UNIT 14 TRADE, TRADING NETWORKS AND

URBANISATION: NORTH INDIA,

C. AD 300 - C. AD 1300
Structure
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Sources
14.3 Trade, Market Places and Urban Centres AD 300-650
14.3.1 Merchants
14.3.2 Guilds
14.3.3 Market Places
14.3.4 Trade Routes
14.3.5 Long Distance Maritime Trade
14.3.6 Coinage
14.3.7 Urban Centres

14.4 Trade, Market Places and Urban Centres AD 650-1300

14.4.1 Debates on Urban Decay-Arguments for Decline
14.4.2 Debates on Urban Decay-Arguments Against

14.5 Summary
14.6 Glossary
14.7 Exercises
14.8 Suggested Readings

14.1 INTRODUCTION
Our previous survey of trade and urbanization for nearly nine centuries (c.600 BC-
AD 300) indicates a steady development in exchange related activities and in
proliferation of urban centres in north India. The five hundred years preceding the
fourth century AD mark the peak of commerce, especially long-distance trade, and
urbanization in north India. Conventional historiography generally gives an impression
of steady continuity and little change in economic life in the period that follows:
c.AD 300-1300. This is a position which in the recent decades has been questioned
by many leading historians. It is indeed possible to discern a few significant shifts
both in the agrarian and non-agrarian sectors of the economy. That is why it is better
to study the economic situation of these thousand years as a separate unit. In view
of the changes occurring in social, economic, political and cultural life during these
thousand years in north India, it would be logical to divide the millennium from AD
300 to AD 1300 into two chronological segments: c. AD 300-650 and AD 650-
1300. (For details see our Course EHI-03, Block-1).

The period from AD 300 to AD 650 has attracted great attention of scholars who
generally designate this phase as the Gupta period or the classical age in Indian
history. The period indeed witnessed the rise of the imperial Gupta family to political
paramountcy over greater parts of north India (c. AD 320-570). The first half of the
seventh century is famous in the political history of northern India for the growth of
the power of Harshavardhana of Kanauj, though for a limited period. The period 73
Early Medieval Economy and (300-650) is celebrated in Indian historiography for great cultural achievements
its Continuities and general peace and prosperity. While in the previous period a substantial part of
cultural patronage came from non-royal persons, from the fourth century onwards,
and especially after seventh century, resources to cultural activities came mainly
from the royal houses. This itself is an indicator of significant changes in the socio-
cultural situations.

The six centuries and a half, spanning from c. AD 650 to 1300, brought in
regional features in socio-economic, political and cultural life in the whole of
India, including north India. The political scene was featured by the presence
of many regional and local powers in north India and the lack of a paramount
power like the Gupta Empire in north India. This holds also true for the political
situation in the Deccan and the far south. In spite of endemic clashes among
powers, military victories did not necessarily result in territorial expansion. Regional
and local powers emerged not merely in the Ganga valley, but also in hitherto fringe
zones like, Kamarupa (upper Assam), Samatata (eastern Bengal), Dahala (Jabalpur
area in Madhya Pradesh), Kashmir and Rajasthan. Many of these areas did not
experience a monarchical polity prior to AD 600. The sustenance of the extensive
Gupta Empire for nearly two centuries and a half and the proliferation of monarchical
states in many new areas in north India must have come from a strong agrarian base.
In fact the immense spread of agrarian economy during the period from AD 300 to
1300 has led to an impression that the economy was greatly ruralised; the non-
agrarian sector of the economy, according to many historians underwent a decline
from AD 600-1000. It is after AD1000 that crafts, commerce and urban centres
are perceived to have revived again. This perception has generated considerable
scholarly controversies. It will be difficult to miss the growing regional features
permeating social, economic, cultural and political situations. That is why the period
from 650-1300 is labelled as post-Gupta or ‘early medieval’ in Indian history. The
very phrase early medieval implies that the period signalled shifts from the situation
in the ‘ancient’ times; it was actually a phase marking the transition from the ancient
to the medieval and hence termed ‘early medieval’.

14.2 SOURCES
That the period under survey was marked with many shifts from the previous
period is also indicated by new types of source materials and documents which
themselves were witnesses to changing condition. The most important source
material for the study of this period is the huge number of inscriptions.
Inscriptions had already appeared as early as the third century BC. But most
inscriptions after fourth century belonged to the category of copper plates
(tamrasasana/tamrapatta). These copper plates recorded transfer of revenue-
free landed property by royal orders to recipients of the grant. Though this
practice probably appeared first in the Deccan around second century AD, the
practice of issuing land grants became fully established from the fourth century
onwards and assumed an all-India proportion after AD 600. Most of the copper
plates record the creation of revenue-free grant of land gifted to a brahmana, a
group of brahmanas or a religious institution (a Buddhist monastery, a brahmanical
temple or a matha or a Jaina establishment). Such grant of land to religious
donees (recipients of endowments) is known as agraharas. Being official
records of grants of landed property, the copper plates are invaluable for
understanding of rural economy, especially for understanding the process of
transfer of landed property, rural settlement pattern, crops, irrigation projects,
74
peasants and agrarian revenue demands. However, on some occasions the grant Trade, Trading Networks and
may also throw light on important merchants and craftsmen whose presence as Urbanisation: North India
important witnesses to the pious act of donation of land was recorded.
Merchants also figure in copper plate grants in a group or as an assembly on
certain auspicious days when the merchants decided to voluntarily offer some
cesses on the commodities they dealt in in favour of a deity or temple. In such
grants naturally appear not only merchants but also various types of
commodities. These inscriptions also inform us about various types of market
places from some of which were collected tolls and customs (sulka), thereby
indicating the revenue bearing potential of trade. Also known are inscriptions
recording individual donations by merchants, either in favour of a deity or for
some works of public benefactions.

Information on trade and urban centres is available from voluminous legal or

theoretical treatises (sastras/dharmasastras). Theoretical treatises (smritis)
by Vishnu, Vasishtha, Brihaspati and Narada will be useful for our purpose.
Commentaries on these texts (e.g. the commentaries on the Manusmriti and
Yajnavalkyasmriti) also offer some data on this subject. Relevant data can be
gleaned from technical treatises like the famous lexicon, Amarakosa by
Amarasimha (fifth-sixth centuries AD), the Abhidhanachintamani and the
Desinamamala by Hemachandra (eleventh-twelfth century) and the
Lekhapaddhati. Some impressions of commercial activities are available in the
vast creative literature, e.g. the works of Kalidasa, the Mrcchakatikam of
Sudraka, the Dasakumaracharita of Dandin and various types of Jain texts. It
is important to take note of the fact that two well known Jaina texts
Jagaducharita and Vastupalamahatmyam were biographies of two premier
merchants of early medieval Gujarat. Non-indigenous textual materials are of
particular importance as source materials for the history of trade, especially
the external trade of India. The Chinese accounts of Fa-hsien (early fifth century
AD), Hsuan Tsang (first half of the 7th century), Itsing (late seventh century)
and Chau ju Kua (AD 1225) are invaluable sources for the understanding of
trade in India. Arabic and Persian texts on geography and travel (those by
Sulaiman(c. 851), ibn Khordadbih (AD 882), al Masudi (AD 915), Buzurg ibn
Shahriyar (AD 995), the anonymous author of Hudud al Alam (AD 982), al
Biruni (AD 973-1048), and al Idrisi (AD 1162) are replete with information on
Indian commodities and India’s trade linkages with West Asia, though these
accounts are occasionally stereotyped as many of the Arab authors did not
visit India. To this may be added the late sixth century AD accounts of the
Syrian Christian monk Cosmas Indicopleustes and the famous descriptions of
India by the Venetian traveller Marco Polo (late thirteenth century). An unusual
type of source is the letters of medieval Jewish traders, who regularly traded
between the west coast of India and the Red Sea. Though the main point of
their contacts was the Karnataka and Malabar coasts, these unique business
letters, recording the impressions of the actual participants in long-distance
trade, furnish significant data on trade in the Gujarat coast.

In sharp contrast to the wealth of field archaeological data for the period from
600 BC to AD 300, the subsequent period of one millennium has yielded only
handful of excavated and explored materials. Unlike the early historical
settlements, the early medieval ones have not been systematically explored and
excavated and therefore the field archaeological data on trade and urbanisation
are quite inadequate. The Gupta rulers are credited with the issuance of superb
75
Early Medieval Economy and gold coins and also silver coins. The gold coinage of the Gupta Emperors was
its Continuities imitated by a number of smaller powers in the seventh century AD. But coins of
precious metal (gold and silver) became fewer in the early medieval times than
those in the preceding centuries. Minting of quality coins was limited to a handful
number of places in north India; it is after AD 1000 that the issuance of precious
coinage once again revived. Numismatic sources thus offer lesser data than
that furnished by early historical coins. This itself has been interpreted by some
scholars as a prime indication of dwindling commerce, especially foreign trade
of India during the 600-1000 period. The evidence of coins found in some
parts of India during the early medieval times will be discussed in the relevant
section.

14.3 TRADE, MARKET PLACES AND URBAN

CENTRES AD 300-650
India’s thriving commerce with the Roman world seems to have declined after
c. AD 250; there was perhaps a lesser demand for Indian products in the West
and the volume of trade seems to have declined. The fall of the Kushana empire
around c. AD 262 could have also contributed to the lesser volume of external
trade of north India during the period. These shifts in the trade scenario,
however, should not imply any major crisis in the commercial transactions within
India and in north India.

14.3.1 Merchants
Thus the famous lexicographer, Amarasimha explains trade as kraya-vikraya
(purchase and sale of commodities). As before, vanik (trader in general), sresthi
(very rich merchant, possibly banker or money merchant), and sarthavaha
(leader of the carvan traders) continue to be active in this period. Following
the strict varna code they could be assigned the status of vaisyas. But trading
activities on some occassions transgressed the strict varna norms. Thus two
merchant brothers, Bhrikutivarma and Achalavarma appear in an inscription of
AD 466 (of the time of Skandagupta) as pious donors (of cash) to a Sun temple
at Indrapura (modern Indore, Bulandshahr district, Uttar Pradesh); they were
of kshatriya origin and hence described as kshatriya-vanik. Such violation of
strict varna code neither brought them any disrepute, nor was their donation
unacceptable to the shrine. Three such vaniks, Saktinaga, Kumaranaga and
Skandanaga, patronized another sun temple in the present eastern part of
Madhya Pradesh. They appear in the early sixth century not in the Ganga valley
but in the ancient territory of Dahala (near Jabalpur) which was located in a
forest tract (atavirajya). In two inscriptions of early sixth century from the
same area figure a merchant (vanik) and a craftsman (karu). These instances
speak of the active presence of merchants not merely in the Ganga Valley but
also in the relatively isolated region of Central India. Following the profession
of a merchant was so common that the hero of the famous drama
Mrichchhakatikam, Charudatta, was a trader though born in a brahmana
family (vipra-sartha; vipra= brahmana and sartha being an abbreviation of
sarthavaha). The drama in fact describes that Charudatta's father and
grandfather too were merchants. Though they were of brahmana origin they
resided in the quarter of the city assigned to the merchants (Sreshtti-chatvare)
Sarthavahas and sresthis figure consistently in five Gupta copper plates from
76 Damodarpur (in northern part of Bangladesh), which was included in the
Pundravardhana bhukti (province) of the Gupta Empire. These copper plates Trade, Trading Networks and
are dated from c. AD 443-44 to AD 543-44 (i.e. a century). The actual term Urbanisation: North India
referred to in these inscriptions is nagarasresthi. Nagara stands for a city and
sresthi the chief merchant; the term therefore is taken to mean the chief merchant
of the city, possibly of the city of Kotivarsha (identified with the archaeological
site of Bangarh, South Dinajpur district, West Bengal) from where the records
were issued. The term nagarasresthi has also been explained as the chief banker
or money merchant, as the sresthi was often a very rich merchant investing
cash in different business. Along with the nagarasresthi appears the sarthavaha
or the leader of the caravan merchants in the copper plates of the Gupta period
from north Bengal. The significant point to note is that the nagarasresthi and
the sarthavaha were members of the district level administrative board
(vishayadhisthana), assisting the district officer (vishayapati). The district
adminstrator was a distinct officer, appointed by the provincial governor
(uparika or uparika-maharaja) of Pundravardhanabhukti, who in his turn was
appointed by the reigning Gupta emperor himself. The nagarasresthi and the
sarthavaha, on the other hand, were not salaried officers of the Gupta provincial
government in north Bengal. They appear to have been inducted to the district
board as representatives of their respective professional organisations. This
would logically imply that in north Bengal there were not only important
merchants but mercantile organizations or bodies too. Leaders of such merchants’
bodies were important enough to be considered as members of a district board
without being salaried staff of the state. The system, in vogue for at least a
century, certainly speaks of the importance of merchants in the social and political
set up of north Bengal in the fifth and sixth centuries AD.

