Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c6.s1.33

c6.s1.33

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