Theme III

Society and Economy

Time Line
Land Revenue
Agricultural Production
Agrarian Classes
Technology
Persian Wheel
Spinning Wheel
Introduction of Paper
Stirrup, Horse Shoe
Urbanization
Inland Trade
Oceanic Trade
Society and Economy

Kabir with Pit Loom

Photograph: 1825; Unknown Painter
Courtesy: GurDass; May 2011; Wikimedia Commons
Original Source: http://oldsite.library.upenn.edu/etext/sasia/aiis/mini-paint/company/004.html
180 Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kabir004.jpg
 Land Administration
UNIT 9 LAND ADMINISTRATION*
Structure
9.0 Objectives
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Khalisa
9.3 Land Revenue and Its Extraction under the Delhi Sultans
9.3.1 Agrarian Measures of Alauddin Khalji
9.3.2 Agrarian Measures of Muhammad Tughlaq
9.4 Alauddin Khalji’s Market Control
9.5 Revenue Administration of the Delhi Sultans
9.6 Currency System of the Delhi Sultans
9.7 Summary
9.8 Keywords
9.9 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
9.10 Suggested Readings
9.11 Instructional Video Recommendations

9.0 OBJECTIVES
This Unit discusses how the Ghorian conquest and the establishment of the Delhi
Sultanate affected the Indian economy and attempts to highlight the changes that
occurred during the course of the Sultanate. After going through this Unit, you
will be able to learn about:
• the nature of land revenue system of the Delhi Sultans and its extraction,
• the mechanism of distribution of revenue resources under the Delhi Sultans,
• price control measures of Alauddin Khalji, and
• the increasing use of money in economy and the currency system of the Delhi
Sultans.

9.1 INTRODUCTION
The conquest of Northern India by the Ghorids and the establishment of the Delhi
Sultanate not only changed the existing political structure but also brought economic
changes. The conquerors came with fairly well-defined concepts and practices
regarding tax collection and distribution, and system of coinage, etc. But the existing
systems could not be changed altogether immediately: in the beginning, these were
superimposed on the older systems, and modifications and changes were introduced
by different Sultans upto the close of the 15th century.

* Prof. Shireen Moosvi, Centre of Advanced Study in History, Aligarh Muslim University,
Aligarh and Dr. Kiran Dattar, Janki Devi Mahavidyalaya, University of Delhi, New Delhi.
The present Unit is taken from our earlier Courses EHI-03: India from 8th to 15th Century,
Block 5, Unit 16 and Block 6, Unit 19. 181
Society and Economy In the opinion of Muhammad Habib, the economic changes that occurred as a
consequence of the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate created an organization
considerably superior to the one that had existed before. He felt that the changes
were drastic enough to deserve the designation of ‘Urban Revolution’ and ‘Rural
Revolution’. D.D. Kosambi recognised that ‘hidebound customs in the adoptation
and transmission of new techniques’ were broken down by the ‘Islamic raiders’,
but he regarded the changes no more than intensifying elements already present in
Indian ‘feudalism’.
During the 13th century, large territories rapidly passed into the hands of the Sultans.
The newly conquered areas were initially divided up among the commanders who
maintained themselves and their troops by plundering or by extracting tribute from
the defeated and subjugated rural aristocracies. Unlike the previous rulers, the
soldiers were paid their salaries in cash.
The regions that refused to pay land-tax or kharaj were known as mawas and were
plundered or forced to pay through military raids. Gradually a mechanism of
simultaneous revenue collection and distribution had to be introduced.
In this Unit, we will study the economic institutions and changes that the Delhi
Sultanate introduced.

9.2 KHALISA
The territory whose revenues were directly collected for the Sultan’s own treasury
was designated khalisa. Its size seems to have expanded quite considerably under
Alauddin Khalji. But the khalisa did not appear to consist of shifting territories
scattered throughout the country. In all probability, Delhi along with its surrounding
district, including parts of Doab remained in khalisa. In Iltutmish’s time, Tabarhinda
(Bhatinda) too was in khalisa. Under Alauddin Khalji, the khalisa covered the
whole of middle Doab and parts of Rohilkhand. But during the days of Firuz
Tughlaq, the khalisa perhaps had reduced considerably in size.

9.3 LAND REVENUE AND ITS EXTRACTION

UNDER THE DELHI SULTANS
The Islamic land tax with which the new rulers of India were familiar was kharaj.
The kharaj was essentially a share in the produce of the land and not a rent on the
land.
During the 13th century, the kharaj took by and large the form of tribute. As
mentioned earlier, this tribute was paid, in lump sum, either by the potentates
surviving from the previous regime with whom the Sultanate ruling class entered
into some arrangement. Alternatively, from the recalcitrant areas (mawas) where
such arrangements were not possible, the tribute was extorted through plundering
raids. It was thus probably mostly in the form of cattle and slaves.
The sources of Delhi Sultanate do not suggest that before the reign of Alauddin
Khalji (1296-1316) any serious attempt was made to systematise the assessment
and realization of kharaj.

182
9.3.1 Agrarian Measures of Alauddin Khalji Land Administration

Alauddin Khalji’s attempt was to increase the revenue collection by enhancing the
demand, introducing direct collection and cutting down the leakages to the
intermediaries.
As you know, the demand was thus fixed in kind but realization appears to be
mostly in cash. Barani informs us that the revenue collectors were ordered to
demand the revenue with such rigour that the peasants should be forced to sell
their produce immediately at the side of the fields. At another place, Barani says
that Alauddin Khalji brought the Doab into khalisa and the tax (mahsul) from
there was spent on paying the cash salaries to the soldiers.
Yet there is a rather contradictory statement by the same author that the Sultan
ordered that the peasant should pay tax in kind and not in cash. According to Irfan
Habib, it seems to have reference to only some parts of the khalisa in the Doab.
From there the Sultan wanted to obtain supplies for his granaries. Otherwise the
realization was normally in cash.
Yet these new measures affected the rural intermediaries which we will discuss in
Unit 10.
The system of taxation introduced by Alauddin seems to have lasted for long though
Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq (1320-25) modified it to some extent and exempted the khots
and muqaddams from paying tax on their cultivation and cattle. But he did not
permit them to impose any cesses on the peasants.

9.3.2 Agrarian Measures of Muhammad Tughlaq

Muhammad Tughlaq first extended Alauddin Khalji’s system of revenue collection
based on measurement to Gujarat, Malwa, Deccan, South India and Bengal. At a
later stage, the scale of agrarian taxation was enhanced considerably. Barani’s
statement that the increase amounted to 20 or 10 times is undoubtedly a rhetoric
but it certainly gives the impression of an enormous increase. Barani suggests that
additional new imposts (abwab) were levied. Of the other taxes, kharaj, charai
and ghari were more rigorously collected. According to Yahya, cattle were branded
and cottages counted to avoid any concealments. But more important than these
measures was the fact that for assessment of kharaj, wafa-i farmani (officially
decreed yields) and nirkh-i farmani (officially decreed prices) were used. The
statement very clearly implies that the yields and prices used for calculating revenue
were not actual.
One could very well expect that the decreed yields and prices were certainly inflated.
Use of inflated yields instead of actual and prices much higher than what were
prevailing, had the obvious result of overstating the value of produce and thus the
share of the state. This tremendous increase in revenue demand resulted in
contraction of area under plough, flight of peasantry, and, as we will see in Unit
10 in a big peasant revolt in the Doab and around Delhi. This caused failure of
grain supplies to Delhi and a famine that lasted for about seven years, from 1334-
5 to 1342.
Faced with these problems, Muhammad Tughlaq became the first Sultan to attempt
to formulate an agricultural policy for promoting agriculture. He introduced the
practice of giving agricultural loans named sondhar for increasing the area under
183
Society and Economy plough and for digging wells for irrigation. Barani says that 70 lakhs tankas
(according to Afif 2 krors tankas) were given till 1346-7 in sondhar but perhaps
hardly any amount reached the peasantry.
A new ministry designated diwan-i amir-i kohi was established to promote
agriculture. Its two main functions were to extend the area under cultivation and
to reclaim the land that went out of cultivation and improving the cropping pattern.
It was recommended that wheat should be replaced by sugarcane and sugarcane
by grapes and dates.
The Sultan was so determined to introduce his project of agricultural improvement
that when a theologian said that giving loan in cash and receiving the interest in
grain was sin, he executed him.
Barani, however, says that all these measures were almost a complete failure. Firuz
Tughlaq (1351-88) abandoned these projects, abolished agrarian cesses, and forbade
levying of ghari and charai. But he is reported to have imposed a separate tax –
jiziya – distinct from kharaj (land-tax) on the peasants. He also introduced an
irrigation tax (haqq-i sharb) in Haryana where he dug up canals.
There is little information forthcoming for the intervening period but in all
probability the land tax continued to be collected in cash by whomsoever be the
rulers, till the time of Ibrahim Lodi (1517-26). Owing to the scarcity of currency
and cheapening of the grains, he is reported to have ordered collection of land
revenue in kind or in grain.
Check Your Progress-1
1) Discuss the land revenue system introduced by Alauddin Khalji.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
2) Indicate the correct and wrong statements given below by marking () or (×):
(a) The areas which did not pay kharaj without the use of force were called
mawas. ( )
(b) Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq imposed tax on the cultivation and cattle of khots
and muqaddams. ( )
(c) Ibrahim Lodi ordered for the collection of revenue in cash. ( )

9.4 ALAUDDIN KHALJI’S MARKET CONTROL

Alauddin Khalji’s measures did not remain confined to rural economy but extended
to urban market as well. He is credited for issuing a set of seven regulations which
came to be known as market-control measures. Barani, who is our main source on
this aspect is the only authority who gives these regulations in detail.
The Sultan fixed the prices of all commodities from grain to cloth, slaves, cattle,
etc. (Regulation 1). These prices were really to be enforced since the Sultan
carefully made all arrangements for making the measure a success. A controller of
market (shahna-i mandi), barids (intelligence officers) and munhiyan (secret spies)
184 were appointed (Regulation 2). The grain merchants were placed under the
shahna-i mandi and sureties were taken from them (Regulation 4). The Sultan Land Administration
himself was to receive daily reports separately from these three sources (Regulation
7). Regrating (ihtikar) was prohibited (Regulation 5). While ensuring strict control
in the market, the Sultan did not overlook the more essential requirement, namely
the regular supply of grains and other things at lower prices.
Prices of some commodities as mentioned in contemporary accounts of the
Sultanate period
(Prices in jitals per maund)
No. Commodities Alauddin Muhammad Firuz
Khalji Tughlaq Tughlaq

1 Wheat 7½ 12 8
2 Barely 4 8 4
3 Paddy 5 14 6
4 Pulses 5 6 4
5 Lentils 3 4 4
6 Sugar (white) 100 80 6
7 Sugur (soft) 60 64 120, 140
8 Sheep (mutton) 10-12 64 6
9 Ghi 16 6 100
(clarified butter)
Table of prices is reproduced from K.M. Ashraf’s, Life and Conditions of the
People of Hindustan, Delhi, 1970, p. 160. The Table compiled from different
sources shows that the prices of these commodities went up under Muhammad
Tughlaq but dropped under Firuz Tughlaq to the price level of Alauddin Khalji’s
reign.

Obviously, the grain merchants could bring supplies to the market only if they
could get the grains and that, too, at sufficiently low prices. It was apparently for
this reason that the Sultan decreed such a rigour in realization of land revenue in
the Doab that the peasants should be forced to sell the grain to the karvanian (the
grain merchants) at the side of the field (Regulation 6).
The Sultan established granaries in Delhi and in Chhain in Rajasthan. The land tax
from the khalisa in the Doab was realised in kind. The grain went to the state
granaries (Regulation 3). The Multanis who were cloth merchants were given 20
lakhs of tankas as advance loan to purchase and bring cloth to the market.
The Sultan succeeded in maintaining low prices and ample supplies in the market
as reported by all our authorities. But there are varying reasons mentioned for why
the Sultan introduced the market control and in what region it was enforced. The
poet courtier Amir Khusrau considers the measure to be of immense generosity
taken for the welfare and comfort of all, the elite as well as the public at large. The
Chishti divine Nasiruddin Mahmud (Chiragh Delhi) attributes it to the Sultan’s
effort to do good to all the people. But the historian Barani’s view was totally
different. He did not credit it to Sultan’s benevolent intentions but gives a hard
financial reason. The Sultan was anxious to have a large army and to take other
precautions such as building of forts at strategic places, fortification wall around
Delhi, etc. against the Mongol invasions. If numerous additional cavalrymen and
troops were to be employed at the prevailing salaries, the drain from the state 185
Society and Economy treasury was to exhaust it totally. The salaries could be reduced only if the prices
were kept at a sufficiently low level.
Barani’s reasoning appears of course more valid. Since the main lashkargah (army
encampment) was in Delhi and most of the royal troops were to be stationed in or
around Delhi, the main area of price control was Delhi itself. However, since the
supplies of cheap grain were to be made available to the grain merchants in the
surrounding districts of the Doab, the low prices ought to be prevalent there as well.
The market control did not survive its enforcer and we do not hear about it after
Alauddin Khaiji’s time. A very efficient and alert administration was imperative
for the success of price control. Therefore, one possible reason for its not surviving
could be the lack of sufficiently competent administration. Irfan Habib, however,
offers a different reason for the abandonment of price control by the successors of
Alauddin Khalji. Since the prevalence of low prices implies lower revenues from
the low-price zone, the price control was viable as long as the zone of low prices
was restricted and most of the expenditure was concentrated there. With the
Mongols no more remaining a threat, the army and the expenditure was to be
dispersed more widely and not to be concentrated in and around Delhi alone. The
interest of the state treasury was now in dismantling the price control.
Check Your Progress-2
1) Discuss the measures taken by Alauddin Khalji to introduce ‘price control’.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
2) Explain briefly the reasons for:
(a) Introduction of price control according to Barani.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
(b) Dismantling of price control under the successors of Alauddin Khalji.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................

9.5 REVENUE ADMINISTRATION OF THE DELHI

SULTANS
What was the revenue system during the 13th century? We do not get a clear picture;
even the exact magnitude of the revenue-demand under the Ilbarite rule is uncertain.
Perhaps the old agrarian system continued to function with the difference that the
composition of the supreme appropriators of the surplus produce at the centre had
changed, that is, the Turkish ruling group had replaced the previous receivers of
the land revenue. However, some reconstruction can be made by projecting back
186
the account of Barani about the situation prevailing in this respect under Sultan Land Administration
Alauddin Khalji’s early rule. Briefly, we are told of three groups of rural aristocracy
– khot, muqaddam, and chaudhuri – who collected land revenue (kharaj) from the
peasants on behalf of the state, and deposited the same with the officials of the
diwan-i wizarat. For this service, they were allowed perquisites (haqq-i khoti) as
remuneration by the state which consisted of being exempted from the revenue of
a portion of land held by them. Also, they took something from the peasants as
their share of the produce which Barani calls qismat-i khoti. Besides land revenue
(kharaj), every cultivator had to pay house tax (ghari) and cattle or grazing tax
(charai). Incidently, the chaudhury might not have been directly involved in the
collection of the revenue because, according to Ibn Battuta, he was the head of
“hundred villages” (pargana): this inference is reinforced by the fact that Barani
always employs terms like haqq-i khoti or muqaddami, but never haqq-i chaudhrai.
W.H. Moreland, however, uses the term intermediaries for all the three groups;
and we shall be doing the same henceforth.
What motivated Alauddin Khalji in introducing stern measures is explained by
Barani in detail (see Section 10.3.1). In short, the intermediaries had become
intractable – always in readiness for rebellion. The Sultan levelled the following
main charges against them:
a) They did not pay the revenue themselves on that portion of their land which
was not exempted from assessment; rather they shifted their ‘burden’ onto
the peasantry, that is, they realised additional levy from the peasants besides
the fixed demand of the state in order to pay their own dues.
b) They did not pay the grazing tax.
c) The ill-gotten ‘excess of wealth’ had made them so arrogant that they flouted
the orders of the revenue officials by not going to the revenue office even
when summoned to render accounts.
As a result, the Sultan had to strike at their resources for economic and political
reasons. The measures taken by him were as follows:
i) The magnitude of the state demand was set at half the produce of the land.
The land was to be measured (masahat), and the land revenue fixed on the
yield of each unit of the area. The term used was wafa-i biswa (wafa = yield;
biswa = 1 /20th of a bigha). Most probably, it was levied separately on the
holding of each individual cultivator.
ii) The intermediaries and the peasants alike were to pay the same standard of
the demand (50%) without any distinction, be they intermediaries or ‘ordinary
peasant’ (balahar).
iii) The perquisites of intermediaries were disallowed.
iv) The grazing and the house taxes were to be taken from the intermediaries
also.
It can be seen, then, that one objective was to free the peasants from the illegal
exactions of the intermediaries. That is exactly what Barani means when he says
that the Sultan’s policy was that the ‘burden’ (bar) of the ‘strong’ (aqwiya) should
not fall on the ‘weak’ (zuaja). We know that this 50% demand was the highest in
the agrarian history of India. On the other hand, though the peasants were protected
187
Society and Economy now from the economic oppression of the intermediaries, the former had to pay a
higher rate of taxation than they did earlier. Since the rate was uniform in a sense
it was a regressive taxation. Thus the state gained at the cost of the intermediaries,
leaving the peasants in the lurch.

Such peasants as were weak and without resources were completely made prostrate,
and the rich peasants who had resources and means, turned rebels. Whole regions
were devastated. Cultivation was totally abandoned. The peasants of distant regions,
hearing of the ruin and destruction of the peasantry of the Doab, fearful that the same
orders might be issued for them as for the latter, turned away from obedience and fled
to the jungles. The two years that the Sultan was in Delhi (c. 1332-4), the country of
the Doab, owing to the rigours of revenue-demand and the multiplicity of abwab
(additional cesses), was devastated. The Hindus set fire to the grain heaps and burnt
them, and drove away cattle from their homes. The Sultan ordered the shiqqdars and
jaujdars (revenue collectors and commanders) to lay waste and plunder the country.
They killed many khots and muqaddams, and many they blinded. Those who escaped
gathered bands and fled into jungles; and the country became ruined. The Sultan in
those times went to the district of Baran (modern Bulandshahr), on a hunting expedition;
he ordered that the entire district of Baran be plundered and laid waste. The Sultan
himself plundered and laid waste from Kanauj to Dalmau. Whoever was captured was
killed. Most (peasants) ran away and fled into the jungles. They (the Sultan’s troops)
surrounded the jungles and killed every one whom they found within the jungles.

Ziauddin Barani’s account of the oppression of the peasantry during Muhammad

Tughlaq’s reign. English translation is from, The Cambridge Economic History of
India, Vol. I, ed. Tapan Raychaudhuri and Irfan Habib, London, 1982, p. 64.

It is true that the intermediaries were eliminated from direct revenue collection,
but they were still expected to maintain law and order in the countryside and help
the revenue officials without any remuneration or perquisites. The state’s direct
relations with the peasants resulted in an expansion of revenue officials called
variously ‘ummal, mutasarrif, mushrif, muhassilan, navisindagan, etc. Soon, large
scale corruption and embezzlements surfaced among the revenue officials for which
they were ruthlessly punished by the naib wazir, Sharaf Qaini: about 8 to 10
thousand officials were imprisoned. The process for discovering the deceit was
simple: the bahi or the ledger of the village patwari was meticulously scrutinised
by the auditors. The bahi contained every payment, legal or illegal, made to the
revenue collectors, and these payments were then compared with the receipts.
Corruption occurred in spite of the fact that Alauddin Khalji had raised the salary
of the revenue collectors.
Barani gives an indication of the extent of the area where these measures were
operative: it was quite a large area, covering the heart of his empire. But Bihar,
Awadh, Gujarat and parts of Malwa and Rajputana are not mentioned. At any rate,
it must be borne in mind that these measures were largely meant for the khalisa
(“crown” or “reserve” land) (also see the Map given below).
As for the mode of payment, Moreland thinks that ordinarily payment in cash was
the general practice during the 13th century, and it had become quite widely prevalent
by the 14th century. However, Alauddin himself preferred collection in grain. He
decreed that the whole revenue due from the khalisa in the Doab should be realized
in kind, and only half the revenue due from Delhi (and its suburbs) in cash. The
reason for his preference for collection in grain was not only to have a large reserve
of grain stored at Delhi and other areas for contingencies (such as scarcity owing
to drought or other factors), but also to utilize the storage as a lever for his price-
188 fixation measures in the grain market.
 Land Administration

Map 10.1: Rigorous Revenue Collection Area under Alauddin Khalji’s Dominion
Courtesy: Faiz Habib, Centre of Advanced Study in History
Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh
Two important changes were introduced by Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq:
a) The intermediaries got back their haqq-i khoti (but not qismat-i khoti). They
were also exempted from the house and cattle tax.
b) The procedure of measurement (masahat) was to continue along with
observation or “actual yield” (bar hukm hasil).
As for Muhammad Tughlaq, there is a confusion that he enhanced the rate of land
tax beyond 50%. It is also thought that after the death of Alauddin Khalji, the rate
was reduced by the Khalji rulers which was later raised to the previous level by
Muhammad Tughlaq. Both these views are incorrect: the rate fixed by Alauddin
was never sought to be tampered. What Muhammad Tughlaq actually did was to
impose new cesses (abwab) as well as revive the older ones (for example, charai
and ghari on the intermediaries). Apart from this, it seems that measurement alone
was retained for assessment purpose. The matter aggravated when assessment in
kind (grain) was carried out not on the principle of the “actual yield” but on the
officially decreed yields (wafa-i farmani) for each unit of the measured area. Again,
for payment in cash, commutation was not done according to the market prices
but on the basis of the rates as “ordered by the Sultan” (nirkh-i farmani). And,
then, as Barani says, all these taxes and cesses were to be realized rigorously. The
189
Society and Economy area covered under these regulations was the khalisa land in the Doab. The result
was obvious: an unprecedented rebellion of the peasants, led by the intermediaries,
occurred which led to bloody confrontations. Firuz Shah claims to have abolished
twenty three cesses including charai and ghari.
Another development that took place, especially under the Tughlaqs, was the
practice of revenue-farming, that is, the task of collecting the revenue of some
areas was sometimes given to contractors who perhaps gave a lump sum in advance
for the right of revenue collection for a certain period. Under Firuz Shah, ‘water
tax’ (haqq-i sharb) was taken from those cultivators who irrigated their land from
the water supplied from the canals constructed by the state. It must be pointed out
that in case of bad harvest, the state tried to adjust the land tax, and also gave
agricultural loans to the peasants called sondhar in Muhammad Tughlaq’s reign.
What was the total estimated revenue during any period of the Delhi Sultanate?
No such attempt seems to have been made before the reign of Sultan Firuz Shah
Tughlaq. Afif tells us that at the order of this Sultan, Khwaja Hisamuddin Junaid
determined the jama (estimated revenue) of the kingdom according to the “rule of
inspection” (bar hukm mushahada). It took six years to do this job, and the figure
arrived at was six kror and seventy-five lakhs tankas (a silver coin) which continued
to be valid for the entire reign of the Sultan.
Check Your Progress-3
1) What measures did Alauddin Khalji take to eliminate the intermediaries?
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
2) Define the following:
a) Khalisa ..........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
c) Kharaj ........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
d) Abwab ............................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
e) Sondhar.....................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................

