cotton and silk *dhotis*. The early muslins of Bengal, he tells us, were usually made with a mixture of silk and cotton and were tastefully embroidered. Their descriptive names and the large variety of their range suggests a very advanced stage of refinement. It is, however, difficult to fix the exact period to which his account applies. Gupta in his ‘Bengal in the Sixteenth Century’ informs us that hundreds of pieces of *dhotis* were manufactured in the small colony of Bir in Bengal, which indicates the extensive output of cloth.

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Gujarat was similarly rich in the manufacture of cloth. The silks of Cambay (Khambayat) were among the costly goods which were controlled by Sultan Ala-ud-din Khalji in Delhi. Their use was confined to the great nobles.³ Barbosa tells us that Cambay was the centre of manufacture for all kinds of fine and coarse and printed cotton cloth, besides other cheap varieties of velvets, satins, taffetas and thick carpets. Varieties of printed cloth and ‘silk muslins’ were also manufactured in other parts of Gujarat.⁴

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³ Compare B., 311. Compare also the opinion of Varthema, who estimates that Khambayat (or Cambay) contributed about half the total textile exports of India. We shall speak of it presently in connection with foreign trade.

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⁴ Compare Barbosa, I, 141, 154-155.

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Apart from the manufacture of cloth, other miscellaneous goods, carpets, cushions, coverlets, beddings (duries), prayer-carpets, bed-strings and several other articles were also manufactured.

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Mention may well be made here of the dyeing industry of Hindustan. The land was rich in indigo, and the people, irrespective of sex or age, were fond of bright colours. Various accounts refer to *saris* with dyed borders and to other silks and muslins with many coloured stripes. Thus the dyeing industry and calico-painting went hand in hand with the manufacture of cloth. Barbosa and Varthema both refer to ‘painted cloth’. The former also speaks of ‘quilts and testers of beds finely worked and painted’, and quilted articles of dress.⁵ 2. Metal-work.—Next in importance to textiles were a number of industries based on metal-work. Metal-work has a very old tradition in India, to which many ancient idols and the Delhi pillar bear witness. It is only during the last century that the position of the Indian metal workers has changed so completely.¹ Iron, mercury and lead mines existed in India and were worked to a certain degree, though the output does not appear to be very considerable.² Abu'l Fazl definitely states that Indian metal workers fully understand how to handle various metals, namely iron, brass, silver, zinc (kansi), mixed metal (hasht-dhat) and mica (kol-pattar).³ The industry of sword-making was well established even in very ancient times, so that the Indian sword and dagger have passed into the classical terminology of Arabic and Persian. Under the Sultans of Delhi the art of manufacturing fine steel was by no means dead; in fact, all conditions point to a greater stimulus and increased activity in this direction.⁴ We have spoken of some articles of common use before. We can add to them the manufacture of 'basins, cups, steel guns, knives, and scissors' which was noticed by the Chinese traveller Mahuan in Bengal.⁵

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⁵ Ibid., 142.

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¹ Compare I.G.I., IV, 128 on the decline of chemical industries :— 'In this respect India of to-day stands in contrast to the India of a century ago. The high quality of the native-made iron, the early anticipation of the process now employed in Europe for the manufacture of highclass steels and the artistic products in copper and brass gave the country a prominent position in the ancient metallurgical world, while as a chief source of nitre India held a position of peculiar political importance until, less than forty years ago, the chemical manufacturer of Europe found, among his by-products, cheaper and more effective compounds for the manufacture of explosives.'

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² Compare the opinion of Masalik-ul-absar. Notices, etc. 166-7. Compare Tod, I, 321, on the discovery of tin (probably lead and zinc mines as explained by I.G.I., 'Rajputana') and silver mines in Jawara (Mewar) at the close of the fourteenth century.

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³ A.A., I, 35-6.

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⁴ Compare Fakhur-ud-din Mubarak Shah's estimate (vide A.M., 77) that of all the existing varieties of sword the Indian was the best and the finest in temper. Among other varieties of Indian swords he makes a special mention of one rare variety named Man-gohar. Usually the armouries and treasures of monarchs did not possess more than one of this kind for it required so much time, labour and wealth and exceptional skill to manufacture it. Among the leading sword manufacturers of his age, he mentions those of Kuraj (?) on the Indus.

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⁵ J.R.A.S., 1895, 532.

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We have already referred to the inlay work. We may add that refined work in metals in general and in gold and silver in particular had made great advances under the Sultans of Delhi.¹ By the time of Timur, gold and silver vessels, inlaid ornaments, embroidered and damascened work, ewers of Bidari alloy, crowns, embroidered belts, necklaces, dishes, dish covers and other articles were common in many big cities.² Barbosa bears testimony to the ‘very fine work’ of ‘the very good goldsmiths’ of Gujarat.³ This skill of the Indian workman partly explains why Timur usually spared the lives of Indian craftsmen in his indiscriminate massacre of Indian people. Timur also carried away a large number of them to enrich his capital, Samarqand.⁴ Under Akbar, an even greater refinement was attained in the quality of metal work. Abu’l Fazl, his secretary, is full of warm praise for the excellence of goldsmiths who made ornaments and were sometimes paid ten times the value of the metal they worked, for their wages. He enumerates a number of groups of goldsmiths, who had specialized in making various ornaments. They made chandeliers, sometimes weighing ten maunds and even more, in a variety of patterns. He similarly refers to special workers of enamel, inlay, damascened, embroidery, ornamental and other delicate work.⁵