The prominent role of merchants (in association with craftsmen) is however not
merely confined to north Bengal. As many as 270 seals and/or sealings have
been found from Vaisali (north Bihar) and assigned to the Gupta period. These
seals belonged to professional bodies of merchants and artisans (Sresthi-
Sarthavaha-Kulika nigama)/prathama-kulika, etc.) The term nigama denotes
a professional organization and is synonymous with sreni. It is likely that at vaishali
merchants, caravan traders and artisans had their respective professional
organizations. Besides these, there was also another larger body as a federation of
professional organizations (Sresthi Sarthavaha-kulika-nigama).

Epigraphic evidence therefore strongly undershine that merchants were organized

in their respective sreni like bodies. The cooprative character (Samuha) of
such bodies is particularly emphasised in the Dharmasastras of Brhaspati and
Narada. According to Brahaspati, as and when a new member was inducted in
a sreni, he had undergo a few processes: i) Kosla or a test to ascertain his
moral character, ii) Lekhakriya written undertaking by the new member to
abide by rules and regulation of the body, iii) Madhyastha: the required presence
of a person who knew thoroughly the new member. The Dharmastra repeatedly
emphasize on the compactness of the organisation. It was expect that each and
every member of the sreni would ensure equal investment to the organazation.
If a member causes harm to the sreni, in spite of the objections levelled against
him by other members, the accused member was to compensate any loss
suffered by the sreni. A member violating the terms and conditions of the
organization (samvit vyatikrama) had to face legal actions. The Dharmasastra
also strongly uphold that the laws of the sreni were at par with the laws of the
land. In other words, an accused member of the sreni, was to be tried according
to the laws of the sreni. 77
Early Medieval Economy and
Gupta Copper Plate Grant From Damodarpur
its Continuities
On the 15th (?)th day of Phalguna, in the regnal year …………. While
parama-daivata, parama-bhattaraka, maharajadhiraja Sri Budha-gupta
was (the ruler of the earth), and while in the vishaya of Kotivarsha, prospering
under the government of uparika-maharaja Jayadatta in the bhukti of
Pundravardhana, who was favoured by his Majesty, the ayuktaka Sandaka
(Gandaka?), appointed by him (Jayadatta), was administering the affairs of
the town (adhishthana), in the company of (i.e. with the help of) nagara-
sreshthin Ribhupala, the merchant Vasumittra, the chief kulika Varadatta,
and the chief scribe Viprapala, whereas application was made by this
sreshthin Ribhupala thus – “In Donga-grama in Himavach-chhikhara (lit.
the summit of the Himalaya) 4 kulyavapas of aprada lands were formerly
given by me to Kokamukha-svamin and 7 kulyavapas to Svetavaraha-svamin,
in the hope of benefit to myself (and) for the sake of increasing religious
merits; now in the neighbourhood of those cultivated lands I wish to build
two temples and their two store-rooms for those supreme gods Kokamukha-
svamin and Svetavaraha-svamin (and?) one namalingam (?). So it behoves
you to give (me) kulyavapas with vastu (building-grounds) in accordance
with the prevailing custom of sale.”

Rradhagovinda Basak, ‘The five Damodarpur Copper-Plate Inscriptions of

the Gupta Period’, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. 15, 1982, New Delhi, Plate No. 4
(tr.), pp. 140-41.

14.3.2 Guilds
Professional organizations were known in the legal literature and also in inscriptions
as srenis, often loosely translated as ‘guilds’. Such srenis in our sources are mostly
organisations of craftsmen and service groups, but only occasionally of merchants.
A particular body of merchants, named vaniggrama, prominently figures in three
inscriptions from western India dated in the sixth century. The term vaniggrama
does not denote a village or settlement of merchants, but a professional body of
merchants (grama in the sense of a collection or collective body). A perusal of the
mercantile organization vaniggrama will be in order here. In two inscriptions from
Sanjeli (Gujarat), dated AD 503 and 506 the vaniggrama figures prominently. More
elaborate information is available from the inscription of AD 503. This record enlists
the names merchants converging at Vadrapali. There is little doubt that the mercantile
organisation in question consisted of both local (vastavya) and non-local traders,
the latter coming from various places (caturdisabhyagatakavaidesya). Of the thirteen
merchants explicitly mentioned in the record, some came from as far as Kanyakubja
(modern Kanauj) and Ujjayini. The name of merchant, Gdusuyebhassam-from
Ujjayini-is distinctly non-Indian. The traders met at the house (grhavastuveti) of
merchant (vanijaka) Shashthi who was possibly a local merchant at Vadrapali. The
merchants’ group decided to pay voluntary cesses on certain commodities in favour
of a Vishnu temple. It appears that three years later, in AD 506, Shashthi donated
his own house (svadiyagrihavastu) to the same Vaishnava temple
(paramadevatabhagavatayatana). The commodities handled by the members of
vaniggrama at Vadrapali were mostly bulk items of daily necessities. Interestingly,
many of the cesses were levied in cash, more precisely in silver coins (rupinikas,
vimsopanikas), although some items like, oil was levied in kind. The vaniggrama
looms large in the third inscription from Gujarat, dated AD 592. This charter, issued
by the Maitraka ruler Vishnushena at Lohatagrama in western Gujarat, records a
number of privileges for the vaniggrama who by such concessions were expected to
be settled down (acharasthitipatra) at Lohatagrama. All the seventy two clauses in
78
the inscription are related to the activities of the vaniggrama merchants. That these Trade, Trading Networks and
merchants undertook trips to land abroad, possibly by sea-going vessels (vahitras) Urbanisation: North India
is indicated in the record of AD 592. The inscription informs us about various types
of indigenous modes of transportation, including ferry services, and different types
of craft-products (e.g. bamboo-working, leather-working, and indigo production)
which were levied cesses at fixed rates.

14.3.3 Market Places

Different terms appear in our sources to denote centres of exchanges. This implies
the existence of different types of market places. Ordinary rural level centres of
trade were called hatta. In an inscription of AD 507 from Comilla region, Bangladesh,
figures a dosihatta or a centre for textile trade. The market place is mentioned also
as vipani in Kalidasa’s work. Kalidasa seems to have meant shops by the term
apana. The shop selling intoxicating liquor is known as saundikapanam and the street
leading to shops is mentioned as apanamarga. Classical Sanskrit literature is replete
with accounts of highways flanked by prosperous shops (riddhapanam rajapatham).

14.3.4 Trade Routes

Merchants seem to have traversed well established routes of overland
communications to reach different places in north India. North Indian plains, especially
the Ganga basin and the Ganga delta, must have offered facilities of riverine
communications. A perusal of the travels of two well known Chinese pilgrims, Fa-
hsien in the early fifth century and Hsuan Tsang in the first half of the seventh century,
demonstrates that greater parts of north India, stretching from the northwestern
borderlands to the Bengal delta and Kamarupa in the Brahmaputra valley, were
connected by traditional routes. Needless to add there were numerous difficulties
of communications and hazards of unsafe routes on account of inhospitable areas
and robbers. Their travel accounts nevertheless amply bear out north India maintained
linkages with the Deccan through two corridors: one through eastern Madhya
Pradesh and Orissa and the other through the Malwa region. The famous
Dakshinapatha (Deccan) invasion of Samudragupta (c. 335-75) seems to have
penetrated the eastern Deccan through the first route; it was through eastern and
western Malwa that his son and successor Chandragupta II reached Gujarat to
defeat the Saka rulers of western India in late fourth and early fifth centuries AD.
King Chandra of the Mehrauli iron pillar inscription (palaeographically assignable to
the Gupta times) is credited with reaching Bahlika (Balkh, present Mazar-i-Shariff,
Afghanistan) by crossing the seven mouths of the river Indus. This may suggest
linkages between the Indus delta and northeastern Afghanistan. Overland routes
passing through the northwestern regions were particularly important for the supply
of quality war-horses from Kamboja. Yavanas or merchants of West Asiatic origin,
according to Kalidasa, brought fine horses through this route to north Indian plains
(asvavanikena yavanena).

14.3.5 Long Distance Maritime Trade

Our information on long-distance maritime trade during the period under review is
relatively less than that available for the previous centuries which witnessed vibrant
commercial contacts between India and the Roman Empire, especially through the
Red Sea network. One notes a gradual decline of trade with the Roman Empire and
the western sector of the Indian Ocean at the turn of the fourth century AD. However,
79
Early Medieval Economy and coins of Byzantine emperors have been found from coin hoards from south India.
its Continuities Ports of Gujarat seem to have been important for trade in the Persian Gulf which
provided the major communication with Iran under the Sassanid rulers. This will be
evident from the late sixth century descriptions of the port of Barygaza in the Christian
Topography by Cosmas Indicopleustes. The distribution of Red Ware from coastal
Gujarat to the Kirman coast of south-western Iran strongly suggests maritime contacts
of the north-western littorals with the Iranian sea-board. Overseas activities are
more frequent in the Bay of Bengal which facilitated commercial and cultural contacts
with South-east Asia. The Bengal delta played an important role as an outlet to the
sea for the land-locked Ganga plains. In AD 414 Fa-hsien boarded from the famous
port of Tamralipta a commercial vessel bound for Sri Lanka. The description of this
voyage clearly shows that it was a high sea-voyage, distinct from a coastal journey,
facilitated by the north-east monsoon wind system. From Sri Lanka the Chinese
pilgrim proceeded to Java in south-east Asia and finally reached the Chinese coast.
The seaborne contacts of the Bengal coast is best illustrated by the presence of a
mahanavika (a master mariner), named Buddhagupta in Malay peninsula. This sixth
century inscription from Malay peninsula mentions Buddhagupta as a resident of
Raktamrittika (Raktamrittikavasika), usually located in the Murshidabad district,
West Bengal. The Bengal delta with numerous rivers including the Ganga was
particularly suitable for reaching the Bay of Bengal. That is why in two sixth century
inscriptions from Bangaldesh mention is made of a ship-building area (navataksheni)
and of an officer looking after trade (vyaparakarandya). An area in central deltaic
Bengal was named Navyavakasika (new channel or opening) which was associated
with praksamudra. The term praksamudra either implies that the administrative
area of Navyavakasika reached upto the sea or the eastern (prak) sea (samudra)
was accessible from the deltaic zone through a new fluvial channel. The premier
port in this area was undoubtedly Tamralipta, figuring prominently in Hsuan
Tsang’s travel account in Bengal. Hsuan Tsang also indicates the importance of
San-mo-ta-ta or Samatata which maintained overseas contacts with six areas
in mainland South-east Asia.

