Urban growth and agrarian expansion 200 bc-300 ad
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The period between 200 b.c and 300 a.d showed a great development
in both urban and agrarian field. But more is known about cities than
about villages and agriculture. This time period was marked by
extensive constructive activities with fortification walls, complex
brick buildings with the adoption of new techniques that is tiles in
flooring , roofing ,streets drains etc. at the root of urban
efflorescence agricultural phase also started developing. North west
part of the subcontinent saw the emergence of a city with a
rectangular plan, parallel streets and blocks of houses with circular
structure in shaikhan mound at charsada. Almost all sites saw the
mud fortifications, brick walls, terracotta figurines, seals and sealings
etc.
In western India there rose the cities of Rairh in Rajasthan, besnagar,
ujjayain etc. Semi precious stones, terracotta figurines, ivory
products etc were found. In Deccan textual evidence is unavailable so
urban phase was reconstructed on the basis of archaeology alone.
There are mentions about palaces, temples, large houses, markets
etc. It was also a major center for craft activities. Korkai, Uraiyur,
puhar, kachchi etc were some important towns and cities of south
India.
Crafts and Guilds
Production and exchange were facilitated through the institution of
shreni. This word has been translated as guild which is its nearest
equivalent. These organizations enhanced production essential to
commerce and became an important factor in urban life. Many
artisans joined shrenis since it was difficult for individuals to
compete with professional organisations. When demand increased
some guilds began to employ hired labour and slaves. Such
organisations were encouraged by the state. Artisans of any craft
could constitute a guild. Important guilds were those of potters,
metal workers, goldsmiths, weavers, carpenters etc. Private
entrepreneurship also existed; one wealthy potter named
saddalaputta owned 500 pottery workshops. The shrenis fixed rules
of work as well as quality and price of finished goods. The guild also
intervened in the private lives of its members. If a married woman
wanted to join the Buddhist order as a nun, she had to get the
permission of her husband and also the shreni to which he belonged.
The threat to guilds came in periods of transition when the
occupation followed by a jati underwent economic change or when
the demand for a particular product declined.
The goods produced by artisans whether individually or through a
guild, were bought by merchants-vanij. Although guilds were
powerful, they did not seek direct political influence or office. A
possible explanation is that in some cases the royal family seems to
have had a financial interest in the guilds. So there was royal support
in tangible form and also lack of opposition by the king against the
guilds. Also, it would have been difficult for a given guild to ally itself
with other guilds. Such cooperation would have been prevented by
caste rules. Along with archaeological sources, literary sources also
include very specific information on craft activity in various regions
of subcontinent. Buddhist text tells about many professions, crafts
and guilds of craft persons and traders. There were references about
crafts in milindapana, jataka stories etc. There were references to
professions like potters, carpenters, metal smiths, foresters, hunters,
fowlers, fishermen and salt makers. Sangham texts tell about
weaving, gem working, shell and metal working. Inscriptions form
Mathura. Sanchi, bharut etc mentions potters, weavers, masons,
carpenters, gold smiths etc. there was a significant number of guilds
in the 200 bc-300 ad time period. Inscriptions of western Deccan
mentions about guilds of weavers, potters, oil millers etc. junnar
inscription records a guild of corn dealers. The high status enjoyed by
members of merchant guild is indicated by the term kaviti.
Importance of guilds is evident from coins, seals and sealings issued
by them. Inscriptions refer to investments made in guilds of weavers,
potters and suchlike. Clearly these were profitable and socially
acceptable. At the same time there were also occupations listed in the
lower social orders in the normative text, like the shudras. There is a
lack of fit between the vision of the normative texts and social reality.
Trade, traders and trade routes
A mosaic of political identities existed with each mosaic varying in
size and comprising of kingdoms oligarchies and chieftains. But one
feature that threaded its way through all this variation was exchange
in trade. Various kinds of trading centres evolved linked by far
reaching routes. Earlier items had been manufactured close to the
source of raw material. Now there was a greater dispersal of
craftsmen, with many gathering in centres where there were
markets. Numerous routes now traversed the subcontinent, some
continuing further into central and west Asia. The political control of
the shakas and Kushanas linked central Asia to India. The decline of
the Kushanas was contemporary with the decrease in roman
commercial interests in central Asia. Meanwhile trade with eastern
Mediterranean flourished.
Routes tended to follow the highways and river valleys. Rivers were
not bridged but ferries were common. Travellers restricted to the dry
summers and winters. The rainy season was a period of rest. Often
several caravans banded together for greater safety. Kautilya advised
that in the south roads running through the mines should be taken as
they would be more heavily populated and thus safer than the more
isolated routes. Buddhist sources refer to the long distance trade.
Water routes was many times cheaper than land routes.