9.6 CURRENCY SYSTEM OF THE DELHI SULTANS

The establishment of the Delhi Sultanate was marked by a considerable growth of
money economy which accelerated particularly in the first half of the 14th century.
Since the growth of money economy in simple words means larger use of currency
in transactions (monetisation is another term for this phenomenon), a large scale
minting of gold, silver and copper coins that followed the foundation of the Delhi
Sultanate was an attendant process of the monetization of Indian economy.
190
The period prior to the foundation of the Delhi Sultanate was marked by the scarcity Land Administration
of coinage particularly of pure silver. The early Ghorid conquerors found mints
uttering coins of copper with very small silver contents. Except an increase in the
number of coins stamped, no changes were introduced in the beginning. The coins
continued to bear the image of goddess Lakshmi or bull-and-horseman, etc. Only
the name of the new ruler in a corrupt form got inscribed over it in Nagari script.
These coins were called Dehliwal.
Iltutmish (1210-36) is credited for standardizing the coinage of the Delhi Sultanate.
The currency system established by him in its essentials survived the Delhi
Sultanate. He introduced gold and silver tankas and a copper jital that was reckoned
at l/48th of a tanka in North India and l/50th in the Deccan after the conquest of
Devagiri.
A firm ratio of 1:10 between gold and silver appears to have been established.
For studying the currency system we not only have the testimony of the chronicles
but also the physical evidence available in the form of surviving coins (this is
called numismatic evidence).
The Sultanate mints generally uttered coins in three metals: gold, silver and billon
(copper mixed with very small quantity of silver). The main coins were tanka and
jital but some smaller currencies were also in circulation. Barani mentions dangs
and dirams in use at the capital Delhi. The equation between these currencies in
the north has been worked out as:
1 silver tanka = 48 jital = 192 dangs = 480 dirams
The gold and silver remitted from Bengal was the main source of coinage during
the 13th century. The seizure of treasure hoards in northern India and later in the
Deccan was the other major source of silver and gold for coinage.
The Sultanate mints should not only have coined government money but also
stamped bullion and foreign coins brought by the private merchants.
The silver currency remained dominant till the reign of Alauddin Khalji. From
Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq’s reign, a decline in silver coinage in relation to gold and
billon set in. Under Muhammad Tughlaq gold coinage overshadowed the silver,
and silver coinage practically disappeared under Firuz Tughlaq. In the 15th century,
billon coinage dominated (the Lodis [1451-1526] uttered no other coins).
Token Currency of Muhammad Tughlaq
The only major innovation in the currency system established by Iltutmish was
made by Muhammad Tughlaq. The Sultan introduced a coin of copper and brass
alloy and reckoned it at the value of a silver tanka. This coin for the first time
carried an inscription in Persian. This new currency whose face value was much
higher than its intrinsic value (that is, value of the metal it was made of) is termed
as token currency. The introduction of token currency was already attempted in
sister Asian empires. In China, Qublai Khan (1260-94) had introduced a token
currency of paper and the experiment was successful. In Persia, Kaikhatu Khan
(1293), too, tried to introduce a token currency but the attempt failed.
Muhammad Tughlaq’s experiment, too, met total failure perhaps owing to the fact
that the new currency could easily be forged. Barani says rhetorically that every
‘Hindu’ household became a mint. However, the Sultan accepted the failure with 191
Society and Economy grace and exchanged all the token currency brought to the treasury with pure
currency.
Check Your Progress-4
1) Discuss the introduction of ‘token currency’.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
2) Mark () against the statement if it is true and (×) if false.
a) Alauddin Khalji established the currency system of the Sultanate. ( )
b) One silver tanka was equal to 48 jitals in North India. ( )
c) The main source of silver for coinage in the Deccan were the treasure
hoards of the local rulers. ( )
d) Silver coins in Firuz Tughlaq’s reign outnumbered gold coins. ( )

9.7 SUMMARY
The land revenue was the main source of the state’s income. In this Unit, you have
studied the impact of the Delhi Sultanate on Indian economy. We have traced how
gradually the previously existing systems of revenue collection and distribution
changed, cash nexus grew, and pure silver currency was introduced. We have also
studied the nature of currency system under the Delhi Sultans.

9.8 KEYWORDS
Bahi Record book
Fawazil Surplus amount
Hashm-i qalb Central/royal cavalry
Mahsul Estimated revenue
Token Currency Currency whose face value is more than the actual value
of the metal used
Maurusi Hereditary
Ummal Plural of amil (revenue collector)
Zortalab Refractory

9.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES
Check Your Progress-1
1) See Sub-section 9.3.1
2) a)  b) × c) ×

192
Check Your Progress-2 Land Administration

1) See Section 9.4

2) a) See Section 9.4
b) See Section 9.4
Check Your Progress-3
1) See Section 9.5
2) See Section 9.5
Check Your Progress-4
1) See Section 9.6
2) a) × b)  c)  d) ×

9.10 SUGGESTED READINGS

Habib, Irfan, (2016) Economic History of India AD 1206-1526 (Delhi: Tulika
Books).
Habib, Irfan, (2011) Economic History of Medieval India, 1200-1500, in the series
History of Science, Philosophy and Culture, ed. D.P. Chattopadhyaya (Delhi:
Longman/Pearson).
Raychaudhuri, Tapan and Irfan Habib, (1982) The Cambridge Economic History
of India, Vol. I (Delhi: Cambridge University Press).

9.11 INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO

RECOMMENDATIONS
Agrarian Taxation of Delhi Sultanate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UprsazXfCkI
Administrative Reforms of Alauddin Khalji
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwApRMbkiTk
Administrative Reforms of Muhammad bin Tughlaq
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utaTyB_VCy0
Administrative Reforms of Muhammad bin Tughlaq
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utaTyB_VCy0

193
Society and Economy
UNIT 10 AGRARIAN CLASSES*
Structure
10.0 Objectives
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Agricultural Production During the Delhi Sultanate
10.2.1 Crops and other Agricultural Produce
10.2.2 Canal Irrigation and Its Impact
10.3 Agrarian Relations in the 13-14th Centuries
10.3.1 Peasants
10.3.2 Rural Intermediaries
10.3.3 Revenue Grantees
10.4 Summary
10.5 Keywords
10.6 Answers to Cheek Your Progress Excercises
10.7 Suggested Readings
10.8 Instructunal Video Recommendations

10.0 OBJECTIVES
In this Unit, we will discuss the agrarian economy during the 13th to15th centuries.
We will also try to gauge in what ways the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate
affected the agricultural production and agrarian relations. After going through
this Unit, you should be able to learn about:
• the extent of cultivation, the crops grown by the peasant, canal irrigation and
its impact under the Delhi Sultans, and
• the agrarian relations, the changes in the position of the previous rural structure
and the subordinate rural aristocracy during the Sultanate period.

10.1 INTRODUCTION
It will of course be unreasonable to expect that the establishment of the Delhi
Sultanate would have effected any radical changes in the system of agricultural
production, though the coming of certain new technologies seem to have helped
irrigation and there was spread of some market crops such as indigo and grapes.
However, it was the agrarian relations that underwent a significant change.
According to D. D. Kosambi, these changes did no more than intensify the elements
already present in India ‘feudalism’, while Muhammad Habib regards these to be
not only radical but so progressive in nature that to him these deserved the
designation of ‘rural revolution’.

* Prof. Shireen Moosvi, Centre of Advanced Study in History, Aligarh Muslim University,
Aligarh. This Unit is taken from our earlier Course EHI-03: India: From 8th to 15th
194 Century, Block 6, Units 19 and 20.
 Agrarian Classes
10.2 AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION DURING THE
DELHI SULTANATE
During the 13th-14th centuries, the land-man ratio was very favourable. The
population of India around CE 1200 was obviously much less than what it was
around 1800; though how much less we do not know. There is no statistical
information but the accounts of the contemporaries clearly suggest that inhabited
area in the 13th-14th centuries was much smaller than at the close of the l6th century.
Large tracts even in such fertile regions as the Ganga-Yamuna Doab were covered
by forests and grass lands. The sufi Nizamuddin Auliya in the 13th century found
wayfarers travelling between Delhi and Badaun harassed by tigers. In the 14th
century, the forest in the region, according to Barani, was thick enough to provide
refuge to vast number of peasants against the Sultan’s armies. Even in Babur’s
time (1526-30), crossing from Central Indian forest, elephants used to roam in
Kalpi and Yamuna ravines south of Kanpur. But before the close of Akbar’s reign
(1605) the middle Doab was reported to be fully cultivated. This clearly suggests
that, during the Delhi Sultanate, there was abundance of cultivable land that was
yet to be brought under plough.
The control over bits of land was, therefore, not as important as on persons
cultivating them. We will discuss the implications of this for agrarian relations at
the proper place. However, the land-man ratio is also crucial for understanding the
nature of agriculture. A favourable ratio of land to man naturally implies agriculture
to be extensive. In simple terms, extensive agriculture is that where the increase in
production is attempted by bringing more area under crop. On the other hand,
agriculture is called intensive if the production is sought to be increased on the
same tract by using higher agricultural inputs: for example, more labour, better
ploughing and irrigation. Owing to abundance of cultivable land in the Delhi
Sultanate, agriculture was extensive in nature. The large area of cultivable waste
and fallows naturally provided good pasturage facility for cattle. The author of the
Masalikal-Absar records that in India cattle were innumerable and their prices
were low. Afif reports that no village in Doab was without a cattle-pen which were
called kharaks. Bullocks were so plentiful that the pack-animals and not the bullock-
carts were the main means of carrying grains and other goods.

10.2.1 Crops and other Agricultural Produce

One of the most remarkable feature of the agriculture of the time was the large
number of crops grown by the peasants of the Delhi Sultanate. This has perhaps
no parallel in other parts of the world except perhaps in South China. Ibn Battuta
was struck by the multiplicity of crops grown and described in sufficient detail the
various crops grown in the two cropping seasons. He also suggests that in the
region around Delhi double cropping was also practised, that is, on the same soil
both the kharif and the rabi crops were raised. Thakkur Pheru, the mint-master at
Delhi under Alauddin Khalji, writing in c. 1290 lists some twenty-five crops grown
under two harvests and gives also their yields. While the yields cannot be
comprehended owing to the uncertainty of the units used, one gets a fairly good
idea of the crops raised. Among food crops, he mentions, wheat, barley, paddy,
millets – juar, moth, etc. and pulses (mash, mung, lentils, etc.). For cash crops,
sugarcane, cotton, oil-seeds, sesamum, linseed, etc. are referred to.
195
Society and Economy One may perhaps legitimately assume that improved facilities of irrigation would
have helped extend the area under rabi (winter) crops such as wheat, sugarcane,
etc. With the ‘Islamic raiders’ making of wine from sugarcane became widespread
and a new rural industry emerged at least around Delhi and in the Doab by the 14th
century as is evident from Barani’s account. Thakkur Pheru surprisingly omits the
dye-crop (indigo) though its production is testified to by the fact that indigo was
already an important item of export to Persia. It is recorded that the Il Khanids
tried to encourage indigo plantation in Persia to avoid dependence upon India for
its supply. The probable use of lime-mortar in the indigo-vats by providing an
improved surface should have helped the manufacture of dye.
From Ibn Battuta’s account, we get information on fruit growing in the Delhi
Sultanate. It appears that technique of ‘grafting’ was not known to peasants. Earlier
grapes were grown only in the few places besides Delhi but Muhammad Tughlaq’s
urging to peasants to improve cropping by shifting from wheat to sugarcane to
grapes and Firuz Tughlaq’s laying down of 1200 orchards in the vicinity of Delhi
to grow seven varieties of grapes seems to have made them so abundant that,
according to Afif, the prices of grapes fell.
However, the Indian peasants did not practise sericulture (rearing of silk-worm) at
that time and no true silk was produced. Only wild and semi-wild silks, namely,
tasar, eri and muga were known. Ma Huan, the Chinese navigator in 1432, makes
the first reference to sericulture in Bengal.

10.2.2 Canal Irrigation and Its Impact

Agriculture was generally dependent upon natural irrigation, that is, rains and floods.
Since cultivation was largely based on natural irrigation, the tendency was to grow
mostly single, rain-watered kharif (autumn) crop and coarse grains more.
Canal irrigation is described in our sources. The Delhi Sultans themselves got the
canals cut for irrigation. Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq (1320-25) is reported to be the first
Sultan to dig canals. But the cutting of canals in a much bigger way was undertaken
by Firuz Tughlaq (1351-88). Firuz Tughlaq cut two canals, Rajabwah and
Ulughkhani, from the river Yamuna carrying them to Hissar, one from the Kali
river in the Doab joining the Yamuna near Delhi; one each from the Sutlej and the
Ghaggar. Certainly, it was the biggest canal network in India till the 19th century.
Canal irrigation helped greatly in the extension of cultivation in the eastern Punjab.
Now there was an emphasis on the cultivation of cash crops like sugarcane, etc.
that required more water than other crops. Afif says that a long stretch of land of
about 80 krohs (200 miles) vast irrigated by the canal Rajabwah and Ulughkhani.
According to Afif, as a result of abundance water available, peasants in the eastern
Punjab raised two harvests (kharif and rabi) where only one was possible earlier.
This led to new agricultural settlements along the banks of the canals. In the areas
irrigated by the canals 52 such colonies sprang up. Afif comments enthusiastically,
‘neither one village remained desolate nor one cubit of land uncultivated’.
Check Your Progress-1
1) What were the implications of the prevailing favourable land to man ratio
during the Delhi Sultanate?
.........................................................................................................................
196
 ......................................................................................................................... Agrarian Classes

.........................................................................................................................
2) Write a note on canal irrigation.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
3) Which of the following statements are correct or wrong? (Mark  or ×)
i) Muhammad Tughluq built a number of canals for irrigation. ( )
ii) Double cropping was practised during the Sultanate period in
the Doab. ( )
iii) Sericulture was practised by Indian peasants during the
13th-14th centuries. ( )

10.3 AGRARIAN RELATIONS IN THE 13th - 14th

CENTURIES
Crucial to any discussion of agrarian economy is, indeed, the nature and extent of
change that resulted in the agrarian relations since the establishment of the Delhi
Sultanate. This involves, first of all, an assessment of the pre-1200 agrarian
structure. Without entering into the debate whether the prevailing socio-economic
order deserves the appellation ‘feudal’ or not, we can perhaps say with some
certainty, that on the eve of the Ghorid conquest, the ruling class was heavily
ruralized like contemporary feudal aristocracy of Western Europe.
Minhaj Siraj designates the chiefs opposing the Ghorians and the early Delhi Sultans
as rai and rana and their cavalry commanders as rawat. From the epigraphic
evidence from different parts of Northern India, the earlier feudal hierarchy of
raja (rai), ranaka (rana) and rauta (rawat) is fairly well established.
In the early phase, the Sultans tended to enter into settlement with this defeated
and subjugated rural aristocracy. As discussed earlier, kharaj was largely the tribute
imposed upon them. It seems that even after the replacement of this tribute by
vigorously assessed tax imposed on the peasants under Alauddin Khalji, the older
rural aristocracy had some role to play in revenue collection. This can be inferred
from an incident of Alauddin Khalji’s reign. Ghazi Malik, the governor of Dipalpur
when wanted to pressurise Rana Mal Bhatti, according to Afif, one of the rais
(rajas) of the region went to his territory and demanded the full year’s revenue in
cash at once; when the Rana failed to comply, Ghazi tortured the muqaddams
(village headmen) and chaudhuris. The incident suggests that though the members
of subjugated aristocracy, wherever present, were at least till the early years of the
14th century, held responsible for collecting and paying the land revenue. The
administration, too, exercised the right to collect it directly through village headmen
and chaudhuris.

10.3.1 Peasants
Cultivation was based on individual peasant farming. But this peasant economy
197
Society and Economy was not at all egalitarian. The size of land cultivated by them greatly varied in size.
From Barani’s account it appears that at one extreme were the khots and muqaddams
having large holdings and enjoying superior rights on ordinary peasants; and at
the other was the balahar, the village menial holding a petty plot of land. Below
the peasant, there must have been a mass of landless labourers but their presence
could only be discerned from the later sources, since we did not find any mention
in contemporary accounts.
In spite of the abundance of cultivable land, there was no proprietary right of the
peasant over the land he tilled. On the contrary, even on his produce there were
claims of the superior classes. The peasant though recognised a ‘free born’ at times
was deprived of the freedom to leave the land at will or to change the domicile.
According to Afif a village had 200 to 300 male members and Barani says that
each village had a patwari to keep accounts. His bahi (account register) was
scrutinized to discover every payment, legal or illegal, made by the peasants to the
revenue officials. The patwari was not a government official but a village official.
He was certainly not a creation of the Delhi Sultanate. The presence of a village
clerk for maintaining accounts may suggest that the village was an administrative
unit outside the administrative system of the Sultanate.
It seems that the village was collectively a tax paying unit otherwise why a clerk to
keep village accounts was needed. The presence of patwari and the nature of his
duties thus indicate existence of village community. It seems that in spite of
Alauddin Khalji’s efforts to assess the tax on individual peasant, in practice the
village continued to remain the unit of land revenue payment. Barani’s complaints
about the ‘burden of the rich falling on the poor’ further indicates that the village
community was not an ideal institution but itself a machinery of exploitation.

10.3.2 Rural Intermediaries

Khots, muqaddams and chaudhuris together formed the rural aristocracy. They
belonged to the highest stratum of the peasantry. From Barani’s account it appears
that before Alauddin Khalji’s agrarian measures they held revenue free lands. As a
class, the village headmen were prosperous. Barani with malacious pleasure records
that Alauddin Khalji imposed full land revenue upon them and withdrew the
exemption from house and grazing tax. He prohibited them from levying any cesses
of their own and thus he levelled them to the ordinary peasants.
However, since these rural intermediaries were necessary for the system of land
revenue realization, these stern measures against them were not to last longer.
Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq introduced moderation. The exemption from grazing as well
as tax on their own cultivation was granted again. But they were not allowed to
impose any cess upon the peasantry. They received further concessions under Firuz
Tughlaq and interestingly enough, these concessions and a resulting affluence are
very approvingly described by Barani.
Among these rural intermediaries, the chaudhuri seems to have emerged during
the 14th century. He is not mentioned by Minhaj or any other source of the 13th
century. It is during the middle of the 14th century that he makes his appearance in
Barani’s account. Ibn Battuta defines him as the ‘chief of a group of 100 villages’
he calls (sadi). However, the usual term from the middle of the 14th century for a
group of villages was pargana. Irfan Habib suggests that the chaudhuri was in
198
fact a successor, though much reduced in authority, of the head of the chaurasi Agrarian Classes
(group of eighty four villages) of Gurjara-Pratiharas and Chalukyas.
From the time of Firuz Tughlaq all these intermediaries were given a blanket
designation 6 zamindar 6 a term coming much in vogue during the Mughal period.
10.3.3 Revenue Grantees
As you know already, the religious persons and institutions such as dargahs,
mosques, madrasas and other dependents of the ruling class were maintained by
making grants of revenue income. These revenue grants were called milk, idrar,
and inam. These grants were not generally resumed or transferred. But the Sultan
had the right to cancel them. Alauddin Khalji is reputed to have cancelled almost
all grants. Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq too cancelled large number of grants. However,
Firuz Tughlaq made a departure and not only returned all the previously resumed
grants but also made new grants as well. In spite of this generosity of the Sultan,
according to the figures recorded by Afif, the total grants by the Sultan accounted
only for about one-twentieth of the total jama (estimated revenue income). Nobles,
too, made revenue grants out of their own iqtas. Noticeably, the Sultans made
grants not only in the khalisa but also in the iqtas. These grants covered cultivated
as well as cultivable areas not yet brought under plough.
Check Your Progress-2
1) Write on each of the following:
(a) Village Community .......................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
(b) Chaudhuri .................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
(c) Patwari ......................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
2) Put () against correct and (×) against incorrect statement given below:
a) During the Delhi Sultanate peasant had proprietory rights over their
holding. ( )
b) The patwari was a village official who maintained an accounts book.( )
c) The balahar was the village menial holding a petty plot of land. ( )

10.4 SUMMARY
To sum up, in the present Unit we have focussed on the agrarian structure –
agricultural production, means of irrigation, peasants and the rural intermediaries
– of the Delhi Sultanate. During this period large scale cultivable land was yet to
be brought under cultivation. Double cropping was prevalent in the Doab. Canals
were the major source of artificial irrigation. At village level differentiation
(hierarchy) existed between the superior right holders (khots, muqaddams and
chaudhuris) and the ordinary peasants (raiyat).