14.3.6 Coinage
A significant index of trade in north India during the three centuries comes from
coins. The Imperial Guptas are celebrated in Indian history for minting excellent
gold coinage for nearly two centuries. Superbly executed, the Gupta gold coins
were known initially as dinaras and later as suvarnas in contemporary inscriptions.
They were struck on a standard unit of weight (metrology) of 124 grains; in other
words, the Guptas probably continued the metrology of the Kushana gold coins. It
was during the reign of Kumaragupta (AD 414-54) that the first attempts at striking
the Gupta gold coins on a heavier metallic standard was made. Some of the gold
coins of Kumaragupta weighed 132 grains. The heavier suvarna weight standard
of 144 grains for the Gupta gold coins was introduced during the reign of Skandagupta
(AD 455-67). Though the Gupta gold coins begun to be struck on a heavier weight
standard, the metallic purity of gold coins was far from being maintained, especially
after AD 500. In fact, there is a distinct possibility that the suvarna standard gold
coins of the later rulers of the imperial Gupta family had a debased gold content.
This strongly suggests a period of economic difficulties within the empire. Long-
distance trade could have been disturbed by the Huna inroads in north India during
the reign of Skandagupta (c.AD 455-467) and also during the first quarter of the
sixth century AD. Many rulers formerly vassals of the Guptas began to issue coins
as marks of their overthrowing allegiance to the Guptas. They often imitated the
80 weight standard and devices of the Gupta gold coinage; but these gold coins were
mostly debased gold currency, sometimes having as low as 37% gold contents. It is Trade, Trading Networks and
unlikely that these gold coins of suvarna weight standard (144 grains) had adequate Urbanisation: North India
intrinsic value and were hardly suitable for long-distance trade during the second
half of the sixth century AD.

The silver coinage of the Guptas began with the conquest of Gujarat region from the
Western Kshatrapa rulers in the early part of the fifth century AD. The Gupta silver
coinage followed the weight standard of Kshatrapa silver coinage and was not based
on the long-standing indigenous karshapana (silver coin) standard of 32 ratis or
57.6 grains. A copper plate of the fifth century from north Bengal clearly shows that
the Gupta silver coin was known as rupaka. The ratio between the Gupta gold and
silver coins was 1:16. These coinages in precious metals speak highly of the trade,
including long-distance trade in north India, at least till AD 500 after which a slump
in the long-distance overland trade in north India cannot entirely be ruled out.

14.3.7 Urban Centres

Urban centres as politico-administrative centres, trade centres and cultural centres
figure in the literary texts of the period, especially in the celebrated works of Kalidasa.
Sanskrit texts and inscriptions are replete with references to puras and nagaras.
The famous lexicon, Amarakosa, cites the terms pura, nagara and putabhedana
as interchangeable terms to denote urban centres. The term putabhedana, it has
already been stated, means a type of trade centre. Its inclusion in terms to denote
cities suggests that at least some major centres of trade assumed urban proportion.
Another well known technical treatise, the Kamasutra of Vatsyayana has the city-
bred man (nagaraka) at the centre of its focus. Images of vibrant city life are also
available in four bhanas or monologue plays of the Gupta period. On the other
hand, Fa-hsien and Hsuan Tsang give the impression that several famous and older
cities of north India lost their erstwhile prosperity and glory and were experiencing
decay. To this has been added the field archaeological information about urban
centres of north India many of which showed signs of impoverishment. Cities like
Sravasti, Mathura, Atranjikheda, Khairadih (in Uttar Pradesh), Rajagriha, Vaisali
(in Bihar), and Champa were past their heydays. It is true that cities like Varanasi
and Ujjaiyini continued to be important urban centres. There is also no major sign of
decline in the urban standard at Mahasthangarh and Bangarh in north Bengal. But in
general the archaeological material of the Gupta phase (AD 300-600) are not as
rich as the Saka-Kushana-Satavahana phase (c. 200BC-AD 300) in terms of urban
artefacts. A number of scholars have attributed the decline of urban centres in the
Gupta period to the decrease in India’s long-distance trade with the Roman Empire
and to the adverse effects of the Huna raids on overland trade routes in north India.
This perception of languishing trade and decaying urban centres during the Gupta
and post-Gupta times has generated considerable scholarly controversy. The problem
will be elaborately discussed in a subsequent section. (For details see our Course
EHI-03, Block-1, Unit-2)

14.4 TRADE, MARKET PLACES AND URBAN

CENTRES AD 650-1300
Studies of these six centuries and a half have in recent years generated significant
debates among historians. The period in question began to attract the attention of
historians since the mid-thirties of the twentieth century, though initially scholars
showed a distinct preference for dynastic history. Politically, north India and the
81
Early Medieval Economy and whole of the subcontinent abounded in monarchical powers. But unlike the powers
its Continuities of the pre-600 AD none of the powers exercised paramount position over either
north India, the Deccan and the far south. The political scene is featured by the
prevalence of a number of regional powers of great strength and many local powers.
Another notable character of the politico-administrative set up is the presence of
numerous feudatories or samantas of various grades and ranking. The political
scenario is much more complex than the previous centuries. In recent times scholars
are more interested in explaining the processes of the emergence and consolidation
of regional polities rather than presenting the narratives of dynastic successions. All
these rulers issued numerous land grants which provide the main source of information
not only for the political life but also for social, economic and cultural history.

14.4.1 Debates on Urban Decay-Arguments for Decline

As we have pointed out earlier, the land grants understandably contain extremely valuable
data on early medieval rural society and economy. But the very nature and purpose of
these grants leave little scope of recording activities of craftsmen and merchants in urban
centres. One can hardly miss the immense proliferation of copper plate charters since
AD 600 in the whole of the subcontinent, including north India. Information on the non-
agrarian sector of the economy in such grants is relatively scarce. This is in sharp contrast
to the donative records and administrative documents prior to AD 600 where merchants,
craftsmen, various professional groups were prominently mentioned often in the context
of the non-rural settlements. A number of scholars have argued that the change in the
mode of documents and documentation is in fact an indicator of the changes in social
and economic life. The huge number of land grants, according to them, implies a strong
ruralisation of the economy after AD 600/650. In such changing material milieu the
relevance of craftsmen, merchants and urban centres appear to have lessened. It has
been argued that the decline in India’s flourishing and brisk commerce with the Roman
empire after the fourth century adversely affected India’s commercial economy. The
period from AD 600-1000 did not witness India’s meaningful participation in long-distance
trade, and as a result there was little urge to commodity crafts production and their
exchange in an international network. It is implied therefore that India’s long distance
trade revived after AD 1000 mainly because of the growth in the trade with the expanding
Arab commercial network. To the data from epigraphic materials has been added and
supplemented information from literary texts, especially the Puranas. A close perusal of
the major Puranas, which appear to have taken their present shape by around 4th/5th
century AD, has led many scholars to conclude that the Puranic descriptions imply
sharp changes in social, economic and political situations. These scholars perceive major
crises in the socio-economic and political set up after fifth century. Attention has been
drawn to Puranic descriptions of the impoverished conditions of merchants in the
Kaliyuga, the worst of the ages in the traditional scheme of four ages in Indian thought.
The merchants, according to the Brihannaradiya Purana, would be reduced to the
position of servants (karmopajivin) and rice-husker (tandulakarin) in the Kali age.
Only a handful number of merchants are explicitly stated in inscriptions in north India
during the period from AD 600 to AD 1000. Tamralipta, the premier port not only of
Bengal, but also of the entire land-locked Ganga valley, died down in eighth century,
mainly on account of the siltation of the river on which it stood. The last known epigraphic
reference to Tamralipta is found in an eighth century inscription from the Hazaribagh
region in Bihar. The port of Barbaricum in the delta of the river Indus did not enjoy any
economic prominence in the early medieval times. The port of Daibul in the same region
began to come to limelight as an international port after tenth century. Similarly, the
premier port in the Gujarat, namely Barygaza or Broach, had been past its former glory.
82
The fading out of these three ports could have adversely affected the long-distance Trade, Trading Networks and
maritime trade of north India. All these have been taken to demonstrate the gradual Urbanisation: North India
decline of trade and merchants in the economic life of early medieval north India.

The above portrayal of dwindling trade in the early middle ages has been further driven
home by the paucity of coins of precious metals. Three outstanding regional powers of
early medieval times, namely the Palas and the Senas of Bengal and Bihar (c. AD 750-
1200) and the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan (c. AD 754- 974) did not issue any coins.
Another major power, the Gurjara-Pratiharas of Kanauj and western India, struck silver
coins but of doubtful weight standard and metallic purity. Such coins would have been
unsuitable as reliable metallic medium of exchange in long-distance trade because of
their questionable intrinsic value which did not match their face value. A notable exception
to this declining monetary situation is seen in the issue of quality coins by the Shahi rulers
of the Punjab and northwestern India. It has been pointed out that the territory under the
Shahi rulers of northwestern India had not yielded any copper plate. Thus some scholars
would like to underline that money economy and landgrant economy were mutually
incompatible.

In many copper plate grants from the Ganga valley and especially from Bengal, coin
terms like purana, dharana, and dramma. occasionally occur. Though these coin terms
were known, no actual specimen of such coin has been discovered from the realms of
the Palas and the Senas. On the other hand large number of copper plates often mention
kapardakas or cowries. The expression kapardaka-purana also figures in these copper
plates. The latter term does not point to a particular type of coin, but refers to a purana
or a silver coin in terms of its equivalence to cowry-shells. The traditional arithmetical
tables of early medieval eastern India indicates that the ratio between a silver coin and
xt:cowry-shells stood at 1:1280. In other words 1280 cowries were equivalent to one
silver coin. The wide use of the expression kapardaka-purana in early medieval
inscriptions, hitherto unknown before eighth century, may suggest that cowry-shells were
the principal medium of exchange. These seem to have replaced the metallic medium of
exchange which lost their relevance on account of their questionable intrinsic value.
Excavations at Colgong near Bhagalpur in eastern Bihar have yielded large number of
cowries, thereby providing the material proof of their regular circulation as a medium of
exchange. It has been pointed out that cowries could have been only a poor and inadequate
substitute for metallic money. The transportation of the huge bulk of cowry-shells would
have created more problems than advantages; in other words, cowry-shells are viewed
as unsuitable for long-distance commerce. These could be at the best useful for local
level trade and were ‘restrictive of long-distance trade’. Thus the widespread prevalence
of cowry-shells as notional currency is interpreted as a further evidence of the decline of
long-distance trade. The perception of a ‘monetary anaemia’ afflicting the erstwhile vibrant
commercial economy is strongly present in many historical researches.

Dwindling trade and relative absence of metallic money were not conducive to the large
scale production of commodities for exchange related purposes. The result was not only
immense dependence on agriculture, but also of a self-sufficient village economy. All the
needs of the villages are suggested to have been produced and available in villages
which felt little urge for movements of commodities from outside. The relative lack of
trade thus brought about self-sufficient villages which were enclosed and stagnant. The
lack of coined money could have posed serious problems for rulers to pay salaries to
their officers. Under such circumstances, the ruler had to take recourse to assigning land
to his officers in lieu of cash. This would give rise to the practice of issuing secular land
grants, in addition to grants of lands for religious persons and institutions. The assignment
83
Early Medieval Economy and of service or secular land grants further impoverished the royal exchequer and corroded
its Continuities the central authority. In the absence of trade and paucity of metallic medium of exchange
there emerged in early medieval north India an essentially self-sufficient and enclosed
village economy. The adverse effects of languishing commerce and ‘monetary anaemia’
were not thus limited to economic life, but paved the way for a decentralised polity and
parcellised sovereignty. It is viewed by proponents of Indian feudalism that languishing
commerce resulted in an acute shortage of metallic currency. This ushered in great
difficulties of payment of royal functionaries in cash; the outcome of this situation was the
practice of giving service-grants (like subsequent jagir) to high officers in lieu of cash. In
course of time these poweful functionaries not only amassed enormous wealth from the
areas assigned to them, but became locally very powerful. This would further undermine
the authority of the ruler, the apex political authority. In other words, the ruler gradually
suffered considerable loss of his economic and political prerogatives at the cost of these
feudatories and vassals. The conditions in economy and polity resulted in the genesis
and consolidation of feudalism in India in early medieval period.

