The Urban Economy of Delhi Sultanate – Indian Society – DU History Notes

The Urban Economy (Delhi Sultanate)

The available evidence suggest that the urban economy on the eve of the Ghorid conquest was on a low ebb. The towns were fewer in number and smaller in size in the centuries preceding the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate. D.D.Kosambi shows that even the capital was a camp city on the move. The higher ruling class wandered from place to place along with the army while the lower ruling class was almost completely ruralized.

This theory of decay of towns is further corroborated by the evidence of sluggish trade: The near complete disappearance of gold and silver currencies and the almost total absence of foreign coins in the Indian coin-hoards of the period are indicators that the foreign trade was at a very low scale. Moreover, the fact that not even the coins of various regional dynasties are found in the coin-hoards of other regions ,suggests that inland commerce was not widespread. The Delhi Sultanate, on the other hand, seems to present the picture of a highly urban economy, marked by a considerable expansion of money economy, accelerating particularly during the first half of the fourteenth century along with the revival of urbanization in North India.

While the archaeological evidence available for earlier period is not forthcoming from the 13th-14th centuries owing to the much less attention paid to medieval archaeology, the literary evidences testify growth of urban centres. Ibn Battuta gives evidence to suggest that Delhi, the capital city was a thriving center which was large in extent, great in population and the largest city not only in India but in the entire Islamic East. Apart from Delhi there were a number of other centers such as Daulatabad, which rivaled Delhi in size; Lahore, Multan, Patan, Cambay, Kara etc. Even the fortunes of these cities fluctuated with different rulers and dynasties at the helm; the Delhi Sultanate presents the picture of a highly urban economy.

The accelerated pace of urbanization during this period was the result of two initial factors, which were maintained and extended by a third. (1) The considerable immigration of artisans and merchants from the Islamic East to India, bringing with them their crafts, techniques and practices; (2) The abundant supply of docile trainable labour obtained through large-scale enslavement and (3) the establishment of a system whereby a very large share of the agricultural surplus was appropriated for consumption in the towns.

The revival of towns depended on their relation with the countryside. The towns needed to be fed and supplied with raw materials from the countryside. The high level of agrarian taxation and the cash-nexus in combination ensured that the peasants would have to sell much of their produce in order to pay the land revenue. (mention Alauddin’s policy of ensuring regular supply of grains to towns).

It seems that the urban craft production received a twofold impetus with the establishment of the Delhi sultanate. First, the Sultanate ruling class remained town-centered and spent the enormous resources it appropriated in the form of land revenue mainly in towns, either on buying services or procuring manufacturers. While the nobility created demand for high-priced skill-intensive luxury items, its hangers-on in all likelihood created a mass market for ordinary artisanal product. The second factor that contributed to urban manufacturers was the introduction of a number of technological devices that reached India with the invaders.

The greatest industry which flourished during this period was that of the textiles. It included the production of cotton cloth, woollen cloth and silk. It has been suggested that there was an important improvement in cotton production technology through the introduction of the spinning-wheel. It was Lynn White, who first queried the presence of this device in ancient India. The earliest reference to it so far traced in India occurs in 1350, in the verses of the Historian Isami. The sources of this period make it clear that the spinning-wheel came to India with the Muslims, and became presumably generalized by the mid-14^th century. The wheel increased the spinner’s efficiency some six-fold in comparison with the spinner working with a hand-spindle.

Similarly, it is believed that the cotton-carder’s bow reached India on the eve of the Ghorian conquests, for no earlier reference to it has been traced. The bow greatly enhanced the quantity of cotton cleaned in comparison with the earlier and simpler method of beating raw cotton with a stick. Coming into use at about the same time, the spinning-wheel and the carding bow must have dramatically cheapened spun yarn, and probably greatly enlarged its production.

There is very little evidence to suggest whether the weaver’s loom underwent any significant improvement during this period from its previous versions, though there is some speculation regarding the fact that treadles are an early medieval addition to the loom. However, even though there was no significant improvement in weaving during this period as compared to spinning and carding the total amount of yarn produced during this period increased significantly. This goes on show that there was a significant increase in the number of weavers during this period for the production to have increased at the existing level of technology.

Although there was a per capita increase in cloth during this period the sources only mention the names of the different types of cloths, and nothing more. A coarser kind of cotton cloth worn by the poor and the dervishes was called pat. Delhi received supplies of this type of cloth from areas as far as Awadh. A superior variety of cloth was the calico, which was available at double the price. Along with this there were finer varieties of cloth like muslin, which were so fine and expensive that they were worn only by the nobles and the very rich. Besides Devagiri, Bengal was a major exporter of Muslin. Gujarat also produced considerable amounts of fine cotton-stuffs. Barbossa tells us that Cambay was the center for the manufacture of all kinds of finer and coarse cotton cloth, besides other cheap varieties of velvets, satins, taffetas or thick carpets. Apart from the manufacture of cloth, other miscellaneous goods such as carpets, prayer carpets, coverlets, beddings etc were also manufactured in other parts of Gujarat.