199
Society and Economy
10.5 KEYWORDS
Cash-crops Crops produced for markets
Distillation Lit. substance was turned to vapour by heating, then the
condensed vapour was collected
Kroh/Kuroh Used for measuring distance. 1 Kuroh = 2.5 miles
Kharif Autumn crop
Kharaks Cattle-pens
Rabi Winter crop
Raiyat Ordinary Peasants

10.6 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES
Check Your Progress-1
1) See Section 10.2
2) See Sub-section 10.2.2
3) i) × ii)  iii) ×
Check Your Progress-2
1) See Sub-sections 10.3.1 and 10.2.3
2) i) × ii) iii)

10.7 SUGGESTED READINGS

Habib, Irfan, (2011) Economic History of Medieval India, 1200-1500, in the series
History of Science, Philosophy and Culture, ed. D.P. Chattopadhyaya (Delhi:
Longman/Pearson).
Habib, Irfan, (2016) Economic History of India AD 1206-1526 (Delhi: Tulika
Books).
Raychaudhuri, Tapan and Irfan Habib, (1982) The Cambridge Economic History
of India, Vol. I (Delhi: Cambridge University Press).

10.8 INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO

RECOMMENDATIONS
Delhi Sultanate Agriculture and Rural Class
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wx-xyeRucY
Agrarian System of the Delhi Sultans Session-1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fyT4_R3fuE

200
 Technology, and Society
UNIT 11 TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY*
Structure
11.0 Objectives
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Agricultural Technology
11.2.1 Plough

11.2.2 Sowing

11.2.3 Harvesting, Threshing and Winnowing

11.2.4 Irrigational Devices

11.3 Textile Technology

11.3.1 Ginning, Carding and Spinning

11.3.2 Weaving

11.3.3 Dyeing and Printing

11.4 Building Construction

11.4.1 Lime Mortar

11.4.2 Arch and Dome/Vaulted Roofing

11.5 Papermaking and Bookbinding

11.6 Military Technology
11.6.1 Stirrup

11.6.2 Horseshoe

11.6.3 Gunpowder and Fire-arms

11.7 Tincoating
11.8 Glass Manufacture
11.9 Shipbuilding
11.10 Distillation
11.11 Summary
11.12 Keywords
11.13 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
11.14 Suggested Readings
11.15 Instructional Video Recommendations

* Prof. A. Jan Qaisar, Centre of Advanced Study in History, Aligarh Muslim University,
Aligarh. The present Unit is taken from our Course EHI-03: India: From 8th Century to
15th Century, Block 6, Unit 22. 201
Society and Economy
11.0 OBJECTIVES
This Unit introduces you to major crafts and technology that existed during the
Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals. After reading this Unit, you would learn about
the following:
• agricultural technology,
• textile technology,
• building construction,
• papermaking and bookbinding,
• military technology,
• tincoating,
• glass manufacture
• shipbuilding, and
• distillation.

11.1 INTRODUCTION
There has never been any human settlement which did not use some kind of
technique or craft for its survival. In fact, the history of technology is no less
important than political or economic studies. Technology is an inseparable part of
the material culture of a society.
In this Unit, we are offering you a few glimpses of the state of technology in India
during the Delhi Sultanate.
The most remarkable aspect is the introduction of new articles of technology and
new crafts by the immigrant Muslims that had either developed or evolved in the
Islamic culture-areas. Therefore, our methodology is to juxtapose the indigenous
crafts and technology along with the new importations.
One thing that will strike you is that by and large the tools, devices and implements
were made of wood and earth, while iron was employed only when most necessary.
Ropes, leather and bamboo, too, were used when the need arose. That is why they
were inexpensive.
We have not gone into the details of tools and implements used by different
craftsmen. For example: hammer, saws, basola (adze), randa (plane), awl, axe,
barma (bow-drill), pick-axe, shovel, chisel (tesha) and anvil, etc.
We have also left out salt and diamond mining which were very important industries.
Salt was also procured by the natural evaporation of the saline sea-water collected
systematically.

11.2 AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY

In this Section, we will discuss the main technological devices related to agriculture.

202
11.2.1 Plough Technology, and Society

The use of hoe or hoeing was replaced by plough centuries back. Archaeological
evidence from Kalibangan (Rajasthan) – an Indus valley culture site – for the use
of ‘ironless’ plough is well-known, although the doubt remains whether it was
drawn by men or oxen. Plough-cultivation employing oxen during the Vedic Age
is, however, an established fact. The Iron Age, identified with the Aryan settlement
in the Gangetic plain, contributed to the development of the plough in the sense
that while the entire frame earlier was of timber, the ploughshare/courter now was
of iron. This metallic piece immensely helped in the tillage of comparatively harder
soil. An illustration in the Miftah-ul Fuzala – a Persian lexicon compiled in about
CE 1469 in Malwa – clearly shows the plough with an ironshare drawn by two
yoked oxen. Unlike Europe, India could not develop horse-drawn wheeled-plough
for the reason that our plough was light in weight suited for the soft soil.

Figure 11.1: Iron-Ploughshare: Miftah-ul Fuzala

11.2.2 Sowing
For sowing, the method of broadcasting was known. The practice was to scatter
seeds manually by taking them out from a cloth-bag slung over shoulders. The
time-scale of seed-drill in India is controversial: some would trace it back to the
Vedic Age. At any rate, the only positive evidence for its use along the western
coast of India comes from one Portuguese – Barbosa (c. 1510) – in connection
with the wet-cultivation of rice.

11.2.3 Harvesting, Threshing and Winnowing

Harvesting was performed with a sickle, and threshing by using oxen who walked
round and round over the ears put on the threshing floor. ‘Wind power’ was exploited
in winnowing in order to separate the chaff from the grain.

11.2.4 Irrigational Devices

There were many sources of water for the purpose of irrigating fields. Rain water
was the natural source. Ponds and tanks received this water which was used for 203
Society and Economy irrigation. Water channels formed by inundation, too, served the same purpose.
But the most important controlled source was the water of the wells, especially in
North India. Almost all the irrigational devices were oriented towards drawing
water from wells. The latter were more often than not masonry ones with raised
walls and enclosures/platfroms. Kuchcha wells also existed, but these could not
have been durable or strong enough for extensive water-lifting.
Broadly, there were five devices or techniques to raise water from wells:
i) The most simple technique was to draw water with rope and bucket by using
hands without any mechanical aid. Obviously, then, the bucket was small in
size and, thus, this operation would not have adequately served to water large
fields. But we cannot deny the use of rope-bucket technique for irrigating
small fields for crops, most probably vegetables that did not require much
water.
ii) The second method was the employment of pulleys (charkhi) combined to
the rope-bucket contraption which was, once again, activated manually.
Undoubtedly, the pulleys needed lesser amount of human energy and, therefore,
comparatively larger bags or buckets could have been attached to the rope. It
was also used for domestic purpose, especially by women.

Figure 11.2: Use of Pulley

iii) An improved method of the rope-bucket-pulley contraption was the

employment of a pair of oxen to replace human-power. At this stage, it had
become a specialized device for drawing water intended specifically for
irrigation. In some areas of North India it is still in operation known as charasa.
The latter is a huge bag that gives an idea of the immense quantity of water
raised from the well in one single haul-up. Moreover, the bullock track was
like a ramp or sloping path 6 – the length of the path corresponding to the
204
 depth of the well. The water of the well (mounted with this device) could not Technology, and Society
have been used for drinking, cleansing utensils or for washing cloths. Of all
the five methods, charasa was not a multi-purpose one, it was solely devised
for irrigation – a fact which has not been realized till now.

Figure 11.3: Charasa: Use of Animal Power

iv) The fourth technique was what is considered to be semi-mechanical as it worked

on the First Class Lever principle. A long rope is lashed to the fork of an
upright beam or trunk of a tree (especially meant for this purpose) to put it in
a swinging position. The bucket is
fastened to a rope whose other end
is tied to the one of the swinging pole
hovering over the well. The pole’s
other end carries a ‘counterweight’,
a little heavier than the bucket when
filled with water. Thus, the fulcrum
forms at the centre of the pole, with
weight and ‘counterweight’ (Effort)
at its two ends. This contraption
requires only a little effort on the part
of the person operating it. The device
is known as shaduf in Egypt. It is
called tula (balance) in Sanskrit, but
in Bihar and Bengal it is known as
dhenkli or lat/latha.
v) The fifth water-lifting method is
called saqiya or ‘Persian Wheel’.
None of the four mechanism
described above required wheels as
their basic component. This water-
wheel could well claim to be called
a water machine because of the
Figure 11.4: Dhenkli
employment of the gear system. 205
Society and Economy With gears we enter upon a very advanced stage in the technological sense: it
has been surpassed only now by electric tube-wells.
Much controversy has cropped up about the origins of saqiya: did it exist in India
prior to the advent of the Muslims, or was it a foreign importation through the
agency of the Turks? In India, its earliest form was one wheel with pitchers or pots
of clay attached around the rim of the wheel. It was called araghatta or arahatta in
Sanskrit. This device called noria in English – a corruption of Arabic naurah –
was worked by human power only. Its form itself forced it to be set up over shallow
water or open surfaces – stream, reservoir or even rivers where water would level
up to its banks. Thus, its use over wells was absolutely out of question.

(a) (b)

(c)
Figure 11.5: a) First Stage of Noria; b) Second stage of Noria: an imagery model;
c) Saqiya: third stage of Noria: see three wheels with gear mechanism;
206 third wheel with the pot
The second stage was to exploit it over wells. This was done by releasing the Technology, and Society
earthen pots fitted around the rim of the wheel and, in its place, a chain or garland
(Hindi: mala) of pots was provided which was long enough to reach the water
level of the well. The mala or chain was made of double ropes without open ends
between which the pots were secured with timber strips. It is important to note
that there is no separate term for this contrivance in Arabic or Persian. In Sanskrit,
however, it was called ghatiyantra (pot-machine), although the words araghatta
and arahatta continued to be used for both the types of noria. This, too, was
operated by human-power.
At the third and final stage, we find three developments to have taken place:
a) addition of two more wheels;
b) gear mechanism; and
c) the use of animal power.
The lantern-wheel provided with vertical pegs at regular intervals, was set up on
an upright axle to be moved by animal power round and round horizontally. The
pin-wheel was arranged vertically with a shaft or axle connected to the third wheel
over the well that carried the pot-garland. This was, then, the gear system in order
to exploit animal power. Essentially, the point was to convert the original horizontal
motion of the lantern-wheel into a vertical one for the wheel set up over the well.
The confusion of some modern scholars in this controversy is to identify the two
first stages of noria with saqiya. But now you know that the latter was radically
different not only in its conception but also in its components. A semantic blunder
was committed when the same terms – araghatta and arahatta (modem rahat) –
were used for the saqiya when the Muslims brought it in early medieval period. In
fact, there is no evidence of water wheels being operated by animals in Ancient
India.
The five devices to raise water from wells described above can be put into two
broad categories:
a) Intermittent or Discontinuous water-supply device, and
b) Continuous supply system.
The first four belong to the former and the fifth to the latter category. Again,
depending on the nature of the operative source, that is, human power and animal
power, the first and the fourth fall in the human power category and the others
were driven by animal power. Since the water had to be lifted from wells, all the
devices except the fifth, shared two things amongst them: rope and bucket/bags,
the latter varying in size commensurate to the ‘power’ used.
The greater part of the Hindustan country is situated on level land. Many though its
towns and cultivated lands are, it nowhere has running waters. Rivers and, in some
places, standing-waters are its “running-waters” (aqar-sular). Even where, as for some
towns, it is practicable to convey water by digging channels (ariq), this is not done.
For not doing it there may be several reasons, one being that water is not at all a
necessity in cultivating crops and orchards. Autumn crops grow by the downpour of
the rains themselves; and strange it is that spring crops grow even when no rain falls.
To young trees water is made to flow by means of buckets or a wheel. They are given
water constantly during two or three years; after which they need no more. Some
vegetables are watered constantly.
In Lahor, Dibalpur and those parts, people water by means of a wheel. They make two
207
Society and Economy circles of ropes long enough to suit the depth of the well, fix strips of wood between
them, and on these fasten pitchers. The ropes with the wood and attached pitchers are put
over the well-wheel. At one end of the wheel-axle a second wheel is fixed, and close
(qash) to it another on an upright axle. This last wheel the bullock turns; its teeth catch in
the teeth of the second, and thus the wheel with the pitchers is turned. A trough is set
where the water empties from the pitchers and from this the water is conveyed everywhere.
In Agra, Chandwar, Biana and those parts, again, people water with a bucket; this is
laborious and filthy way. At the well-edge they set up a fork of wood, having a roller
adjusted between the forks, tie a rope to a large bucket, put the rope over the roller,
and tie its other end to the bullock. One person must drive the bullock, another empty
the bucket. Every time the bullock turns after having drawn the bucket out of the well,
the rope lies on the bulllock-track, in pollution of urine and dung, before it descends
again into the well.
To some crops needing water, men and women carry it by repeated efforts in pitchers.
Irrigation Devices as mentioned by Babur, Baburnama, tr. Beveridge, pp. 486-487

There were many implements like shovel, pick-axe and scraper (khurpi), etc. that
were used not only in agricultural processes but in gardening, too.
Check Your Progress-1
1) Mention various techniques used during the 13th-15th centuries to lift the water
from wells.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
2) Discuss the technique used in saqiya to lift water from the wells.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
3) Mark () against the right and (×) against the wrong statements given below:
i) Kuchcha wells were durable for extensive water-lifting. ( )
ii) Dhenkli worked on the First Class Lever principle. ( )
iii) In saqiya gear mechanism and animal power was used. ( )
iv) Charasa was mainly used for domestic purposes. ( )

11.3 Textile Technology

During the Sultanate period various new techniques were introduced by the Turks
in the field of textile.

11.3.1 Ginning, Carding and Spinning

Cotton cultivation belongs to agricultural technology. After picking up cotton balls,
there were three basic stages before cotton could be used for weaving:
i) ginning or seed extraction;
ii) carding or fibre loosening; and
208 iii) spinning or making yarn.
The first was done in two ways: Technology, and Society

a) roller and board method, and

b) worm-press or worm-roller (charkhi).
Cotton thus separated from seeds was “beaten” with sticks or carded with bow-
string in order to separate and loosen the fibers (naddafi in Persian; dhunna in
Hindi). Spinning was traditionally done with the spindle (duk in Persian; takla in
Hindi) to which a whorl (phirki in Hindi) was attached to stabilize it.
The most important technological revolution in the textile sector was the
introduction of the spinning-wheel (charkha) through the agency of the Muslims
during the thirteenth-fourteenth centuries. Charkha did not exist in Ancient India.
The first literary reference to charkha comes from Isami’s Futuh-us Salatin (CE
1350). This new contribution, however, did not displace the spindle: it only
accelerated the latter’s rotation. The spindle was attached to the wooden frame of
the charkha at its one end to be set in motion by the “belt” which was wrapped
over the wheel at the other end of the frame, connecting it to the spindle. Thus, the
charkha combined within itself the element of power-transmission (through belt-
drive) and the principle of flywheel resulting in differential speeds of rotation.
There is a controversy about the date as to when a handle or crank-handle was
attached to the device. But this controversy can be now settled with the help of a
pictorial evidence (c. CE 1530) in the Miftah-ul Fuzala where a spinning-wheel
has been shown being operated with a handle attached to the frame.
According to one estimate, a spinning-wheel could produce yarn six-fold more
than the spindle during the same unit of time. This must have resulted in greater
output of yarn and, constantly, more cloths. It must be pointed out that the yarn
from spindle was of a very fine quality whereas the charkha produced coarse yarn
for coarse cloths.

11.3.2 Weaving
Horizontal loom of throw-shuttle type was used for simple or tabby weave. It is
difficult to determine whether the pit-loom (treadle loom) was in use in Ancient
lndia, but we get the first evidence of this loom in the Miftah-ul Fuzala (c. CE
1469) illustrated in c.1530. This loom allowed the weaver to employ his hitherto
idle feet to lift and depress the sets of warp threads, while his hands worked mainly
upon the shuttle and the shed.
This speeded up the pace of
weaving. For patterned weave
(of different colours
simultaneously), one scholar
suggests that draw-loom for
this purpose might have
existed in South India around
CE 1001. But this view has
been questioned by arguing
that perhaps it was brought to
India by the Muslims late in
the seventeenth century.
(a)
209
Society and Economy

(b)

(c)

(d)
Figure 11.6: a) Ginning: roller and board method; b) Carding; c) Spindle; d) Spinning
210 with the spindle; Spinning-wheel: 1. Spindle 2. Belt 3. wheel 4. Handle
11.3.3 Dyeing and Printing Technology, and Society

Various colours derived from vegetable and mineral sources were used for dyeing.
Indigo, madder and lakh, etc. were widely employed. Indigo was used for both
bleaching and dyeing. For fast colours, many articles like alum were added. The
Indian dyer (rangrez) employed many techniques like immersion, tie-and-dye
(bandhana), etc. But block-printing (chhapa) was perhaps unknown in Ancient
India. Some scholars credit the Muslims with its diffusion in India.

Figure 11.7: Pit-loom, a 16th century Mughal painting (Kabir)

Check Your Progress-2

1) State the methods used for ginning during the thirteenth-fifteenth centuries.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
2) Write a note on spinning-wheel.
......................................................................................................................... 211
Society and Economy .........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
3) Discuss the techniques used by the weavers during the thirteenth-fifteenth
centuries.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................

11.4 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

In this Section, our focus would be on major building construction devices
introduced by the Turks in India.

11.4.1 Lime Mortar

The traditional basic units of construction in Ancient India consisted of clay, stones,
wood and occasionally bricks. The simplest cementing material or mortar was
plain earth mixed with water. An improved kind was straw (bhus) added to a mixture
of clay and water which was used for plastering also. But lime mortar was definitely
brought by the immigrant Muslims during the Delhi Sultanate.
The basic ingredients in lime mortar were lime (chuna) and surkhi (pounded bricks).
Lime was of various kinds, according to the material from which it was extracted.
The two major sources of lime were gypsum and gravel (kankar). The later were
first burnt in kilns yielding quicklime. This quicklime was then treated with water
to turn it into slake lime. Surkhi was added to this mix. Afterwards, a number of
gelatinous, glutinous and resinous cementing agents like gum, pulses, jaggery,
etc. were added to make the mortar more sticky.

11.4.2 Arch and Dome/Vaulted Roofing

One result of lime mortar was the extensive use of bricks as it made the brick
buildings more durable. Another important consequence was that lime mortar paved
the way for the construction of true arch (mihrab). Actually, the very arrangement
of bricks or stones in making a true arch demands a strong cementing material to
hold the voussoirs together. Lime mortar fulfilled this need. This explains the
almost total absence of true arch in Indian buildings prior to the Turkish advent.
The only exception, however, was the Kushana period: excavations at Kausambi
(near Allahabad) have revealed the existence of some arches – over small windows
(not gates). As you know, the Kushanas had come from Central Asia and, therefore
they knew arch making. Afterwards, there is not a single evidence of true arches in
India till the coming of the Muslims. Another form of arch was the corbelled one:
in fact, it was a variant of trabeate construction, that is, the pillar-and-beam technique
which was the most distinguishing feature of pre-Muslim Indian architecture.
From mihrab to gumbad (vaulted roofing or dome) was a natural development
since vaulting or dome was not possible without a knowledge of how to make a
true arch. That is why it is observed that a dome is a true arch turned 360 degrees.
In other words, a dome was constructed on the principle of intersecting true arches
(A note of caution: dome should not be confused with the Buddhist stupas).
212
 Technology, and Society

Lintel (beam) Corebelling

(a) (b)

Arch and its parts

A : Voussoirs vorssseirs C : spinging lines

B : keystone D : abutment
E : crown
Figure 11.8: a) Pillar-and-beam; b) Corbelled; c) Arch and its parts
a) Voussoirs b) Keystone.

11.5 PAPERMAKING AND BOOKBINDING

Now you know how the immigrant Muslims acted as agents of diffusion for
numerous techniques and articles of technology that had developed or evolved in
the Islamic culture area. Papermaking was yet another contribution.
The writing materials in Ancient India were many: stones, copper plates, silk and
cotton cloths, and specially prepared palm-leaves (talpatra) and birch-bark
(burjapatra). The latter two were employed for writing books.
Paper was first manufacturcd in China around the first century CE. It was made
from bamboo pulp. The Muslim Arabs learnt papermaking from some Chinese
who were taken prisoners in a battle in CE 751. Very soon the Arabs developed
this craft by making paper from rags and old linen.
The Indians perhaps knew about paper in the 7th century CE, but they never used it
as writing material. When the Chinese traveller I-Ching (Yi Jing) visited India, he
could not find paper to copy the Sanskrit manuscripts for being taken to China.
Since he had exhausted his own stock, he sent a message to his friends in China to
send paper to him.
During the Delhi Sultanate, paper was used for many purposes, especially for
books, farmans and numerous commercial and administrative documents. Paper
was available on a large scale so much so that sweetmeat-sellers of Delhi delivered
sweets to the buyers in paper packets called purya which is still the practice in 213
Society and Economy India. But it seems that papermaking centres were few and far between. We know
from the 14th century Chinese navigator, Ma Huan, that Bengal produced paper.
However, the bulk of paper needed was imported from Islamic countries, specially
Samarqand and Syria.
The practice of writing books on paper was accompanied by the craft of bookbinding
which was an innovation in India, because the technique was different from that
followed in India, for putting sheets of writing material together (palm-leaves and
birch-bark).
Check Your Progress-3
1) Discuss the contribution of the Turks in the field of building construction
technology.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
2) Write briefly on papermaking in India.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................

11.6 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY

In this Section, we will deal with three things only:
i) stirrup, · ·
ii) horseshoe, and
iii) gunpowder.