As the economy, characterised as feudal, was steeped in ruralism and gave little scope
of trade, it is supposed to have been hardly conducive to urban growth. In mark contrast
to the wealth of archaeological data on urban centres of early historical period, excavated
and explored information about early medieval cities is much poorer. Many of the former
urban centres have yielded evidence of their decaying material milieu, haphazard layout
and utilization of re-used bricks. These are interpreted as clear signs of deurbanisation
over greater parts of the subcontinent, including north India, during AD 600-1000 phase.
A Prakrit text mentions that urban centres turned into villages (nayarani gamabhuayani
hohinti). It has been argued that decline in India’s commerce played a crucial role in the
urban decay. Urban areas, belonging to the non-agrarian sector of the economy, were
linked up with trade centres, and many of urban centres were also major centres of
trade and commerce. Analyses of the copper plates of the Palas, Senas and the Pratiharas
may indicate lesser references to terms like nagara and pura. Copper plates are replete
with references to jayaskandhavaras or victorious army camps. Such
jayaskandhavaras began to act as politico-military headquarters. It has been inferred
that urban centres as areas for exchange and crafts production gradually faded away
and were replaced by military and political headquarters. Early medieval north India
witnessed the rise of many centres of pilgrimage (tirtha) which as sacred centres sometime
assumed urban proportions. The historians of Indian feudalism argue that as urban centres
lost their primary relevance as trading zones, they became religious centres which would
undermine their role as centres of production/manufacture of commodities and exchange.
Thus there prevailed, like the monetary anaemia’, an urban anaemia in early medieval
times. Urban contraction resulted in rural expansion which strengthend the material milieu
of the feudal economy of early medieval India. Trade, or more precisely the assumed
absence of trade, plays a crucial role in the feudal social formation in early medieval
north India. Three areas showed typical symptoms of a feudal economy: Bengal under
the Palas and the Senas, the Gurjara-Pratihara kingdom in the the Ganga-Yamuna doab,
and the Rashtrakuta domain in the Deccan.

14.4.2 Debates on Urban Decay-Arguments Against

The above portrayal of a declining commercial and urban economy in north India during
the early middle ages, however, has not gone uncontested. The formulation of the feudal
economy in early medieval India has also been critiqued. Many scholars have pointed
out factual inaccuracies in the formulation of the feudal economy. Attempts have been
made by using various sources, including epigraphic materials, to show that trade did not
84
alarmingly decline and that there was no major de-urbanisation over an extensive area. Trade, Trading Networks and
It is beyond any doubt that the practice of land grants, often issued with reference to Urbanisation: North India
lands lying in the uncultivated, unsettled forest or fallow tracts, paved the way for
unprecedented rural expansion. But does the proliferation of agrarian settlements
necessarily imply consolidation of self-sufficient and enclosed villages? Two essential
and indispensable requirements of human life, namely salt and iron, were not available
locally at each and every village. If these items were to be procured from non-local
sources, then serious doubts can be raised about the perception of self-sufficiency and
the enclosed nature of early medieval villages.

Presence of Market Places

In-depth studies of land grants reveal that market places were not entirely absent in
these records, even in inscriptions of pre-1000 AD days. Inscriptions and textual sources
speak of the presence of various types of market places, some of them hitherto unknown
prior to AD 600. Thus the term hatta or hattika frequently occurs in the inscriptions of
north India in the early middle ages. Hatta/hattika generally signifies a rural level small
centre of exchange. The term survives in the modern word hat, widely known in Bengal
and Bihar. Such rural market centres are periodic in nature in that transactions do not
take place there everyday, but only once or twice per week on fixed days. In copper
plates which are strongly oriented to the rural surroundings, village level market places
like the hatta and the hattika figure frequently. They are also mentioned in the copper
plates as important landmarks in the rural areas. Many such epigraphic descriptions of
the hatta also speak of the availability of the drinking-water (prapa) and resting places
(arama), feeding houses (sattra) close to the hatta. In some inscriptions of the Palas,
the terms hattavara is encountered. It would probably denote a hatta more important
or larger than an ordinary one. A case in point is probably Devapaladevahatta. It stood
close to the famous monastery and university of Nalanda. The hatta being named after
Devapala (c. AD 810-850), the famous Pala ruler, it is likely that it was larger and more
prominent than a simple rural level market place. That there stood a hatta in the eastern
part (purvahatta) of the well known urban market centre at Tattanandapura (Ahar,
Bulandshahr district, Uttar Pradesh) is evidently clear from the inscriptions found from
there (second half of the ninth century). This hatta was certainly not a rural level market
centre, but was situated within a large urban trading area. The mention of a hattamarga
or a street leading to a market place is found in another inscription from Tattanandapura.
Thus the term hatta could mean a trade centre in an urban area, in addition to its more
common connotation of a rural exchange centre. A similar hatta was established at the
formerly deserted site of Rohinisakupaka in AD 861 by Kakkuka in Jodhpur area of
Rajasthan; at this market centre were also settled merchants (hatta mahajanscha
sthapita).

At early medieval Prthudaka (modern Pehoa, Karnal district, Haryana) took place in
the ninth century a horse-fair (ghotaka-yatra). The relevant inscription also gives us
names of horse-dealers who assembled at Prthudaka. The term yatra here stands for a
fair which is once again periodic in nature. It is hardly expected that animal fairs would
be conducted daily throughout the year. On the other hand it is logical to infer that such
a fair would be organised at a fixed time in the year, particularly during some festive
seasons. Though periodic in nature, a yatra is different from a hatta as transactions in
the former would not take place once or twice a week, but only once a year. Such an
annual fair for the transactions in wooly (?) animals took place in the ninth century Kaman
in Rajasthan. The Kaman inscription calls it as kambali-hatta.

85
Early Medieval Economy and
Details On Horse Fair- Pehwa Inscription
its Continuities
Om! During the increasing, auspicious and victorious reign of the feet of his majesty,
the supreme sovereign, superior king of great kings (and) supreme lord, the illustrious
Bhoja who mediates on the feet of his majesty, the supreme sovereign, superior king of
great kings (and) supreme lord, the illustrious Ramabhadra, in the year two hundred
exceeded by seventy-six, on the seventh (lunar day) of the bright half of the month of
Vaisakha, (in figures) Samvat 276 Vaisakha sudi 7 – on this lunar day specified as above
by the year, month and (civil) day (mentioned) met here in the famous town of Prithudaka
at the horse-fair on the Pisachichaturdasi the (following) inhabitants of Chutavarshika,
Bhatta Viruka’s sons Vanda and Rajyavala and Valluka, likewise Ranuka’s son Rajyasiha;
the (following) inhabitants of Utpalika, Bhalluka’s son Mangaka, Chinha’s son
Chonaraka; likewise the (following) inhabitants of Chikkariselavanapura, Dada’s son
Kalluka, his son Jayaraka, Vishnu’s son Adityaraka, Rajjuka’s sons Chinha and Rangaka,
Kalluka’s son Vamuka; the (following) inhabitants of Valadevapura (Baladevapura),
Khambhata’s son Hoddha, Mriganka’s son Viddaka, Kesava’s son Dhanuka, Khangaka’s
son Vamuka, Manikka’s son Uehari; the (following) inhabitants of Sarankadika, Nara’s
sons Lohata (or Lahata) and Sankara, Valuka’s son Isvaraditya; the (following)
inhabitants of Siharudukkaka, Ullaka’s son Vachchhaka, Jayadharaka’s son Ranika, Sura’s
son Pragada; the (following) inhabitants of Traighataka, Dharata’s son Chanda,
Ekagoraka’s son Savva, Devasarman’s son Phampha, Vagguka’s son Kammika; the
(following) inhabitants of Ghamghaka, Lallika’s son Svamiraka, Simghuka’s son Si[ha],
Damodara’s son Pombha, Halluka’s son Davvu,… Kasili, Mana’s son Khajji; the
(following) inhabitant of Asvala-Uhovaka, Usuha’s son Vaddha. The foreman of the
…dealers, come from various countries, chief among whom are those mentioned above,
grants to the sacred place of famous Prithudaka a charter to the following (effect): To the
(temple of the) god built by the illustrious Guhaditya in famous Kanyakubja, and to (the
temple of) the god built by Kadambaditya even there in the Gotirtha, and to the (temple
of the) god riding on Garuda built by Bhuvaka, the son of the Nagara Bhatta Prabhakara
on the bank of the Ganges in famous Bhojapura near famous Kanyakubja, and to the
(temple of the) sacrificial boar built by the same Bhuvaka in famous Prithudaka near the
Eastern Sarasvati, we have given on the sale of horses, mares, mules and other animals
– in Prithudaka in the case of a purchase by the king as well as in the case of a purchase
by the Thakuras, the provincials and so forth, and in Traighataka and other sacred
places in the case of a purchase by the king alone – for the sake of spiritual merit two
dharmas for each animal, as a perpetual endowment; and dividing that into twenty-four
shares, we have assigned seven shares to the (temple of the) god built by the illustrious
Guhaditya, and seven shares to the (temple of the) god built by Kadambaditya, and
seven shares to (the temple of) him who rides on Garuda, and one share to the (temple
of the) sacrificial boar built by Bhuvaka in Prithudaka, and one share to the temple priest
of the latter, and one share to the sacred place of Prithudaka; moreover we have assigned
out of the twelve shares into which the one dharma given for each horse by the purchasers
of horses has been divided, [six] shares to (the temple of) the sacrificial boar built by
Bhuvaka in Prithudaka near the Eastern Sarasvati and to the temple priest of the latter
two shares, and to the sacred place in famous Prithudaka four shares. This [should be
agreed to] by the sellers and buyers of horses, (and) the virtuous Goshthikas should
thus manage on their own part and on behalf of others, according to the rule laid down
above, as long as sun and moon exist. Moreover these shares should be divided [by the
Goshthikas] according to [the rule] laid down above.
G. Buhler, “The Peheva Inscription from the Temple of Garibnath’, Epigraphia Indica,
Vol. I, pp. 188-190.

