Inter-Regional and Maritime Trade

Inter-Regional and Maritime Trade
Lesson: Inter-Regional and Maritime Trade
Lesson Developer: Dr. Sakul Kundra
College/ Department: History, Motilal Nehru College,

Morning, University of Delhi
Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Table of contents
Chapter 10 : Inter-Regional and Maritime Trade
 10.1: Definition of Trade

 10.2: Debates related to Trade in early medieval India
 10.2.1: Relative Decline of Trade
 10.2.2: Critics of the theory of Decline of Trade
 10.3: Inter-regional Trade
 10.4: Maritime Trade
 10.4.1: China
 10.4.2: Sri Lanka
 10.4.3: South East Asia
 10.4.3.1: Srivijaya
 10.4.3.2: Java, Bali, Burma, Malya, Sumatra, Kambuja, Campa
 10.4.4: West
 10.5: Indian ports
 10.6: Indian Exports and Imports
 Summary
 Exercises
 Further Reading
10.1 Definition of Trade

The term ‘trade’ can be described as collection, distribution and commercial exchange
(buying and selling in domestic or international markets) of goods and services. This
includes the nature and quantity of production, transportation, safety, security and pattern
of exchange. Large numbers of people, such as merchants, traders peasants and artisans,
are engaged in this process.
10.2 Debates Related to Trade in Early Medieval India
Several historians have worked on the theme of trade in early medieval India. One set of
historians suggests that trade declined during this period, while the other set negates this
view altogether by citing evidences of the existence and flourishing of trade. In order to
understand the complexities of this topic, it is essential to comprehensively evaluate the
main arguments of different historians.
10.2.1 Relative Decline of Trade
R. S. Sharma, in his book Indian Feudalism (1965), puts forward the idea of decline
in the volume of trade with the Roman Empire after 300 CE due to several reasons. He
believes that the feudalization of Indian economy led to the languishing of trade, especially
long-distance trade between the 4th and the 12th centuries CE. Commercial activities
gradually declined in two stages, first from 700 to 900 CE and then from 900 to 1300 CE. At
the same time he accepts the notion of a partial revival of trade in 11th and 12th centuries
CE due to changing perspective of Indian feudalism.
In the first phase, the relative decline of internal trade was linked to a paucity of
coins. Sharma argues that commodities were largely produced mainly for local consumption
in self-sufficient villages which emerged due to a pervasive phenomenon of land grants.
From the 6th century CE onwards, India’s long-distance trade with Southeast Asia, Central
Asia and the Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire declined. The consequent fall in
the inflow of precious metals from the foreign countries led to a severe scarcity of metallic
currency in India. This, in turn, led to an increased use of land grants as an alternative
means of payment by the kings (Sharma, 2001, 27). Though India continued some
commerce with China and Southeast Asia, its benefits were largely reaped by the Arab
middlemen. Eventually, in the period before the 11th century CE, the Arabs monopolized
the export trade of India. Moreover, as Sharma contends, Indian participation in the
Southeast Asian trade between the 9th and the 13th centuries CE was less than
consequential, and the meager appearance of Chinese coins, mostly copper, in south India,
does not indicate much trade. The decline of commerce from the 6th to the 9th century CE
was evident in the near absence of coins in both north and south India (Sharma, 1987,
138). Other phenomena, such as the fragmentation of political power; dispersal of power
among local chiefs and religious land-grantees; and rise of intermediary landlords who
imposed high taxes, served to dampen the enthusiasm of traders and merchants and led to
a decline in trading activities. Frequent political wars also discouraged the commercial
activities during this phase.
In regard to India’s trade with Southeast Asia, on the basis of archaeological

evidence, Sharma challenges the notion that south India expanded commercial relations
with Southeast Asia between 4th and 10th centuries CE. He claims that generally articles
exchanged in this trade have not been mentioned. In further support of his argument, he
cites weak numismatic evidence for India’s trade with Southeast Asia. Although a few Gupta
coins have been found in Java, no Southeast Asian coins appear in India. This was so
probably because Burma and Cambodia did not develop their own systems of currency until