11.6.1 Stirrup
It is now an established fact that iron-stirrup (rikab) was unknown in India. For
that matter, there is no Sanskrit word for stirrup. Perhaps single, ‘big toe stirrup’
and ‘suspension hooks’ were used in India, but stirrup proper was the contribution
of the Muslims. This stirrup was first used in China around 6th century CE, and
later it diffused into Persia and other Islamic countries during the next century. A
Persian source on warfare during the reign of Iltutmish employs the term rikab
(For the military advantages of stirrup, see the passage in the box).

The history of the use of the horse in battle is divided into three periods: first, that of
the charioteer; second that of the mounted warrior who clings to his steed by pressure
of the knees; and third, that of the rider equipped with stirrups. The horse has always
given its master an advantage over the footman in battle, and each improvement in its
military use has been related to far-reaching social and cultural changes.

Before the introduction of the stirrup, the seat of the rider was precarious. Bit and
spur might help him to control his mount; the simple saddle might confirm his seat:
nevertheless, he was still much restricted in his methods of fighting. He was primarily
a rapidly mobile bowman and hurler of javelins. Swordplay was limited because
214 ‘without stirrups our lashing horseman, taking a good broadhanded swipe at his foe,
 had only to miss to find himself on the ground’. As for the spear, before the invention Technology, and Society
of the stirrup it was wielded at the end of the arm and the blow was delivered with the
strength of shoulder and biceps. The stirrup made possible – although it did not
demand – a vastly more effective mode of attack: now the rider could lay his lance at
rest, held between the upper arm and the body, and make at his foe, delivering the
blow not with his muscles but with the combined weight of himself and his charging
stallion.

The stirrup, by giving lateral support in addition to the front and back support offered
by pommel and cantle, effectively welded horse and rider into a single fighting unit
capable of a violence without precedent. The fighter’s hand no longer delivered the
blow: it merely guided it. The stirrup thus replaced human energy with animal power,
and immensely increased the warrior’s ability to damage his enemy. Immediately,
without preparatory steps, it made possible mounted shock combat, a revolutionary
new way of doing battle.

Lynn White, Medieval Technology and Change, London, 1973, pp. 1-2

11.6.2 Horseshoe
While some scholars of Medieval India look at the stirrup as a contributory factor
to the series of military successes that the Turks achieved in India – at least in the
initial stages of their invasions – horseshoe (nal) has been treated as its poor cousin.
Domestication of horse was not enough. With the view of controlling the horse for
riding, some equipments were called-forth; viz., simple bridle, bitted bridle, saddle
with pommel and cantle and, of course, the stirrup.
Nailed horseshoe was a late comer. It is interesting to note that horseshoe is the
only equestrian accoutrement which does not have direct bearing on controlling
the animal like other outfits. If so, then, why shoeing was needed? The answer lies
in the hoof, the most vulnerable part of the equine anatomy: The horse’s hoof is a
constantly growing horny structure like the human nails, susceptible to breaking,
splitting and shelling. In their original natural habitat horses keep their feet worn
down and, hence, trimming is unnecessary. But tamed and domesticated horses
when in use, require shoeing, specially in moist latitudes. A horse with footsore
will limp and, hence, of little use to the rider. Shoeing offers two advantages: first,
it gives a better grip on soft ground; and secondly, the hooves get protection on
rough ground. It is in this context that we can appreciate the worldwide axiom of
horsemen: “No foot, no hone”. A lame cavalry horse may often be worse than no
horse at all.
Horseshoes have not been reported from any archaeological site excavated in India
It is now an incontrovertible fact that horseshoes were foreign importations, brought
by the Turks when they came to India. The Arabic/Persian word for the shoe is
na‘l (the farrier or shoesmith is na‘lband and shoeing is na‘lbandi). Sanskrit
literature on horses (Salihotra) do not mention shoeing (a case similar to stirrup
and spinning-wheel). It is no accident, then, that shoeing in the past was largely
monopolized by Muslim artisans. At any rate, our sources yield information for
cold-shoeing only – not hot-shoeing as it was practised in Europe.

11.6.3 Gunpowder and Fire-arms

Many decades ago, some scholars, both European and Indian, were keen to prove
that gunpowder and fire-arms were used in Ancient India. Among the Sanskrit
215
Society and Economy sources, the Sukraniti became the focal point from which support was drawn.
However, other scholars dismissed their inferences, especially after careful
examination of the Sukraniti. Again, untenable attempts were also made to show
that the Muslims who came to India following the invasions of Sultan Mahmud of
Ghazna used fire-arms.
Gunpowder consists of saltpetre, sulphur and charcoal, and it was first invented in
China. Later, it spread to the Islamic society. The immigrant Turks brought gunpowder
to India perhaps in late 13th or early 14th century. But it must be pointed out that even
by the reign of Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq its only use was for pyrotechny or fireworks
(atashbazi), not for fire-arms or for propelling cannon-balls. Fire-arms were used
for the first time during the second half of the 15th century in some regions of India
like Gujarat, Malwa and the Deccan. At any rate, the use of fire-arms on a regular
basis was introduced by the Portuguese when they came to Calicut in CE 1498, and
by Babur in North India in the early 16th century.

11.7 TINCOATING
Domestic utensils of copper (and brass) are prone to acid poisoning from sour
food kept in them. A coating of tin is given to them frequently, specially inside, to
protect them from the chemical action of acid food. This craft came to India along
with the Turks. There is no reference to this technique in Ancient India. Apart
from literary sources, the archaeological evidence comes from an excavation site
in the South (near Kolhapur) where a copper container with tincoating both on its
interior and exterior was discovered. Since, this vessel was found in association
with the coins of the Bahmani dynasty (CE 1347-1538), it must belong to that
period.
The craftsman who does tincoating is called qala‘igar (qalai = tin). Tin (ranga) is
a highly malleable and ductile metal, and its coating over metallic vessels protects
the latter from corrosion and chemical poisoning. The craftsman first cleanse the
utensils to remove dirt, etc. After this, the vessels are mildly heated over a small
furnace with charcoal. Small bellows are used to maintain the required degree of
heat. The next process is to apply a mixture of pure tin and salammoniac (nosadar)
with a cotton pad. The salammoniac vapourizes leaving a metallically clean surface.
Meanwhile the tin melts and by constant rubbing of the pad it is evenly distributed
over the whole vessel – outside and inside.
Abul Fazl refers to tincoating in the Ain-i Akbari. He says that copper utensils of
the royal kitchen are tinned twice a month, but those of the princes, etc. once.
Check Your Progress-4
1) Define the following:
Stirrup .............................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
Horseshoe .......................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................

216 .........................................................................................................................
2) Fill in the blanks: Technology, and Society

a) Gunpowder was invented in......................................................................

b) Fire-arms were first used in India during the.............................................
c) Technique of tincoating in India was introduced by the............................

11.8 GLASS MANUFACTURE

The earliest use of glass in India has been set somewhere during the first millennium
BCE. But the presence of an object in a society may reveal its possible use but
does not necessarily imply a knowledge of technology also. However, glass was
not scarce in India: perhaps long familiarity with imported glassware must have
led to indigenous manufacture. But Indian glass objects “did not range or go beyond
the manufacture of tit-bits like beads and bangles”. With the Muslim advent,
pharmaceutical phials, jars and vessels started coming to India from the Islamic
countries. It is not possible to determine whether the above glassware actually
fabricated during the Delhi Sultanate in imitation of these importations. However,
during the period of study, we draw blank when we look for the manufacture of
articles of glass like glass lenses for spectacles or looking-glasses (mirrors were
made of copper or bronze with polished surface).

11.9 SHIPBUILDING
The entire frame of boats and ships were made of timber like everywhere in the
world. The planks were first joined by the rabbeting or tongue-and-groove method.
Then they were sewn with ropes made from the coconut husk. Sometimes wooden
nails were also used. But iron nails and clamps to join the planks was a later
development under the influence of European shipbuilding after CE 1498. Anchors
were made of stones: later, Europeans introduced iron anchors.

Figure 11.9: Rabetting and the use of ironnails to join the planks

For navigation, magnetic compass was a great contribution which the Muslim
diffused in India.
217
Society and Economy
11.10 DISTILLATION
There has never been any society that did not produce intoxicating drinking
substances. Soma in the Vedic Age was one such intoxicants. There are two ways
to get wine: fermentation and distillation. The first was widely known in the world.
Wine was procured by fermenting rice, sugarcane juice, mahuwa flowers, etc.
Distillation was a late comer. Some think that it was first discovered in Italy in the
12th century CE. For India, there is an opinion that distillation was a contribution
of the Turks.
This view is not acceptable. Excavations at Sirkap (Taxila) and Shaikhan Dheri,
now in Pakistan, have yielded distillation apparatus like these condensers and
parts of still, many of which are now lodged in the Taxila Museum. This apparatus
belong to the period from 2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE, much before the
Turks came to India. However, we may give credit to the Turks for its eastward
diffusion.

Figure 11.10: Reconstruction of Distilling Apparatus (after Marshall, 1953)

Check Your Progress-5
1) What is rabbeting?
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
2) Write briefly on distillation in the medieval period.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................

11.11 SUMMARY
You must have learnt from this Unit, something about the techniques or methods
218 by which the people during the Delhi Sultanate fabricated or produced articles of
daily use. Concerning agriculture now you know about ploughs with iron share, Technology, and Society
methods of sowing, irrigational devices, harvesting, threshing and winnowing. In
the Section on textile crafts, you have read about ginning, carding, spinning,
weaving, dyeing and printing. As regards building construction, lime mortar, true
arches and domes/vaulted roofings are most important. Papermaking and
bookbinding were new crafts. Similar is the case of military technology with
reference to stirrup, horseshoe and gunpowder. Tincoating, too, was a new
technique. Glass technology was on a low level in this period. Now you know that
iron was not used in shipbuilding prior to the Portuguese advent. Fermentation
and distillation were used for preparing intoxicants.
At the end, let us sum up the new techniques or crafts brought by the Muslims to
India: saqiya, spinning-Wheel, pit-loom, lime mortar, true arches, dome, paper
and bookbinding, stirrup, horseshoe, gunpowder, tincoating and mariner’s compass.
The Indians accepted all these without hesitation or opposition.

11.12 KEYWORDS
Accoutrement Soldier’s equipment other than weapons and clothes
Alum White mineral salt used in dyeing
Arch Curved Structure
Axiom Statement that is accepted without argument
Bridle Part of a horse’s harness
Clamps A device designed to bind or constrict or to press two or
more parts together so as to hold them firmly in their
relative position
Contraption Device/apparatus
Equine Like a horse
Farman Order of the Sultan
Gear Set of toothed wheels which fit into another set to transmit
power
Gelatinous Like jelly
Glutinous Sticky protein substance
Immersion Put under the surface of a liquid
Loom Instrument for weaving cloth
Pit-loom Loom worked by the foot
(Treadle loom)
Planks Long flat piece of sawn timber
Pommel Rounded part of a saddle
Pyrotechny Fire works
Pulley Wheel with grooves for ropes
Ramp Slope 219
Society and Economy Resinous Sticky substance specially from fir and pine tree
Slake lime Calcium Hydroxide (C (OH) : Its formed by the action of
water on Calcium Oxide
Tabby Cat with grey or brownish fur and dark stripes
Quicklime Caldum Oxide (C O) made by heating Calcium Carbonade
(limestone)
Shovel Tool like a spade with curved edges
Vaulted roof Arched roof
Voussoirs Stones used in making an arch (other than the keystone)

11.13 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES
Check Your Progress-1
1) See Sub-section 11.2.4
2) See Sub-section 11.2.4
3) (i) × (ii)  (iii)  (iv) ×
Check Your Progress-2
l) See Sub-section 11.3.1
2) See Sub-section 11.3.1
3) See Sub-section 11.3.2
Check Your Progress-3
1) See Sub-sections 11.4.1, 11.4.2
2) See Section 11.5
Check Your Progress-4
1) See Sub-sections 11.6.1, 11.6.2
2) a) China b) Second half of the 15th Century c) Turks
Check Your Progress-5
1) See Section 11.9
2) See Section 11.10

11.14 SUGGESTED READINGS

Habib, Irfan, (1969) ‘Presidential Address’, Proceedings of the Indian History
Congress, Varanasi.
Habib, Irfan, (1978-79) ‘Technology and Barriers to Social Change in Mughal
India’, Indian Historical Review, Vol. V, Nos.1&2.
Qaisar, A. Jan, (1982) Indian Response to European Technology and Culture
220 (Delhi).
 Technology, and Society
11.15 INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO
RECOMMENDATIONS
Urban Economy and Technology during the Delhi Sultanate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT8Jv400e-E
Bulls Fetching Well Water: Ancient Technology System in India and Pakistan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTvEJDBMsSo
Water Technology in Medieval India 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol3DPLXKARg

221
Society and Economy
UNIT 12 URBAN ECONOMY AND
MONETIZATION*
Structure
12.0 Objectives
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Growth of Towns During the Sultanate Period
12.3 Process of Urbanisation
12.3.1 Iqtas
12.3.2 Monetization
12.3.3 Capital Towns and Provincial Headquarters
12.3.4 Khanqah
12.3.5 Sarai, Thana (Military Outposts) and Forts
12.3.6 Bazaars, Mandis
12.3.7 Karkhanas
12.3.8 Mosques and Madrasas
12.4 Urban Manufactures During the Sultanate Period
12.5 Slaves and Karkhanas
12.6 Summary
12.7 Keywords
12.8 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
12.9 Suggested Readings
12.10 Insctructional Video Recommendations

12.0 OBJECTIVES
The study of urban history of medieval India is an important and equally fascinating
subject. In this Unit, you will study the development of urban economy and urban
centres during the medieval period. After reading this Unit, you should be able to:
• learn that in the Delhi Sultanate two interrelated developments occurred:
a) a considerable increase in the size and possibly in the number of towns,
and
b) a marked rise in craft production
• understand the process of urban growth during the Sultanate Period, and
• comprehend the growth of slavery and slave production.

* Prof. Shireen Moosvi, Centre of Advanced Study in History, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh;
and Prof. Abha Singh, School of Social Sciences, Indira Gandhi National Open University,
New Delhi. The present Unit is taken from our earlier Courses EHI-03: India: From 8th Century
222 to 15th Century, Block 6, Unit 21; and MHI-10, Urbanisation in India, Block 4b, Unit 17.
 Urban Economy and
12.1 INTRODUCTION Monetization

The available evidence suggest that the urban economy on the eve of the Ghorid
conquest was on a low ebb. The towns were fewer in number and smaller in size in
the centuries preceding the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate. D.D. Kosambi
shows that even the capital was a camp city on the move. The higher ruling class
wandered from place to place along with the army while the lower ruling class
was almost completely ruralized. This view of urban decline has been supported
by R.S. Sharma who has convincingly reasserted his theory of urban decay with
the help of enormous archaeological data painstakingly collected.
This theory of decay of towns is further corroborated by the evidence of sluggish
trade. The near complete disappearance of gold and silver currencies and the almost
total absence of foreign coins in the Indian coin-hoards of the period are indicators
that the foreign trade was at a very low scale. Moreover, the fact that not even the
coins of various regional dynasties are found in the coin-hoards of other regions
suggests that inland commerce was not widespread. All this scenario changed
almost immediately with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate. The archaeo-
logical and numismatic evidence corroborate the literary evidence of growth of
towns and increase in commerce. This led Mohammad Habib to postulate a theory
of ‘Urban Revolution’.

12.2 GROWTH OF TOWNS DURING THE

SULTANATE PERIOD
Before discussing the evidence of increase in number and size of towns, we must
first understand what we mean by town. There are two simple definitions of a
town: (a) the usual modern definition of a settlement of 5000 or above, and (b) a
settlement where an overwhelming majority of population (say above 70%) is
engaged in occupations other than agriculture. The two definitions are not mutually
exclusive but the later covers towns of smaller size also.
While the archaeological evidence available for earlier period is not forthcoming
from the 13th-14th centuries owing to the much less attention paid to medieval
archaeology, the literary evidences testify growth of urban centres. Some major
towns mentioned in the contemporary sources are Delhi (the capital), Multan,
Anhilwara (Patan), Cambay, Kara, Lakhnauti and Daulatabad (Deogiri). Lahore
was a big town but decayed after the Mongol invasion in the 13th century. However,
in the 14th century it flourished again. While not even a guesstimate of the population
of any town is available in our sources there are reliable indications to assume that
at least some of these were cities big enough by contemporary standards. Ibn Battuta,
who visited Delhi in 1330, describes it as of enormous extent and population, the
largest city in the Islamic East in spite of the fact that Muhammad Tughlaq had
shifted much of its population to Daulatabad. He describes the latter too, as large
enough to rival Delhi in size. Some new towns were established during the period,
such as Jhain (Chhain) in Eastern Rajasthan that was named ‘Shahr Nau’ during
Alauddin Khalji’s reign (1296-1316).
Factors for Urban Expansion
The strength of the invader, of course, lay in combination and not in dispersal in
an unfamiliar land and, thus, in initial stages, it was but natural for the members of 223
Society and Economy the ruling class to prefer to stay at their iqta headquarters along with their cavalry.
These iqta headquarters having the concentration of cavalry, its hangers-on and
the retinue and household of the muqti thus emerged in the early phase as camp
cities. Most of the 13th century towns are infact defined as iqta headquarters in our
sources; for example, Hansi, Kara, Anhilwara, etc. These towns were to be fed
and provided for. In the beginning, the troops had to go for realising kharaj/mal by
plundering the surrounding villages; but gradually by the 14th century, as pointed
out by Moreland, cash nexus developed. The revenue was realised in cash from
the peasants who were thus forced to sell their produce at the side of the field. The
merchants catered to the needs of towns giving rise to what we will discuss below
as ‘induced trade’.
The ruling class coming from a different cultural milieu had needs of leisure and
comforts of a different type; they wanted songs in Persian and dances of a different
style, books, silk to wear and arcuate light architecture (not the stone edifices).
Out of the resources that were indeed enormous by contemporary standards at its
command, the new rulers naturally wanted to get luxuries and comforts of their
taste which encouraged immigration from Islamic culture area. These immigrants
were not only soldiers, but craftsman, artisans, singers, musicians, dancers, poets,
physicians, astrologers and servicemen as described by Isami. The immigrant
master-craftsman most probably introduced new techniques and articles of
technology (for a detailed discussion on technology see Unit-11). In due course,
Indian artisans must have learnt the new crafts.
Check Your Progress-1
1) Enumerate the factors responsible for rise of towns during the 13th-14th
centuries.
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
2) Mark the following statements true () or false (×).
a) The pre-1200 coin-hoards do not usually contain foreign coins. ( )
b) Lahore remained a big town during the Delhi Sultanate. ( )
c) Ibn Battuta provides population estimates for Delhi. ( )

12.3 PROCESS OF URBANISATION

Delhi Sultanate saw the emergence of certain new institutions – khanqah (jammat
khanas), sarai, thana, madarsas (educational institutions), royal courts, dar-ul
shifa (hospitals) and bazaars – that facilitated and accelerated the process of
urbanisation and growth of urban centres. However, these factors were not exclusive.
Often many factors together facilitated the emergence/prosperity of a particular
town.

12.3.1 Iqtas
Various provinces (vilayats and khittas/iqtas) in due course emerged as prominent
urban centres under certain agile nobles/governors. Iqtas were territorial assign-
224 ments largely given to the nobles in their area of jurisdiction. Since these iqtas
were held by the nobles as long as they held their respective assignments and it Urban Economy and
was expected from the iqta holders to work for the expansion of agriculture and Monetization
facilitate trade. In the long run, these iqtas developed into prominent cities and
towns. Andre Wink argues that, ‘The Delhi Sultanate in effect, was the sum of its
iqtas – defined not as local territorial units, but as garrisoned urban centres
(khitta)…’ (Wink, 1999: 212). Andre Wink’s analysis is contested by historians,
nonetheless, what is important here is the role iqtas played in the expansion of
urban centres during the Sultanate period. When Malik Bahauddin Tughril was
granted khitta of Bayana in 1196 by Muhammad Ghori, he expanded the area and
built a new city, Sultankot (modern Bayana) and made it his headquarter, instead
of the old fortified Tahangarh. He invited merchants, scholars and got houses
constructed for them. Bahauddin built Jami Masjid at Sultankot (1204) and an
Idgah in Bayana which resemble very much the Qutb mosque of Delhi. Likewise,
Kara and Manikpur, on account of being important administrative seats soon
emerged as a hub of trading activities where merchants and men of repute (tujjar-
o ma‘arif) from Khorasan and all parts of Hindustan flock together, records Minhaj.
Ibn Battuta records these cities being chief centres of supply of wheat, rice, sugar
and cloth to Delhi. Kol (modern Aligarh) emerged as an important wilayat and
from Iltutmish’s reign onwards, ever since Nizam-ul mulk Junaidi received it in
his iqta it, was often assigned to Prime Ministers (wazirs) of the realm. Baran
(Bulandshahr), also emerged as an important town. Aibak granted it to Iltutmish.
The famous historian Ziauddin Barani also belonged to this place. Badaun was
another important area that received importance. Hasan Nizami (1998: 245)
mentions Badaun as ‘one of the principal cities of Hindustan’. Throughout the
Sultanate period, it remained one of the important iqta and chief administrative
centre with a fort and a vibrant slave market. On account of its strategic location
flanking the disturbed Kateharia region, till the Khaljis it remained an important
garrison town (see Section on thanas). The city is full of early Sultanate monuments.
Iltutmish himself built an Idgah during his governorship here. A number of
monuments of Iltutmish’s reign built under the aegis of Ruknuddin (Jama Masjid;
1223) and Nasiruddin Mahmud (Sultani Dargah; 1229) still survives. Multan, Kalpi,
Jaunpur, Gaur/Pandua, Mandu, Ahmadabad and Bidar also assumed importance
once they acquired the status of provincial capital towns.