Arthashasthra mentions that although sea travel was cheaper the
danger of pirates and the cost of losing ships remains. A costal route
is safer than a mid ocean route but it also offers greater opportunities
fro local trade but mid ocean routes were faster.
. Barbaricum on the Indus delta served as a port for the north-west
but the silting up of the estuary led to a relocating of its ports and
eventual decline. Bhrigukachchha, the modern Baruch, continued to
be a major port for the western sea trade. Its hinterland reaching the
Ganges plains.
The Gulf of Cambay remained the destination for much shipping
from the Arabian Gulf. Ports further down the western coast such as
sopara and kalyana serving the western Deccan and the muziris
linked to the centres in the south. Ports along the east coast included
tamralipti/tamluk. The Mauryas had built a royal highway from
Taxilla to Patilaputra was continuously rebuilt. The British referred
to it as the grand trunk road. Pataliputra was connected by both road
and river to tamluk which was also linked by sea to Srilanka and
Myanmar. Routes to the south developed rapidly in post Mauryan
times due to intensified trade demands. Land routes followed river
valleys where possible. The elevations in the Deccan plateau
discouraging direct north-south communication, but allowing for
some east-west routes along valleys such as Godavari and Krishna.
The plateau was thickly wooded and therefore unsafe. Nevertheless,
the Deccan was a hive of market centres production centres and
Buddhist monasteries at places such as ter, bokarden, karad,
kondapur, dharanikotta, and amaravati. Gaps and breaks in
mountains were always utilised. Sites on the east coast had contacts
with the settlements in Srilanka. Coastal routes developed faster and
become the basis of north- south links along each coasts. In the north
the most widely used highway westwards was from Taxilla to
begram. The northern route was via Bactria, the Oxus, the Caspian
Sea and the Caucasus to the black sea. A more southerly route went
from Kandahar and Herat to Ecbatana after which it was linked to the
ports on the eastern Mediterranean. Another important highway
connected kandhahar with Persepolis and Susa. Margiana, adjoining
Bactria, was a transit point for silk coming from the east that was
intended for the Mediterranean. It had a no. of Buddhist monasteries.
Gandhara also became a nodal point for overland trade tapping the
silk route and the eastern Byzantine trading centres. The attraction of
profits kept the traders going. The southern areas boasted of
agricultural wealth due to careful irrigation, as well as gaining an
income from trade. The Indian merchandise was copper, sandalwood,
teak and ebony, and exports to India included pearls, dyes, wines,
dates, gold and specially trained slaves. . There was also regular
exchange of medical information.
Inland in the Deccan there were capitals of kingdoms and also
centres of production such as ter, nevasa, kondapur. It was also the
location for Buddhist monasteries. Eastern Deccan saw the growth of
trade and towns along the east coast were further linked to places
inland. Muchiri or Muziris was linked to the trade in pepper, spices
and beryl. References to the rich Malabar pepper trade continue for
centuries, up to the time of the Portuguese. Locations of coin hoards
suggest a link from Muziris via the Palghat gap- tapping the beryl
mines- and along the kaveri valley to the east coast. The distribution
of small settlements around a large one had been interpreted as the
existence of chiefdoms. This would have encouraged the initial
exchange with visiting traders.
Trade with the west
The coast route from India to western Asia was tedious. Mid-ocean
routes were facilitated by monsoon winds that blew from the south
west across the Arabian Sea in summer. The winds made mid-ocean
travelling speedier than coastal routes. Ships sailing from the
southern end of the red sea would wait for the south west monsoon
to pass its peak before they set sail, using the now less ferocious
wind. The returning north-east monsoon from across India in the
winter would bring the ships back. The using of winds for navigation
would have made it necessary for the traders to stay on for a short
amount of time before returning to their red sea ports, thus
increasing contact between local Indians and visiting yavanas. .
Traders from the west were not always romans from Rome, but were
Egyptians, Jews and Greeks from Alexandria and the eastern
Mediterranean as well as some from north Africa- all part of the
Roman Empire.
Long distance trade
Jatakas mention long distance journeys over land, river and sea.
Sangam poets talks of yavanas bringing goods by ship into the ports
of south India. Excavations at kaveripattanam revealed roman
pottery and coins as well as locally made imitations of roman pottery
and local coins. Long distance transportation was organised by the
satvahanas, with a number of caravans travelling together for safety
East and south-east Asia
The area around gandhara was of special interest to the Han
emperors of china. The Kushanas were in a sense a link between
India and china. Communications with china further improved. The
initial military and political interest was however taken over by trade
and religious exchange with Indian subcontinent. The commercial
exchanged were dominated by silk. The trade relation with china was
through the great Chinese silk route which also connects India with
central, west Asia and Europe. The important items transported from
India to china during this period were pearls, coral, glass and
fragrances. Silk was the major Chinese export to India. The
excavation at arikamedu gives evidence of contact with traders from
the eastern Mediterranean. Yavana merchants from the eastern
Mediterranean traded in the satvahana kingdom and further south,
their presence being registered in the votive descriptions at Buddhist
centres in the Deccan. The tapping of south-east Asia by Indian
traders was in part spurred on by roman trade. The items like spices
were not easily available in India. Although the easiest route was by
sea, the risks were great. But the immense profits on the spices sold
to Alexandrian merchants compensated for the hazards.