As already mentioned above raw silk was a profitable item of import from Iran and Afghanistan. There was much weaving of silk as in the Juz cloth woven at Delhi and Koila, and of cotton and silk mixed, as in Mashru. However, silk weaving was taken to its finest level in Gujarat, the home of the incredible patola device, where the warp and weft threads are so dyed that upon weaving they reproduce the most complex designs. These fabrics were valued at such a high price that they formed the bulk of Alauddin’s war spoils from Deogir. Gujarat had a great reputation also for its gold and silver embroidery.

It is likely that woollen manufacture, especially carpet-weaving, derived considerable impetus from the patronage given by the sultanate ruling class, whose tastes were greatly influenced by the fashions of Iran and central Asia. Wool was procured from the mountainous tracts, though sheep were also reared in the plains. The finer qualities of woollen cloth and furs were largely imported from outside, and were almost exclusively worn by the nobles. The shawl industry of Kashmir had been equally firmly established much before the thirteenth century, and MBT sent Kashmir shawls as presents to the Chinese emperor.

The dyeing industry, with its use of indigo and other vegetable dyes were responsible for the bright colours of the cloth manufactured during this period. The tie and dye method was of old standing in Rajastan, though, we do not know when hand-printing using wooden blocks was introduced.

The contemporary sources shed very little light on the organization of production during this period. One can, however, legitimately assume that since the tools of production even after the introduction of new devices were still simple and mainly of wood and little of iron, should have remained cheap. The artisan was thus master of his own tools, though varied forms of labour organization seem to be prevalent. Certain artisans hawked or hired out their services such as cotton-card& who with a bow- string on his shoulder, went door to door selling his services as is evident from the account given in Khair-ul Majalis. Spinning was done usually by women staying at their homes. The weavers too usually worked at their own looms at home weaving cloth for sale, out of the yam bought or spun by themselves. They also worked on wages to weave yarn supplied to them by customers. But if the raw material was expensive such as silk or gold of silver thread, etc. and the products were luxury items, the craftsmen were to work in karkhanas under supervision. We have definite iniormation about the Sultans and high nobles maintaining these karkhanas where the production was to cater to their own needs and contrary to D.D.Kosambi’s assumption was not for market. Shahabuddin al Umari records in his Masalik-ul Absar that in Muhammad Tughluq’s karkhanas at Delhi, four thousand silk workers worked as embroiderer. According to Afif, Firuz Tughluq’s factory was one which met orders of 600,000 tankas worth of cloth every winter and the carpet-weaving establishment fulfilled orders worth 200,000 tankas per year.

A second major sector of urban employment was the building industry. With the arrival of the ‘Saracenic’ architecture, with its emphasis on the use of lime mortar as the cementing material and the true arch, dome and vault providing new devices for roofing, there was a spurt in brick constructions in the towns. The forts, palaces, mosques and other public buildings were also built on a large-scale. The historian Barani asserts that Sultan Alauddin Khalji employed as many as 70,000 craftsmen for the construction of his buildings. Larger numbers must have been employed during the reign of MBT and Firuz Tughluq.

During this period the Indian metallurgy had a worldwide reputation, especially in the fashioning of swords. Fakhr-I Mudabbir thought that the Indian swords were the best in India and highlights the fact that the damascened sword was the rarest and fetched the highest price. Another kind was made of soft Iron alloyed with copper and silver, and still another, from Gujarat was made of steel. The Geniza records show that the Deccan bronze and brass industry induced imports of cotton and lead into India; vessels and utensils were even fashioned for customers in Aden, who sent broken pieces to India to be remade. Finally, the high quality of Sultanate coinage during this period also testifies to the high quality of expertise attained by the minters.

A new industry which was introduced by the new regime during this period was that of paper manufacture. While paper was first introduced in China there is no evidence to show that paper was used in India prior to the 13^th century. An anecdote related to Balban’s court implies that paper was not torn, upon its contents being cancelled, but was washed, apparently to be reused again. Another anecdote of this period suggests that the sweetmeat-sellers of Delhi used written-paper as packing material, thereby, highlighting the fact that the scarcity of paper had been eased during this period. Paper greatly facilitated and cheapened the circulation of books, bringing into being a class of professional transcribers. However, getting a copy made of a book, which meant buying paper and hiring a nassakh, remained a difficult and expensive undertaking for scholars.