the 16th century CE (Sharma, 1987, 137-38). The study based on Cambodia shows that
between 600 and 800 CE, Southeast Asia could not develop any system of coinage and,
therefore, barter provided the essentials in the Khmer empire’s economy. There is some
evidence for early medieval coins from western and north-western India and also from some
parts of Ganga valley. But, they had no drastic impact on the overall economy. The coins
found were mostly of poor quality and played a trivial role in exchange relations. Compared
to the rising population and expanding area of settlement, the volume of metallic money in
circulation was limited. Therefore, it can be assumed the relative decline of metallic money
had an impact on India’s trading activities in the first two centuries after the Gupta period.
Sharma has also linked the phenomenon of de-urbanisation in India (600-1000 CE)
to the decline of long-distance trade with the Eastern Roman Empire and Central Asia. The
division of the Roman Empire into western and eastern halves by the beginning of the 4th
century CE and its subsequent collapse reduced the long-distance trade carried out through
the ports of peninsular India. The Indo-Byzantine trade, mostly in silk, also received a
setback in the middle of the 6th century CE, as Byzantium, the capital of Eastern Roman
Empire, learnt the art of rearing silkworms on mulberry leaves. India thus lost a vital foreign
market due to these developments. Thus, two emerging manifestations of urban decay were
evident. First, the decline of trade and the paucity of metallic currency suggest the rarity of
exchange at the commercial level (Sharma, 1965, 129). The scarcity of coins, especially of
gold, from 600 to 1000 CE was witnessed in almost all parts of the subcontinent, except in
Kashmir, Punjab, western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan (Sharma, 1987, 123). There was
also an absence of seals used for commercial purposes by the corporate bodies of
merchants, traders and artisans; disappearance of fine pottery; and the reduced use of
objects made of shell, glass, ivory, terracotta and iron. Second, there was a decline of
major urban centres and towns in the Gupta and post-Gupta period. Sharma’s Indian
feudalism model further puts forward the thesis that urban centres lost their identity as
areas of exchange and craft production and were transformed into centres of religious
prominence.
That the decline of trade led to the decay of many towns is evident in the post-Gupta
archaeological record of the urban sites. Archeological excavations suggest the downfall of
old commercial centres in the post Gupta times, especially Vaishali, Pataliputra, Rajghat and
others. The archaeological evidence is corroborated by the travel account of the 7th-
century-CE Chinese-Buddhist pilgrim-traveler Xuanzang, who mentions the desertion of
several towns. A restricted market forced artisans and merchants living in these towns to
migrate to rural areas in search of alternative means of livelihood. It is perhaps such
depopulation of cities that is implied by as the Puranic accounts of Kali age crisis. Thus,
there was a decline or decay of urban centres on a pan-Indian scale. In the absence of
regular well-established markets, villagers met their daily need for iron, oil, salt, spices and
cloth either by producing these commodities themselves or through weekly fairs. This led to
the rise of smaller units of production leading towards a self-sufficient economy (Sharma,
2001, 28). However, in his later works, Sharma admits that long-distance trade never
disappeared completely between 6th and 10th centuries CE. He points to textual references
to trade in costly and luxury goods to cater to the kings, feudal chiefs, temples and the
heads of the monasteries. Commodities, such as precious and semi-precious stones, ivory,
horses, etc., formed major part of this surviving long-distance trade.. On the one hand,
there are very few references to trade in daily products, although some commodities of
daily use like salt and oil which were not produced by every village, were traded from
outside. Thus in totality, during earlier phase, commercial activities catered mostly to the
needs of landed intermediaries and feudal lords but to not the common masses. Other
factors which caused a relative decline of trade were the fragmentation of political authority

