Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c6.s2: Industries and Commerce
Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c6.s2
- Language
- English
Contents
- c6.s2.t1 1. Industries — 61 parts
- c6.s2.t2 II. Trade and Commerce — 63 parts
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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⁴ For other details on the subject of rag-paper, compare R. Hoernle’s summary of the researches of Professors Wiesner and Karabacek of the Vienna University in *J.R.A.S.*, 1903, ‘Who was the inventor of rag-paper?’ pp. 663-684. It is made clear that when Muslims first came into touch with the Chinese, the latter used besides ‘grasses and plants’, more or less macerated rags and ropes (linen, hempen and others) in making paper. The Arabs gradually increased the substitution of rag-fibres, until at last they confined themselves to the use of woven or worked-up fibres, contained in rags, ropes, nets, and such-like material, mostly linen. This improvement affected the surface of the paper, by extracting the fibres through a mechanical process and by sizing it with starch glue. It is the preparation of paper by this improved method, the credit of which goes to the Arabs, or more properly to the paper-makers of Samarqand. The Arabs had similarly taken over from the Chinese the processes of ‘sizing’ and ‘loading’ of paper. By the close of the 8th century the whole process of making paper as it was substantially practised until the invention of paper-machines, had been completed. Compare I.G.I.; IV, 206 for the older theory.
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¹ Compare Mahuan, *J.R.A.S.*, 1895, 532.
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² Frampton, 143.
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³ Q.S., 173, where the process of manufacture is also described.
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⁴ Compare the amusing instance in which the royal *farmans* were literally washed off under Balban. B., 64. References to the book-sellers of Delhi are made in Amir Khusrau’s *I’jaz-i-khusravi* and Barani’s chronicle.
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5. *Sugar.*—The cultivation of sugarcane was fairly extensive in Hindustan. Sugar was generally made from sugarcane. The usual process of manufacture was as follows :—They cut the sugarcane into sections, then pressed them in the mill; the juice was then heated in big iron pans until it crystallized into unrefined sugar, when it was either turned into cakes of *Gur*, or with a little more refining made into soft sugar (*khand*). The most refined and esteemed form of sugar was the crystallized white *Qand*.⁵ The manufacture of sugar was carried on on a fairly large scale in Hindustan. In Bengal, sufficient was produced to leave a good surplus for export after local and internal consumption. They packed the sugar for export in parcels of untanned and sewn leather and carried a great store of this to many lands. Besides these varieties of sugar, they manufactured granulated sugar in Bengal and prepared variou candied and preserved fruits.⁶ That sugar was universally used all over the country is shown by numerous descriptions of sweets and sweet dishes and can be gathered from the mention of the sale of sugar and sugared drinks, in contemporary literature. Honey was collected all over the country but was neither commonly used, nor exported.
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⁵ Compare a description in Amir Khusrau, K.K., 740.
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⁶ Compare Mahuan, *J.R.A.S.*, 1895, 531, who considers this trade in the export of sugar very remunerative.
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6. *Leather-work.*—A fairly large group of workers lived by leather-work and still remains as a separate caste of *Chamars* (or leather-workers).¹ The demand for leather goods, though not heavy, can be presumed to be general. For instance, of the 10,000 and odd horses which the Sultan of Delhi gave in gift to his nobles, many were accompanied by saddles and bridles of leather.² The scabbards of swords, covers of books and shoes, which were articles of common use among all upper classes, were usually made of leather. The use of leather in packing sugar parcels for export in Bengal has already been referred to. The average peasant, similarly, could not do without a water-bucket made of leather, some sort of shoes for the cold season, and several other smaller articles of agricultural use, all of which were made of leather. Besides these goods, certain articles of great excellence were made out of leather. In Gujarat, they made red and blue leather mats ‘exquisitely inlaid with figures of birds and beasts and skilfully embroidered with gold and silver wire’. They also dressed great numbers of skins of various kinds namely, goat-skins, ox-skins, buffalo and wild ox-skins as well as those of the rhinoceros and other animals. In fact, so many skins were dressed every year in Gujarat that they exported many ship-loads to Arabia and other countries.³
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¹ Compare I.K., for references to the guilds of leather workers in many places.
