Q: Do you agree with the argument that the early medieval period is associates with the decline in trade, urbanism and demonetization? 

Ans: Feudalism was an institution which dealt exclusively with the social, economic and political relationship with the state and the society. Feudalism in Europe laid emphasis on the contractual relationship between the lord and the vassal. Its economic essence laid in the institution of serfdom in which peasants were attached to the soil held by landed intermediaries placed between the king and the actual tillers. Indian feudalism on the contrary is not earmarked by overt typical features, rather is an event characterized by the assimilation of land grants, transfer of lands to intermediaries, transfer of administrative and fiscal rights of lands, decentralization of certain polities etc over a period of a few hundred years. An early attempt at bridging the gap between the state and the society was done by the historians of the Marxist school, who introduced the theory of Feudalism to explain a structural change in Indian economy and society based on early medieval land grant system. This new system naturally marked a shift from the early historical pattern. There is believed to have been an increased ruralisation at a certain point in the emergence of feudalism, during which the self sufficient villages became the foci of production. There were a few features which defined this changed situation, principally the marked decline of trade and the decline of the urban centers resulting in a growth of a closed village economy over a considerable stretch of time.

The process of land grants made royal authorities sub-effective or ineffective in certain kingdoms, for instance in the Deccan. The grant of fiscal and administrative autonomy by the central government to the beneficiaries disrupted the political and economic tie. Unequal distribution of land and revenues reduced the size of economic units and created conditions for the development of social hierarchy.

The Kali Age hypothesis formulated by R.S Sharma states that the migration of people, especially the peasants and the artisans on account of the unbearable taxes played a part in the decline of the urban centers in the Northern India and the Deccan. Reference to migrations, due to royal oppressions has been found in the Jatakas. He believes that the fleeing of the taxpaying peasants, artisans and traders became more common in the third and fourth centuries during which the Kali age is ascribed. Speculations on the increase of taxes pertain to few factors like the increase in the need for foreign luxury goods by the rulers led to a flourishing foreign trade which adversely affected the revenue and taxation pattern. He also believes the reduction of the fertility of land on certain areas played a part in the decline. The brief period of social instability marked the sudden slump in the spheres of artisanal and commercial activities attested by epigraphic and archaeological evidence.

The decline of the demand for silk in Byzantium adversely affected the Indian trade along with that of the Chinese around the middle of the sixth century CE. Though it affected the internal trade very insignificantly, but the overall decline weakened the economic links between the coastal and inland towns and between towns and villages.

There was also a conspicuous decline in metal coinage around this period. There was absence of gold coinage in post Gupta times, which was in contrast to the abundance during the Kusanas and the Guptas. Analyzing John Deyell’s work, R.S Sharma has shown that there was a drastic reduction in the number of dynastic coins after 650 CE. The early medieval dynasties that ruled north India seemed to be bereft of gold coins, like the Palas, who ruled over Bengal and Bihar for 400 years, the Rashtrakutas, or the Gurjara-Pratiharas. Peninsular India also witnessed a decline after the fall of the Satavahanas. Coins found later were mostly copper and there was a minimal amount of trade. Between CE 600-1000, we witness the rule of the Pallavas, Pandyas, the Badami Chalukyas and the Cholas, but very few coins can be attributed to them. The coins found later are substandard in both purity and artistic style. It is obvious that the dearth of coinage hampered internal and external trade. It discouraged the traders from following their profession. The ‘Kathasaritsagara’ speaks of traders who moved through forests to avoid payment of duties (sulka). Similar such examples have been found while analyzing the ‘Kali Age’ hypothesis.

The decline of the Roman trade cannot be entirely held as a reason for the decline in trade. Hoards of all Roman coins relate to the first century and not later. Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya argues that India had principally lost its prime source of precious metal just before the beginning of the Christian era. Therefore the lack of currency cannot be entirely blamed on the trade with the West because if the chronology of the hoards of coins is an indication, it is evident that relations with that area already declined by that period. On similar lines he argues, foreign trade may not imply a decline on internal trade or petty commodity production. It is also evident that there were clearly a difference in the pattern of trade in the northern and the southern India. He argues that if foreign trade did not play a part in the rise of the early urban centers, then a reduced volume of that trade may be hardly relevant for the decline in the post-Kusana and the post-Gupta period.

Hsuan Tsang’s account also talks about a decline in trade and urban centers in Central Asia, where we can understand that India’s long distance trade might have been confined to Iran and Iraq, where we see a continuous series of coinage in the flourishing period of the Abbasids from the middle of eighth to ninth centuries.

The practice of payments by grants of revenue or land was intimately linked up with the decline of trade and absence of metallic money has been illustrated successfully by R.S Sharma with reference to Afganisthan, the North-West Frontier, Punjab, Haryana and Kashmir. There is a complete lack of land grant during the early medieval period, and it is during this period that there is coin series of the Shahi rulers of Punjab and Afganisthan to be found. The decline of urban centers like Mithila which was central to multiple trade networks implied the decay of the trade as well as the towns associated with it. From the records of Hsuan Tsang, we come to know that Sindh abounds in metals like gold, silver and copper and a great variety of salts- white, black and rock salt. It is evident that the country was engaged in trade. These exceptions prove the validity of the general thesis that the practice of land grants was linked to the decline of trade and towns and with the paucity of metallic money in the major part of the Indian subcontinent. There were evidences of debasements and the counter argument that debasement in the quantity of coins might not be an overt indicator of a reduced economic value. John Deyell suggested lack of foreign trade due to debased coins and the sealing of the frontiers to the emigration of local money.

