Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c6.s2.t2.8

c6.s2.t2.8

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.