12.3.2 Monetisation
Indian trade with the outside world got further accelerated in the Sultanate period
resulting in large flows of precious metals. Cambay and Multan emerged as chief
centres of trading activities so were the Multani, Sahas and Gujarati merchants.
The cities were also brimming with merchants from Persia and Central Asia.
Ziauddin Barani (2015: 73) comments on the richness of the Multanis and Sahas
that, ‘Maliks, khans and dignitaries of those ages were always under burden of
debt due to extreme generosity, bounty and giving of alms…The Multanis and
Sahas of Delhi became extremely wealthy because of the wealth of the amirs and
maliks of the realm of Delhi. They took maximum possible loans from the Multanis
and Sahas and made payments to the creditors along with rewards from their iqtas.
Whenever a khan or a malik organised a party and invited dignitaries as guests, his
officials ran to the houses of the Multanis and Sahas, gave them receipts in their
own names and took loans with interest…’ All this accelerated monnetisation that
inturn was fundamental in speeding up urbanisation in the Sultanate period. This
process is evident first in the region of Makran, a region first to be conquered by 225
Society and Economy the Arabs. It soon attracted Arab traders and Makran’s pastoral economy soon
transformed into a highly monetised economy with region being swarmed by the
growth of urban centres. Two factors also added up to the monetisation process:
a) since the ruling class was largely town based substantial amount of surplus
drained to the cities; b) State’s insistence of payment of land revenue in cash again
made available considerable liquid cash in the hands of the ruling class (Alauddin
is reported to have extracted one half of the produce as land tax) which also
accelerated the process of urbanisation in the thirteenth-fourteenth centuries.

12.3.3 Capital Towns and Provincial Headquarters

Some cities achieved greater vibrancy in becoming capital. Lahore flourished under
the patronage of the rulers of Ghazna and Ghor. Muhammad bin Sam made Lahore
his winter capital, later the capital of Sultanate Delhi. Hasan Nizami is full of
praise for its beautiful mansions and palaces. When Sultan Nasiruddin Qubacha
made Uchh his capital (Hazrat-i Uchh) in 1210 it attracted merchants, craftsmen,
nobles and the learned from all directions. Ibn Battuta, visiting in the 14th century,
records it as a large city with ‘fine bazaars and buildings’ (Gibb, 1929: 188).
Similarly, when Qutbuddin Aibak made Lahore his capital it assumed cosmopolitan
character. Hasan Nizami (1998: 279) records that ‘it was the qibla of virtuous
men, K’aba of nobility and liberal minded gentry, the centre of men of piety and
abstinence…it was the refuge of ascetics and devotees…abode of great sufi saints’.

12.3.4 Khanqah
Today we relate khanqah with a sufi hospice. However, in the early stages of the
establishment of the Sultanate it was more associated with a lodge – a resting
place. Till the eleventh century in the Arabic and Persian world ribat was in common
usage. Later, it was substituted by khanqah in Khurasan and Central Asia. In the
Arab countries still, ribat is used for ‘the lodge erected for providing comfort to
the travellers’ (Siddiqui, 2012: 29). While distinguishing between the two, Shaikh
Jalaluddin Bukhari (1199-1291), a famous Suhrawardi saint, refers that ‘ribats
were generally built by traders and other philanthropists out of their lawful
money…Unlike them, the khanqahas in India were built and maintained by the
state with money collected in the form of taxes not permitted by the sharia (canon
law)’ (Siddiqui, 2012: 29). Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani also records that ‘khanqahs were
built with the money of philanthropists outside India, for providing lodging to
travellers’ (Siddiqui, 2012: 28). Sadiduddin Muhammad Awfi (1171-1242) tells
us that a Ghazanavide noble posted at Lahore constructed a khanqah for travellers
(Siddiqui, 2012: 28). Gardezi describes that the ribat of Margala (near Islamabad)
was so huge that when Sultan Masud’s army being mutinied at Margala (1041)
Sultan took refuge inside the ribat of Margala along with his bodyguards and war
elephants (Siddiqui, 2012: 5-6). Thus, initially, khanqahs/ribats were not ‘sufi
hospice but an institution of public utility’. These khanqahs were managed by
shaikh-ul Islam and villages were endowed by the state for its maintenance.
From the very onset of the Delhi Sultanate Multan remained the chief centre of
Suhrawardi sufis. Their patron saint Shaikh Bahauddin Zakaria (1182-1262)
established his khanqah in the city and amassed the support of the Delhi Sultans.
Iltutmish entrusted upon him position of shaikh-ul Islam. In 1247 when Mongol
Khan Suli Nuyin besieged Multan it was the Shaikh who negotiated peace with
226 the Mongol army. Hansi emerged as the chief centre of Chishti sufi Shaikh
Qutbuddin Munawwar. Afif informs when Firuz founded Hissar Firuza he requested Urban Economy and
his successor Shaikh Nuruddin to grace the city and promised to build a khanqah Monetization
and meet its expenses which the Shaikh politely declined. Hansi emerged as a
chief Chishti sufi centre. Apart from being an important trading town, Ibn Battuta
informs that it was ‘an exceedingly fine, well built and populous city, surrounded
by a wall’ (Gibb, 1929: 193). Ibn Battuta also mentions about khanqahs of Amroha
and Dhar constructed by Muhammad bin Tughluq. In the region of Sind and Punjab,
records Ibn Battuta, Muhammad Tughluq entrusted the charge of around forty
khanqahs to shaikh-ul Islam in the region (Siddiqui, 2012: 30). Nagaur, on account
of the populairity of Chishti sufi Hamiduddin Nagauri emerged from a small town
to an important centre of learning and commerce. Similarly, Ajodhan emerged as
an important qasba as a result of Shaikh-ul Islam Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar’s abode.
Afif (Jauhari, 2001: 187) informs that in Delhi alone, ‘for the benefit and comfort
of travellers the Sultan constructed one hundred and twenty hospices in Delhi
itself.’ Sufi Jamaat Khanas (hospices) also emerged as centres of learning, attracting
scholars for discourses on religion and metaphysical philosophy. It also facilitated
the development of syncretic tradition. Sufis, particularly the Chishtis, were greatly
influenced by the yoga and yogic exercises of breath control (pas-i anfas). Amrit
Kund, Sanskrit work, dealing with yogic exercises and philosophy got translated
into Persian entitled Hauz-al Hayat. Famous sufi saints Shaikh Abdul Haque
Radauli and Shaikh Abdul Quddus Gangohi used to teach Hauz-al Hayat and
train disciples in the exercise of breath control. Writing during Shahjahan’s reign
Mulla Shaida in his Sair-i Kashmir calls Gorakhpanthi yogis as chief guides to
Muslim sufis in practicing yogic exercises. Clearly, in the early phase of the
establishment of the Delhi Sultanate activities of the sufi saints and ulama facilitated
the emergence of urban centre in an area and its surroundings where they establish
their khanqahs.

12.3.5 Sarais, Thanas (Military Outposts) and Forts

The term sarai in the sense of a resting place for merchants and wayfarers emerged
during the sixteenth century. But in the Islamic world, the term sarai was used in
the sense of ‘citadel/palace’. Ottoman Sultans used to hold their courts in Sarai
Humayun; similarly, palace built by Timur at Kish was termed as Ak Sarai (white
palace) (Bosworth, 1997: 46). Under the Delhi Sultans also it had a similar
connotation and was largely used in the sense of a ‘royal palace or the building
owned by wealthy person’ (Siddiqui, 2012: 30). Shaikh Nizamuddin Aulia
addressed Sultan Illtutmish’s palace Sarai Sultani. Ziauddin Barani also called
Alauddin Khalji’s palace as Sarai (Siddiqui, 2012: 30-31). I.H. Siddiqui argues
that the first reference to a caravan sarai comes from Sikandar Lodi’s reign when
he is said to have constructed one for the travellers outside Mathura (Siddiqui,
2012: 31). However, Shams Siraj Afif does mention the building of ‘Sarais (resting
places) and Khanqahs (hospices) for the stay and rest of the pilgrims’. These sarais,
so built in the remote and amidst insecure forest areas, were often accompanied by
thanas with military officers (shiqdars) posted. No sooner such settlements fast
developed into townships/qasbas (Siddiqui, 2012: 31). When Sultan Firuz
constructed hospices, records Afif, he desired ‘that pilgrims must come from all
directions (parts of the world) and stay in the Sarais’ (Afif, 2001: 187).
Thanas emerged as chief markers of new emerging towns. Barani’s account of
Sultan Ghiyasuddin Balban’s reign (1266-87) suggests that thanas were largely
227
Society and Economy established as police posts in the recalcitrant regions to maintain law and order.
Balban established Deopalgir thana in the vicinity of Delhi to keep the Mewati
recalcitrants at bay. He got the jungles in the neighbourhood cleared and established
Afghan posts there. A number of similar thanas were established with Afghan
garrisons by Balban. Afghanpur was another such thana near Amroha, the
headquarter of the Kateharia region. Other such thanas established with Afghan
garrisons by Balban were Jalali, Kampil, Patiali, Bhojpur, Shamsabad and Bogaon
in the Ganga-Yamuna Doab (Siddiqui, 2012: 31). Barani records, ‘he [Balban]
also built the fort of Jalali and assigned it to the Afghans. The havens of robbers
were turned into thanas. Jalali, known as a sanctuary of robbers…became a home
of Muslims and a safe road…’ (Barani, 2015: 37). Similarly, to handle the decoit-
prone region of the Chambal valley Sultan Sikandar Lodi (r.1489-1517) built a
thana near village Hatkant which later under Sher Shah’s reign emerged as a
prominent urban centre. Sher Shah himself got established a huge Afghan settlement
of twelve thousand Tarin Afghans from Sirhind and got them settled down at
Hatkant. All these thanas soon emerged as prominent urban centres. Thana of
Kampil emerged so prominent a centre that Alauddin Khalji (r.1296-1316)
constructed a strong fort there which Ibn Battuta rated among the most impregnable
fort in the Doab region. Largely these thanas were established after clearing the
jungles, accompanied with the constructions of mosques, madarsas, and at times
followed by sufi establishments. The important example of this is Jalali. Some of
these thanas were established at distant places particularly on the highways
(Siddiqui, 2012: 32). Balban almost combed the Mewat and the Doab (Katehr)
regions by establishing forts and thanas and inhabiting the Afghans thus freeing
the region from highway robbers (Barani, 2015: 37). When Kalpi emerged an
important centre in the 15th century, muqtis established a number of thanas by
clearing jungles which were to develop into flourishing towns in the 16th century.
Badaun, though was not exactly a thana, throughout the Khalji period it remained
the military outpost; later on Muhammad bin Tughluq discontinued it as army
base.
Thanas were often accompanied by forts. However, nobles and Sultans also built
a number of forts independent of the thanas and laid foundations of new cities.
Firuz Tughluq is especially known for such building enterprises. He not only laid
the foundation of Hissar Firuza but also built a number of fort towns – Fatehabad,
Firozabad Harnikhera, Tughluqpur Kasna, Tughluqpur Muluk Makut and Jaunpur.

12.3.6 Mosques and Madrasas

Madrsas also emerged as part of the crucial structure of every newly established
town and thana. Balban contributed extensively to the growth of madrasas in the
towns and thanas. Thanas established along highways and around Delhi in the
Katehr (Ruhelkhand) region constructed madrasas in each thana for the education
of the children of the army personnel. I.H. Siddiqui comments that as a result
children of ‘rustic and uncouth Afghans’ benefited so much from the ‘process of
acculturation’ that ‘the next generation of Afghans began to attain high positions
under the Khaljis and Tughlaq Sultans’ (Siddiqui, 2012: 140). Gates of madrasas
were opened to all classes, even Hindu children got educated in Persian and popular
sciences. Thus madrasas were instrumental in ‘enhancing upward social mobility’.
Suhrawardi sufi saint Shaikh Jalaluddin Bukhari’s disciple Ratan, the barber, was
skilled in calculation and profession of the scribe, rose to a prominent position in
228
the nobility during Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s reign (1325-51). Similarly, Badaun Urban Economy and
emerged into prominence and fame on account of Maulana Alauddin Usuli’s Monetization
teachings. The famous sufi saint and a great scholar of the time Shaikh Nizamuddin
Auliya was his disciple. Their scholarships brought fame to the small town of
Badaun. In the newly established thanas in the Doab and Mewat region
accompanied by establishments of madrasas and mosques facilitated the expansion
and development of these military outposts into full-fledged townships. Kalpi and
surrounding areas mainly developed as a result of this process.
Ibn Battuta informs us that the number of madrasas in Delhi alone numbered
1000. As early as Muhammad Ghori’s reign, Qutbuddin Aibak, his Amir established
madrasa-i Muizi in Delhi after his patron Sultan. When he became Sultan in 1210
he established another madrasa-i Firuzi in his capital Firuzkuh. Iltutmish
established madrasa-i Nasiria in Delhi and granted financial aids to them. Firuz
Tughlaq (r.1351-88) established two huge madrasas – madrasa-i Shahzada-i
Buzurg near Siri and madrasa-i Firuz Shahi with a separate hostel for students
near Hauz Khass. So emerged the prestige of Delhi that Amir Khusrau compared
Delhi in learning with Bukhara.
In other regions also Qutbuddin Aibak took a keen interest in establishing madrasas,
particularly in the towns under his control in 1192 (Kuhram, Sunam) as Muizi
Amir. Another Muizi noble Bakhtiyar Khalji, who was entrusted the charge of
eastern campaigns, built khanqahs and madrasas in his newly founded headquarter
at Lakhnauti in Bengal and at Maner and Bihar Sharif in Bihar. In Multan, madrasas
maintained by Shaikh Bahauddin Zakaria and Qazi Qutbuddin Kashani were
liberally supported by Iltutmish. In Sehwan also, informs Ibn Battuta that there
existed a large madrasa. Towns of Hansi and Sunam also emerged as important
centres of learning. Maulana Ziauddin Sunami, who was a distinguished scholar
of fiqh and tafsir, held the post of muhtasib (public censor) in Alauddin Khalji’s
reign. During Firuz Shah Tughluq’s reign, Sonargaon in Bengal developed into an
important centre of Islamic learning, emerged in due course second capital next to
Lakhnauti, where Sultan invited eminent ulama from different parts into the region.
Maulana Sharafuddin Abu Tawama, a great scholar of hadis, fiqh, and ilm-i kalam
(scholastic theology) was invited from Delhi. Many Balkhi scholars also got settled
down in Sonargaon. Similarly, Bahmani wazir Mahmud Gawan built a madrasa
in Bidar which enjoyed great fame in India and Iran where distinguished teachers
were invited to teach. Mahmud Gawan himself donated 3000 books to the library
of the madrasa. Sultans of Malwa, Hoshang Shah (d. 1434) also constructed a
grand madrasa in his capital Mandu.
These madrasas did not simply remain centres of religious discourse, rather it
created a great liberal atmosphere, particularly from Alauddin Khalji’s reign (1296-
1316) onwards when Sultan patronised rationalist thinkers. Sad Mantaqi, a
rationalist thinker was his counsellor. Further, madrasas not only became centres
of diffusion of knowledge but also provided vibrancy of the intellectual culture
and facilitated social mobility in the towns across Sultanate. I.H. Siddiqui believes
that the impact of these newly established madrasas was immense. He emphasises
that, ‘education through the madrasas was responsible for a certain amount of
social tension in Delhi and other cities’ (Siddiqui, 2012: 104). He finds support to
Haji Maula’s rebellion in 1301 of kotwal’s establishment (kotwaliyan), lashkar
(soldiery) and the khalq (commoners) as suggestive of the emergence of a new
educated class who ‘wanted a different kind of state’ (Siddiqui, 2012: 105). 229
Society and Economy 12.3.7 Bazaars, Mandis
On the one hand khanqahs, sarais and thanas in due course emerged important
urban centres, thus played a key role in the process of urbanization during the
Sultanate period. Gradually, places therein attracted the nearby peasants and artisans
to market their goods. The urban lifestyle of the new settlers was also a chief
factor motivating the common masses (at least the nearby ruling elites who could
afford it) to emulate the lifestyle of the urban elites particularly wearing fine clothes,
keeping and riding on the fine girdled horses and so on, comments Barani so
scornfully on the lifestyles of the rural elites, khots, muqaddams and chaudharis
(Siddiqui, 2012: 32).
In the Islamic city, bazaars formed the central place. When Ghiyasuddin Tughluq
(r.1320-1325) built his new capital Tughlaqabad (1320-1), khass bazaar formed
central in the scheme. Its design and architectural layout were based on Khurasani
style:
The Khass Bazar itself seems to have been the main market street of the town with
shops on either side…The shops probably ran alongside the entire length of the
street…The street is about 20m. wide, and each side of the street runs a platform about
0.65 m. high, over which the shops were constructed in a row of equal sized units…The
form of the shops and their platforms is traditional for both Middle Eastern and Indian
bazaars, many of which still function. The platform acts as an extension of the shop,
and when the shops open in the morning a sample of goods is displayed on the platform
in front…Although at Khass Bazar only the lower parts of the shops have survived
they provide the earliest examples of their kind in India. It seems that, together with
the other architectural and urban design features, the form of the shops set on platforms
was imported by the sultans from the region of Khurasan (now comprising Afghanistan,
the present Khurasan province of Iran and the Central Asian state of Turkistan). In
many cities in India…shops with similar layouts have survived…Early examples of
such shops can be found in the fort of Gulbarga, dating from the early Bahmani period
[1347-1538].

Bazaar has Persian (wazar) and Armenian (vaèar) roots. However, there are other
related words khan, badistan, qaysariya and sarai used as well but they have
diverse regional connotations. In large cities, separate bazaars for specialised trading
were constructed. Minhaj mentions an exclusive market bazaar-i bazaazan (cloth
market) in Delhi. Barani describes in great detail bazaar-i buzurg Lakhnauti which
was almost 2 miles in length, which, later on, after its occupation by the Turks,
when new areas were added, now possessed a 24 miles long bazaar in the capital
Gaur (old Lakhnauti). He also provides graphic details of the cattle market of
Lakhnauti where daily 1500 tanghan horses were sold, records Minhaj. They were
brought through mountain passes, used to be traded in huge numbers there. During
the Sultanate period Uchh, Multan and Lahore emerged as big marts. Janani, situated
north of Sehwan, on the banks of river Indus, possessed vibrant bazaars (Siddiqui,
2012: 40-42).
Bazaar-i Chaharsu became a common feature in almost all the newly built towns
during the Sultanate period. Architecturally, Bazaar-i Chaharsu had ‘shopping
streets around a square in four directions’ (Siddiqui, 2012: 49). Amir Khusrau is
full of praise of Bazaar-i Chaharsu of Delhi that it was so ‘overcrowded that
people rub their shoulders (with one another) as rubs the dangling end of a turban…’
(Siddiqui, 2012: 49). Sikandar Lodi also built Bazaar-i Chaharsu in his new capital
Agra (1506). Jaunpur even to this day shares the name of one square as ‘chaharsu
chauraha’.
230
12.3.8 Karkhanas Urban Economy and
Monetization
A new element, karkhana got added to the cityscape of the Sultanate. Sultans and
nobles established karkhanas in the capitals and nobles in the provinces which
inturn largely catered to the needs of the ‘elites’. At the same time, it not only
became chief centres of employment for a large number of artisans but also grew
into centres of training where old artisans and slaves were being trained in new
techniques and crafts which the Turks brought with them. Afif informs that Firuz
had thirty-six karkhanas where he trained and employed his slaves: ‘Some were
placed under tradesmen and were taught mechanical arts, so that about 12,000
slaves became artisans (kasibs) of various kinds’ (Afif, Elliot, III: 341) [for a detail
discussion see Section 12.6].
Check Your Progress-2
1) State the process of urbanization during the 13th-14th centuries.
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................
2) In what ways khanqahs facilitated the growth of towns?
.........................................................................................................................
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.........................................................................................................................
3) In what ways monetisation led to the emergence of new urban centres?
.........................................................................................................................
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12.4 URBAN MANUFACTURES DURING THE

SULTANATE PERIOD
It seems that the urban craft production received a twofold impetus with the
establishment of the Delhi Sultanate. First, the Sultanate ruling class remained
town-centered and spent the enormous resources it appropriated in the form of
land revenue mainly in towns, either on buying services or procuring manufacturers.
Even the money spent on the service sector partly went to help the urban craft
sector through multiplier effect. While the nobility created demand for high-priced
skill-intensive luxury items, its hangers-on in all likelihood created a mass market
for ordinary artisanal product.
The second factor that contributed to urban manufacturers was the introduction of
a number of technological devices that reached India with the invaders (You have
learnt about them in detail in Unit 11). In the luxury sector, silk weaving expanded
and carpet-weaving came from Persia. The other notable urban manufacture was
papermaking. Perhaps a major sector of urban employment was building industry.
Barani says that Alauddin Khalji employed 70,000 craftsmen for his buildings.
231
Society and Economy One may well be justified in saying that there was considerably more masonary
per acre of occupied space in the towns of 1400 than in those of 1200.
Organization of Production
It is indeed important to know how production was organized. Whether the town
artisans carried out production under the ‘domestic system’, that is, they owned their
tools, raw material and the end product and also sold their product themselves; in
other words, whether they were self-employed or while tools were of their own and
they worked at their homes, raw material was provided to them by the merchants,
that is whether they worked under the ‘putting-out system’. The contemporary sources
shed little light on these aspects. One can, however, legitimately assume that since
the tools of production even after the introduction of new devices were still simple
and mainly of wood and little of iron should have remained cheap. The artisan was
thus master of his own tools, though varied forms of labour organization seem to be
prevalent. Certain artisans hawked or hired out their services such as cotton-carder
who with a bow-string on his shoulder, went door to door selling his services as is
evident from the account given in Khair-ul Majalis. Spinning was done usually by
women staying at their homes. The weavers too usually worked at their own looms
at home weaving cloth for sale, out of the yarn bought or spun by themselves. They
also worked on wages to weave yarn supplied to them by customers. But if the raw
material was expensive such as silk or gold of silver thread, etc. and the products
were luxury items, the craftsmen were to work in karkhanas under supervision. We
have definite information about the Sultans and high nobles maintaining these
karkhanas where the production was to cater to their own needs and contrary to
D.D. Kosambi’s assumption was not for market. Shahabuddin al-Umari records in
his Masalik-ul Absar that in Muhammad Tughlaq’s karkhanas at Delhi, four thousand
silk workers worked as embroiderers. According to Afif, Firuz Tughlaq’s karkhanas
produced cloth and carpets in a big way. While there is no suggestion in our sources,
we may only conjecture that perhaps merchants also maintained karkhanas where
production was for sale.
Check Your Progress-3
1) Discuss the factors that contributed to the expansion of urban manufactures
during the 13th-14th centuries.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
2) Briefly discuss the various forms of labour organization in urban centres.
.........................................................................................................................
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.........................................................................................................................