It is almost entirely from north Indian inscriptions that one comes across a new type of
market place from the eighth-ninth centuries. This is mandapika, literally meaning a
covered area. The term in question can easily be equated with mandis which abounds in
modern times in the Ganga-Yamuna doab, upper Ganga valley and western India. These
mandis are larger than rural level hats, but smaller than markets in large urban areas.
One of the earliest references to a mandi is seen in the Baijnath Prasasti (8th /9th century)
in the Kangra region in Himachal Pradesh. At Kiragrama (modern Kangra) there was a
mandapika where three merchants belonging to a family of merchants donated a cash
86
of 6 drammas (silver coins) out of the daily collection at the mandapika in favour of a Trade, Trading Networks and
temple at Baijnath. At Siyadoni (modern Siron) stood another large mandapika where Urbanisation: North India
the presence of merchants (including salt dealers) and various professional groups is
unmistakable from the inscriptions. Inscriptions also suggest that there was a marked
concentration of mandapikas in Rajasthan and Gujarat from the middle of the tenth
century onwards, and especially after AD 1000. The mandapika at Naddula (modern
Nadole) demands our special attention. Inscriptions from Nadol show that Naddula
was initially a village, in fact one village in a cluster of twelve villages (dvadasagramiya
Naddulagrama). Naddula subsequently emerged as a mandapika where considerable
trade took place mainly in grains and other agricultural products. Naddula then began to
be called a nagara or city and ultimately became the political centre of the Chahamanas
of Nadole. It appears that Naddula was located almost at the centre of the cluster of
twelve villages or was more or less equidistant from those villages. This immensely helped
Naddula function as a nodal point where surplus agricultural products from surrounding
villages were brought. This paved the way for the establishment of a mandapika at
Naddula. These factors were instrumental in the remarkable transformation of Naddula
from a village to an urban centre and finally to an apex political centre of local power in
early medieval Rajasthan. That these mandapikas were well connected by trade routes
and available transport systems is demonstrated by epigraphic records. Thus in AD
1114 commodities were brought to the mandapika at Mangalapura (mod. Mangrol,
Gujarat) by oxen (vrsa), asses (gardabha), and camels (ushtra). Mandapikas were
appearing also in the Kalachuri kingdom in Dabhala (eastern part of Madhya Pradesh).
Such a mandapika was situated at Bilhari and another at Karitalai. The mandapika at
Bilhari is mentioned in an inscription of AD 975. The commercial character of the
mandapika is clearly driven home by the references to merchants assembling there.
Many mandapikas were known as sulkamandapikas, i.e. tolls and customs were levied
both in cash and kind at the mandapika. The levy of tolls is a clear proof of the commercial
transactions at the mandapika. The mandapika at Nadole was designated as Srinaddula
talapada sulkamandapika. The mandapika in question was officially recognised as a
toll-taking centre; moreover its location in talapada area (lands fully assessed for revenue)
further underlines the strong possibilities of revenue-bearing aspects of the mandapika.
No less significant is the impressive range of commodities which were brought to the
mandapika for sale. Large varieties of agrarian products, including grains and green
vegetables, salt, regularly appear among the list of items brought to the mandapika.
Textiles and various types of spices are also mentioned in the list of leviable products.
Interestingly enough, pepper (marica) was available at the mandapika at Bilhari in
Madhya Pradesh; pepper is unlikely to have been a local product of this region. It was
probably brought from far away Malabar, the area best known for pepper plantation. At
Bilhari and also at the mandapikas of Sripatha and Vusavata (in Bayana, Rajasthan,
AD 955) were sold much costlier items like the horse. The elephant, another precious
animal meant for an elite clientele, figures in the list of dutiable items at the mandapika at
Bilhari. The mandapikas thus witnessed transactions in grains, many daily necessity
commodities (probably as bulk items), and costlier items like spices and animals like
horses and elephants. Some of the mandapikas, for instance those at Siyadoni and
Bilhari, were designated as pattanamandapika. The term may suggest either a
mandapika in an urban area or a mandapika which had assumed an urban proportion.
The Lekhapaddhati, an early medieval text from Gujarat, uses the term mahamandapika.
The use of the prefix maha clearly demonstrates that at least some mandapikas became
much larger than their counterparts. These mandapikas seem to have maintained crucial
trading linkages both with their respective rural hinterland and also with larger urban
areas.
87
Early Medieval Economy and Inscription At Siyadoni
its Continuities
1. [Lines 1-4]: Samnvat 960, Sravana (in words and figures). The whole town gave a field measuring
200 by 225 hastas to Sri-Narayana-bhattaraka, set up by the merchant Chanduka, the son of
Sangata, in the southern part of the town.
2. [4-7]: Samvat 964, Margasira va.di. 3 (in words and figures). The Mahasamantadhipati Undabhata
assigned an endowment, securing the daily payment of a quarter of a panchiyakadramma and of
one yuga (?) Sri-Vishnu-bhattaraka, set up by Chanduka.
3. [7-8]: The same date. The merchants Chanduka, Savasa, and Mahapa, sons of Sangata, gave an
avasanika (or residence) comprising four houses to Sri-Vishnu-bhattaraka, set up by Chanduka,
the son of Sangata.
4. [8-10]: Samvat 965, Asvina su.di. 1 (in words and figures). The merchant Nagka, son of Chandu,
made an endowment acquired of certain potters, to the effect that the distillers of spirituous
liquor, on every cask of liquor, were to give liquor worth half a vigrahapaladramma (?) to the god
(Vishnu).
5. [10]: The mechant Nagaka, son of Chandu, assigned (an endowment securing) the daily payment
by certain sugar-boilers of a varahakayavimsopaka (?).
6. [11-13]: Samvat 967, Phalguna va.di. 15 (in words and figures). The merchant Vasudeva gave (an
avasanika ?) in the Dosihatta to Sri-Vishnu-bhattaraka, set up by Vasudeva near (?) the Sri-
Vishnu-bhattaraka set up by Chanduka; and a house of his own, to the (same) god, (for the
worship of the sacred fire).
7. [13-15]: The merchant Chanduka gave a vithi (or shop) in the Prasannahatta; and the same
Chanduka, son of Sangata, gave four hereditary vithis of his own to Sri-Vishnu-bhattaraka.
8. [15-16]: The seller of betel Kesava, son of Vatesvara, gave a hereditary vithi of his own in the
Chaturhatta to Sri-Vishnu-bhattaraka, set up by Chandu.
9. [16-17]: The merchant Nagaka, son of Chandu, gave two vithis, acquired in the Dosihatta, to Sri-
Vishnu-bhattaraka.
10. [17-18]: The merchant Siluka, son of Mahapa, gave a vithi acquired by him to Sri-Narayana-
bhattaraka.
11. [18-20]: Samvat 969, Magha su.di.5(in words and figures). The merchant Nagaka, son of Chandu,
gave a capital of 1,350 srimadadivarahadrammas,invested with the distillers of spirituous liquor,
who were to pay every month half a vigrahatungiyadramma on every cask of liquor (?) to Sri-
Vishnu-bhattaraka.
12. [20-21]: The merchant Nagaka, son of Chandu, gave an endowment realizing a payment of two
kapardakas on certain yugas in the Dosihatta(?).
13. [21-22]: Nagaka gave a vithi acquired in the Dosihatta to Sri-Narayana-bhattaraka.
14. [22-23]: Nagaka, son of Chandu, gave three vithis of his own to Sri-Narayana-bhattaraka.
15. [23-24]: The merchant Bhaila, son of Govinda, gave a hereditary vithi (realizing one-third of a
vigrahapaliyadramma?) to Sri-Vamanasvamideva.
16. [24-25]: Nagaka gave two houses to Tribhuvanasvamideva.
17. [25-26]: The seller of betel Dhamaka gave an uvataka bought by him to Sri-Umamahesvara.
18. [26-27]: Samvat 994, Vaisakha va.di. 5 samkrantau. The sellers of betel, Savara, son of Kesava,
and Madhava, son of Ichchu, gave an endowment realizing the payment of a
vigrahadrammavisovaka on every palika of leaves to the god (Vishnu), set up by Chanduka.
19. [27]: Savasa gave a vithi to Tribhuvanasvamideva.
20. [27-28]: Nagaka gave a palika of oil from every oil-mill of the oil-makers (?).
21. [28-29]: Samvat 1005, Magha su.di. 5 (in words and figures). The Mahajans in the Dosihatta
assigned a monthly payment of one-third of a dramma to Sri-Bhailasvamideva, set up by the
merchant Vikrama.
22. [29-30]: The Sutradhara Jejapa, Visiaka, Bhaluaka, and other stone-cutters, assigned a payment of
one-third of a vigrahapaladramma on every bharana to Sri-Vishnu-bhattaraka.
23. [30-31]: Samvat 1008, Magha su.di. 11 (in figures only). Kesava, Durgaditya, and other oil-
makers, gave a palika of oil from every oil-mill to Sri-Chakrasvamideva, set up by Purandara in
the temple of Vishnu erected by Chandu.
24. [31-33]: The merchants Mahaditya and Nohala, sons of Pappa, gave an avasanika, comprising
three houses, to Sri-Chakrasvamideva, set up by Pappaka, the son of Dedada.
25. [33-34]: Samvat 991, Magha su.di. 10 (in figures). Nagaka, son of Chandu, Dedaika, Vali, and
Rudaka, sons of Jaju, and Chhitaraka, son of Sava, gave an avasanika with the houses and vithis
belonging to it to the god (Vishnu).
26. [34-36]: Dedaika, Valika and Rudaka, sons of Jaju, gave a vithi in the Chatushkahatta toSri-
Vishnu-bhattaraka, set up by Chandu.
27. [36-39]: Samvat 1025, Magha va.di. 9 (in figures). The merchant Sridhara, son of Mahaditya,
assigned a quarter of a srimadadivarahadramma, paid as the rent of a vithi (?) to Sri-Vishnu-
bhattaraka, set up by Mahaditya in the temple of Vishnu erected by Chandu.
88 K. Kielhorn, ‘Siyadoni Stone Inscription’, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. I, pp. 167-68.
Market places evidently had shops which were known as vithis and apanas. At Trade, Trading Networks and
Siyadoni some shops were described as hereditarily owned by some merchants Urbanisation: North India
(pitrpitamahoparjita), some others were owned or built by merchants themselves
(svoparjita). The mention of shops owned hereditarily by traders-possibly for three
generations-will suggest the brisk commercial activities in such shopping
establishments over a long period. These shops were evidently meant for retail trade.

Though hatta/hattika and pura, nagara figure in copper plates of the Pala-Sena
period (c. AD 750-1200), mandapikas are absent in Bengal. Bengal, located in the
Ganga delta and watered by many rivers, had several riverine ports facilitating inland
riverine communications. Early medieval copper plates from Bengal often mention
small boat stations (nau-danda, nau-bandha) as landmarks in rural spaces which
have innumerable streams and rivulets (srotasvini, ganginika), canals, and channels.
Of course the most important riverine route was along the Ganga or Bhagirathi on
which plied many vessels (sa khalu Bhagirathipathapravartmana-nauvata). From
the late seventh century onwards, the eastern part of the delta began to have riverine
ports. One such port was Devaparvata (modern Mainamati-Lalmai, Bangladesh)
which according to copper plates (from seventh to early tenth century) by the river
Kshiroda on which plied many boats around the river-port of Devaparvata. Another
copper plate of c. AD 971, found from Sabhar (close to Dhaka, the capital of
Bangladesh) records an unusual place-name: Vangasagara-sambhandariyaka. Sabhar
is located on the river Vamsi and functions as a small inland riverine port. The term
sambhandariyaka may be taken to mean a place offering adequate or proper facilties
(samyak) for storage of goods (bhandara). The very name Sabhar is suggested to
have been derived from the word, sambhara, meaning a stock of commodities.
There is a strong likelihood that at Sabhar or ancient Sambhara stood a
sambhandariyaka. This warehousing facility at Sabhar may bring it close to
putabhedanas of earlier times (see above).

Images of mercantile activities figure in various types of literary texts. The

knivalayamala of Girasenasuri (c. 8th century) offers a lively account of an
assembly of merchants (vanikmeli) who congregated at the well-known port town
of Surparaka. Though the account is probably based on earlier memories, the
interesting point is the exchange of experiences of merchants among themselves.
The same port also appears in the Jatakamala of Aryasura (c. 7th/8th century). At
Surparaka, according to this text, lived the Buddha in one of his previous births as
a master mariner, conversant with the art of bringing in (aharana) and taking out
(apaharana) ships. These leave an impression of continuity, and no cessation, of
commerce, contrary to the notion that commerce was on the wane in the wake of
feudal social formation.