Indo-Roman trade
This period shows the flourish in trade between India and Rome. The
periplus gives a list of goods exported to Roman Empire from the
Indian ports on the Indus delta and the Gujarat coast. Indian traders
were quick to see the advantage of being middlemen for roman
traders. A large number of roman coins discovered in India
comprised almost 170 from 130 sites. There are silver coins known
as ‘denarii’ and gold coins known as ‘aurei’. The silver coins are more
numerous both in India and Rome. Some roman coins found in India
are with slash marks and small counter marks. The2 types of roman
pottery found in India are amphorae jars and terra sigillatta. Valuable
evidence for India’s maritime trade comes from the site of arikamedu
of the coromondal coast. Apart from arikamedu, amphorae jars and
terra sigillatta were found in urayur, kanchipuram and
vasavasamudram. Roman artifacts in India indicate that while the
trade was initially concentrated on the western coast, the
coromondal coast soon became important. At the time when trade
was first noticed it gave an impression of an overly major
participation by the Roman Empire. This had now been changed by
evidence of substantial Indian participation. The discovery of hoards
of roman coins, the evidence of Indian products and their exchange
and of yavana donors at Buddhist sites all underline a qualitative
difference in Indian presence in this trade. A Greek maritime
geography of the mid 1st century A.D. the periplus. There is indirect
reference to political conditions as well. Textiles, pepper, semi-
precious stones, ivory were all exchanged for roman coins as the
main import together with coral and wine. Certain kind of textiles are
thought to have been manufactured according to roman
specifications.
Imitations were made of roman objects in bronze and clay. Attempts
have been made to imitate the portraiture of roman coins with
substandard portraits of local rulers. Products that were in demand
in roman markets were exchanged for roman coins. Most of the coins
are of earlier roman emperors such as Augustus and Tiberius. The
roman historian Pliny complained of the trade with the east being a
serious drain on the income of Rome. Imported from India were
largely luxury items such as jewels, textiles, spices, ivory and it was
therefore thought that the trade was in India’s favour. But it has
recently been argued that customs dues and taxes on the imports
from the east into the roman Egypt were high enough to compensate
for the drain of money.
MERCANILE COMMUNITY
The dynasties of this period had a relatively quick turnover. The most
stable factor was trade. Through all the political vicissitudes of the
shungas, kanvas, indo-Greeks, shakas, Kushanas, satvahanas,
ishvakus, cheras, cholas and pandyas, there was increasing visibility
of the merchant and artisan. There were regional variations.
The Mauryan administration built roads and attempted to make
contact with relatively remote areas. The later annexation of north
western India by non- local rulers was advantageous to the
merchants who ventured into such untapped places. The prosperity
of the merchant community is evident from their donations to
religious institutions mainly Buddhism and Jainism. Agriculture was
extended to forest and wasteland areas which were brought into
cultivation. Donations can be context to transactions involving land.
. Older forms of barter and direct exchange still persisted. Gift-
exchanges involving status rather than profit was prevalent in
societies where clan chiefs were still dominant. Something material
could even be exchanged for something intangible, the latter
ceremonial value.
A more complicated exchange involved systems of redistribution.
Raids were used to acquire wealth and even when raids where
discontinued, the obtaining of loot remained a motive to go to war.
The evolving of state with treasury and public expenditure was a
further form of redistribution. Excavations in many places suggest a
rise in the standard of living.
Bankers
Another aspect is that of the banker. In some cases the guilds were
themselves the bankers, but mostly it was carried out by a separate
category- the setthis and the chettiars. The use of setthi-gahapati,
families of rich landowners, with surplus wealth to invest in trade,
initially provided members to the profession of merchant. Banking
was not a full time occupation. The post Mauryan centuries saw great
spurt in the minting of coins. The kings of the north-west imitated
Greek, roman and Iranian coin types. However the increasing use of
money did not drive out the barter systems particularly in rural
areas. A large variety of coins were used in towns. These were of
gold, copper and lead. . Coins of the roman republic have been found
but the immensely large numbers are of early imperial issues that
span the turn of Christian era. The latter were valued for the high
quality of their metal content. The gold coins of the Kushanas
followed the roman weight standards, partly to ensure that they
would be used a legal tenders in areas familiar with roman trade.