12.5 SLAVES AND KARKHANAS

Slaves
Slaves were an important feature of the urban centres vis-à-vis the royal household.
232
The slaves of the royal household were largely war captives or captured rebels
from the mawas territories (rebellious villages who refuse to pay revenue); besides Urban Economy and
poverty, famine, abduction were other contributory factors to the supply of slaves. Monetization
In his Gujarat campaign in 1197 alone Qutbuddin Aibak captured 20,000 slaves;
while in 1202-1203 his Kalinjar campaign fetched 50,000 slaves. Even Balban’s
Ranthambhor raids (1253-1254) and Malik Kafur’s Deccan campaigns focussed
on amassing slaves in huge quantities. Balban, during his Doab campaigns (1267-
1268) seized so many war captives that prices of slaves fell sharply at the Delhi
slave market (bazar-i barda), records Barani. Alauddin Khalji owned 50,000 slaves,
while Firuz Tughlaq is reputed to have had 1,80,000 slaves. During his reign, a
separate department of slaves (diwan-i bandagan) was set up. Afif informs that
Firuz ordered, ‘all holders of iqtas (territorial assignments) and all officers that
when they ransack any place they should gather slaves and send whomsoever of
these are suitable for the royal establishment of Our court’ (Habib 2011: 105).
Even during his campaign against the Mewatis Balban offered incentives of two
tankas for each rebel captured, records Minhaj.
The slaves were used for personal service and acted as bodyguards (the latter
numbering 40,000). Afif also records that a large number of Firuz’s slaves (12,000)
worked as artisans (kasibs) trained in different arts and crafts.
Barani describes a large slave market at Delhi. Qandahar, situated at the crossroads,
also emerged as a large market for the slave trade. Profit in the slave trade was as
high as 300-400 per cent. Alauddin Khalji fixed the prices of slaves of both sexes.
Barani has recorded the prices fixed by Alauddin Khalji for the various categories
of slaves:
Slave girl, for work 5 to 12 tankas
Slave girl, for concubinage 20 to 30 or 40 tankas
Slave boys, handsome 20 to 30 tankas
Men slaves, experienced 10 to 15 tankas
Untrained boy slaves for work 7 to 8 tankas (Habib 2011: 106)

Ironically, even the value of an experienced slave man was far below the value of
the worst quality horse (his price ranged during Alauddin Khalji’s reign 10-25
tankas). In Bengal, a slave girl for concubinage was priced at one gold tanaka as
against three silver tankas for a milch buffalo, records Ibn Battuta.
There was a huge availability of slaves in Indian markets. There was also a great
demand of them in the Islamic countries. But Firuz Tughlaq put ban on export of
slaves. There were also immigrant slaves acquired from abroad. The wazir of Firuz,
Khan Jahan Maqbul is reported to have acquired 2000 slave girls from Byzantine
and China. The slave trade was so lucrative that even Minhaj Siraj sent forty slaves
for his sister in Khurasan to assiat. Nizamuddin Auliya also refers to the sufis of
Bihar buying slaves from Delhi to be sold at Ghazni for profit. However, by the
first quarter of the 16th century, there is no mention of slave markets, though slave
trade did survive well into the sixteenth century. It appears that by sixteenth century
at least slaves employed in the production process seem to have disappeared. Babur
speaks of the presence of an extensive free labour market in India but no slaves.
Unlike the Islamic world, generally, the slave markets in India catered to ordinary
slaves, high-priced slaves (1000/2000 tankas) were rare, suggests their high demand
for household work. Prices were so cheap and the supply so abundant that even
poor sufis and darveshes could afford them. Thus, possession of slaves by private 233
Society and Economy individuals also must be considerable. Even the poor of the poorest scholars were
served by slaves. During the Sultanate period slaves thus were a mere commodity
and ‘slave markets were an important feature of commercial life’ (Habib 2011:
106). Even slaves, energies and skills were used for earning money for their masters.
Nur Turk subsisted on his slave’s earnings as a cotton-carder during the reign of
Raziya. These slaves were often utilized by their masters to serve as proxy soldiers
in place of them, a practice visible in Balban’s period and its regularization is
quite evident during Firuz Tughlaq’s period.
The slaves of the royal household under Muhammad bin Tughlaq received ten
tankas a month, besides the ration and the articles of clothing; during Firuz Shah’s
reign it ranged from 25 to 125 tankas in cash, informs Afif. Slaves were treated
and nurtured well, thus the Sultans enjoyed their unconditional loyalty.
Slaves could buy their freedom through ‘acts of manumission by their masters’.
When Imadul Mulk, slave noble of Firuz, became old he freed 4000 of his slaves
and sought his own freedom from the Sultan, records Afif. Ibn Battuta informs
that Muhammad Tughlaq had fixed certain days for freeing male (Wednesday)
and female slaves (Fridays) and Saturday was fixed for the marriage of male slaves
to female slaves.
Karkhanas
The needs of the royal household were met through karkhanas which were broadly
of two types: (a) manufactories, and (b) storehouses. Even the royal library
(kitabikhana) was considered a karkhana. Under Firuz Tughlaq, there were 36
karkhanas. The karkhanas were of two types: ratibi and ghair-ratibi. Karkhanas
of perishable goods like food, fodder, stables (paigah), kitchen, shamakhana fell
under the category of ratibi Karkhanas. It had a fixed head. It is recorded by Afif
that under Firuz one lakh as sixty thousand tanakas were allotted under this head.
Among the ratibi karkhanas paigah (stable) was of utmost importance. It had
several divisions at scattered places – Saharwan Sultanpur, Kibla, Paigah Mahal
Khas (royal stable), shakar khan-i khas, and those of the slaves. Nafar khana was
a camel stable and its biggest establishment was at Dobaldhan in sarkar Delhi.
While ghair-ratibi karkhanas were those which did not have any regular fixed
grant. In this category fell karkhanas of wardrobes (jamdar khana), royal standards
(alam khana), furniture, tents, and carpets (farrash khana), arms and arsenal (silah
khana) and armoury and war material (zarad khaa), etc. The annual expenditure
recorded by Afif for certain karkhanas under Firuz speaks volumes about the
importance and activities of these karkhanas under Firuz – Jamadar khana: 600000
tankas; Alam khana: 80000 tankas; Farrash khana: 200000 tankas; on the
provisions of food alone were spent 160000 tankas. Afif equates the turnover of a
karkhana to that of the city of Multan.
Each karkhana was supervised by a noble who had the rank of a malik or a khan,
and a mutasarrif who was responsible for the accounts and acted as the immediate
supervisor. A separate diwan or accounts office existed for the karkhanas. There
were also appointed a number of muharrirs (clerks) in each karkhana. Under Firuz
Khwaja Abul Hasan served as the overall incharge of all the karkhanas. At diwan-
i majmua all the accounts of a karkhana were maintained.
It must be remembered, however, that articles produced in the royal karkhanas
234
were not commodities, i.e. not for sale in the market. The karkhanas manufactured
articles largely for Imperial household as well as for military purposes. However, Urban Economy and
Afif’s account suggests that a small quantity was also brought to the open market Monetization
and there was a great demand among the traders for that. It is said that Muhammad
Tughlaq had employed about five hundred workers in gold brocade and four
thousand silk weavers to manufacture cloth required by the court and for making
robes of honour to be given in gift to the favoured ones. Firuz Tughlaq’s karkhanas
produced carpets and cloth in huge quantities, records Afif. Nobles, too, maintained
their own karkhanas.
Check Your Progress-4
1) Indicate the correct statement by marking () and wrong (×).
a) Slaves were maintained only by the Sultan and his nobles. ( )
b) Firuz Tughlaq had a large number of slave artisans. ( )
c) Alauddin Khalji prohibited export of slaves from India. ( )
2) What were the main sources of supply of slaves in the Delhi Sultanate?
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................

3) Comment on the working of the slave market under the Delhi Sultans.
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4) Analyse the prices of slaves prevalent during Alauddin Khalji’s reign.

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5) Examine the presence of various kinds of karkhanas under Firuz Tughlaq.

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12.6 SUMMARY
In this Unit, you have studied that with the coming of the Turks cash nexus and
trade and commerce increased. We see an increase in the number of coin-hoards
after 1200 and the emergence of a large number of new towns. You have also read
how manufacturing activities were organized at the urban level. The Unit ends
with the role of slaves and slavery in the production process and the organization
of the production in the royal karkhanas.

235
Society and Economy
12.7 KEYWORDS
Domestic Production Production in which tools as well as raw materials
were owned by the artisans.
Putting-out system Production in which the tools were owned by the
artisans but the cash was supplied by the merchants.

12.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES
Check Your Progress-1
1) See Section 12.2
2) (a)  (b) × (c) 
Check Your Progress-2
1) See Section 12.3
2) See Sub-section 12.3.2
3) See Sub-section 12.3.4
Check Your Progress-3
1) See Section 12.4
2) See Section 12.4
Check Your Progress-4
1) a) × b)  c) ×
2) See Section 12.5
3) See Section 12.5
4) See Section 12.5

12.9 SUGGESTED READINGS

Banga, Indu, (2005) The City in Indian History (New Delhi: Manohar).
Habib, Irfan, (2011) Economic History of Medieval India, 1200-1500, in the series
History of Science, Philosophy and Culture, ed. D.P. Chattopadhyaya (Delhi:
Longman/Pearson).
Raychaudhuri, Tapan and Irfan Habib, (1982) The Cambridge Economic History
of India, Vol. I (Delhi: Cambridge University Press).
Siddiqui, Iqtidar Husain, (2009) Delhi Sultanate: Urbanization and Social Change
(New Delhi: Viva Books).

12.10 INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO

RECOMMENDATIONS
Urban Economy and Technology during the Delhi Sultanate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDgmSS54u-c
236
 Inland and Oceanic Trade
Unit 13 INLAND AND OCEANIC TRADE*
Structure
13.0 Objectives
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Inland Trade under the Delhi Sultanate
13.2.1 Inland and Overland Caravan Routes
13.2.2 Merchants, Commodities of Trade and the Market
13.2.3 Trade and Commerce and the State
13.3 The Case of Gujarat
13.4 Oceanic Trade Network
13.5 Trade under the Delhi Sultans
13.6 Trading Centres of Importance
13.7 Credit, Banking and Trade
13.8 Traders and Merchants
13.9 Summary
13.10 Keywords
13.11 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
13.12 Suggested Readings
13.13 Instructional Video Recommendations

13.0 OBJECTIVES
In this Unit, you will study the nature of inland and oceanic trade under the Delhi
Sultanate. There were several interrelated developments that took place in this
trading nexus.
After going through this Unit, you should be able to:
• understand the pattern of inland and oceanic trade under the Delhi Sultanate,
• know about the major merchant groups involved in these trading activities,
• discuss the prevalent practices in the market and at the coasts,
• analyse the relationship of trade and commerce with the state,
• list the main commodities of import and export,
• examine various taxes imposed upon the trading classes, and
• list the important overland and coastal routes comprising this network of trade.

* Dr. Divya Sethi, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi;
and Dr. Sohinee Basak, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University,
New Delhi 237
Society and Economy
13.1 INTRODUCTION
For the empires in the ancient and medieval India land revenue was the major
source of income. This was true for the era of Delhi Sultanate as well (for details
see Unit 9 of this Course). Trade and commerce was the second major source,
next only to land revenue, from which the Sultanate derived a sizeable income.
The sources pertaining to the land revenue are ample, but those related to trade
and commerce are not extensive and have not seen much light. Unlike one of the
variants in Southeast Asia (Palat and Wallerstein, 1999: 26), wherein the interior
was largely left untouched by the monetization and sophistication of exchange
relations along the coasts, people in the interior in India felt the repercussions
between the economic and political linkages. The absorption of the surplus in the
hands of a few in the ruling class led to considerable changes in the existing patterns
of urbanization and market hierarchies (as you have read in Unit 12 of this Course).
There was a dense network of exchange relationships at the local level, with periodic
markets where the cultivators and craftsmen could be seen conducting their
transactions. The three major commodities of overland trade were: horses, elephants
and slaves. They catered to the royal class. There was an increased demand on the
part of this royal class for collecting the revenue in cash. This development
benefitted few sections of society such as the prosperous cultivators, craftsmen
and the trading communities. The principal trading communities of the period
were: the karwanis, baqqals, zargarans, multanis and sarrafs, among others. This
increased monetization further facilitated these exchange networks. Despite the
increasing agricultural and craft production, there was no comparative increase in
the mass consumption. In order to understand this development in the subcontinent,
an analysis of the Oceanic trading networks (especially intra-Asian) needs to be
undertaken.
The Indian overseas trade can be studied in two segments: coastal trade and high-
seas trade. The former was conducted with two maritime zones of the Indian Ocean.
These were the western coast and the eastern coast of India. The western coast of
India stretched from Sind to Malabar, was linked with the ports of the Persian
Gulf, Red Sea and East Africa. The eastern coast stretched from Bengal to
Coromandel but including the Malabar ports, was linked with the Southeast Asia
and China (Haider, 2011: 164). The three principal items of export from India in
the 14th and 15th centuries were spices, textiles and indigo. In addition to the vibrant
merchant communities of India engaged in these trading networks such as the
Bohras of Gujarat, foreign merchants were settled at different coasts of India such
as Arab merchants from Cairo who were settled in Gujarat. Ibn Battuta also found
large communities of Chinese merchants settled in Malabar ports.
The late medieval and early modern period of Indian history was marked chiefly
by the arrival of European trading companies as well as private traders into the
Indian Ocean trade. Other defining features of the Indian Oceanic trade during this
period were: the extensive precious metal flows, trade in Indian textiles, and the
nexus between state and maritime trade (Prakash, 2011: 1). This region was marred
by its unique trading system which was not only confined to the economic realm,
but had also left an impact on the social and cultural ethos of the people thriving
here. In this Unit, we are confined to a discussion on the nature of trade carried
across the overland routes and the Indian Ocean region under the rule of Delhi
238
Sultanate. This shall include the important commodities of trade; the mechanisms Inland and Oceanic Trade
of conducting this trade via established trading networks and some that were being
formed; the merchant communities participating in this trading network; arrival of
European and private trading companies in the Indian Ocean; and the nexus between
state and communities engaged in this trade. This study shall enable us to understand
the larger nature of Inland and Oceanic trade during the period of our study.

13.2 INLAND TRADE UNDER THE DELHI

SULTANATE
Due to the initial impact of the Ghaznavid invasions, the Indian trade suffered a
setback. After the throne was occupied by Mas’ud in 1030, the era whence plunder
as the principal source of revenue came to an end and collection of tax from the
local chiefs became resources for the treasury. It was only at a later stage that
proper fiscal arrangements such as kharaj (land tax) began to take shape. Although
the bureaucracy and soldiery of the early Sultans were paid in revenue assignments
(iqta), firm evidence of money payment in taxation only comes with the reign of
Alauddin Khalji (1296-1316) (Haider, 1998: 237).
But there was a certain economic stability that the Ghaznavid empire inherited in
north-western India. One indicator of this stability was the prevalent regional
coinages. Their minting policies were influenced by the trading classes in terms of
the types of coins minted. The second indicator was the cultural efflorescence of
Ghaznavid Lahore. Muslim poets and sufi texts received generous court patronage
which are reflective of a substantial Muslim population towards the end of the 11th
century.
The scenario was completely transformed by the late 15th century, when the coastal
provinces of Bengal and Gujarat no longer paid revenues to the capital and Lodis
were not able to make inroads in the South (Richards, 1965). It is debated among
scholars that the fragmented political conditions led to disruption of trade routes
from the coast to the hinterlands, and insecurity on the roads discouraged trade.
On the other hand, it is argued that normal trade relations continued between
different regions of the subcontinent and the Lodi Sultans were not dependent
upon trade to secure revenue. Rather the Lodi Sultans brought new amounts of
treasure to the capital through their political successes. However, it can be surmised
that even in worst scenario, trade might have got affected but did not disrupt
altogether. Without going into the debate, here we shall focus on the prevalent
inland and overland trade routes under the Delhi Sultanate.

13.2.1 Inland and Overland Caravan Routes

Inland Trade Routes
Medieval networks of caravan routes converged at particular nodal points such as
Pulicat and Hugli on the Coromandel and Bengal coasts, and at the imperial capitals
such as Delhi and Vijayanagara (Palat and Wallerstein, 1999: 35). In the era of
Delhi Sultanate, the need for goods at the towns formed the basis for a huge chunk
of the inland trade. The increasing monetization of the economy further made the
ready availability of goods and services possible, for the urban population had
money to part with while buying these goods. The inland trade developed at two
levels: (a) the short distance village-town trade in commodities of bulk, and (b)
239
Society and Economy long distance inter-town trade in high value goods. The major grain supplies to
Delhi came from Doab and eastern Rajasthan, and from Amroha in Trans-Ganga
tract. Good quality rice was procured from Sirsa in Haryana. Wheat, rice and sugar
were imported from Kara and Manikpur that lay on opposite banks of Ganga.
Sugar was also procured from Kanauj (Habib, 2011:127). Distilled wine reached
the capital from Aligarh and Meerut. The market in Delhi was also connected to
regions as far as Dhar in Malwa. Various varieties of cloth reached the capital
from regions such as Gola (in modern-day Rohilkhand), Nagaur, Devagiri and
Awadh (Ayodhya). Each town had its own trading zone for different commodities,
that overlapped many a times. For example, the town of Multan procured its supplies
of sugar from Lahore and Delhi, and of ghee from Sirsa.
Since the costs of transportation was favourable and inaccessible areas could be
penetrated through them, the caravan routes retained their importance even when
inter-oceanic trade expanded. Rather than competing with each other, caravan routes
complemented the water transportation. They linked the market towns and
provincial political centres to the coastal regions and larger trading networks. These
long-distance networks of exchange intensified further, and this ensured that petty
peddlers could not be eliminated from such networks. Apart from few wealthy
merchants, the traders across the hierarchies of market had their own roles to play
in these circuits of exchange. Such participation also reflects upon the fact that the
petty traders had knowledge and experience of dealing with varied coinages
including the Vijayanagara varahas. They had their own knowledge repository of
local customary needs and requirements established through a grid of caste and
kinship. This intensification of exchange networks and growing regional
interdependencies suggest the beginning of integrated production processes and
their deepening synchronization, and region-specific division of labour.
Overland Caravan Trade Routes
The circuitous caravan routes have connected India and Central Asia since ancient
times. The land route connected north India to Afghanistan, Turkestan, Khurasan,
western Iran, Iraq and Levant (Haider, 2011: 163). The nature of these trade routes
have varied across different time periods in history. Towards the end of the 14th
century, with the primary exports of textiles for the Islamic West and Mediterranean
markets – the Egyptian and Syrian linen industries – witnessing decline, the craft
production in South Asia expanded (Palat and Wallerstein, 1999: 32). The resultant
revival of commodity production and exchange networks on the eastern Indian
ocean shall be discussed later in the Unit. A series of ports developing on the
Malay peninsula reflect various networks that linked the Indian Ocean coastlines
and their related hinterlands. The inflowing bullion and simpler forms of money
were also carried through the caravan routes crossing Central Asia, in lieu of textiles
from Punjab and other products from the Indo-Gangetic plain.
The medieval caravan trade transactions were affected by the variations in
international trade and changes in patterns of bullion flow from Europe towards
the East (Haider, 1998: 237). One of the trading centres to have affected the supply
of precious metals to the subcontinent was the town of Qus that lay on the Levantine
trade. The annual Damascus pilgrimage caravan reached Mecca and Aden via
land route that ran parallel to the sea route. The Armenian and Italian merchants
traded under the protection of Mongols along the caravan highway between
240 Trebizond and Tabriz (in Iran) via the Persian Gulf. Indian merchants were quite
active on this route along with competing merchants from other regions. The articles Inland and Oceanic Trade
of trade on these routes consisted of spices, perfumes, indigo (nil) against horses,
textiles, gold and silver, among other luxurious merchandise. This had a direct
influence on the production of precious metal coins under the Delhi Sultanate.
Some of these precious metals that reached the subcontinent via sea routes were
recovered from tribute-paying regions like Bengal. Evidence exists regarding the
supply of indigo and cotton textiles to Bursa (Ottoman city) in the late 15th century
along with bullion that reached South India and the Deccan, later to be recovered
in raids conducted by Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad Tughlaq (Haider, 1998:
240). This is suggestive of the fact that the medieval money economy and caravan
trade occupied a prominent place in the then international network of exchange
and was, thus, affected by movements therein. In addition to the caravan trade that
supported the movement of goods across the continents, a substantial volume of
goods was carried through the inland waterways that constituted one of the main
means of commercial transportation. The latter were largely seasonal though.
Domestic trade may be divided into local trade between villages and mandis and
district towns. Local trade involved the sale of crops for payment of land revenue
to feed the urban centres. The sale of crops was primarily the responsibility of the
village banias who also provided the peasants with such necessities as salt and
spices and raw iron for use of village blacksmith. Alauddin Khalji tried to encourage
exchange to prevent hoarding at the village level. The mandis were supplemented
by local fairs. Most of the goods exported from Multan were either re-exported or
received from Delhi.