The vast plains of north India were well frequented by several overland routes of
communication, some of them gaining particular prominence in the early medieval
times. Thus Chia-tan (785-805) informs us about a route which ran from Kamarupa
to Magadha by touching Pundravardhana (north Bengal) and Kajanigla (near the
Rajmahal Hills). A number of overland routes connected Kanyakubja with different
parts of India, as Albiruni reported. One such route ran from Kanyakubja to
Gangasagara (at the confluence of the Ganga with the sea) through Ayodhya, Varanasi,
Pataliputra and Monghyr. Another route starting from Kanyakubja connected Prayaga
(Allahabad), then through the Rewa region of Madhya Pradesh reached Orissa and
from there extended as far south as Kanchipuram (near Chennai).

89
Early Medieval Economy and The Ganga-Yamuna doab was well connected with western India, acconrding to
its Continuities Albiruni. Thus Mathura maintained an overland linkage with Ujjayini and Bayana
(Rajasthan) and from both the places it was possible to reach the well known port
of Somnath in Kathiawad.

In the twelfth and early thirteenth century copper plates of some Sena kings one
notes a new kind of settlement, named caturaka. The term caturaka is not
encountered in the Bengal inscriptions prior to twelfth century. It means literally a
place which stood at the convergence of four roads. The caturaka was not a village,
but it was also not a large urban market area. One such caturaka was known as
Betadda-caturaka on the river Ganga (purve Jahnavisima). This is identified as
Betore in Howrah district, West Bengal which came into considerable prominence
in the sixteenth century as an inland riverine port connecting the Ganga with the
famous port of Saptagram on the river Sarasvati. The beginning of the role of Betore
as a riverine port may thus go back to the twelfth century. These inland port towns
in the Ganga delta occupied a position intermediate between the rural hinterland
and large urban centres and played a role more or less similar to that of the early
medieval mandapikas of northern and western India.

The above sources may not speak of a slump in trade in north India. Indirect evidence
of commerce can also be gleaned from the list of various revenue-collecting officers
available in the copper plates. Thus the references to the hattapati (officer in charge
of hattas), saulkika (officer in charge of collection of sulka or tolls and customs),
tarika (officer in charge of collection of tara or ferry dues), gamagamika (officer
looking after ingress and egress), nauvata and arddha-nauvata (senior and junior
officers supervising movements of mercantile fleet) cannot but highlight movements
of merchants and commodities in north India. This also implies the existence of
some routes of communications, especially the overland communication in north
India. In the first half of the ninth century Viradharadeva undertook a journey from
Nagarahara (Jelalabad, Afghanistan) to Sambodhi (Bodhgaya, Bihar). The inscription
which records this also describes Viradharadeva’s delight at the sight of many of his
country-men at Bodhgaya. This amply demonstrates the regularity and frequency of
travel along this extensive overland communication system. This overland route must
have been particularly significant for the import of quality war-horses from the north-
western borderland of India into the Ganga valley. It is therefore not surprising that
the Pala inscriptions tell us about the eagerness of the Pala kings to procure horses
from the northern quarters. This is also corroborated by the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri of
Minhaj-us Siraj who impresses upon us the regular arrival of Arab horse dealers in
Nudia (the capital of the Sena king, Lakshmanasena, c. AD 1179-1199). Bengal’s
linkage with the north-eastern frontier areas and Kamarupa in particular are amply
borne out by inscriptions, Minhaj’s accounts and Marco Polo’s travels (c. AD1254-
1324). Gujarat under the Chaulukya rulers experienced considerable improvements
in overland connections. Anahilapura, the premier city of the Chaulukya kingdom
(Patan), was well connected with Munjapura, Jhunjhuvada, Viramgam, Wadhwan,
Saela, Vanthali. On the other hand it was also linked up with Varanasi, Prayaga and
Dhara (in central India). Important ports of Gujarat, like, Stambhapura or Cambay
and Somnatha, maintained effective communications with inland towns, especially
those in the Malwa plataeu. Tamralipta, the premier port in the east till the eighth
century, was visited by merchants from Ayodhya. In AD1024 the Cola king
Rajendra’s daring raid from coastal Andhra to Vangala-desa in Bengal clearly
indicates the overland linkages of Bengal with Orissa and from then onwards to
Andhra. In the far north west, Multan in the Punjab rose to considerable prominence
90 as a major centre of trade which was connected with the Ganga plains and also with
the northwestern borderland of the subcontinent. Multan looms large in the Arab Trade, Trading Networks and
accounts as a major trade centre. Urbanisation: North India

Significant Presence in Maritime Long Distance Trade

The above data and arguments do not suggest a slump in trade in north India during
the early middle ages. A careful perusal of available information may not also suggest
a languishing trade of north India with areas abroad. For this purpose, the Arabic
and Persian texts provide us with significant information. It is surprising that the
proponents of Indian feudal formation have generally neglected these sources for
the understanding of the long-distance trade of India. The rise and spread of Islam
in West Asia, parts of Africa and in the Mediterranean region right up to Spain
proved to be conducive to commercial movement. Islam is marked by a distinct
orientation to trade and urbanism. The establishment and consolidation of the Abbasid
Caliphate in the eighth century facilitated overland communication of West Asia
with Central Asia, China and South Asia. But more spectacular developments are
noticeable in the maritime commerce. The Abbasid Caliphate was instrumental in
increasing the importance of the Persian Gulf (Darya-i-Akhzar) with Siraf as the
premier port in the northern part of the Gulf. The foundation of the Fatimid Caliphate
in Egypt (Misr) in AD 969 led to another major change in maritime commerce. It
resulted in the rise of the Red Sea as the principal sea-lane of western Indian Ocean,
facilitating thereby sea-borne trade with India and also the Mediterranean regions.
The long-distance maritime trade in the Indian Ocean had its western termini either
at Siraf or at Alexandria in Egypt and the eastern termini in maritime South-east Asia
and also the coast of China. These maritime movements across the Indian Ocean,
guided and shaped by the predictable alterations of the monsoon wind system, had
to be involved with India which stood at the centre of the Indian Ocean. The very
designation of this maritime space as al bahr al Hind (the Sea or Ocean of India)
strongly underlines the familiarity of Arabic-speaking merchants and travellers with
the Indian ports and harbours. Two segments of the bahr al Hind were well known
to the Arab authors: bahr Larvi (Lar=Lata or southern Gujarat; the sea of Gujarat,
i.e. the Arabian Sea) and bahr Harkal (the sea of Harikela; Harikela stood for the
south-eastern part of Bangladesh; thus bahr Harkal denotes the Bay of Bengal). We
may recall that in a copper plate of AD 971 the Bay of Bengal has already been
mentioned as Vangasagara. Though ports are numerically more in the Deccan and
the far south of India, a number of ports are known in north India too from the
Arabic and Persian texts. It is true that these texts speak of greater volume and
regularity of trade in the post-1000 AD phase, but there are clear indications of
India’s maritime trade even before AD 1000.

Accounts of the first Arab invasion of Sind in eighth century in the Chachnama and
the accounts of an Arabic Historian al Baladhuri (d. c. 892 AD) demonstrate the
importance of the port of Daybul, located in the Indus delta. Already by this time,
Daybul was noted for its maritime contacts with Sri Lanka. The ruins of this early
medieval port have been unearthed at the site of Banbhore in Pakistan. The prominence
of Daybul continues in the accounts of Arab writers of the ninth to twelfth centuries.
In the western sea-board of northern India it is, however, the Gujarat coast that
stole the limelight. Though Broach, called Baruz in the Arab accounts, had faded
away, a great port came into the commercial scene, viz. Sristambhapura/
Sristambhatirtha or modern Cambay. It figures repeatedly in the Arabic accounts of
Sulaiman (c. AD 851), ibn Khurdadbih (c. AD 882), al Masudi (AD 915), Buzurg
ibn Shahriyar (AD 955), the anonymous author of the Hudud al Alam (AD 982), al
91
Early Medieval Economy and Biruni (AD 1034), al Idrisi (AD 1162), Chau-ju-kua (AD 1225), Marco Polo (AD
its Continuities 1295) and Ibn Battutta (early fourteenth century). It maintained contacts with both
Persian Gulf ports like Siraf and Hormuz and Aden at the mouth of the Red Sea.
Two early medieval Sanskrit texts, the Vastupalamahatmyam and the
Jagaducharita, speak highly of this port as the centre of activities of two premier
Gujarati merchants, Vastupala and Jagadu (twelfth/thirteenth century). Cambay,
certainly the outstanding port, was, however, ably supported by several smaller
ports which could have acted as feeder ports to the principal port of Cambay. These
were Somanatha (figuring prominently in a Sanskrit-Arabic bilingual inscription of
AD1264), al Dyb (Diu, mentioned in a twelfth century Jewish trade letter) and
Ghogha. The close contacts between Hormuz (in Sanskrit texts called Ardrapura)
and Cambay, Somanatha and Ghogha are well documented in epigraphic and literary
sources. Ghogha is specifically mentioned as a point of arrival for ships from Hormuz
(hurmujivahana). The port of Cambay was also well linked up with a number of
ports in the Konkan coast like, Thana, Sanjan and Chaul all of which are mentioned
in the Arabic accounts. These ports in Gujarat and the neighbouring north Konkan
coast also appear in Indian textual sources and in inscriptions, generally labelled as
velakulas or ports.

Attention now may be turned to the ports on the Bengal coast, the major outlet for
the land-locked Ganga valley to the sea. It is true that nothing is heard about the
active role of the great port of Tamralipta after the eighth century AD. One, however,
cannot also miss that as early as in the first half of the seventh century Hsuan Tsang
was impressed with the sea-borne connections of Samatata (eastern extreme of the
Ganga delta) with certain areas in South-east Asia. This was happening when
Tamralipta was at its glorious best. That Samatata-Harikela region was emerging as
a major point of contact with maritime South-east Asia in late seventh century will
be evident from the accounts of Itsing (AD 675-95 in India). The Arab accounts,
from the mid-ninth century to early fourteenth century, speak very highly of a port in
the kingdom of DHM (pronounced as Dhaum, i.e. Pala king Dharmapala), thereby
locating it in the Bengal delta. This port is Samandar. The name is probably derived
from the term samudra or sea. Ibn Battuatta new it by the name Sudkawan. It was
located at the mouth of a river and close to it was an island, which according to al
Idrisi (AD 1162) was full of merchants of diverse countries. Idrisi also informs us
that the port was located close to a creek or inlet (khawar) which facilitated ingress
and egress of vessels. Ibn Battutta undertook a journey from Sudkawan far up in
the north to Habang which is identified with Habiganj in Bangldesh. He undertook a
riverine journey, sailing along the Blue river. This river is generally identified with the
Meghna. The various literary accounts about Samandar/Sudkawan have led to its
identification with a port located near modern Chittagong (Chattagram). In fact, the
area had come to be known as navachattamandala in two vase inscriptions,
respectively of the eighth and the tenth centuries. The decline and loss of Tamralipta
seems to have been considerably compensated with the rise of a new port in the
easternmost part of the delta. Samandar, according to the Arabic texts maintained
commercial linkages with Serendib (Sri Lanka), Uranshin (Orissa), Ganja
(Kanchipuram in Coromandel). Ibn Battutta, though belonging to a later period,
speaks of the voyages between Sudkawan and the Maldives. We are not sure about
Sudkawan’s connections with South-east Asia. But it is well known from a copper
plate from Nalanda that the king of Java, Balaputradeva, requested the reigning
Pala king, Devapala (AD 802-37) to grant five villages to the Nalanda monastery;
the request of the Javanese king was duly honoured. This is clear signal of the regular
cultural contacts between Bengal and maritime South-east Asia. Such cultural
92
contacts appear to have been situated in frequent commercial contacts between the Trade, Trading Networks and
two areas. The significant point is that the Arab authors speak of the availability of Urbanisation: North India
fine quality textiles, Qamaruni aloe wood, rhinoceros horns and swords at the port
of Samandar which was certainly the point of shipping of these items. Qamaruni
aloe wood, standing second only to the aloe wood of Multan, was not a local product
of Bengal or Samandar itself. It was brought from Kamarupa along the river to
Samandar. The rhinoceros horn too appears to have reached Samandar from north-
eastern parts of India. The sword was probably a manufactured item from Anga
(eastern Bihar) which was famous for the making of this weapon. Textiles were in all
probability local products of Bengal which earned sustained fame for the production
of finest quality cotton textiles. The port of Samandar, therefore, commanded an
extensive hinterland. As we have earlier pointed out, smaller and inland riverine
ports in the Ganga delta (for instance, Devaparvata and
Vangasagarasambhandariyaka) are likely to have provided crucial linkages between
the premier port in the Bengal delta and the interior. There is little to dispute the
brisk long-distance maritime trade in early medieval Bengal. It is difficult to subscribe
to the perception of a languishing long-distance trade in early medieval Bengal.