A new industry, which was widespread in India during this period was leather-working, based on the large cattle-wealth in the country. This was largely organized on caste basis. Superior quality saddles were produced for a large number of horses in the stables, or gifted to nobles. Gujarat produced exquisite mats of red and blue leather, decorated with birds and beasts or inlaid work.

The growth of urban centers during this period and the development of urban manufacturers provided a solid economic base for the growth of trade during this period. The development of a cash-nexus and the compulsion on the peasants to pay their revenue in cash had helped in creating a market in the towns for agricultural products. This trade resulting from the compulsions of land revenue system is termed as ‘induced trade’

The inland trade developed at two levels (a) the short distance village-town trade in commodities of bulk, and (b) long distance inter-town trade in high value goods. The village-town trade, as already explained, was a natural consequence of the emergence of towns and realization of land revenue in cash. The urban centres were dependent for supply of food grains and raw material for manufactures from the surrounding villages whereas the villages had to sell the agricultural products to receive cash for meeting the land revenue demand. The mandis were supplemented by local fairs where animals were also sold. The peculiar nature of this trade was the one-way flow of commodities. While the towns received grains and raw material from the villages in the vicinity they had no need to send their products in exchange to the villages which were by and large self-sufficient. This one-way trade was owing to the land revenue demand imposed upon villages which naturally led to a continuous drain on rural sector and made the towns dependent on villages. The taxation system assured all the time a heavy ‘balance of payments’ in favour of the towns, which were the headquarters of the Sultan and members of the ruling class. The turnover of this trade was high in terms of volume but was low in terms of value. The commodities were food grains, that is wheat, rice. gram, sugarcane, etc. and raw material like cotton for urban manufactures.

The inter-town trade was mainly in luxury articles and was thus high value trade. The manufactures of one town were taken to another, for example Barani reports that Delhi, the capital itself, received distilled wines from Kol (Aligarh) and Meerut, muslin (fine cloth) from Devagiri and striped cloth from Lakhnauti (Bengal) while, according to Ibn Battota, ordinary cloth came from Awadh and betel-leaf from Malwa (twenty-four days journey from Delhi). Candy sugar was supplied to Multan from Delhi and Lahore and ghi from Sirsa (in Haryana).

The long-distance inter-town trade also carried goods coming from other countries from entry-point towns to other urban centers as well as the export goods to exit-points. Multan was perhaps the great entrepot for overland foregn trade and served as a centre of re-export, while Gujarat port t o h s such as Broach and Cambay were exchange centres for overseas trade

During the Sultanate period, overland and overseas trade were in a flourishing state. The Khalji annexation of Gujarat gave a great impetus to the development of the Sultanate seaborne trade. This even must have enlarged trade relations between the Delhi Sultanate and the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea as Gujarat was connected with the Persian Gulf as well as the Red Sea. Hormuz and Basra were the chief ports for the ships passing through the Persian Gulf, while the ports of Aden, Mocha and Jedda along the Red Sea were important for Gujarat. Through these ports, commodities moved on to Damascus and Aleppo, on the one hand, and Alexandria on the other. Aleppo and Alexandria opened upto the Mediterranean Sea with linkages to Europe. Merchandise of Gujarat were also carried towards the East the port of Malacca situated at the Malacca straits and Bantam and Achin in the Indonesian archipelago. A European traveller Tome Pires, who came to India in the first decade of the 16th century, comments on the trade of Cambay as follows “Cambay chiefly stretches out two arms : with her right arm she reaches out towards Aden,with the other towards Malacca…” Pires further says: “Malacca cannot live without Cambay, nor Cambay without Malacca, if they are to be very rich and very prosperous. If Cambay were cut-off from trading with Malacca, it could not live, for it would have no outlet for its merchandise.” The main export from Gujarat to Malacca was the coloured cloths manufactured in Cambay and other Gujarat towns. These cloths were in demand in these places. In exchange, the Gujarati merchants came back with spices grown there. This pattern of “spices for coloured cloths” continued even after the Portuguese advent in the Asian waters. The I1 Khanid court historian Wassaf reports that 10,000 horses were annually exported to Malabar and Cambay from Persia. The Broach coin-hoards (see Unit 19) containing the coins of the Delhi Sultans along with the gold and silver coins of Egypt, Syria, Yeman, Persia, Genoa, Armenia and Venice further testifies to largerscale overseas trade.