D.C Sircar argues against the paucity of metallic coinage in early medieval times. In his views fresh coins were not required by the traders owing to the plenty of older issue of coins and cowrie shells in the market. Whereas agrarian expansion and multiplication of states in both newly and old areas indicated a tremendous increase of population and available collections indicate a substantial shrinkage in the number of coins. Internally the role of cowries was insignificant. R.S Sharma believes paucity of metal coinage indicated a decline of the flourishing trade from 700 CE – 1200 CE. He did not suggest a complete disappearance of trade, but definitely a marked decline of it. It is also supported by archaeological data in Southeast Asia where there were no Indian imports after 4th century CE.

B.D Chattopadhyaya argues that urbanism in many places actually coincides or even precedes the period where land grants become popular. Therefore it is unlikely that the land grant economy might actually serve a cause for the disruption of urban centers. Records from Hsuan Tsang’s work have stated that the maximum decayed urban centers were around the Ganga valley. But he also stated about decay of ‘peopled villages’. In other words, it was not exclusively that the urban centers were decaying, it was a general phenomenon incorporating even the rural areas. Moreover, in his worl we find him conspicuously defining a ‘village’ and a ‘town’.

The shortage of money is an indicator of a pattern of economy where taxes and revenues ceased to be collected in cash. Therefore the absence of cash is linked to the fact of payment of administrative, military and religious service through land grants. R.S Sharma believes that the work of art and buildings were carried on by the rural folk out of compulsion due to the imposition of ‘vishti’ or forced labour on them. Local needs were thus met locally.

The decline of trade and commerce stopped the movement of artisans and traders from one area to the other. Urban centers demanding service of the artisan declined as well. Traders and artisans were increasingly tied to the land and had to serve their beneficiaries. The Nalanda charter ascribing to Samudra Gupta asks tax-paying artisans and peasants to remain in their villages and not to settle in tax-free villages. There are evidences from Deccan from 6th-8th centuries which do not permit merchants to congregate in the same markets in the city. This eliminates competition and points towards localization of traders. There are instances of sharecroppers and peasants attached to the land specifically asked to stick to their soil in Orissa and Deccan (6th century onward). All these fostered a closed economy and a strong sense of localism. Peasants and artisans could not move around, even the movement of troops did not prove to be helpful towards commerce. The shastric literature around this period also substantiates this rigid immobility. The Kalivarjyas in Dharmashastra limited the movement of the brahmanas. Anushasana Smriti had severe regulations regarding sea voyage, asserting that anyone embarking on a voyage had fallen from their castes and were unfit to attend the funeral feasts (shradhha).

Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya on the other hand has formulated a very passive approach to the entire urban decay hypothesis. He argues, the only two valid sources that actually help us analyze the urban centers are literary and archaeological. Citing G.R Kuppuswami’s writings on Karnataka, he argues that it is very hard to differentiate between, or for that matter arrive at definitions of the ‘rural’ and the ‘urban’. If we base our assumptions only on the elements present at each level, then it comes to a question of degree, and not of kind. 

He states, the existence of fully developed urban centers in certain parts can be fully traced back to 9th century. He believes the early medieval phase did not experience any decay like the early historical phase and moved into the medieval phase in Indian history. He has substantiated his theory with examples from Andhra, Chola, Kalachuris and others he goes on to establish the relation between the rural and the urban, and the fact that activities continued in the urban centers without any marked disruption. There was imposition of levies as a source of urban income indicating the nature of the activities taking place, there was a marked nucleus in urban centers where business activities took place, that there was links with the outside towns and settlements and an existent urban hierarchy operated in the center. These were based on two inscriptions dated around tenth century belonging to two urban centers firstly to the region of Kalachuris around the Jabalpur area of Madhya Pradesh, and the second from Bilhari during the period of Yuvaraja II.

The entire debate on decline of trade, urbanism and monetization is indeed a very complicated and much discussed matter. Yet it seems that there was definitely a stage at certain parts of the subcontinent which witnessed a slump in one or more of the features mentioned. There was obviously lesser impact felt in the Southern India, where we clearly see contradictory characteristics. Therefore its would definitely be a untrue to arrive at a clear cut defined conclusion, rather than to just assess the facts and go by the evidence, which by far have yielded differing conclusions at different regions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • Sharma, Ram Sharan : Early Medieval Indian Society: A study in Feudalisation, Changes in social structure, Orient Longman,pp. 186-190.
  • Sharma, Ram Sharan: Early Medieval Indian Society: A study in Feudalisation, Paucity of Metallic Coinage (c. 500 – c. 1000), pp. 119-153.
  • Chattopadhyaya, Brajadulal : The Making of Early Medieval India, Oxford University Press, 1994, pp. 130-183.
  • Jha, D.N (ed) : The Feudal Order, Manohar Publishers and Distributors, 2000, pp. 61-79.