Existence of Strong Merchant Community

Our sources also underline the diversities of merchants. While older terms like vanik,
sarthavaha and sresthi continued, there appeared new types of merchants. A tenth
century inscription from western India speaks of sresthi-sartha, who was possibly
a money merchant as he was found to have minted silver coins. At the famous
mandapika of Siyadoni we note the active presence of a salt-dealer (nemaka-
vanij), whose father too was a salt-dealer. He was prosperous enough to have
provided considerable patronage to a number of temples in Siyadoni. Though
individual merchants do not figure in large numbers in inscriptions of early medieval
Bengal, a vrddhasartha appears in one donative record of late tenth century. The
term vrddhasartha may literally denote an old merchant; it may also stand for a
senior trader (cf. the term vadduvyavahari in sooth Indian records). Inscriptions
from Gujarat and Rajasthan frequently refer to rich donations by merchants to
religious and cultural centers. An insightful probe into early medieval inscriptions
from Rajasthan highlights the growing importance of a number of local merchant
lineages, e.g. Dhusara, Dharkata, Uesavala/ Oisavala (later day Oswals), Srimali
and Pragvata. Merchant-donors often highlighted their genealogy at the time of making
donations with a view to underlining that they belonged to a status-group and were
not upstarts. A particular type of merchants began to figure in inscriptions from
Gujarat after AD 1000. They are called nauvittakas, not encountered hitherto
before. The term indicates a merchant who derived their wealth (vitta) from ships
(nau); in other words, it denotes a ship-owning merchant. The term has a close
correspondence to the Persian/Arabic word, nakhuda, i.e. khuda or lord of nau
(ship). The two terms became frequent enough in coastal Gujarat to be abbreviated
to nau and nakhu in inscriptions. Some merchant millionaire of Gujarat, like Vastupala
and Jagadu, invested in shipping business, though they were not primarily ship-
owners. There is little doubt that the nauvittakas and nakhudas were very wealthy.

Significant Flow of Metallic Money

The data and arguments presented above on merchants, market places, commodities,
ports and routes of communication do not portray the image of a languishing trade,
including long-distance commerce, in early medieval north India. It will be logical
here to look into the problem of the relative lack of metallic currency in early medieval 93
Early Medieval Economy and India. The wide prevalence of cowry-shells in eastern India, especially Bengal, does
its Continuities not necessarily indicate that these were indicators of transactions within a restricted
commercial circuit. Cowry shells are not locally available in Bengal. Arab accounts
of 12th, 13th, 14 th centuries and the descriptions of Ma huan (early sixteenth century)
amply demonstrate that cowry shells reached Bengal from far away Maldives. These
were brought in shiploads from the Maldives to Bengal which exported rice to
Maldives. Cowry shells cannot be therefore restrictive of long-distance trade, as
these were well integrated into the overseas trade in the Indian Ocean. ne:Cowry
shells were shipped as bulk items and functioned as small exchange and ballast in
the Indian Ocean maritime economy.

While the Palas and the Senas of Bengal are not known to have struck coins, this
does not, however, prove the non-minting coins in Bengal. Sustained researches for
the last three decades very effectively demonstrate that in the south-easternmost
parts of Bengal (the Samatata-Harikela zone) were continuously issued excellent
silver coinages from eighth to the thirteenth centuries. This demands a close scrutiny.
The last gold coinage of ancient Bengal cannot be pushed beyond late seventh century.
These were imitations of Gupta gold coins of suvarna standard, but heavily debased.
However, from the eighth century onwards began to be struck high quality silver
coins, generally weighing 8 grams. The obverse of these pieces has the figure of a
recumbent bull and the legend Harikela; the reverse has a tripartite symbol. No
name of the issuing political authority is seen on these coins, which carry the name
of the region only. We have already pointed out that Harikela denoted the Noakhali-
Chittagong area of Bangladesh, to the east of the river Meghna. The importance of
Harikela as a zone of commerce has already been underlined. These coins have
some affinities to the similar silver pieces issued by the Chandra rulers of contiguous
Arakan. Palaeographical analysis of the script of the legend Harikela suggests that
these inscribed coins belonged to the eighth century. More or less at the same time
also appeared similar silver coins with the legend Pattikera inscribed on the obverse
side. Pattikera, like Harikela, refers to a locality, corresponding to Paitkara, Comilla
district, Bangladesh. The silver pieces of Pattikera were influenced by the minting
tradition of the Harikela silver coinage. Silver coins of high quality (with silver content
as high as 90%) continued to be minted in Harikela after the eighth century, but with
some significant changes. The later Harikela silver pieces became broader in flan
and thinner. Legends and devices appeared only on one side, the reverse was left
totally blank. The obverse shows the figure of the recumbent bull, the tripartite
symbol and the legend Harikela. The legend Harikela, in the later silver pieces, has
been palaeographically assigned to the period from ninth to twelfth/thirteenth centuries.
The later Harikela silver pieces were therefore in circulation from the ninth to the
twelfth/thirteenth centuries. The most significant change, however, is visible in their
metrology. These pieces were struck on two different weight standards. The first
weight standard ranged between 2.3800-3.3600 grams; the second type of weight
standard ranged from 0.8392 to 1.9912 grams. Both the types were much lighter
than the first series of Harikela coins which weighed around 8 grams. The lighter
coins corresponded to the well known Indian karshapana standard (32 ratis or
57.6 grains) of 3.73 grams. These later Harikela silver pieces could very well
correspond to the coin-terms like purana, dramma, dharana, repeatedly figuring
in the Pala-Sena inscriptions. On the other hand, the later Harikela silver pieces
have clear similarity with the reformed Arab dirham silver currency of post-tenth
century. Excavations from Mainamati (Comilla district, Bangladesh) have yielded a
gold coin of the last Abbasid Caliph, al Mustasim al Billah (AD 1247-1258; In
1258). The Harikela coins, being akin to puranas of the Pala-Sena records, could
94
also be easily exchanged with and converted into cowry shells. The monetary scenario Trade, Trading Networks and
in south-eastern Bengal fits in well with the information on brisk trade through the Urbanisation: North India
port of Samandar. The above statements negate the widely held perception that
Bengal had little precious coinage in the early medieval times and therefore
experienced a sharp slump in its trade. The above survey also demonstrates that
issuance of landgrants and coins were not mutually incompatible in a given area in
early medieval India.

It is significant that there are several early medieval coin hoards in northern India,
especially in the Ganga-Yamuna doab area, which till early eleventh century was
dominated by the Gurjara-Pratiharas. Recent analysis of coin hoards, mostly
containing dramma pieces, ‘demonstrates that the volume of coinage in circulation
in North India c. AD 600-1000, was comparable to that of the Kusana, Sultanate
and Mughal period, and clearly superior to that of the preceding Gupta and the
succeeding Rajput periods’. No shortage of currency in the Gurjara-Pratihara
kingdom (late eighth to late tenth century) is visible. Thus neither in eastern India,
dominated by the Palas and Senas, nor in the Gurjara-Pratihara realm, there is valid
empirical grounds to uphold the conclusion that early medieval north India
experienced a ‘monetary anaemia’ and languishing trade in the early middle ages,
especially c. AD 600-1000.

Growth of Towns

If it is difficult to substantiate any crisis in trade and commerce of the early medieval
times and a sharp fall in the number of coins in circulation, it will be relevant to
examine whether north India witnessed widespread urban decay. A major impediment
to the study of urban centers of the post-Gupta times is the lack of archaeological
materials. Little attention has so far been paid to explorations and excavations of
early medieval sites, as the principal thrust is on the early historical urban centers.
Hsuan Tsang’s accounts point to the decaying conditions of cities like Vaisali,
Pataliputra, Kusinagara, Sravasti and Kausambi. These cities connected by overland
routes in the Himalayan foothills and the Nepalese terai probably experienced a
decline. But this however does not suggest a general decline of all major urban
centers. A few cities of early historical times did continue beyond AD 600, evident
from available archaeological materials. Thus Ahichhatra (Bareilly district Uttar
Pradesh), originating in the early historical times, offers an ubroken sequence of
occupation right into the early medieval phase. No desertion of the site is noticeable
at the Purana Qila site in Delhi which continued uninterrupted between the Kushana
and the Turkish rule. Archeaological remains of the post-Gupta phase are available
from Atranjikheda, a leading urban center of early historical times. Similarly the
excavations at Rajghat near Varanasi clearly show the continuity of occupation at
this urban centre during AD 300-700 and 700-1200 phases. Remains of structures
at Ahar have been dated to the period between ninth and twelfth centuries, implying
thereby the existence of an urban centre. ed:

The regular mention of pura, pattana and nagara in inscriptions of early medieval
times also point to the urban tradition. Some new urban centers also came up in
north India in the early medieval period. Ten inscriptions, ranging in date between
AD 867 and 904, speak of the burgeoning city of Tattanandapura. It was also
known as a pattana which clearly distinguished it from rural settlements like a grama
and a palli. Its well laid out character is evident from the references to its small or
narrow lanes (kurathya), wide roads (brihadrathya) and hattamarga (roads
leading to the market centre). The pattana also had avaris or shops and grihas or 95
Early Medieval Economy and residential structures. An avari or shop is clearly mentioned to have consisted of
its Continuities three burnt brick rooms. Burnt bricks were also used for the construction of grihas
or dwelling houses. The impressive size of the urban centre of Tattanandapura (Ahar)
is unmistakable as it covers an area of 3800 acres. At Siyadoni, already discussed
in the context of mandapikas, one encounters aparasaraka (houses with a porch
or vestibule), avasanika (dwellings) and grihabhitti (house site). That there were
several hattas in Siyadoni has already been pointed out. Another town existed at
Gwalior under the name Gopagiri or Gopadri. Inscriptions indicate the presence of
important royal functionaries like the kottapala (chief of a fort) and baladhikrita
(a military commander) at Gopadri where sresthis and sarthavahas also were active.
At many of these new pattanas or puras one notes the active role of various
craftsmen: oilmillers (tailikas), florists (malakaras), and distillers (kallapala). At
these centers existed important shrines where converged merchants, administrators,
craftsmen and religious personalities. Thus these centers often combined economic,
political and cultural functions which rendered them with considerable complexities
as urban areas. We have already pointed out how some of the mandapikas in north
India assumed urban character. The transformation of Naddula from a village to a
nagara and then finally as the political centre of the local Chahamana rulers has
already been discussed. Trade seems to have played an important role in the making
of Naddula as an urban centre. In eastern India, the early historical city of
Pundranagara, represented by the remains at Mahasthangarh, does not indicate any
discontinuity in its urban traditions in the early middle ages. Moreover, a few new
cities also came into existence in early medieval Bengal: for instance, Ramavati—
named after Ramapala, identified with the site of Amati; the city of Lakhnauti,
mentioned by Minhaj-us Siraj was situated in Gaur and established by and named
after Lakshmanasena, the late twelfth century Sena king of Bengal. These data may
not portray widespread de-urbanisation in north India, particularly during the AD
600-1000 phase.