and dispersal of power among local chiefs and religious land-grantees. This had a negative
impact on the trading activities in an economy largely based on land grants. The enthusiasm
of traders eroded due to the depredations of intermediary landlords, especially in less
productive areas. Thus, the initial period was a period of political tussles among ruling
chiefs, which adversely affected the morale of the trading communities.
Another cause for the decline of foreign trade was the expansion of Arabs on the
north-western frontiers of India during the 7th-8th century CE. This made the region’s
overland routes unsafe for Indian merchants. Further, mutual conflicts between the Tibetans
and Chinese during this phase also negatively affected the flow of goods along the routes in
Central Asia. Moreover, the sea-trade of western coast of India was disrupted and trade
languished due to the raids of Arabs on important commercial centres and ports. However,
later, in the 10th century CE, these Arabs played a significant role in the growth of Indian
maritime trade. Though some trade with Southeast Asia was in evidence, overall it could not
fill the lacuna created by the decline of trade with the West, i.e., the Roman Empire.
Sharma’s argument suggests the decline of urbanization, though the decay and
desertion of many towns during the early phase of early medieval period. The process was
caused by a combination of interconnected and concurrent processes: issue of a large
number of land grants to religious and secular officials for their for services to the kings,
paucity of metallic currency as a medium exchange, ruralization of economy leading to the
rise of villages as self-sufficient economic units where production was carried out for local
consumption, and decline of inter-regional and foreign trade. The rise of landed
intermediaries entailed the enserfment of peasantry (i.e., high tax burden and increasing
obligations to perform forced labour) and subinfeudation.
The feudalism model, as mentioned earlier, recognises a partial revival of trade and
commerce in the 11th and 12th centuries CE a period marked by agrarian expansion,
increased use of coined money, re-emergence of market economy wherein production was
for exchange rather than personal consumption. Due to agrarian expansion, there was a
greater production of staple and commercial crops which, in turn, encouraged the expansion
of both internal and external trade. This phase also witnessed growth of artisanal activity
which supplemented the agricultural production. For instance, there was progress in several
areas, such as textile and oil production; sugarcane cultivation; and craftsmanship in metal
(iron, silver, copper, brass and gold) and leather goods. All of these combined to stimulate
the process of regional and inter-regional exchange. This revival further received a boost
from the re-emergence of metal money, attested by inscriptional and literary references
(discussed in detail in the next chapter on monetization). There has been a good deal of
scholarly speculation about and debate on the value, content and circulation of a variety of
coins circulating in this period. Here arises an important question: if the use of this coined
money was for market transactions, was there any revival of trade, with multiplication of
the exchange centres? Or do these coins represent only a partial monetization, as argued by
the proponents of feudalism model. Despite numismatic evidence from different regions, the
proponents of feudalism model argue that the overall volume of money in circulation was
mostly negligibly insignificant, and the coins were highly debased and low in weight. This, to
them, constitutes ‘partial monetization’. Further, referring to the currency system in south
India in the second phase, they suggest that the transitions were not much affected by
coined money. Thus, barter system remained the main medium of exchange in inter-
regional and possibly in inter-national commerce as well. This partial monetization would
have contributed, to a certain extent, to some economic growth. At the same time, there is
some evidence for the development of credit system (debit and credit facilities), such as
hundis or bills of exchange which were probably used by merchants for commercial