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² Compare the *Masalik-ul-absar*’s account E.D., III, 578.
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³ Compare the opinion of Marco Polo who considered these mats marvellously beautiful. Yule, II, 393-4.
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*Character of Industrial Labour.*
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After the enumeration of these chief industries of Hindustan, let us add a word on the nature and organization of industrial labour. In their main features the industrial workers did not differ greatly from rural craftsmen and shared all their advantages and disadvantages. The industrial guilds were based on castes and were hereditary; their implements and the technique of their work was crude, and the output meagre though of excellent quality. Except to those who worked in royal *Karkhanas* or were employed by the government, no adequate State protection was given to safeguard their interests. The supply of industrial goods was restricted by the needs of a small upper class which was content with a few varieties of textile goods, a few articles of metal-work or wood-work, specified forms of architecture, and a very limited number of other goods. The workmen did not think of the broader needs of a whole community. It may be admitted without hesitation that the artistic value of these goods was considerable and the skill of the Indian workman developed to an extraordinary degree in the long course of his work.¹ Unfortunately, the traditions of guilds and crafts created a rigid exclusiveness and in some cases the secrets of skilled crafts died with them and were lost to the future generations.²
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¹ Compare Barbosa, I, 142, who considers that Khambayat (Cambay) had the best workmen of every kind. Compare Varthema, 286, who declared the Indians to be ‘the greatest and most expert workers’ through out the world.
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² Compare Barbosa, II, 146; Varthema, 214, how women were excluded from the spinning and weaving of fine cloth in Bengal.
II. Trade and Commerce
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A succession of favourable crops always left a disposable surplus of corn in the village which was usually carried to the neighbouring towns or transported to a *mandi* (or market-town) for distribution over the country. Industrial goods were usually made or manufactured expressly for sale in a suitable market. The aristocracy of Hindustan was always in want of such goods which could only be imported from abroad. The Sultan was always on the lookout to replenish his stock of horses by importing them from neighbouring countries. All these and other similar demands stimulated the exchange and transport of goods within and without the country. In fact, both inland and foreign trade had a very long and continuous tradition in India. The problem of carriage and transport was solved fairly well for the merchants and carriers of goods. For communication on land, there were a number of roads and pathways running all over the country which were kept in good condition by the State for its administrative requirements, especially for the movement of big armies with their heavy baggage trains. The traders were allowed to make use of all these facilities on land.
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In the absence of modern nautical appliances and the use of steamships, a voyage on the sea was obviously full of real dangers, not the least from the sea pirates. But in spite of all dangers, coastal trading was popular with the Indians, and Arabs and other foreign merchants carried on trade with many countries. The dangers of loss or destruction on the sea were more than compensated by the amount of profit one successful voyage brought with it. Some of the foreign traders even maintained their establishments and organizations in various countries. Inside the country the carriers of goods were very well organized. All these conditions led to a fairly extensive activity both in internal trade and in foreign commerce.
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A. *Internal Trade.*—India has a very ancient business tradition, as has been pointed out, and the system of castes assigns a separate and major caste of *Vaisyas* expressly for the purpose of trading. The old trading classes of the *Gujaratis*, (or Marwaris) of the North and the *Chettis* of the South still occupy their ancient and honoured occupation and carry on their commercial activities. Until the last century, the old class of grain-carriers, known as *Banjaras* of Rajputana, still employed hundreds of thousands of oxen in their trade. Some of their caravans amounted to as many as 40,000 head of oxen.¹
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¹ Compare Tod, II, 1117.