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¹ Of this there are several instances in Muslim chronicles. Early in the period, the son of Rai Pithora, governor of Ajmer sent to Qutb-ud-din among other gifts four ‘gold melons’ which were most exquisitely worked in gold and looked like real fruits. The General had them forwarded to Sultan Muhammad bin Sam in Ghur as a rare piece of art. (*Vide* T.F.M., 22-3: also *Tabaqat-i-Nasiri* MS. f. 91) Compare also a reference to ‘gold melons’ under Humayun in a later part. The other favourite piece of metal work was the imitation garden with precious metals and jewellery. Compare for instance a description of Amir Khusrau in K.K., 772, in connection with the celebrations which Sultan Mubarak Shah Khalji organized to mark the birth of his eldest son. He laid an imitation garden in which all the fruit trees were made of gold and their leaves of emerald. The cypresses were made from rubies. The grass effect was produced by scattering emeralds in abundance on the floor. A gold *huma* with a pearl in its beak was perching on a tree. On the whole, Amir Khusrau is of the opinion that the excellent results attained in the work of gold could with difficulty be imagined with

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² For Bidari alloy and damascened silver work, compare the catalogue of the Indian Museum, London, 19, for an ewer signed by a craftsman in the service of Timur and dated 803 A.H. (1400 A.D.) : compare the list of presents of Pir Muhammad to Timur after the conquest of Multan. It took the clerks two days to make an inventory of them.

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³ Barbosa, I, 142.

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⁴ Compare, for instance M., 289.

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⁵ A.A.I., 185-7; *ibid.*, I, 44.

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3. *Stone and brick work.*—A still larger number of workers, perhaps, was engaged in stone, brick and other work in connection with house construction and buildings. It is not only the buildings of Hindustan, but even those of Kabul, Ghazni, and Samarqand which bear testimony to the skill of the Indian mason.¹ Amir Khusrau proudly claimed that the masons and stone-cutters of Delhi were superior to their fellow craftsmen of the whole Muslim world.² One primary cause of these excellent results was the patronage of the state. We have noted before that Sultan Ala-ud-din Khalji employed 70,000 workers for the construction of state buildings. We have similarly noted that in spite of the existing number of skilled masons, Firuz Tughluq assigned 4,000 of his slaves to be trained in these crafts. Similarly Babur was very proud of the skill of Indian workmen and observes that he employed 680 stone-cutters in the construction of his buildings at Agra and 1,491 in various other places.³ It is unnecessary to add that Hindu chiefs patronised the masons and other workers even more than the Muslims. The Dilwara temples at Mount Abu, the buildings of Gwalior and Chitor all bear testimony to the fact that the ancient building traditions were scrupulously maintained and perhaps also improved in certain directions. It may be mentioned in this connection that enamelled tiles and bricks were also introduced into Hindustan and were worked with success in various parts, not excluding Bengal.⁴

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¹ Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni after his capture and destruction of Muttra conscripted Indian builders to construct the famous mosque of Ghazni, ‘The Bride of Heaven’. Similarly when Timur saw the fine work in the Jami’ Masjid built by Muhammad Tughluq in Delhi, he decided to construct a similar structure in Samarqand and took the stone-workers of Delhi with him to his capital. (*Vide* T.F., I, 287.)

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² Compare K.F., 13.

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³ B.N., 268-9.

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⁴ Compare specimens of the 15th century from Gaur (Bengal) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta.

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*Other minor industries.*

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Mention may be made in this connection of some minor industries, for instance coral work, ivory work, imitation jewellery. Coral work was done in Gujarat and Bengal. The cornelians of Gujarat were of great excellence and were even exported outside India.⁵ A limited amount of ivory work was done in certain places. The ivory workers showed great skill in turning out inland and other plain articles, for instance, bracelets, bangles, sword-hilts, dice, chessmen, chess boards, bedsteads in black, yellow, red, and blue and many other colours, which were sent over to many cities in India.¹ The making of imitation pearls was becoming popular. Barbosa was particularly impressed by those of Gujarat.² Similarly many references are found in Bengali literature to the manufacture of artificial birds, plants, and flowers.³ Wood-work of excellent quality was done throughout the country. It was necessary for various needs of the household, for instance, doors, pegs, seats, toys, bedsteads, and other implements and vessels.

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⁵ Compare Barbosa, I, 155.

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¹ *Ibid.*, 142.

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² *Ibid.*. Compare also many references in Chronicles to the ingenuity and mechanical skill of a famous Afghan nobleman named Miyan Bahua who contrived many interesting ornaments and made imitation pearls of great excellence.

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³ Compare *J.D.I.*, 1929, 240.

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4. *Paper.*—It is commonly believed that the Chinese discovered the use of paper and that the Muslims borrowed the paper industry from them. Recent researches, however, have made it clear that while the Chinese were acquainted with the manufacture of paper, that was made from the mulberry tree, namely the *Kaghadh* or *Kok-dz* (usually referred to as made from ‘grasses and plants’) the credit of discovering pure rag-paper goes to the Arabs or rather to the paper-makers of Samarqand.⁴ Of the original Chinese variety, reference is made to the ‘white paper’ of Bengal, which is reported to have been made from the bark of a tree and was ‘smooth and glossy like a deer’s skin’.¹ Nicolo Conti refers to the use of paper in Gujarat without specifying its quality, but probably the Gujarat paper was made according to the improved method.² Amir Khusrau mentions the use of what he calls *Shami* (Syrian) paper in Delhi. Of this paper (which probably borrowed its name from Damascus and was of the improved type) he mentions two varieties, the *plain* and the *silk*, the latter probably being a kind of felt, although the point has not been made clear.³ The large number of plain and illuminated manuscripts and other documents that have come down to us from the period leave no doubt as to the existence of a paper industry. Mention is even made of a regular market of book-sellers in Delhi. It appears, however, that the quantity of the paper was not sufficient to cope with the demand, and people had to exercise great economy in the use of paper.⁴

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