The ports of Bengal had trading relations with China, Malacca and Far East. Textiles, sugar and silk fabrics were the most important commodities exported from Bengal. Varthema noted that about fifty ships carried these commodities annually to many places, including Persia. Bengal imported salt from Hormuz and sea-shells from the Maldives islands. The latter were used as coins in Bengal, Orissa and Bihar. Sindh was yet another region from where seaborne trade was carried on. Its most well-known port was Daibul. This region had developed close commercial relations with the Persian Gulf ports more than the Red Sea zone. Sindh exported special cloths and dairy products. Smoked-fish, too, was its specialty.

It was natural for the coastal trade to flourish right from Sindh to Bengal, touching Gujarat, Malabar and Commandel coasts in between. This provided an opportunity for exchange of regional products along the’coastal line distinct from inland inter-regional trade.

The overland trade routes lay through the Bolan pass to Heart, and through the Khyber pass to Bokhara and Samarqand and also by Kashmir routes to Yarkand and Khotan for onward transmission to China. Multan was the major trading centre for overland trade. India was connected to Central Asia, Afghanistan and Persia through the Multan-Quetta route. But, on account of repeated Mongol turmoil in Central Asia and Persia, this route was less preferred by the merchants. However, when the relations between the Sultan and the Mongols were one of peace the trade benefitted significantly as the Mongols themselves traded in camels and horses, arms, falcons, furs and musk. With the gradual assimilation of the Mongols to Islam, conditions for trade improved further during the 14^th century.

The information about the commodities, which entered long-distance trade is sketchy and incomplete. The two principal items of import were (a) horses that were always in demand for cavalry since superior horses were not bred in India and Indian climate was not well- suited to Arabian and Central Asian horses. They were primarily imported from Zofar (Yemen), Kis, Hormuz, Aden and Persia. The commerce in horses extended to Bengal. It imported horses from the Himalayas; and Simon Digby has suggested that these were not the Himalayan ponies, but a superior breed from South-west China. In return Bengal must have exported its fine muslin and perhaps later on silk. The horses besides serving a military purpose were also purchased for status and show. Hence, the careful regulation of the sale and purchase of the horses was a high priority for the state. (b) precious metals viz. gold and. silver, especially silver that was not at all mined in India but for which there was a high demand not only for metallic currency but also for fashioning luxury items. Brocade and silk stuffs were imported from Alexandria, Iraq and China. Gujarat was the major centre from where the luxury articles from Europe used to enter. Other items that were imported into India included camels, furs, white slaves, velvet, dry fruits and wine. Tea and silk were imported from China.

The bulk commodities included food-grains, oil, ghee, pulses etc with some regions having a surplus and the others a deficit. Thus, rice and sugar, which were in surplus in Bengal and Bihar were carried by ships to Malabar and Gujarat. Wheat which was in surplus in modern east UP was transported to the Delhi region. Apart from food stuff the other important items of export were textiles. The Sultanate India mainly exported grain and textiles. Some of the Persian Gulf regions totally depended on India for their food supply. Besides, slaves were exported to Central Asia and indigo to Persia along with numerous other commodities. Precious stones like agates were exported from Cambay.

It appears that the goods were transported both by pack animals and on bullock-carts. Perhaps the share of the pack animals was more than the latter. Ibn Battuta mentions 30,000 mans of grains being transported on the backs of 3,000 bullocks from Amroha to Delhi. Bullock-carts were also used, according to Afif, for carrying passengers on payment. The overland transport was expensive and was carried on mainly by the banjaras, who moved with their families along with thousands of bullocks. Expensive but bulky goods, like fine quality textiles, were carried on the backs of horses or in bullock carts. The movement of such goods was in caravans or tandas, protected by hired soldiers because roads were unsafe on account of both wild animals and dacoits. The pack-oxen were of course a cheap mode of transport travelling slowly, grazing as they went and moving in large herds, thus reducing the cost of transport specially along the desert routes. Ibn Battuta describes that highways ran through the empire marked by minarets spaced at set distances.

The Sultanate created certain conditions, which favoured the growth of commerce. Highways ran through the empire marked by minarets spaced at set distances and inns at close quarters to one another. Trees were planted on both sides of the road and a halting station (sarai) was built every two miles where food and drinks were available. In Bengal, Ghiyasuddin Tughluq built long embankments to carry roads invulnerable to flood. The government had its own system of communication by relay runners as well as horses. But there also existed private postal arrangements: apparently letters sent from one place to another were announced by crying out the names of the addresses in the market-place. Boats were employed for riverine routes to carry bulk goods, while large ships used for seabrone trade.