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I have made a reference to the tiny market of the village. The city market will be described in another place. Besides business in the regular shops of the market, petty shopkeepers and dealers also carried on their business in movable stalls and on pack horses. Pedlars and itinerary dealers were common.² Bigger deals in commodities were made in special market towns or *mandis* which also served as convenient media of exchange for the surplus of corn or goods produced in the vicinity. Administrative centres like Multan and Lahore or capital cities like Delhi sometimes served as big clearing houses for whole provinces. At the annual or periodical fairs of a neighbouring town, the retail merchants and petty shopkeepers of the sorrounding places obtained their new stock of goods or replenished the old one. Special cattle fairs on a very large scale were held in well-known places for the sale of all kinds of cattle, e.g., horses, oxen, camels, cows and buffaloes, and people came long distances to buy or dispose of their animals.¹
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² Compare Salzmann, 244, for trade conditions in mediaeval England.
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¹ Compare Tod, II, iii-12, for a parallel from Marwar. ² Compare T., 13b. how orthodox Muslim opinion forbade trading in slaves and hoarding of corn, which was persistently ignored by the commercial classes. ³ Compare Barbosa, II, 73, for Gujarati Banias; many references in I. K. and Ibn Batuta for Khurasanis; B. 385 for Multanis and Banjaras. Compare also Le Bon (*vide* Urdu Translation, 91-2) who identifies both Multanis and Banjaras with two classes of the Jat community, which is now predominantly agricultural.
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Large-scale business was a preserve of special classes or particular communities. The petty business of a town was similarly in the hands of professional merchants. Certain classes of craftsmen preferred to sell their finished goods direct to the customer or to the dealer of those goods. All of them were guided by immemorial customs. There was no ethical code to regulate the nature of their commercial enterprise beyond what the State thought fit to lay down.² The most important business communities of Hindustan were the *Multanis* in the North and the Gujarati Banias on the West Coast; the latter dealt in both Indian and foreign goods and had even spread out into Malabar and Cochin where they dealt with goods ‘of every kind from many lands’. Foreign Muslim merchants were usually known as *Khurasanis*. They traded all over the country, and several other Muslim groups carried on their business in coastal towns. Some of the Caravanis or Banjaras also carried on business on their own account.³ The rulers of the coastal kingdoms in the Deccan accorded to foreign merchants certain extra-territorial rights and special concessions, in consideration for the heavy taxes these communities paid to their treasury. The merchants of Hindustan who carried on their business in the South enjoyed all these immunities and facilities.
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Among the classes which did not actively participate in internal and foreign trade, but depended upon it for their living we may mention the class of carriers of goods and the class of brokers. The Banjaras, whom we have mentioned earlier, carried on the business of conveying agricultural and other produce from one part of the country to another on a very extensive scale. Their migratory habits, their large stock of bullocks and bullock-carts and wagons and pack horses, and their intimate knowledge of the roads of the country specially fitted them for their task.¹ The Bhats of Rajputana took up the guiding of caravans on the road on the dangerous and insecure countryside of Gujarat and Rajputana.²
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¹ Compare the opinion of Malik Muhammad Jaisi, P., 484.
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² Compare many references in Tod; also in Sidi ‘Ali Reis.
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Big business on the coast and inside the country was usually done with the aid of an organized class of brokers who “skilfully raised the price of commodities by charging their commission to both parties of a deal”. When Sultan Ala-ud-din Khalji decided to control the demand and the supply of his kingdom, particularly of Delhi, he had to suppress the class of brokers in his rough and ready manner.³ But as soon as the commercial activities were released from the control of the State, the brokers resumed their normal functions. By the time of Sultan Firuz Tughluq the business rules and practice of brokers were sufficiently important to find a place in the legal compendium of the reign.⁴ The system of agency was similarly known and practised. Legal agents (vakils) were regularly employed by principals to conduct business on their behalf.⁵ The native bankers discharged some of the commonly accepted functions of the present-day banking. They used to give loans and receive deposits or hundis.⁶ Among other facilities for trading we may note the system of lending money on interest. Bonds known as *Tamassuks* were regularly executed : and the law provided elaborate rules for the production and the examination of evidence and for fixing the rate of stipulated interest. All these rules were enforced by the judicial authorities in the kingdom.¹
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³ Compare Barani, B (MS.), 155.