Map 13.1: The Major Overland and Sea Routes in the 16th-17th century
Source: EHI-04: India from 16th to mid-18th Century, Block 6, Unit 21, p. 26 241
Society and Economy 13.2.2 Merchants, Commodities of Trade and the Market
The mercantile community under the Delhi Sultanate was composed of various
groups with their specialized roles. As mentioned by Barani in his Tarikh-i
Firuzshahi, apart from saudagran, tujjar and bazurganan, specialized traders
included: i) Karwaniyan (karwanis were grain-traders who were further divided
into two kinds – saudagaran-i karwani, the transport merchants and saudagaran-
i bazari, the market merchants); ii) Baqqalan (the term baqqal was frequently
used by Muslim writers in India to denote members of the baniya community); iii)
Zargaran (most probably people belonging to the region of Zargaran in Central
Asia); iv) Sahan (the term sah signified wealthy merchants or respectable men of
the commercial classes); v) Muhtakiran (the term literally means hoarder); and
vi) Bazariyan (the shopkeepers or retail dealers in the market).
In addition to these specialized traders, there were merchant communities such as
Multaniyan (big merchants who had established themselves in the money-lending
business), Dallalan (brokers in the market who held expert knowledge in trades
such as horse-trade, cattle-trade, and so on), Kisahdaran (most probably they were
money-lenders engaged in horse-trade), Mihtaran (merchants of repute), and
Sarrafan (the goldsmiths who were mainly money-changers and were also engaged
in the profession of money-lending).
Multan was the major trading centre for overland trade. India was connected to
Central Asia, Afghanistan and Persia through the Multan-Quetta route. The
prosperity of Multan, noted for its commercial milieu under the Delhi Sultanate,
can be traced back to the 11th century. The Multani mercantile community can be
traced to the 11th century when cities such as Mansura, Aror and Lahore were
commercially vibrant under the Ghaznavid empire. The Multani merchants, who
were Hindus and spoke Persian, were culturally suitable to trade in territories that
lay under Muslim regimes. By the year 1206, Mahmud of Ghazni had brought
most of the Indus plains under the Ghaznavid control.
The karwanis along with saudagaran-i bazari dealt in the most important
commodity of trade, i.e. grain. Barani was critical of their monopolizing the grain
trade and their practice of profit making. In times of crisis, such as the two Mongol
invasions in 1299 and 1303 or the siege of Sindh by Sultan Firuz Shah or the
famine of 1309, these merchants exploited the situation and prices of essential
commodities rose manifold. This was in part caused due to their nature of profit
making. Barani in Fatawa-i Jahandari mentions,
…But during the period of plentiful vegetation, when rainfall comes as a blessing, and
crop, fruits, cultivated fields and gardens grow in luxurious abundance, the transport-
merchants… and market-merchants…, nevertheless adopt the practice of selling at
high prices, and owing to the great profits which result from high regrating (ihtikar), it
is the primary duty of the Kings to try to control prices with whatever means they can
and strive hard for their reduction.
(Siddiqui, 1975: 6)

Artificial scarcity was made possible due to many factors like the insecurity of
roads, weather conditions and the transit costs involved therein. Under the reign
of Alauddin Khalji, attempts were made by the authority to abolish monopoly
trade in essential commodities of consumption. According to this measure, the
karwanis were forced to settle down along the banks of Yamuna and procure surplus
grain from the cultivators at a fixed price under the supervision of state officials.
242
The prices of all other commodities were also fixed by the ruler. He further Inland and Oceanic Trade
appointed an officer Shahnah-i Mandi, comptroller of the market, who oversaw
all the activities in the market and ensured that laws established by the state were
being followed. These measures were enforced strictly as is evident by the
contemporary sources. Heavy penalties were imposed upon the traders who deviated
from the orders enforced by the state.
Similar strict practices were enforced during the reign of Alauddin with respect to
merchants dealing in the cloth market. They were not to store the merchandise
anywhere else, except the state storehouse. They used to sell it at the prices fixed
by the state. Loans were extended to the Multanis to bring cloth procured from
different parts of the country to the capital and sell it at low price so that it was
easily available to the nobles. In addition to other measures, there were many
regulations enforced by the ruler over each kind of commodity. He personally
supervised their enforcement in the market. Due to these regulations, the monopolies
established by various merchants were done away with. But after the demise of
the ruler, traders again engaged themselves in erstwhile practices. The prices of
commodities under the reign of Qutbuddin Mubarak Khalji are not mentioned by
Barani, but those under the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq do reflect upon the sharp
price rise. Thus, Barani opined that state should keep strict control over the practices
of the merchants and regulate the markets (also see Section 13.7).
Since the military might of the state depended mainly on the cavalry, therefore,
horse-trade was one of the most lucrative trades at that point in time. Horses and
slaves were regarded as the most valuable gifts (khidmati) by the visitors to the
Sultan’s court. Shihabuddin al-Umari mentions one horse merchant, Ali bin Mansur
al-Uqaili, who was one of the amirs of the Arabs of Bahrain, and who brought
horses for Sultan Muhammad Tughlaq (Siddiqui, 1975: 14). Brokers had a firm
control on the trading of horses. Such transactions required expert knowledge of
the different breeds of horses. Since trade in elephants was a royal prerogative,
therefore, nobody except the Sultan could purchase them. They were reserved for
him in the spoils from war. They are said to have been brought from the African
coast to the port of Cambay. During the medieval period, Ceylonese elephants
were highly valued for their characteristics. Slave trade was another lucrative
business under the Delhi Sultanate. Despite most of them themselves being slaves,
the Sultans extended patronage and facility to the slave merchants. Slaves were
also brought from different parts of the world. Sultan Firuz Shah possessed as
many as one lakh and eighty thousand slaves as mentioned by Afif.

13.2.3 Trade and Commerce and the State

Taxation
There are numerous accounts which mention various taxes that were collected
from the mercantile classes under the Delhi Sultanate. Few of them were: Dalalat-
i bazarha (either the brokerage from transactions or tax imposed upon dallals or
borkers); Jazzari (a tax levied on the cattle-merchants); Chungi-i ghallah (transit
tax imposed on grain merchants); Mandavi barg (toll levied on vegetable markets);
Gulfaroshi (tax imposed on flower sellers); Zaribah-i tanbul (tax imposed on pan
sellers); Mahi faroshi (tax imposed on fish sellers); Nukhud-i biryan (tax imposed
on roasted grain); Tah-bazari (tax imposed on public lands collected from
shopkeepers); Mustaghil (rent of houses or shops in the city of Delhi collected
243
Society and Economy during the reign of Firuz Shah); Ruri (a kind of forced labour wherein merchants
had to transport loads of old bricks to Firuzabad imposed during the reign of Firuz
Shah soon after the construction of new city started). Further, it is believed that
Muhammad Tughlaq abolished all ‘non-Shariat’ taxes, they were reimposed or
continued by officials under Firuz Shah.
Apart from imposing taxes, the state used to advance loans and borrow credit
from the merchants. Barani and Afif mention the advancing of huge sums of money
by Alauddin Khalji to the Multanis for getting commodities from different parts of
the country to Delhi. Similar incidents were reported from the reign of Muhammad
Tughlaq. About the reign of Balban, Barani mentions:
The Multanis and the Sahs of Delhi had accumulated large sums of money, and this
was due to the wealth of nobles (the muluk and umara) of the country (iqlim) of Delhi,
because they used to take loans as much as possible from the Multanis and the Sahs.
The latter paid off their loans from the (revenues of) the iqta (sar-i iqta) together with
other rewards. Whenever a khan or a malik threw a party and invited grandees as
guests, his agents (karkunan) used to rush to the houses of the Multanis and the Sahs,
give documents (qabz) in their name and take loan on interest and bring the money to
the majlis of these great maliks. They distributed lavish rewards and gifts out of these
loans.
(Siddiqui, 1975: 31)

This suggests that the nobles used to take loans from the wealthy merchants who
repaid them through iqtas or repaid the loans along with interest. The qabz were
documents of surety which could be taken to the court in case of dispute arising
over the loan. Many a times, visitors to the Sultan were extended credit by wealthy
merchants in order to buy gifts for the Sultan. Later the same loans were seen
being returned to the creditors by the Sultan himself upon examination of the
qabz. Thus, money lending was a profiteering business under the Delhi Sultanate.
Most of these merchants were the Multanis, Sahs, Baqqals and Sarrafs. These
were mainly Indians, only a few prominent merchants finding citation in the sources
being foreigners.
Administrative Positions
The wealth and patronage enjoyed by these merchants ensured them a status of
repute in the Sultanate society. They were often appointed at important positions
as government officials. They were appointed as state agents to procure noteworthy
commodities such as slaves and arms from distant regions. Some of the merchants
were given charge as darogah of the royal mint. Hamid Multani, a merchant of
dubious character, was appointed as Qazi-ul Quzzat and Sadr-i Jahan by Alauddin
Khalji. Talking about the same merchant, Barani calls him in his account as Multani-
Bachchah (son of a Multani) and Malik-ul Tujjar (the premier merchant).
The process of appointing merchants in the state administration had begun with
Iltutmish, augmented in the reign of Alauddin Khalji and reached its zenith under
Muhammad Tughlaq, who appointed people to important state offices from all
sections of society. Under the latter’s reign, one Malik-ul Tujjar, Shihabuddin al-
Kazruni was given the city of Cambay in iqta and was assured the wizarat. Many
of these appointments were done in the city of Cambay, which was a crucial part
of the Oceanic trading network. Moreover, merchants formed part of the ijarah
system of revenue farming in the Tughlaq period. Not many of them succeeded in
these assignments.
244
 Inland and Oceanic Trade
13.3 THE CASE OF GUJARAT
Before the annexation of Gujarat by the Delhi Sultanate in the early 14th century,
under the Chalukyas1, the economy of the region was marked by a mercantile
temperament linked to a brisk trade based on an established system of finance and
credit. This economic system was controlled by a military aristocracy and wealthy
merchants which led to developments such as excessive oppression of peasants
and the inhumane treatment of domestic slaves. The economy was centered on the
monsoon-based agriculture.
The administration was well in place with high position officials called rajaputra
who were also responsible for the safety on the roads. In towns and villages, the
administration was carried out with the assistance of panchakula (five elders).
The panchakula were to be consulted in matters ranging from the sale and purchase
of a house to that of a female slave. The mahantaka, usually a baniya, was an
accountant and clerk associated with the village administration. They were members
of the panchakula.
In order to carry goods from one place to another, the merchants had to pay various
taxes such as the toll, excise and road tax. There were a number of clearances that
had to be obtained from the concerned authorities. On many occasions, they had
to face instances of excesses. The mercantile class of Gujarat enjoyed a high
reputation for integrity. They constituted of Srimalis, Pragavate, Vayada, Oswala
and Gurjara castes. These were major sub-divisions of the banias. The practice of
obtaining surety for loans was a general trend. Cash payments were found to be in
prevalence. Gold and silver tankas were also in circulation. Trade by sea brought
Persian and Arab merchants to the region of Gujarat. There was a wealthy mercantile
community of Muslims (khwajas) at Cambay who suffered a major setback when
the city was sacked by the Khaljis in the year 1300.
Thus, there was much more to the economy of Gujarat than the purported institutions
of ‘Indian feudalism’ in the pre-Sultanate period (for details on Gujarat’s Oceanic
trading network see Section 13.4).
Check Your Progress-1
1) Write a short note on the following:
a) Karwanis ..................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
b) Multanis ....................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
c) Qabz ..........................................................................................................

1
The exceptional source for the study of this region is Lekhapaddhati (‘models of written
documents’) as can be seen in Prasad (2011).These documents provide specimens of letters of
various kinds including land grants and offer insights into the various aspects of life in Gujarat
from the 8th-15th century. 245
Society and Economy ...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
2) List major overland trade routes of the 13th-14th centuries.
........................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................
3) Discuss the factors responsible for the expansion of trade under the Delhi
Sultanate.
........................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................
4) Discuss the various taxes imposed upon the mercantile communities by the
Delhi Sultanate.
........................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................
5) Examine the nature of trade under the Delhi Sultanate with the example of
Gujarat.
........................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................

13.4 OCEANIC TRADING NETWORK

The history of commercial traffic in the Indian Ocean goes back to a very remote
past and networks of trade covering different centres of production and
manufacturing have been found all along the littoral of maritime India. Because
of the strategic importance of its geo-physical location in the mid-way between
the West Asia and South East Asia, India always held a prime economic position
in the process of long-distance commodity movements. The subcontinent had
immense economic potential and capacity to put on the market a wide range of
tradable goods at highly competitive prices. These included both food items such
as rice, sugar and oil as well as raw materials such as cotton and indigo. While the
bulk of this trade was coastal, the hinterland ensuring regular supply of cargo
needed for the overseas trade led to the emergence of several hubs of regional
trade in the vicinity of principal maritime centres of exchange. According to the
writings of Strabo, Arrian and other ancient writers, the Indian vessels imported
from Egypt and other places, woollen-cloth, brass, lead, tin, glass ware, coral,
wrought silver, gold and silver bullion and several kinds of wine. And they exported
spices, diamond‘s, sapphires, pearls and other gems, cotton, silk, pepper and
perfumes. Dr. Robertson observes that the details of Arrian’s account of the articles
exported from India are confirmed by a Roman Law, in which the Indian
commodities subject to payment of duties were enumerated. The diamonds,
246 sapphires, rubies of India have always been held in high esteem.
Gujarat played a key role in this Asian trade. From the time of Chalukyas to the Inland and Oceanic Trade
recent past, Gujarat turned out to be the most important trading junction of western
India. It was a gateway to the western world and also lay in the route of west to the
eastern trade route, i.e., starting from Europe to the South East Asian islands. This
role was further strengthened in the course of the fifteenth century, which witnessed
the fragmentation of Asian trade into well-defined segments. Increasingly, the
participation of the Arab merchants in Indian Ocean trade became confined to the
trade between West Asia and west coast of India. The Indian merchants played a
very important role in the trading activities of Red Sea-Persian Gulf regions and
the Bay of Bengal littoral extending up to Malacca. While there was no clear
demarcation of the autonomous areas of operation, there was a considerable amount
of interdependence and interaction between the commercial networks of Indian
merchants and overseas traders and also with the different trading powers.
Concomitantly the banking and credit system eventually got well developed in the
region. Behind India’s success in this growing trading network, were the well-
developed agricultural sector, an organized market sector, intensification of division
of labour, a well-developed monetary and credit structure, the well responsive
trading community and also her strategic position, in the middle of the Indian
Ocean trading network. It is worth noting that most of the leading centres of trade
soon became pockets of accumulation of considerable wealth, which in turn
facilitated them to emerge as centres with immense power concentration. In this
process the Gujarati merchants evolved as an economic group with substantial
mercantile capital and the ports of Gujarat, an economic geography that allowed
the experience of early commercial capitalism to enter India along with the flow
of bulk commodities. In Gujarat, purely internal forces used to work towards market
intensification, accumulation of merchant capital, monetization, and guild system
of the artisans and in the growth of the urban centres and urban craft system.
Moreover, the natural reserve of the region was also very high. Mirat-i Ahmadi
informs that almost all kinds of food grains grew in abundance in the country.
Millet and paddy was the staple food of the region. The production of great amount
of millet also helped the people not only to feed themselves but also the cattle and
the horses. Apart from food grains a great amount of fruits were also grown in that
region. As Mirat puts it there are innumerable fruit bearing trees in Gujarat like
that of mangoes and khirni, water melon and common pear and other common
fruits. Between the nearly 100 kos stretch of Baroda to Patan, fruit vegetation of
different kinds were found, including cucumbers and nashpati of good qualities,
with melons of different kinds. The soil after the rainy season became moist and
verdant and in the winter the crops derives their moisture from the dew. The soil of
the place is very fertile and firm. Grapes were produced twice a year and the cotton
plants grew like willows and plane trees.
Apart from these, there were different kinds of odoriferous herbs, fruits and
vegetables grown in this region. Abbe Carre, writing in the second half of the
seventeenth century mentions that more or less every house of the Portuguese in
Gujarat had a garden and an orchard along with it. So great was the natural resources
of the country that more or else all kinds of spices and food grains were being
exported to various marts of Asia and food items were imported very rarely and
the road through the countryside was full of shady trees and of great natural beauty.
Nil, otherwise called Indigo, a special quality of which was found only in the
247
Society and Economy region was an important agro-product that was exported on large scale to the marts
of Europe and Asia. It is a herb that grows like rosemary, and comes up from seed;
when gathered it is dried, then steeped and dried again several times until it becomes
blue. Pyrad of Laval informs that, ‘It is greatly prized as a dye, and is one of the
best commodities of the Indies’. It was being exported in large quantities by the
Gujarati merchants and was considered to be an important item of trade in the
region. The biodiversity of the place was very high and this was instrumental in
initiating and encouraging a great amount of trade in the region.
Oceanic Trade Routes
The west coast of India ranging from Sind to Malabar was connected through
Persian Gulf, Red Sea and the East Africa. The chief ports on the Persian Gulf
were Hormuz and Basra; while Aden, Mocha and Jedda were important connecting
ports on the Red Sea. However, prior to the thirteenth century it was Qays that was
most prominent in the region where was situated the colony of the prominent
Gujarati Bohra community. However, with the decline of Qays, Hormuz emerged.
Marco Polo visiting in 1295 mentions Qays as the chief centre of export of Persian
horses to India. Through these ports of the Persian Gulf and Red Sea Indian goods
reached as far as Damascas and Europe. Aleppo and Alexandria were key points
crossing Mediterranean to reach European markets. Gujarat and Malabar ports
were also connected with ports of Malacca strait and Achin. The chief Indian ports
on the west coast operating in the oceanic trade were Cambay with its extended
ports of Gandhar and Ghoga, on the Gujarat coast; Dabhol, and later Lahari Bandar
were the chief ports in the Sind region; while Quilon and Calicut were the key
entrepots in the Malabar region. On account of its oceanic linkages the Zamorin
king of Calicut was known as Samudri Raja. For the East-African coasts the
connecting link was Aden. From here the commodities were exported to the East
African port of Ayzab from there through land caravans on camels commodities
were transported to the important upper Egyptian prominent market towns of Qus
and Fustat. However, by mid fourteenth century there started decline of Ayzab and
then onwards Aden-Jedda-Tur route became prominent. On the South Arabian
coasts there were ports like Ash-Shihr and Dhofar which were principle centres of
horse and honey trade. They in return received rice from the Malabar coast.
The Bay of Bengal on the east coast, spanning from Coromandel to Bengal, was
another important maritime zone was a crucial link to trade with South-East Asia.
It was connected with South China and Indonesian Archipelago via Malacca strait.
However, the trade was not exclusive. We hear of presence of huge Chinese ships
(janks) sailing to Malabar Coast; similarly, Gujarati merchants shipping Chinese
goods to the west coast. Compared to the westward trade India’s eastward trade
with China dominated. In this trade, south-east Asia’s share was comparatively
negligent. The advantage, unlike westward trade, here with China was that vessels
and ships could sail to China directly without obstruction from land. Similarly,
Chinese ships were also directly sailing to Indian ports. However, after Zheng
He’s great historic voyages via Champa, Java, Sumatra to Calicut, ending in 1433
Ming rulers brought sudden halt to their naval enterprises and one finds gradually
the Chinese janks’ number frequenting the Indian ports declined sharply to which
the final blow was done by the increasing presence of the Portuguese. The
intermediate ports between the western coast and south China were Champa, Java
and Sumatra. In south China Hangzhaou (Zaitun) was one of the most prominent
248 ports (for oceanic trade routes see Map 13.1).
Coastal trade flourished along Sind to Bengal via Gujarat, Malabar and Coromandel Inland and Oceanic Trade
coasts.

