Chapter 14 Economic Life - Patterns and Prospects

Both the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors during the Sultanat period (13th-15th century)
which we had described earlier, were further strengthened and expanded during the 16th, 17th and 18 th
centuries. This was reflected in the growth of towns and townships which we have already noted.
Most major towns had several bazars, one of which was the chief bazar or market. According to
Fryer, at Surat, for instance, between the custom house and the mint was a crowded bazar of all those
who came to buy and sell cloth. Further on were "the High Streets, with shops on each side..." Surat's
great bazar was outside one of the city gates, while at the entrance to the green was the market for
horses and cattle. This would recall to mind that Alauddin Khalji had controlled the prices of different
markets at Delhi. Most urban markets not only catered to the needs of local consumers, wholesale and
retail, but were also storing centres or entrepots from which dealers from other centres could get their
supplies.
Thus, there was a complex network between the towns, and between the towns and townships.
Inland Trade Supply of food-grains to the towns was an important feature of inter-local trade. Apart
from food-stuffs,the villages also supplied raw materials, such as cotton, indigo etc. for many urban
manufactures. This trade was in the hands of the village baniyas and the banjaras who transported the
food-grains to the mandis or local markets at qasbas. Certain big villages or katras between a number
of villages could also have mandis. At the mandis, the villagers not only sold their products but
purchased salt, spices, metalwork and other commodities not available locally. The picture of village
life presented to us by Hindi writers such as Surdas, suggests that the more prosperous sections in the
villages bought, in addition, luxuries of various types, such as high quality cloth, jewellery etc.

Regional specialisation in certain types of products, including luxury goods led to a good deal of
intraregional trade. There was a special class of traders, the banjaras, who specialized in carrying bulk
goods.
The banjaras were tribesmen who moved with their families over long distances, sometimes with
thousands of oxen carrying foodgrains, pulses, ghee, salt, etc. trading on their own, or carrying goods
for the bigger merchants. Sometimes caravans of 30,000 bullocks moved under state protection for the
supply of food grains to the army. The more expensive goods, such as textiles, silks, etc., were laden
on camels and mules, or in carts. But it was cheaper to move bulk goods through the rivers on boats.
Boat traffic on waterways, and coastal trade along the seashore was then more highly developed than
now. Waterways and coastal trade was used more for movement of heavier goods since transport on
land was more expensive. The trade in food stuffs and a wide range of textile products were the most
important components of inter-regional trade during the period. Bengal exported sugar and rice as
well as delicate muslin and silk. The coast of Coromandal had become a centre for textile production,
and had a brisk trade with Gujarat, both along the coast and across the Deccan. Gujarat was the entry
point of foreign goods. It exported fine textiles and silks (patolas) to north India. It received
foodgrains and silk from Bengal, and also imported pepper from Malabar. North India imported
luxury items and also exported indigo and foodgrains. Lahore was another centre of handicraft
production. It was also the distribution centre for the luxury products of Kashmir - shawls, carpets,
etc. The products of the Punjab and Sindh moved down the river Indus. It had close trade links with
Kabul and Qandhar, on the one hand, and with Delhi and Agra on the other.

There was a well-organized trade network in semi-luxury and luxury goods, with Agra and Burhanpur
being the two nodal points in north India. Later, in the 18th century, with the decline of Agra, Banaras
emerged as one of the nodal points. Lahore had the advantage of sending its goods down the river
Indus, just as Delhi and Agra were connected by the Jamuna. The movement of silk and fine cotton
textiles from Bengal to north India, and of fine cotton and specialised cloth from Gujarat has already
been noted.
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It will thus be seen that India's inter-regional trade was not in luxuries alone. The movement of these
goods was made possible by a complex network, linking wholesalers with merchants down to the
regional and local levels through agents (gumashtas) and commission agents (dalals). The Dutch and
English traders who came to Gujarat during the 17th century found the Indian traders to be active and
alert. There was keen competition for inside information, and whenever there was demand for goods
in one part of the country, it was rapidly made good. Inland trade was served by a network of roads
which successive rulers from the time of Sher Shah tried
to improve. The transport arrangements compared favourably to those prevailing in Europe, with
sarais being set up at intervals of eight or ten miles on the principal routes. According to Tavernier,
the facilities were "not less convenient than all the arrangements for marching in comfort either in
France or in Italy". Pack-oxen and ox-drawn carts, as well as camels, were the chief means of
transport, while horses were used as mounts. A palanquin, carried by four to six servants, with others
to relieve would, according to Ovington, with ease carry one twenty or thirty miles a day. However, a
normal day's journey was considered to be eight to twelve miles.

Movement of goods was also facilitated by the growth of a financial system which permitted easy
transmission of money from one part of the country to another. This was done through the use of
hundis. The hundi was a letter of credit payable after a period of time at a discount. The hundis often
included insurance (bima) which was charged at different rates on the basis of the value of the goods,
destination, means of transport (land, river or sea), etc. The sarrafs (shroffs) who specialized in
changing money, also specialised in dealing with hundis. In the process, they also acted as private
banks: they kept money in deposit from the nobles, and also lent it to traders. By means of hundis,
they created credit which supplemented the money in circulation and financed commerce, particularly
long-distance and international trade. Since the merchant could cash his hundi at the point of his
destination, after he had sold his goods, movement of species or money which was always a risky
enterprise could be reduced, especially when the rich traders such as Virji Vohra set up agency houses
in different parts of India including Burhanpur, Golconda, Agra and in the Malabar
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and also in West Asia the port-towns of the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and South East Asia.
So brisk was use of hundis that in the Ahmadabad market merchants made their payments or adjusted
their obligations almost entirely through hundis. Even nobles used the hundis for payment of salaries
to the soldiers.