operations. Recent regional researches have posed questions to the feudalism thesis on the
decline of trade and arrived at conclusions, diametrically opposed to those put forth by the
feudalism thesis.
10.2.2 Critics of the Theory of Decline of Trade
Sharma’s critics have cited plenty of literary sources to prove the existence of brisk
commercial transactions during the Gupta times. Gupta inscriptions from Pundravardhana
(north Bengal) and Gupta seals from Vaishali in north Bihar frequently refer to caravan
traders (Chakravarti, 2001, 74). Not only are references to an active role played by
merchants in town councils in the Gupta period, but there are also references to riverine
trade in deltaic Bengal during the 5th-6th centuries CE. The Chinese, Arab and Persian
travellers’ accounts describe the conditions of trade, both by land and by sea, besides the
details of economic life of different cities, ports and kingdoms. Al-Beruni, the famous 11th-
century-CE Arab traveler from Central Asia, describes the existing trade-routes in northern
India. Chinese-Buddhist pilgrim-travellers Fa Hsien (who travelled in India from 399 to 415
CE) and Hsuan Tsang describe the premier ports in the Gangetic delta, as also the direct
sea-borne contacts between Bengal and China through Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. The
coast in the Tamil area served as a major centre of contact between Sri Lanka and
Southeast Asia. John S. Deyell shows, arguing against Sharma’s thesis on the paucity of
coins, that between 750-1000 CE there was a significant circulation of coins in western,
northern and northwestern parts of India, and between 1000 and 1200 CE there were also
some qualitative changes in the metallic content of the coins. But, overall for him, ‘the
hypothesis of a decline of trade is in conflict with the pattern of coin movements along the
coastal axes centering on Gujarat, or the overland axis centering on Afghanistan and
terminating in Delhi. There is a priori evidence of long-term disequilibrium in the balance of
payments in inter-regional trade’ (Deyell, 1990, 244).
There was also sea-borne trade on the west coast of India although it was comparatively
lesser than that on the east coast. The Byzantine emperors and the Sassanids in Iran
exhibited a huge interest in maritime trade in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea
(Chakravarti, 2001, 1-102). The distribution of Red Ware sites in coastal Gujarat, the Indus
delta, the Makran coast and the coastal areas of Iran indicate the presence of an extensive
trade network.
The historians supporting the idea of Indian feudalism in early medieval period argue
that the period from 600 to 1000 CE witnessed the crystallization of the traits of feudal
economy all over India on the one hand, and the rapid decline of trade, especially long-
distance trade, on the other. They attribute this to the decline of India’s trade with Eastern
Roman Empire and Central Asia.
R. S. Sharma contends that this phase saw the growth of a self-sufficient and
enclosed village economy in three areas, namely the Ganga-Yamuna doab and Rajasthan
under the Gurjara-Pratiharas; Bengal and Bihar under the Palas; and the Deccan under the
Rashtrakutas. This supposed development of a closed village economy led to the
marginalization of trade, as the commodities produced in a given area were consumed
locally without any need for their exchange. (Chakravarti, 2001, 75-76). He defends this
theory by arguing for a huge decline in trade due to the paucity of minted metallic currency.
The vibrant money economy of preceding centuries was replaced by an economy wherein
cowry shells served as the main means of exchange. The use of cowries in great quantities
is suggested by archaeological and literary data; this, however, implies the continuation of
maritime trade, since these were mainly imported from the Maldive islands. But it has been

argued that these cowry shells were restrictive to long-distance transactions, which needed
high-quality coinage of precious metals. Thus, a serious crisis in money economy arising
from the paucity of metallic currency eventually led to a decline of trade. The then chief
political powers, such as the Rashtrakutas, the Palas and the Senas, did not issue any
currency, whereas coins of other dynasties lacked a high metallic content and purity and,
thus, were unfit for long-distance trade (Chakravarti, 2001, 76-77). This deficit in the
availability of metallic coins forced the states to issue land grants to their officers in lieu of
cash payment. The decline of trade and decrease in commercial activities played a
paramount role in the overall decay of the non-agrarian sector of the economy, leading to
the formation and consolidation of a self-sufficient and closed rural economy.
The rise of nomadic Huns, too, had an unfavorable impact on the security and stability of
overland trade-routes linking northern India to north-western parts of India and thence to
West and Central Asia. Hsuan Tsang’s account Si-Yu-Ki gives an impression of the decline of
towns in the Ganga valley. There are other literary records which reflect the transformation
of towns into villages. The proponents of Indian feudalism consider this as the period of de-
urbanization when in a closed economy the needs of landed intermediaries were met locally
and this resulted in the reduction of trade.
Another view of Sharma, in relation to the Sino-Indian trade, was challenged by