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⁴ Compare F.F., 340b, that if a broker had negotiated the sale of a commodity between two parties and the transaction later fell through, without any fault on the part of the broker and after the terms of the deal had been agreed to, the broker was not bound to refund his commission, for it was to be considered his wages.
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⁵ Compare an illustration in W.M., 31b.
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⁶ Compare *Encyclopaedia Britannica*, 1929 Edition, Vol. III, 44, how among other functions banking provides : (1) Safe keeping for people's money. (2) A temporary investment for money paying interest so long as the money is retained and repaying the principal on its being claimed in accordance with the contract. (3) The provision of a means of payment—in credit money, Bank Notes and cheques, etc.; compare also Jain, 10, for a definition of indigenous banking of India. ‘Any individual or private firm, which, in addition to making loans, either receives deposits or deals in hundis or both’: also illustration in W.M., 31b, from the reign of the Lodis. Compare the opinion of Barani, how sometimes the indebted nobles transferred to these native bankers the right of holding a revenue-assignment or *Aqta* for a money consideration or a cash payment in advance (*vide* B., 63). Similarly Jain, 10, for *Itlaq* or the system of ‘cash-cards’ which developed under Sultan Firuz Tughluq. The soldiers were paid these cash-cards by the State in outlying places and the financiers of Delhi discounted them at a fixed rate of commission.
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¹ Compare T.F.I., 166, for an illustration.
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We shall treat the question of money-lenders separately from other business customs and practices. A whole class of people from both communities began to thrive on the business of lending money. They advanced loans to support commercial undertakings, but their principal business was to lend money at the most profitable rate of interest. These *Sahus* and *Mahajans*, as money-lenders and bankers were called, were extremely popular with all the upper classes whose extravagance and constant demand for money were proverbial. It is difficult to ascertain the rate of interest, but by comparing a number of stray statements of Amir Khusrau, we will put it for a rough calculation at 10 per cent. per annum on big sums and 20 per cent. on small or petty sums.² The system of these usurious loans and compound rates of interest led to the heavy indebtedness of the poorer people who borrowed small sums but could hardly pay back, while the greater resources of a noble and, in the last resort, his power and influence came to his rescue.³ Let us note in this connection, that people usually carried about their cash or valuables in *himyanis* or hollow belts of tough cloth, which they usually wore around their waist on a journey.⁴
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² Compare M.A., 150, for the Muslim money-lenders. Compare for the rates of interest K.K., 312, where Amir Khusrau mentions the rate of interest at one *Jital* per month for the principal sume of one *Tanka* or about 20 per cent per annum. In *I'jaz-i-khusravi*, Vol. I, 147, he definitely speaks of 10 per cent. per annum which probably applies to big sums. In *Matla-ul-anwar*, 150, he makes a similar reference to the system of monthly payment of interest.
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³ Compare the despairing wail of Lalla, of going to a country where there was no system of ‘debts nor anyone that lends’. *Vide* Temple, 185; also T., 15, on the evils of borrowing.
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⁴ Compare B. 130-1.
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As to the standards of commercial morality, let us remember that the moral standards of mediaeval merchants were usually low in every country, as is quite natural to expect in the absence of present organization and control. There were few means of earning a dishonest penny that the tradesmen did not try.
