Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India c8.s7: 4.7. Trade in Grain, Cloth and Other Articles
Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India c8.s7
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4.7. Trade in Grain, Cloth and Other Articles
c8.s7.1
As the Muslim government gained in stability, it embarked on trade of many other commodities. The enterprises of the Muslim government today would be called 'public sector undertakings' as against private business. The Muslim state traded in animals, corn and cloth, as it did in slaves. Under Alauddin Khalji the grain market was taken under the control of the government. He ordered that the travelling merchants (caravaneers) should get themselves registered with the Superintendent of the Grain Market. They were required to take up residence with their families in villages bordering on the river Jumna. They were made to sign agreements, collectively and individually, to maintain a regular supply of grain to the market. Similar undertaking was obtained from the magistrates and collectors (*shahnagan* and *mutsarrifan*) in the Doab and regions near the capital to the effect that they would try to obtain as much grain from the cultivators as possible. They were ordered to realize fifty per cent of the product as land-tax from the agriculturists with the utmost vigour as well as to compel them to sell their surplus stock to the travelling merchants on the fields at rates fixed by the King. Thus all the available grain flowed into the market which remained well-stocked. The Sultan established Government Grain Stores. There was scarcely a *mohalla*, says Barani, where two or three royal stores filled with foodstuffs did not exist. They were godowns where grain was stored in reserve to be released in times of emergency.
c8.s7.2
Alauddin Khalji advanced money from the treasury to the roving merchants to bring grain into the city; in lieu whereof he gave them commission to support their families. As hinted by Ibn Battutah, Alauddin advanced money to the Sindhi merchants for bringing and selling foodstuffs and other goods in Delhi to have a share in the profits of the trade. His contemporary rulers in some West Asian countries also indulged in such a practice. They introduced market control and took over wholesale trade in grain so that profits accrued to them instead of to private traders.¹⁹¹ Throughout the medieval period, part of the Kharaj or land-tax was taken in kind. Even when it was calculated in terms of cash, the levy or recovery was often made in the form of grain, partially if not wholly. During the Mughal period Jagirs were allotted to Amirs and Mansabdars. They collected their share of the revenue and traded in grain which was surplus with them. Thus the government and nobles earned profit by doing business in foodstuffs. It may be noted that foodgrains were cheap in the medieval period. Medieval chroniclers of the Khalji and Lodi period take pride in mentioning that grains were cheap in their times. In Akbar's camp, Father Monserrate was astounded at the low prices of foodstuffs notwithstanding the immense numbers of men and animals. How much burden of this cheapness was shared between the agriculturists, private traders and royal traders is difficult to determine. But the government did participate in trade in corn and grain and advanced money to *caravaneers* to bring grain for sale and shared in the profit.
c8.s7.3
This becomes all the more clear in the case of trade in cloth. Sultan Alauddin advanced about two million *tankahs* to Multani or Sindhi merchants to bring merchandise and sell it on behalf of the King. According to Ibn Battutah he advanced money to the merchants and told them: "With this money buy bullock and sheep, and sell them; the price that they will fetch must be paid to the treasury, and you shall receive allowance for selling them." Devagiri silks, horses of foreign breed, swords and many other articles were brought from far off places.
c8.s7.4
Internal and external trade, royal workshops and private manufactories provided for the requirements of royalty and nobility and their harems. Silk was imported from many foreign countries like China and Persia as well as produced indigenously. Manucci and Bernier talk in general terms, but Abul Fazl gives specific names of cotton, silk and woolen fabrics, Indian as well as those imported from "Turkey, Europe and Portugal".¹⁹² Vincent Smith quoting Monserrate's *Commantarious* says that "Akbar himself was a trader, and did not disdain to earn commercial profits."¹⁹³ By the time of Shahjahan more and more foreign stuffs had begun to be imported.¹⁹⁴ Woolen carpets or *qalins* were also imported from Iran and Central Asia.
c8.s7.5
When the State made purchases advances were offered to the suppliers. Jahangir introduced night-time marketing at his residence. The imperial government traded in articles produced in its karkhanas spread out in many places like Lahore, Agra, Fatehpur, Ahmadabad, Burhanpur and Kashmir. Shahjahan even held the monopoly (*sauda-i-khas*) in cash-earning articles like indigo and saltpetre. "Extensive trading operations were carried on not only by the Emperor and the Princes, governors and imperial nobles, such as Asaf Khan and Mir Jumla, but also by Nur Jahan."¹⁹⁵ The principal trade from India to Europe in the seventeenth century consisted of silk and cotton fabrics, indigo, saltpetre, pepper and spices. "Khafi Khan mentions that the imperial ship, *Ganj-i-Sawai*, which on its way back from pilgrimage was attacked by the English pirates, was bringing fifty-two lacs of rupees in silver and gold, the produce of the sale of Indian goods at Mocha and Jedda."¹⁹⁶
c8.s7.6
In brief, internal and external trade by the State provided a good source of income to the exchequer. It is significant that the memoirs of Jahangir as well as his *Tarikh-i-Salim Shahi* repeatedly mention rates of exchange between the Mughal *rupia* and currencies of Iran and Turan.¹⁹⁷ Which would point to continuous Mughal government's trade with these countries. Pietro Della Valle saw a great number of Banians and Indian Gentiles in Isfahan (in Iran), where (they) reside constantly celebrating the festival of Holi with éclat and gaiety.¹⁹⁸ In the pre-industrial Revolution era, Indian goods and merchants flooded foreign markets and Indian kings made good profit through their trade. The toy trade with Europe was also profitable. It was loaded with curios, presents and bribes to Mughal royalty from the West. However, trade with England had not been established before Akbar's death. From the East China came porcelain in considerable quantities for the use of the Mughal emperor and his nobles. According to Peruschi, Akbar's dinner used to be brought to him in porcelain dishes imported from China. "When he died in 1605, he left in Agra alone more than two million and a half of rupees worth of the most elegant vessels of every kind in porcelain and coloured glass. The glass probably came from Venice."¹⁹⁹ It is not necessary to give a catalogue of imports and exports and an index of balance of trade. Two factors need to be kept in mind in this regard. One, the trade was profitable to the Mughal royalty and nobility; else it would have dried up. Two, traders were strictly forbidden to send out silver. Silver was largely imported; its import benefited the Mughals.