Moreover, from the time of Alauddin Khalji onwards illegal cesses, which had been in existence even before the coming of the Turks were abolished as a way of promoting trade in the Empire.

In spite of brisk trading activities, Indian merchants’ share in the overseas trade was negligible. Only a small section of Gujarati Banias, Chettis of the South and domicile Indian Muslims used to take part in this large trading activity. Trade was mainly in the hands of the Arab Merchants. With the landing of the Portuguese at Calicut in A.D.

1498 after the rounding of the Cape of Good Hope, a new dimension was added to the Indian seaborne trade, that is, the ‘element of force’. On account of better ships armed with cannons, the Portuguese soon imposed their commercial hegemony over the trading world of Asia, includiq the Indian seas, especially in Western part. This curtailed the Arabs’ share of the Indian trade, though they survived in the Eastern part, especially at Malacca along with the Indian merchaffts.

The Portuguese took Goa in 1510 which became their headquarters, Malacca fell in them hands in 1511. Hormuz in 1515; and Bassem and Diu In 1534 and 1537 respectively. Goa, under their patronage, soon developed as a major centre for import and export. The Portuguese well understood the strategic importance of Goa, which in their opinion, was essential to the maintenance of their position in India.. But the Portuguese possession of Goa was unfavourable to other Western Indian ports.

Tome Pres had rightly observed that the Muslim rulers of the Deccan and Gujarat had “a bad neighbour in Goa”. Many ports on the west coast fell into decay during the hundred years of the Portuguese domination In the Indian waters. This happened as a result of the aggressive policies of the Portuguese i) they controlled the sea-routes, ii) controlled the type and volume of cargo carried by other merchants, and iii) they introduced the system of issuing cartaz (from Persian qirta paper sheet) which was a kind of permit to ply ships in the Asian waters without which the ships were liable to be confiscated and the cargo plundered. A fee was charged for issuing a cartaz. No wonder, then, all these policies adversely affected the seaborne carrying trade of the Indians as well as of the Arabs.

Two types of merchants are mentioned in the sources of the Delhi Sultanate: the karwanis or nayaks and Multanis. The merchants specialising in carrying grains were designated by Barani as karwanis (a Persian word meaning those who moved together in large numbers). The contemporary mystic, Nasiruddin (Chiragh Delhi) calls them nayaks and describes them as those “who bring food grains from different parts to the city (Delhi) some with ten thousand laden bullocks, some with twenty thousand” It can be said with a degree of certainty that these karwanis were the banjaras of succeeding centuries. As is clear from the Mughal sources, these were organised in groups and their headman called nayak.

Besides these well defined merchant groups, others who had so chosen could take to trade, thus, a sufi (mystic) from Bihar became a slave-merchant trading between Delhi and Ghazni, and a number of pious men from Central Asia came to Delhi and became merchant.

Another important commercial class that emerged during the Sultanate period was that of the dallals (brokers). They worked as a link between the buyer and the seller and took commission from both the parties. Barani says that they were the ‘masters of market’: they were instrumental in raising prices in the market. Alauddin Khalji used to consult them about the cost of production of every article in the market in order to fix prices. The reference to ‘Chief’ brokers by Barani also suggests a somewhat well established guild of brokers, though the details are lacking. However during Alauddin Khalji’s reign these ‘Chief brokers were severely dealt with. But by Feroz Tughluq’s reign, they seem to have regained their position. Feroz Tughlu had abolished dalalat-i bazarha (a tax on broker’s licence; a cess on brokers). Besides, even if a deal between the buyer and t’he seller failed to materialize, the bro ers were not supposed to return the commission money. This also shows that during t e Tughluqs ‘brokerage’ became a fairly well-established institution.

Sarrafs were yet another mercantile group whose economic role was no less important than the brokers. As money changers, they were most sought after by the merchants, especially the foreign ones who came to India with their native coins. The sarrafs tested the metallic purity of the coins (indigenous and foreign) and established the exchange-ratio. They also issued bills of exchange) or letters of credit, thereby acting as “bankers”. The introduction of paper by the Turks into India accelerated the institution of bill of exchange. For all these troubles, the sarraf naturally charged his commission.

Thus, both the brokers and the sarrafs occupied pivotal position in the commercial world of their period; they were the custodians of several basic economic institutions. Indeed, no merchant could have dispensed with their services.

Hence, to conclude one can see that the established of the Delhi Sultanate brought with it major changes in the areas of urban manufacturers, technology, trade and the rise of new financial classes in society. Even though the Delhi Sultanate provides a colourful picture of urbanization and development, whether, these changes can be termed as an “Urban Revolution” or not, as suggested by Mohammed Habib is a matter of great dispute.