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Attempts at adulteration and fraudulent weights were quite common and no amount of sermonizing was effective in correcting them.¹ Sultan Ala-ud-din Khalji instituted very severe punishments and a very rigid control over their dealings. Special market officials and spies were appointed to supervise them, and sometimes the Sultan even sent out young children in various disguises to detect their malpractices. When the Sultan had finally succeeded in suppressing or at least in temporarily retarding commercial dishonesty and busines frauds, he was acclaimed all over the kingdom and all his cruelties, even his want of faith, were forgotten in the enthusiasm of the moment.² It is a matter of satisfaction, however, that in spite of the insecurities of maritime trade and more or less complete freedom from government control, a very different moral atmosphere prevailed in coastal towns, where the Indian merchants dealt with foreign traders. The foreign travellers uniformly bear witness to the integrity and truthfulness of Indian merchants, to their honest methods of business, to their acuteness and to their measures and weights ‘that will turn by a hair of the head’.³
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¹ Compare Salzmann, 75, for an estimate of England; also *ibid.*, 241-2, for the sermon of Berthold of Ratisbon, on the dishonest ways of shopkeepers; compare I.K., I, 174; also Kabir, Shah, 162; especially the opinion and observations of Barani who warmly supports the measures of Sultan Ala-ud-din Khalji and in a description of the commercial classes, by no means the strongest, calls them ‘the biggest liars and the meanest of the seventy-two races’. *Vide* B., 316-7, 343.
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² Compare, for instance, the compliment paid to the Sultan by a famous theologian named Shams-ud-din, who came to India to advance the cause of Muslim religion but returned because of his disgust at the personal religion of the Sultan and the callous disregard of the latter for Muslim injunctions. According to him the success of Ala-ud-din in suppressing commercial fraud was a unique achievement ‘since the age of Adam’. (*Vide* B., 298).
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³ Compare Varthema, 168.
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It is not possible to form any accurate or even tentative estimate of the volume of internal trade of Hindustan. The villages together with their *mandis* were probably areas of comparatively brisk exchanges of commodities under ordinary peaceful conditions. We may say with confidence that Delhi and other provincial capitals were the focus of the internal trade of their respective territories and displayed considerable commercial activity. As a whole, the volume of internal trade was large except when thwarted by the monopoly of the State or rigid administrative control.¹ Various references are made to individual fortunes amassed through commercial enterprise by many business men. How far such estimtes reflect upon the currents of the internal trade or its volume is extremely uncertain.²
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¹ Compare Tod, II, 1110, for an illustration of the effect of monopoly on the internal trade of Rajputana : ‘Commerce has been almost extinguished within these last twenty years; and paradoxical as it may appear, there was tenfold more activity and enterprise in the midst of that predatory warfare, which rendered India one wide arena of conflict, than in these days of universal pacification. The torpedo touch of monopoly has had more effect on the kitars (i.e., rows of caravans) than the spear of the desert Sahariya.’
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² Compare, for instance, Frampton, 135; Major, 22, where Nicolo Conti mentions that the merchants between ‘Indo and Gange’ were so rich that one of them owned forty ships which he employed for the shipment of his own goods. All of them were estimated to be worth 50,000 ducats (gold pieces) each., Compare Jain, 10, for another instance of two bankers of the Jain community who built the finest Jain temple of Dilwara on Mount Abu at their own expense in the 12th century. According to Jain, the undertaking must have cost them ‘an enormous sum of money.’
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*B. Foreign Trade.*—India had always even in the ancient past substantial commercial relations with the outside world. In the period under review the rise of Islam and the Moorish supremacy over the seas had cut off India from direct commercial relations with Europe. This, however, did not affect the volume of Indian commerce or the distribution of Indian goods in western countries. Indian goods were carried by the Arab to the Red Sea and from there found their way to Damascus and Alexandria whence they were distributed all over the Mediterranean countries and beyond. These Indian goods reached the East African coast, the Malay Islands and China in the Far East, and other countries on the Pacific Ocean through the agencies of the Moorish merchants. India was similarly connected on the mainland with Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Persia through the Multan-Quetta route, the Khyber Pass, and the Kashmir routes. Caravans of merchants, familiar with these beaten tracks since ancient days, were frequently passing between India, Bukhara, Iraq, and even as far as Damascus.
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1. *The Sea-borne Trade.*—One great advantage of the sea-board was its comparative safety until the coming of the Portuguese about the middle of the 16th century. The land frontiers, on the other hand, were constantly menaced by the Mongol invaders. The sea-routes were in the hands of the Moorish merchants who had a more or less complete monopoly of the sea-borne trade of India, the volume of which was considerable. The chief articles of import were certain articles of luxury for the use of the upper classes and a general supply of all kinds of horses and mules.
