Towns traders and crafts person

Ibn Battutah said that the Indian soil is so fertile that it produced rice, sugarcane, sesame and cotton in abundance. They founded the base of various village industries such as oil-processing, making of jaggery, weaving, etc.

Kashmir's status in crafts was very good as Kashmir became an important centre of making paper and wood binding trades. Various crafts such as stone cutting, stone polishing, bottle making, window cutting and gold beating also developed in Kashmir and other regional art and craft centers.

Karkhanas' were factories or organised groups of people manufacturing articles; they were the most important centers of production. These karkhanas supplied material for the royal household.

The karkhanas in the Mughal period were known as Buyutat also. Together with storing and manufacturing articles for the royal household and nobles' requirements, the mint, public treasury, treasury, department of construction of monuments, repairing, roads and artillery also came under Buyutat.

Kashmir's status in crafts was very good as Kashmir became an important centre of making paper and wood binding trades. Various crafts such as stone cutting, stone polishing, bottle making, window cutting and gold beating also developed in Kashmir and other regional art and craft centers.

Masulipattinam was a known port city and occupied a grand economic status in the time of Golconda Sultanate. It was connected with two trade cycles-those in the Bay of Bengal in the east and in the Arabian Sea in the west and worked as export and import port for vast hinterland. Main items of exports were textiles, iron and steel, indigo, rice, pepper, spices and salt while main items of import were tin, aromatic woods, wines, bullions and elephants.

The Silver 'tanka' was introduced by the first legitimate ruler of Delhi Sultanate Illtutmish and bronze coin was introduced by Mohammad bin Tughlaq as token money

The trading communities in India were fairly large in number and incorporated some of the richest merchants in the world. The name of Virji Vorah, who dominated Gujarat trade for several decades had a large fleet of ships, Malaya Chetti on the Coromandal Coast and Abdul Gaffar Vohara were some of the noteworthy big merchants.

Bernier said that the merchants tried to look poor because they were scared that they would be used like 'filling sponges' by the ruling class.

The key centers of cotton manufacturing were- Patna, Cambay and Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Burhanpur in Kahandesh, Bengal, Kashmir, Lahore and United Provinces.

The best quality indigo was produced in Sarkhej in Gujarat and at Bayana near Agra. Indigo was a major industry.

Ralph Fitch came to India in the Mughal period and he said that both Fatehpur Sikri and Agra were larger than London

The production of cash crops and growth of grain markets led to the rise of small townships or qasbas. The demand of all types of bourgeoisie led to the expansion of handicrafts and growth of towns. There was peace and security prevailing which boosted the external and internal trade.

The three distinct types of urban centres can be identified as:

• Administrative towns- Delhi, Agra, Lahore, etc.
• Commercial and manufacturing towns- Daulatabad, Patna, Ahmadabad, Muziris, etc.
• Pilgrim towns- Banaras, Kanchipuram, Mathura, etc.

Surat was the emporium of western trade during the Mughal period. People in Surat used to trade with West Asia via the Gulf of Ormuz. There were a number of religious pilgrims who used to set sail on ships to Mecca from Surat. It was a cosmopolitan city and people of all castes lived in the city. Portuguese and the Dutch had their factories and warehouses at Surat.According to an English chronicler, on an average a hundred ships of different countries could be found anchored at the port at a given time. There were several retail and whosale shops selling textiles to the western traders in the city. The Surat hundis were honoured in far off places like Egypt, Iraq and Belgium.

There were many kinds of traders in Medieval India.

• Several traders, especially horse traders, formed associations with headmen who negotiated on their behalf with warriors who bought horses.
• There were also communities like the Chettiars and the Marwari Oswal who went on to become the principal trading groups of the country.
• Gujarati traders, including the communities of Hindu Baniyas and Muslim Bohras, traded extensively with the ports of the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, East Africa, Southeast Asia and China.They sold textiles and spices in these ports and, in exchange, brought gold and ivory from Africa, and spices, tin, Chinese blue pottery and silver from Southeast Asia and China.

Small towns had mandapika (mandi) and hatta (haat) for the villagers to sell their products. Besides, there were streets for different kinds of artisans. Traders came from far to buy local articles and sell products of distant places

A Samanta or a zamindar built a fortified palace in or near these towns. They levied taxes on traders, artisans and articles of trade and sometimes "donated" the "right" to collect these taxes to local temples, which had been built by themselves or by rich merchants.

Indian spices and cloth sold in the Red Sea ports reached European markets, and became an important part of European lifestyle. This drew European traders to India.

The Mughal governor Mir Jumla who was also a merchant, began to play off Dutch and English against each other.