13.5 TRADE UNDER THE DELHI SULTANS

The Delhi Sultans played a major role in the consolidation of the subcontinent.
Moreover, emperors like Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad bin Tughlaq tried to
safeguard the frontiers of the country from that of the Mongol threats. This also
led to the unification of the Central Asian Steppes, and opening of new trade routes
between India to China and Black Sea. Communications links improved during
the period of the Delhi Sultans. Major roads connecting cities were maintained in
good condition. Muhammad bin Tughlaq is credited with the construction of royal
roads from Peshawar in the northwest to Sonargaon in the east and from Delhi in
the north to Daulatabad in the south.
During the Sultanate period, the markets of Delhi and Multan were largely
connected with the activities of the merchants of Lahore and Middle East by caravan
trade. However, the caravan trade of the Middle East towards India was affected
by the regular Mongol attacks. As a result, the markets of Delhi and Multan became
constricted. Acquisition of the ports of Gujarat, gave the Delhi Sultans the access
of the flourishing trade of the Indian Ocean network. Alauddin Khalji appointed
malik al-tujjar, king of the merchants who was responsible to the sultan for
overseeing commercial activities. Maritime trade replaced the caravan trade to a
large extent.
The economic base of the commodity network emanating from India actually
remained in the availability of large quantities of manufactured goods, the most
important among which was the textile of various kinds. Of these textile goods,
those stemming from Gujarat occupied a very important position. There had been
a large demand for Gujarati and Coromandel textiles in Indonesia, Malaya, Thailand
and Burma as well as in the markets of the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and East
Africa. India also exported agricultural and mineral products to her neighbouring
countries. In return, India imported fine spices like cloves, nutmeg and mace from
Indonesia and horses from West Asia, precious stones like rubies and metals, etc.
The most important non-precious metal imported by India was tin from Malaya.
Precious metal like silver was imported in large quantity from West Asia.
The trade of Indian Ocean network consisted of diverse commodities. Traders
exchanged the commodities of basic necessities salt, sugar, grain and textiles along
with the luxury items like that of spices, horses, Chinese porcelain, incense, ivory,
glass, jewellery and finely cut precious stones. The Indian market imported strategic
war-animals, spices and medicaments, rarities, toys and exotic textiles for the
consuming classes, and base metals for the brass industry. In the 14th century, large
quantities of luxury textiles were imported for the Delhi nobility.
Before the entry of the Portuguese into the trading world of Indian Ocean, there
was a flourishing trade in coinage metal happening between western and southern
Asia. The Venetian zecchino, with the Egyptian and Ottoman sultanis and the
dinars of Aden dominated the imports into southwest India. At the same time, the
trade from the Persian Gulf port of Hormuz to Gujarat, western India and Bengal
brought abundant silver in these regions. When early in Alauddin Khalji’s reign
(1296-1316), the Delhi armies overran Gujarat, one of the commanders Nusrat
249
Society and Economy Khan plundered their wealth and seized their slaves, among whom was the famous
Malik Kafur.
Items of necessity and daily products also formed a part of the commercial
transactions. Ibn Hawkal mentions that mangoes, coconuts, lemons and rice were
produced in abundance and taken for trade. Marco Polo refers to a great amount of
ginger, pepper and indigo, being found in Gujarat in the late thirteenth century. A
considerable measure of honey was made though there were no date palms in
Famhal, Sindan, Saimur (Chaul) and Cambay. He further mentions that the land
between Cambay and Saimur lies under heavy cultivation. The region between
Debal (Dabhol) and Kutch and from Kutch to Somnath and Patan was rich in
producing gum, myrrh and balm. Malwa sugar was also exported in great quantities
in ships from Gujarat coast, to a number of places, national and international. At
the end of the 11th century, the trade of Gujarat had been described as brisk. Rashid-
ud-din’s account (1300) refers to Gujarat as a large country with important centres
like Cambay, Somnath, Konkan and Thane. This description of Gujarat seems to
be a bit misinterpretation of the geography equating it with almost the entire western
coastal region.
The principal commodity of trade was cloth. From Malabar Coast teak, wood,
spices, drugs, precious stones and various kinds of luxury goods were exported. In
exchange imports into India were horses, toys, spices, drugs, valuable cloths and
brass. Import into Delhi of luxury cloths began to increase from the 14th century
due to the demands of the royals and the nobles. In the 15th century European
clothes were imported to Deccan. The Delhi Sultans used Chinese silk and Chinese
vessels of burnt earth. Such vessels were used in large quantities by ruling class at
Gaur, the capital of Bengal and at the port of Saptagram of which there are many
evidences. Cairo Geniza documented the Jews traders exported all kinds of vessels
including metal and glass vessels in large quantities. Gujarat was the major trading
partner of Hormuz and as Jean Aubin had pointed out, to cover her deficit, and to
equilibrate her payments, Hormuz used to send India large quantity of coins,
particularly silver. Hormuz used to pay for her imports mostly through horses. In
1516-17, exports to India were about thousand horses per year, which had doubled
by mid-sixteenth century. The horse trade was so profitable that the merchants
engaged in the trade became the most important merchants of the markets.
Besides the intra-Asian trade, Cambay also took part in the coastal trade of India.
Production and distribution of a variety of goods in India was realized through a
process of inter-penetration of subsistence and commercialized sectors. As the
bulk of the population lived in the villages and their needs for goods and services
were satisfied through production for consumption and a network for reciprocal
obligations, exchange accounted for a relatively small proportion of economic
activity. Yet exchange of goods at virtually every level and sphere of economic
life, was impressive in its magnitude and complexity. The dominance of subsistence-
oriented production2 was modified by surpluses and deficits necessitating multi-
tiered and multi-faceted commercial activity (market oriented exchange). Gujarat
had trading relations with other parts of India, like that of Malabar, Bengal and
Coromandel. Moreover, the location of Gujarat made its ports the natural outlets
for the large land locked area of Indo-Gangetic plain and Malwa. As the location
of Gujarat was also favourable for trade with West Asia, many Eastern production

250
2
Production for self-consumption.
centres also dispatched their products to the Gujarati marts rather than to Bengal. Inland and Oceanic Trade
Gujarat mostly produced the commercial crops like cotton, indigo and vegetable
dyes and consequently it used to face a deficit in the production of food grains
which it used to cover up by way of trade with the surplus producing areas of
Malwa and Indo-Gangetic plains. Products from Rajasthan and Delhi were found
in the markets of Cambay. Geographically Gujarat was also favourably placed in
respect with the Deccan plateau. The Burhanpur-Khandesh route and the coastal
route made Gujarat accessible to the Deccan.
During the 14th century, Muhammad bin Tughlaq and Firuz Tughlaq marked the
advent of gardens around Delhi Sultanate. Firuz Shah Tughlaq is credited with
developing 1200 gardens in and around Delhi, 80 on the Salora embankment and
44 in Chittor. Sikander Lodi gave special attention to the pomegranates produce of
Jodhpur in comparison to that of Persia. These gardens led to the increase in the
quality and production of fruits especially grapes. The production of wine in Meerut
and Dholpur also improved. The developments of these gardens led to the growth
of the fruit trade and opened new avenues of employment.
During the Sultanate period, India remained the manufacturing workshop for the
Asian world and the adjacent areas of East Africa, with brisk and well established
domestic trade. A number of other cities emerged during this period Multan, Lahore,
Anhilwara, Kara, Khambath, Sonargaon and Lakhnauti. Urban centres of Bengal
and Gujarat thrived as the production centres for both coarse cloth and fine fabrics.
While Khambath was reputed for textiles, and gold and silver work, Sonargaon
was famous for raw silk and muslin. Since cavalry had become the basis of the
military and political system, large number of horses was imported from 13th century
onwards. With the introduction of the wooden cotton gin, the spinning wheel, the
treadle loom and the sericulture, the textile industry made unusual progress. The
Arab geographer al-Umari states that the nobles used to import gold and silver.
Gujarat and Kashmir were known for their embroidery. While the former was
known for its gold and silver embroidery, the latter was known for its shawl industry.
According to Irfan Habib (Raychaudhury & Habib 1982: 80) the woollen
manufacture of Kashmir, especially the carpet weaver and the shawl weavers
enjoyed considerable patronage of the Sultanate ruling class of Delhi. Evidence of
the movement of precious metals in the late 14th century is provided by the Broach
hoard. The bulk of the gold and silver coins are from the Mamluk kingdom of
Egypt and Syria, with a lesser number from Rasulid kingdom of Yemen.
Significant developments occurred in the pattern of trade in early medieval centuries
in the expansion of maritime activity in the eastern Indian Ocean and the China
Sea. The old silk route from China through Tarim Basin and the passes of
Afghanistan to the ports of western India became one of the major trade routes
during this time. The influence of Brahmanical religion and Buddhism became an
important factor in connecting the Southeast Asian countries and China with the
Indian Ocean trading network.

13.6 TRADING CENTRES OF IMPORTANCE

The city of Delhi could not have survived except for trade and commerce. Ibn
Batuta called Delhi as of the enormous and largest cities in India. Daulatabad
could compete with Delhi in size and importance. Other important urban centres
which thrived due to the trade and commerce of the Delhi Sultans were that of 251
Society and Economy Lahore, Multan, Anhilwara, Cambay, Kara and Lakhnauti. The towns required the
constant supply of agricultural products. This led to the rise of the trade of grain
from the countryside to the cities. The banjara community played an important
role in transportation of the grain to the urban centres. Ibn Battuta mentions 30,000
mans of grain being transported from Amroha to Delhi on backs of 3,000 bullocks.
However, the cities did not have much to send to the villages. The Sultanate helped
in construction of highways and sarais or inns. In Bengal Ghiyasuddin Khalji
built long embankments to carry roads invulnerable to flood. The demand for
maritime goods was mostly due to the royal household.
One of the most important maritime city was Cambay. Marco Polo described the
city as one of the most important manufacturing centres for commodities like
sandals and sleeping mats embroidered with gold and silver. Great quantities of
indigo were manufactured and there was abundance of cotton cloth, as well as of
cotton in the wool. Dresses made from skin were exported and in return Cambay
used to receive gold, silver, copper and tutty3. Al-Idrisi mentions that indigo and
Indian cane were supplied to Cambay from the surrounding regions. In the 12th
century rice and wheat and Indian cane are mentioned as the chief exports of
Cambay although merchandise of every kind and country was found in the town.
One of the most important factors for the commercial development of Cambay
was its prosperous hinterland.

13.7 CREDIT, BANKING AND TRADE

In India, the leading merchants not only dealt with the trade, they also dealt with
money changing and finance. Long distance trade was financed, insured against
risk. The bankers or the sarrafs transmitted money through their own hundis and
also financed commerce, particularly long distance trade and international
commerce. The hundis indicated easy availability of money and a highly developed
financial system. So brisk was the use of these bills that in Ahmadabad market,
merchants transacted almost exclusively through the medium of this commercial
paper. In handicrafts market the development of merchant capital had brought
artisans under the control through forms of the putting out or dadni system. Both
cash advance and giving out of the raw material were established practices in this
economic system. The production of paper gave rise to increased record keeping
in the government offices and wide spread use of bills of exchange called hundis.
The stability of the currency system of the region gave fillip to the trade and
commercial activities. In the 12th and 13th centuries Chalukya silver alloy coins
poruth dramas or later visalapriya and bhimapriya dramas were found in large
quantities in Malwa, Sind, Rajasthan, Maharastra and even Afghanistan. Its presence
in large quantities in central and western India, is evidence of Gujarat’s commercial
relations with those regions. After the Turkic invasion of Gujarat, the Delhi tanka
was introduced. This was replaced by Gujarati currency mahmudi, which became
the most widely accepted and stable currency of the region from 15th century.
During the Sultanate period, there was an increase in the importance of brokers
with the increased urbanization and commercial expansion. The middlemen and
the brokers were often criticized for increasing the prices of goods. Alauddin Khalji

3
Tutty is a mineral made from zinc or antimony, found in the eastern part of Persia. It was used in
252 the making of collyrium, used by women of Hindusthan.
tried to control the income of middlemen or brokers. His actions were praised by Inland and Oceanic Trade
Barani. In the 14th century, large quantities of luxury textiles were imported from
Central Asia for the Delhi Sultans. Chinese silk and porcelain were also in great
demand in the royal household.
Indian metallurgy industry was well established during 12th to 15th century. Jewish
merchants of Cairo Geniza had mentioned that Deccan bronze and brass industry
induced imports of copper and lead into India, vessels and utensils were even
fashioned for customers in Aden who would send broken pieces to India to be
remade. Deccan extensively exported iron and steel to the Middle East. The
manufacturing industry of Gujarat was also very well developed. Mirat claims
that the famous Sirohi swords and arrows in arms are best made here and are used
by the Mughals and the Iranians as well.

13.8 TRADERS AND MERCHANTS

The major communities involved in trading during this period were the Marwaris
and Gujaratis of Jain origin. The Jain community over the years was able to get
monopoly over certain trade routes and networks. Muslim Bohra merchants,
Multanis and Khurasanis played a dominant role in the long distant overland trade.
For the richer Bania merchants, Barani seems to use the word sah, which was
probably a variant of the Persian shah (king) to begin with, and so was an honorific.
It is therefore placed by him among those titles which the richer Hindus used,
along with rai, rana, thakur, mahta, pandit. Ibn Batuta stated that the Hindu Sahu
merchants of Daulatabad were to a great extent like the Karim merchants of Egypt.
They unlike the later used to cooperate with each other in trade and commerce.
Amir Khusrau, critical of the whole class, offered in 1283-84 an Illustrative list of
its components: the bazari, ‘market-operator’, stranger to honesty and faith; the
saudagar, trader, intent only on profit; the bazaz, cloth-seller, prone to lack of
rectitude; the baqqal (grain-merchant), sarraf (money-changer), and zar-gar (gold-
smith), all manipulating their scales of weights; and the muhtakir (engrossar),
selling rice at the rates of gold. Amir Khusrau’s list is not complete, and was not
intended to be such. A major group he fails to mention was that of the rather lowly
karwanis, who in later times would be known as Banjaras. Their mode of carriage
of grain made it necessary for them to adopt a semi-nomadic state of life. In order
to control them it was found necessary by Alauddin Khalji to force the families of
their headmen (muqaddams) to settle, along with their cattle, on the banks of the
Yamuna.
Unlike many European merchants and traders, Indian traders or merchants did not
depend on their political or military support. Rich and powerful merchants like
that of Gamelal-Din Ibrahim Tibe organized a fleet of one hundred ships which
travelled to South India and Far East. The names of Vastupal and Tejpal in Gujarat
are well-known. The Chettis in Tamil Nadu and Bengal and Maraccars were also
well known.
The merchants and traders often had samgha which worked as association or
corporation. In few contemporary texts of 11th and 12th century, the term sreni is
often associated with the organization of people who follow the same profession.
The term naigamas refers to the association of caravan merchants or merchants
engaged in foreign trade. The term mandalam or mandalika refers to association
253
of traders. These associations often helped in generating cash for the traders in
return of interests (also see Sub-section 13.2.2).
Advent of the Europeans in Indian Ocean Trading Network
Arriving on the coastal western India, they focused on three major geo-physical
zones, which then had the highest potential for maritime trade: on the one hand
they occupied the major spice-ports of Kerala either by conquest or by peace
alliances for the purpose of controlling the highly profitable spice trade with Europe.
On the other hand they extended their control over the existing maritime trading
centres, which then provided maritime outlets for a multiple variety of textiles
manufactured in the hinterland.
The maritime state of Gujarat in western India had to frequently confront the naval
power of the Portuguese ever since the latter had started blocking the bulk trade
via Red Sea and Egypt and tried to monopolize trade in the Indian Ocean. The
Portuguese could not destroy the existing trade network nor did they seriously
alter the pattern. However, the intervention of the Portuguese in the commerce of
the littoral of Arabian Sea had its negative impact particularly on the commercial
interests of the Arabs and al-Karimis, who eventually were scattered. The Mappilas
of Malabar and the Gujaratis started replacing the al-Karimis and the Arabs. In the
new turn of developments the role of Cambay as an entrepot was enhanced at the
expense of Calicut, which had been the target of attack of the Portuguese in the
initial years of their commercial expansion because of its decisive role in mobilizing
resources for the Red Sea-Venice trade.
In the initial years of 16th century, the Portuguese followed a policy of applying
force on the local merchants and traders. The enmity between the Portuguese and
the local traders had a detrimental effect on the economy of Gujarat. This tendency
was heightened because of the Portuguese policy of monopolizing certain trade
routes and trade in certain merchandise. The Portuguese system of commerce
depended very much on the notion of monopoly trade for the Lusitanians and
licensed (cartaz-based) trade for the Asians. The cartazes or passes were not only
used to forbid transport of the commodities reserved to the Portuguese crown,
notably spices, and of itinerant Turks and Abyssinian Muslims, but also were to
make Indian traders call and pay duties at one or more Portuguese ports. However,
the Europeans did not bring any structural changes within the Indian Ocean trading
network. The traditional ties of network survived and the major trade of the Indian
Ocean region depended on it (For a detailed discussion on trade with the European
trading companies see our Course BHIC 109).
Check Your Progress-2
1) Discuss the oceanic trading network during the 13-15th centuries.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
2) In what ways did the credit and banking practices facilitated the trade during
the Sultanate period.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
 .........................................................................................................................
3) List major merchant communities operating in the oceanic trade during the
13-15th centuries.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
4. Enumerate major trading towns that were benefitted by the maritime trade
during the 13-15th centuries.
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................

13.9 SUMMARY
From the discussion in this Unit it can be surmised that Inland trade was a significant
activity and source of revenue for the Delhi Sultanate. The Sultans extended
patronage and protection to the merchants, at times also adopting stringent policies
to keep the market in check. The appeasing of merchants while establishing new
cities, such as one found at Kiloghari by Jalaluddin Khalji, was a practice which
was followed even under the Delhi Sultanate. Various taxes were imposed on the
merchants and their merchandise. They were appointed to key administrative
positions. They enjoyed a position of importance in the Sultanate society and were
extended encouragement even by the aristocracy. On occasions, they had to face
oppression by the officials.
Political stability, and safety of roads and routes were essential prerequisites for
thriving trade and commerce under any regime. Delhi Sultanate tried to establish
and maintain these conditions for their mercantile class. Sultans like Balban,
Alauddin Khalji and Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq took much pain to extend protection to
important trade routes under their regimes. All the contemporary and near
contemporary sources praise the safety of caravan routes and general prosperity of
merchants under Sultan Firuz Shah. Travellers during the 15th century also mention
about the thriving mercantile class in different parts of the country. The measures
adopted by Alauddin Khalji should not be seen as a policy adopted against the
merchants, rather they were adopted to streamline the mechanisms of the market.
Though cases of harassment done by state officials onto the merchants were not
altogether absent during this period. But overall the policy adopted by the Sultans
towards the merchants was one of encouragement and patronage.
There was a thriving oceanic network and brisk trading activities of the Indian
merchants with West Asia, East Africa and Southeast Asia and China. Arab
merchants largely confined to Indian Ocean trade between West Asia and the West
Coast of India. The Bay of Bengal littoral connection was extended as far as Malacca
and South China. Cairo-Geniza documents attest to the presence of Jewish
merchants as far as Bay of Bengal. There was a regular movement of Chinese
junks as far as Calicut. The chief feature of 13-15th century Indian trade was its
favourable balance of payments.
Society and Economy
13.10 KEYWORDS
Baqqal The term was frequently used by Muslim writers in India to
denote members of the baniya caste
Bohras Muslim trading community of Gujarat
Cairo-Geniza It is a collection of approximately 400,000 Jewish documents
Documents found at Genizah (store-room) of Ben Ezra synagogue, Fustat
(old Cairo)
Karwanis Grain-traders who were further divided into two kinds –
saudagaran-i karwani, the transport merchants and
saudagaran-i bazari, the market merchants
Littoral Land mass along the seashore
Muhtakiran The term literally means hoarder
Sarraf Money-changer

13.11 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES
Check Your Progress-1
1) See Sub-section 13.2.2
2) See Sub-section 13.2.1
3) See Section 13.2
4) See Sub-section 13.2.3
5) See Section 13.3
Check Your Progress-2
1) See Section 13.4
2) See Section 13.7
3) See Section 13.8
4) See Section 13.6

13.12 SUGGESTED READINGS

Chaudhuri, K. N., (1990) Asia before Europe: Economy and Civilization of the
Indian Ocean from the Rise of Islam to 1750 (Cambridge, Cambridge University
Press).
Chaudhuri, K.N., (1985) Trade and Civilization in the Indian Ocean: an Economic
History from Rise of Islam to 1750 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Digby, Simon, (1971) War-Horse and Elephant in the Delhi Sultanate: A Study of
Military Supplies (Oxford: Orient Monographs).
Digby, Simon, (1982) ‘Maritime Trade of India’, in Tapan Raychaudhuri and Irfan
256
Habib ed., The Cambridge Economic History of India, Vol. I (New Delhi: Oxford Inland and Oceanic Trade
University Press).
Habib, Irfan, (2011) ‘Towns and Trade’ in D.P. Chattopadhyaya (ed.) History of
Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization: Economic History of
Medieval India, 1200-1500, Vol. VIII, Part I (New Delhi: Centre for Studies in
Civilizations).
Haider, Najaf, (1998) ‘International Trade in Precious Metals and Monetary Systems
of Medieval India: 1200-1500 A.D.’ in Proceedings of the Indian History Congress,
Vol. 59: 237-254.
Haider, Najaf, (2011) ‘Foreign Trade of India’ in History of Science, Philosophy
and Culture in Indian Civilization: Economic History of Medieval India, 1200-
1500, Vol. VIII, Part I, (Delhi: Pearson).
Janaki, V.A., (1980) The Commerce of Cambay from the Earliest Period to the
19th century, Geography Series No. 10 (Baroda: The Maharaja Sayajirao University
of Baroda).
Palat, Ravi Arvind and Immanuel, Wallerstein, (1999) ‘Of what world-system was
pre-1500 “India” a part?’ in Sushil Chaudhury and Michel Morineau (ed.)
Merchants, Companies and Trade: Europe and Asia in the Early Modern Era
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Prakash, Om, (2011) (ed.) History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian
Civilization: The Trading World of the Indian Ocean, 1500-1800, Vol. III, Part 7
(Delhi: Pearson).
Prasad, Pushpa, (2011) ‘The Economy of Gujarat in the Thirteenth Century’, in
D.P. Chattopadhyaya (ed.) History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian
Civilization: Economic History of Medieval India, 1200-1500, Vol. VIII, Part I
(New Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilizations).
Qaisar, A.Jan (1974) ‘The Role of Brokers in Medieval India’, The Indian Historical
Review, Vol. I, No. 2, September: 220-222.
Ray, Aniruddha and Sinnappah Arasaratnam, (1994) Masulipatnam and Cambay:
A History of Two Port Towns 1500-1800 (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal
Publishers Pvt. Ltd).
Raychaudhuri, Tapan & Irfan Habib, (ed.) (1982) The Cambridge Economic History
of India, Vol. I: c. 1200-1750 (London: Cambridge University Press).
Richards, John F., (1965) ‘The Economic History of the Lodi Period: 1451-1526’
in Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Aug.):
47-67.
Sheikh, Samira, (2010) Forging a Region: Sultans, Traders and Pilgrims in Gujarat,
1200-1500 (New Delhi: Oxford University Press).
Siddiqui, M. Yasin Mazhar, (1975) ‘The Merchants and the Delhi Sultanate (13th
and 14th Centuries)’, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress (Aligarh: Aligarh
Muslim University).

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Society and Economy
13.13 INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO
RECCOMENDATIONS
Delhi Sultanate: Industry, Trade and Commerce | Vidya-mitra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbkw8Gl0Ag
Introduction of Maritime Trade of India | Vidya-mitra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= ApkfpQyTY_4 &list= PL_a1TI5CC9RHAwe
DRQ4pPwiQq4SWXZB1-&index=32
Maritime Contacts of East Coast of India with the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf
| Vidya-mitra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSa3HK11 WMo&list=PL_a1TI5CC9R
HAweDRQ4pPwiQq4SWXZB1-&index=33
Talking History |11| Delhi: The Trade Routes of Capital | Rajya Sabha TV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDMM20q2kK4
Sources for the Study of Economic History of Medieval Period | Vidya-mitra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88XQIiwKxE&list=PL_a1TI5CC9R
HAweDRQ4pPwiQq 4SWXZB1-&index=3

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