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Among articles of luxury mention may be made of silks, velvets, and embroidered curtains together with other furnishings and decorations. We have already mentioned how brocade and silk stuffs were partly imported from Alexandria, ‘Iraq’ and China under Sultan Muhammad Tughluq. Similarly, we are informed by a chronicler that the royal stores of Gujarat were always provided with articles of luxury made in European countries.¹ By the time of Humayun these foreign goods were generally popular with the nobility and the royal families of Hindustan.² With the manufacture of guns, gun-powder, and other mechanical weapons, a new stimulus was given to the import trade of Hindustan. Gold, silver, copper, and Tutiya (blue vitriol) were also imported in small quantities.³
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¹ Compare T.A., I, 198 (Lucknow Edition).
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² Compare the use of Italian and Portuguese articles of decoration in the royal banquets of Humayun, described in a later chapter; compare, ibid., 423, for the use of gorgeous canopies with linings of European velvets and embroideries of Portugal, by Sultan Ibrahim Sur.
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³ Compare Yule, II, 398.
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There was a great demand for the supply of horses in Hindustan. Apart from the enormous military demand for the supply of horses, the animal was also commonly employed for conveyance, pleasure-riding and racing. The choice animals found a ready market in Hindustan. The fondness for horses was by no means confined to the Muslims. Hindus were equally anxious to revise their old-time ideas of military equipment and were slowly substituting horses for elephants. Thus there was a great demand for the supply of horses in Hindu States of Rajputana and the Deccan, especially in the latter, where climatic and other conditions discouraged the breeding of horses and the stock had to be replenished from outside from time to time. For the annual gifts of the Sultan, special arrangements were made to procure the best horses from every country, and a very good price was paid.⁴ Horses were also regularly purchased for the supply of the royal stables. We shall mention the import of horses through the land frontier later on. Let us note here that some thoroughbreds were brought from Dhofar (on the extremity of Yemen), others from Kis, Hormuz and Aden, and others still together with mules from Persia.¹
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⁴ Compare E.D., III, 578.
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¹ Compare the account of Marco Polo (who calls the mules ‘asses’) in Yule, I, 83-4; *ibid.*, Vol. II, 340: the account of Ibn Batuta, K.R., I, 156; compare a description of the invading army of Sultan Ala-ud-din Khalji at Chitor by, Malik Muhammad Jaisi who speaks of horses of many countries, Iraq, Turkistan, Balkh, Bhutan, etc. *Vide* P. (hin), 227.
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The exports of Hindustan were numerous and included a variety of indigenous products, especially grain and cotton cloth. Some of the countries round the Persian Gulf depended on India for their entire food supply.² The Islands in the Pacific Ocean, the Malay Islands, and the East Coast of Africa were fairly extensive markets for Indian goods. The export trade of Hindustan was carried on mainly through the ports of Gujarat and Bengal. The principal exports of Gujarat consisted of precious stones, indigo, cotton, hides, and ‘many other kinds of merchandise too tedious to mention.’ The cotton cloth and other textiles were especially important items of export.³ Other minor exports consisted of cornelians, gingelly oil, southernwood, spikenard, tutenag, opium, indgo-cakes, and certain other drugs unknown to Europeans, but greatly esteemed by the people of Malacca and China.⁴ The exports in agricultural produce consisted of large quantities of wheat, millet, rice, pulses, oilseeds, scents, and other similar articles. This list is, however, by no means exhaustive. According to Varthema, Bengal was the richest country in the world for cotton, ginger, sugar, grain, and flesh of every kind. Barbosa considers sugar the chief article of export from Bengal, and in other respects substantially agrees with the statement of Varthema.⁵ Barros observes that the wealth of Bengal before the rise of Sher Shah to power was considered equal in amount to the joint wealth of Gujarat and Vijayanagar.⁶ How far it depended on its export trade is not clear.
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