c8.s7.7
*Customs Duties*
c8.s7.8
Where the ruling elite itself was not the trader, it collected imposts on manufactures and customs on sale. Duty on manufacture of high quality products was called *jihat*, and the remainder was known as *sair-jihat*, a term used in the *Ain-i-Akbari* for all kinds of sundry taxes other than land revenue.²⁰⁰ *Sair-jihat* formed an important source of income of the Mughal state as it included taxes on sale of cloth, oil, grains, articles of food, horses, camels and animal skins. There was a regular staff of police and revenue officials to guard and protect the markets and to collect taxes in them. So far as the rate of customs duty is concerned, Akbar charged at the rate of 2½ per cent. This rate seems to have continued during the reigns of Jahangir and Shahjahan and also Aurangzeb, but under him for Muslims only. From 1665 Hindu merchants paid 5 per cent and the Muslim 2½ per cent. Thevenot who arrived in 1666 found that the Christians paid 4 per cent and the Hindus (Banians) 5 per cent.²⁰¹ In 1667 the Muslim merchants were exempted from the payment of customs duties altogether.
c8.s7.9
The duty on gold and silver was 2½ per cent, says Thevenot. Any one was free to bring gold, silver or copper to the royal mint and get it converted into coins. The commission earned by the state can be imagined from the statement of Manucci who says that the government derived eleven lakhs of rupees every year from the new coins struck at Surat alone. Mints were owned by the state and merchants were allowed to dig and work out the mines on payment of a fee. Minerals and metals like lead, saltpetre, indigo and even salt were sometimes declared the monopoly of the state.
c8.s7.10
Merchants in India generally carried their goods by carts and boats. They had to take a 'passport' (*dastak* or *farman*) from the place of their departure and show it at check posts on the journey in order to be allowed to pass without further payments. Manucci says that "if they chance to loose this paper, or it is stolen they are made to pay again either in the same or another province."²⁰² Tavernier informs us that four rupees were charged on every wagon load of merchandise and one rupee on every chariot, but a different rate was charged for boats. Inland trade was flourishing and the Mughal government made a lot of money through these levies.
c8.s7.11
Speaking of the income from the ports Manucci says "these seaports also yield him (the Mughal) a large revenue". The port towns were entered in revenue records as *mahals*. The Mughal emperors took sufficient interest in the administration and proper management of their customs offices. "Among them are those of Sind, Broach, Surat and Cambay. Surat alone. brings him in usually thirty lakhs, besides the eleven lakhs derived from profit on new coins struck there."²⁰³ At times the income from customs duty of a port was granted as Jagir. For example, the customs of Surat was granted by Shahjahan to his daughter Jahanara "to meet her expenditure on betel".²⁰⁴
c8.s7.12
As Abul Fazl rightly remarks: "In every country such demands are troublesome and vexatious to the people. His majesty (Akbar) in his wise statesmanship and benevolence of rule carefully examined the subject and abolished all arbitrary taxation..."²⁰⁵ But corruption and harassment remained common at least under his successors. The person and goods of the traders in transit were systematically searched. Thevenot says that "men may wait sometimes a month before they can get out their baggage and specially they who have Merchant goods."²⁰⁶ The evil effects of this system were widely known. Besides abolishing many such taxes in port towns, Jahangir ordered that "Merchants travelling through the country were not to have their bales or packages of any kind opened without their consent."²⁰⁷ Sometimes religious persecution added to the woes of merchants who closed or threatened to close their business.²⁰⁸ But royal regulations could not stop extortion. As a modem economic historian points out, "It is mentioned that Mir Jumla once demanded Rs.50,000 from the merchants of Dacca. On refusal they were threatened with death by being trampled by elephants and compromised for Rs.25,000 while the bankers of the city appeased his wrath by paying Rs.30,000 without much ado. Occasionally, however, the mercantile community could protest successfully against the exactions of a governor or high administrative officer by *hartal* or suspension of business."²⁰⁹ In any case, as mentioned by Jadunath Sarkar, "Foreign trade... occupied a negligible position in the economics of the Mughal empire, on account of its small volume - the total yield of the import duty being probably less than 30 lakhs of Rupees a year, while the land revenue brought to the State one hundred and eleven times that amount."[210](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9788185990743) As mentioned earlier, in other Muslim countries customs duties were regularly collected but in Muslim state in India, Muslim traders were granted liberal exemptions. Besides, income from such sources was shared by the king and his officers. And this income was subsidiary or auxiliary. The main sources of income of the Muslim state were the four regular taxes - Khams, Kharaj, Jiziyah and Zakat. It is on these four pillars that the economic structure of the Muslim government rested.