Besides the empirical statements on early medieval urban centers another point
requires serious consideration. The principal factor behind the assumed decay
of cities appears to have been a slump in long-distance trade after AD 500.
The historiography of Indian feudal formation also suggests that after AD1000
there was an urban revival in north India. It is implicitly indicated that increasing
Arab trade with India favoured the spurt in urbanism after AD 1000. In other
words, the growth and decay of urban centers of early India, from this point of
view, are explained in terms of external trade of India, in other words, in terms
of some external stimuli. It is interesting to note that the genesis of early historical
urbanism is sought in the availability of iron technology and the resultant agrarian
surplus. In other words, commerce including external trade is not projected as
the primary cause for the emergence and proliferation of urban centers in early
historical times. But the decline of the same cities is explained in terms of the
assumed slump in trade. If agrarian growth is considered conducive to city
formation then there should be logically no hindrance to it in early medieval
times also. There is an overall agreement among scholars that the early middle
ages witnessed unprecedented agrarian expansion in India. This would facilitate
the availability and procurement of the vital agrarian surplus which is a major
pre-requisite for city formation in early India. Hemachandra, the famous Jaina
author of late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, observed that the villages
often resembled cities (gramaschapurasannibha). A typical case in point could
have been in this context the village of Naddula in Rajasthan. Either some early
medieval villages became large enough in area to have assumed an urban
96
appearance, or agrarian expansion paved the way for greater concentration of Trade, Trading Networks and
population in some villages which consequently underwent a change in their Urbanisation: North India
character. It has been rightly observed that many urban centers of early medieval
times were strongly integrated to their respective local or regional roots. On
the other hand cities of the early historical times grew mainly by following the
pattern of cities of middle Ganga plains. Middle Ganga plains thus played the
role of an epicentre to early historical urbanization. Early medieval cities had
no such epicentre. This gave them a distinctive character; that is why cities of
early medieval times are thought by some scholars to have belonged to the
third phase of urbanization in India.

14.5 SUMMARY
The period heralds the decline of the Roman (c.A.D. 250) and the Kushana empires
(c. AD 262) effecting India’s flourishing long distance trade. However, the merchant
communities continued to be active during this period and the guilds flourished. The
references to the sarthvaha and nagarsrestthis appear frequently in the inscriptions.
The evidences are also replete with information on markets. Seaborne contacts
with Malaya Peninsula and South China Sea continued unabated. The minting of the
finest gold and silver coinage during the Gupta period is also the indicator of
flourishing economy of the period. The period also saw continued urban growth.

There is a long drawn debate among the scholars whether there was urban decay or
there existed considerable growth during the Gupta and the post Gupta periods.
Those favouring the theory of urban decay argue that on account of the decline of
trade with the Roman empire, and the Huna inroads adversely affected the trading
activities in India. The period saw sharp decline of the growth of urban centres;
trade also declined; there was also near absence of metallic money (gold and silver)
instead there increased the usage of cowrie shells indicating the decline of long
distance trade for cowries could only largely be used for smaller transactions. Thus
they emphasized that there was an emphatic decline in the long distance trade. Instead
land grants increased manifold, decrease in trading activities gave way to self-sufficient
village economy that ultimately created the conditions for the rise of feudalism in
India.

However, those who contradict the argument they insist that the picture presented
was too gloomy. They emphasize that neither the market places disappear altogether
nor does there was a slump in trade in North-India. Rather rise of the Islam paved
the way for brisk commercial activities in the region. Bengal continued to enjoy
superiority in trade and commerce. References to vanik, sarthavaha and shresthi
continued. The argument that there was a distinct decline in the metallic money,
however, does not indicate the decline in trading activities for the cowries that were
used for trading in Bengal in large number were itself not the product of Bengal
rather brought to Bengal from as far as Maldives. Harikela continued to enjoy status
of high zone of commercial activities during this period. We get good amount of high
quality silver coins struck in this area. Even the coin-hoards dominated by Gujara-
Pratiharas demonstrate the large volume of coin circulation in North India. To add
to this growth of urban centers also continued unabated. There is no doubt that the
old centers showed signs of decline but there emerged many new instead. The period
also experienced the ‘unprecedented agrarian expansion’.

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Early Medieval Economy and
its Continuities 14.6 GLOSSARY
Abbasid Caliphate In AD 750, the Umayya Caliphs were replaced
by the Abbasid. In AD 762 they moved the
capital from Damascus to in Syria to the New
City of Baghdad in Iraq. The Abbasid ruled all
over western Asia and North Africa from AD
750 until about 1000, when they began to
weaken. At first North Africa broke away and
formed the independent kindom under the
Fatimids. In AD 1258 the Abbasid dynasty
ended.

Al Babelhun Arakan Arakan is surrounded by India in the North,

Burma in the East and Bangladesh in the West.
The mountain range called Arakan Roma
(Rakhaing Roma) acts as a barrier against inter-
communication between the people of Burma
and Arakan. It is bounded on the southwest
by the Bay of Bengal. Arakan is presently under
the Union of Burma.

Fatimid Caliphate The Fatimids ruled over North Africa, Egypt

and Palestine from the 10th to 12th Century A.D.
The Fatimids claimed to be descendants of
Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad, ad wife
of Ali, the fourth Caliph and first Shia Imam.
The ultimate goal of the Fatimids was to replace
the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghadad with their
over when Caliph Ubayd Allah proclaimed
himself Caliph at Cairo in 909 in opposition to
the Sunni Caliph of Baghdad. They established
a new sea route to Asia via red Sea, instead of
earlier more frequented route via Persian Gulf.

Gurjara-Pratihara The Dynasty was founded by Nagabhata I in

the 8th century. The kingdom reached at its
peak under king Bhoja (836-90) and
Mahendrapala (890-910). It had its capitat at
Kanauj. The dynasty was weakened by
repeated attacks of the Rashtrakutas in the 10th
century and its power completely broken when
Mohamed Ghazni sacked Kanauj in 1018 A.D.

Huna They were nomadic and pastoral people from

Central Asia. They were Mongolian in
appearance. They enjoyed military superiority
due to their rapid horse power. The Huns
appear in history in 3 c. BC when the Great
Wall of China was erected to exclude them
from China. The Hun kingdom was centered
in modern Hungary. Attila (AD 434-453) was
98 their most powerful king. Hun’s rule extended
from the Rhine across the north of the Black Trade, Trading Networks and
Sea as far as the Caspian Sea. The Guptas also Urbanisation: North India
fell prey to the Huna inroads in AD 480. They
overran the whole of North India.They
succeeded for a brief period of 30 years to
establish their kingdom in Malwa around AD
500 under the leadership of Toramana. His son
and successor Mihircula conquered North India
but soon driven into Kashmir by Yashodharman
where he died in about AD 542.

Malay Peninsula It is what is today Pennisular Malaysia and

Ocean of adjacent islands of southeast Asia
including the east coast of Sumatra, the coast
of Borneo, and smaller islands that lie between
these areas. It lies between the Andaman sea
of the Indian Ocean and the start of Malacca
on the west and the Gulf of Thailand and the
South China sea on the east. The northern part
of the Pennisula forms a part of Thailand; the
southern part constitutes west Malaysia, the
Malayan part of Malaysia.

Red Ware A type of a pottery red in colour but not

painted. It is baked to red. I was more common
in coastal Gujarat and Indus delta to south-
west of Iraq.

Sasanid Empire (226-651 A.D.) They established an empire roughly within the
frontiers achieved by the Archaemenids, with
the capital Ctesiphon. The dynasty was founded
by the king Ardashir I who was the vessel of
Parthian ruler. Shapur I (241-272) inflected
crushing defeats on Romas twice later he also
attacked the Kushanas and occupied
Peshawar, the capital of Kushanas. The last
Sassanid ruler was Yazdgard III (632-636).
The Arabas took Ctesiphon and in 651, the
last Sassanian king died as a fugitive.

Western Kshatrapa Rulers A Saka ruling house ruled over Western India
and Malwa.

14.7 EXERCISES
1) Analyse the role of inscriptions and coinage in assessing the development of
trade and commerce during AD 300-1300.
2) In the light of Hsuan Tsang’s account critically examine the commercial activities
during AD 300-1300.
3) Discuss the debates among the historians over the issue of urban decay. In your
opinion which argument stands out more convincing and why?
99
Early Medieval Economy and
its Continuities 14.8 SUGGESTED READINGS
Basak, R.G. (1919), ‘The Five Damodarpur Copper Plate Inscriptions of the Gupta
Period’, – Epigraphia Indica, XV, 113-45.
Chakravarti, Ranabir (2002), Trade and traders in Early Indian Society, New Delhi.
Chakravarti, Ranabir (ed.) (2001), Trade in Early India, New Delhi.
Chandra, Satish (ed.) (1987), The Indian Ocean: Explorations in History, Commerce
and Geography, New Delhi.
Chatopadhyaya, B.D. (ed.) (1987), Essays in Ancient Indian Economic History, New
Delhi.
Chattopadhyaya, B.D. (1994), The Making of Early Medieval India, New Delhi.
Chaudhuri, K.N. (1985), Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean from the rise
of Islam to 1750, Cambridge.
Curtin, Philip D. (1984), Cross-Cultural Trade in World History, Cambridge.
Deyell, John S. (1990), Living Without Silver, Monetary History of Early Medieval
North India, New Delhi.
Ghosh, A. (ed.) (1989), An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology, in two vols., New
Delhi.
Goitein, S.D. (1973), Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders, Princeton.
Goitein, S.D. (1973), Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders, Princeton.
Gopal, Lallanji (1965), The Economic Life of Northern India c. AD 700-1200,
Varanasi.
Gopal, Lallanji (1966), Early Medieval Coin Types in North India, Varanasi.
Hourani, G.F. (1951), Arab Seafaring in the Indian Ocean during the Ancient and
Medieval Times, Beirut.
Hourani, G.F. (1951), Arab Seafaring in the Indian Ocean during the Ancient and
Medieval Times, Beirut.
Jain, V.K. (1989), Trade and Traders in Western India 1000-1300, New Delhi.
Jha, A. K. (ed.) (1991), Coinage, Trade and Economy, Anjaneri.
Jha, D.N. (1967), Revenue System in the Post-Maurya and Gupta Times, Calcutta.
Jha, D.N. (ed.) (2000), The Feudal Order, New Delhi.
Kosambi, D.D. (1956), An Introduction to the Study of Indian History, Bombay.
Maity, S.K. (1957), Economic Life of Northern India in the Gupta Period (c. AD
300-550), Calcutta.
Mazumdar, B. P. (1960), The Socio-Economic History of Northern India, Calcutta.
Mukhia, Harbans (ed.) (1999), The Feudalism Debate, New Delhi.
Ray, Niharranjan, B.D. Chattopadhyaya, Ranabir Chakravarti and V.R. Mani, (2000),
A Sourcebook of Indian Civilization, Hyderabad.
Sharma, R.S. (1966), Early Medieval Indian Society, A Study in Feudalisation, New
Delhi.
Sharma, R.S. (1980), Indian Feudalism, New Delhi, 2nd edition.
100
Sharma, R.S. (1983), Perspectives in the Social and Economic History of Early Trade, Trading Networks and
India, New Delhi. Urbanisation: North India

Sharma, R.S. (1987), Urban Decay in India AD 300-1000, New Delhi.

Thapar, Romila (1993), Interpreting Early India, New Delhi.
Thapar, Romila (ed.) (1995), Recent perspectives of Early Indian History, Bombay.
Yadava, B.N.S. (1974), Society and Culture in North India in the Twelfth Century,
Allahabad.

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