Tansen Sen. According to Sharma, the Sino-Indian trade declined after the transfer of
sugar-making technology to China in the mid-7th century CE. But on the basis of
documentary evidence, Tansen argues that there was no widespread use of sugar or its
byproducts among the Chinese people or the Buddhist clergy before or during the Tang
dynasty (618-907), nor is there any reference to importation of this product in bulk
quantities from India. Thus, it seems that the transfer of sugar-making technology made
minimal impact on Sino-Indian commercial exchanges during the 7th and 8th centuries CE
and on the Indian economy (Sen, 149-151).
The model of Indian feudalism has been challenged by many historians on other
grounds too, as discussed in the next chapter on the process of urbanization. Self-sufficient
village economy is considered a myth by the critics of Sharma; they argue that Indian
villages always lacked two significant items of daily use, salt and iron, which were procured
from outside through trade. They have also brought to light a large amount of evidence for
trade, urbanization and money economy in the early medieval India. The regional-level
studies, delving into numismatic, epigraphic and, to some extent, archeological data, have
adequately showed the prevalence of different types of merchants, various levels of
marketplaces and exchange centres. They argue that land grant economy aided in the
expansion of agriculture and thereby led to a growth in rural economy. As a result, local and
regional trade centres emerged to become a vital linkage with the markets of urban centres.
These trade centres were called mandapikas in north India, penthas in Deccan and
nagarams in extreme south (the Tamil area). Both B. D. Chattopadhyaya and Ranabir
Chakravarti demonstrate the presence of trade, marketplaces and traders in regions like
Rajasthan and coastal Konkan in the early medieval period.
Chattopadhyaya, in his book The Making of Early Medieval India (1994), argues that
although there is evidence for decline of some old urban centres in the early medieval
period, at the same time, there were others that simultaneously continued to flourish and
some new ones that also emerged. His research, based on early medieval Rajasthan,
identifies trade networks in and across the region, marked by the role of money. According
to him, in the first phase, from 9th to 11th century CE, there was a proliferation of local
centres of exchange within the dominions of the emergent Rajput lineages. These centres
were the points of intersection for traffic of varying origins; this gave rise to a certain
measure of hierarchy in these centres. The second phase, between 11th and 12th centuries
CE, witnessed the resurgence of old, local merchant lineages which had already been in
operation, and the emergence of new, hitherto unfamiliar lineages—both of which
established wide intraregional and interregional networks (Chattopadhyaya, 1994, 88-119).
He criticizes Sharma’s thesis that a decline in foreign trade led to a decline of urban centres
on the ground that a decline in foreign trade may not necessarily imply a decline in internal
trade and consequently a decline of urban centres. In defense of his view, he offers two
arguments. Firstly, as the foreign trade did not play a crucial role in the birth of early urban
centres, a reduced volume of such trade may hardly be held responsible for their decay in
the post-Kushana or post-Gupta times. Secondly, the alleged decay of urban settlements
coincided with and, in several cases, even preceded the period when land grants grew
rapidly. Thus, decline in trade and urban centres may not have logically followed from the
types of assignments that were made in the early and medieval India (Chattopadhyaya
1994, 147-48). Further, he argues that after 1000 CE India did witness the crystallization of
new networks of exchange, the formation of trade guilds and a new phase of money
production and circulation. He terms this phase as the third phase of urbanization in India.
Similarly, Chakravarti, in his book Trade and Traders in Early Indian Society (2002),
questions the stereotyped image of early Indian commerce merely in terms of trade of
luxuries, and draws the attention to transactions in daily necessities. While the early
medieval north India is said to have experienced a drastic economic decline in commercial
and urban economy from 600 to 1000 CE, there was a definite rise in the growth of urban
centres and markets in the in the post-1000-CE period. Chakravarti’s study of the
distribution of mandapikas, however, demonstrates the emergence of exchange centres
even prior to 1000 CE.
Further, Chattopadhyaya challenges the notion that a stable political structure

promoted the rise of trade and urban centres, arguing that there was no guarantee that the
rise of a kingdom or an empire would necessarily bring in trade and urbanism. He gives
epigraphic evidence for many cites of the early medieval period acting as centres for
exchange of goods. The centre of these activities was the mandapika, a term used for a
pavilion though its contextual meaning is derived from the word mandi in Hindi and mandai
in Marathi (Chattopadhyaya 1994, 171-72). In this sense, they can be linked to modern
mandis. They were mostly located in northern and western India. Several inscriptional
references evince the presence of brisk commerce at mandapikas as centres of brisk trade
between mid-8th and early 11th centuries CE. Several commodities ranging from staples to
luxury commodities were available in these markets. These included varied types of
agricultural products brought from different surrounding regions. Probably, these markets
acted as a link between the rural exchange network and trade in urban regions. Some of
these mandapikas became huge in size and were called mahamandapikas; those related to
urban areas were called pattanamandapikas. Several references suggest that duties or
cesses were imposed by the political authorities and by some mercantile groups in favour of
a deity or a religious establishment at the mandapikas. The administrative authorities, thus,
must have given recognition to these centres of exchange as they also became centres of
collection of tolls and customs. The Lekhapaddhati documents, too, list several revenue
officers apparently connected with revenue collection at the mandapikas. These officers
used to collect taxes from foreign merchants for importing and exporting in accordance to
the prevalent laws and customs (Chakravarti, 2002, 187-195). There was a re-emergence
of markets and merchants, as reflected in the holding of weekly hattas or rural fairs that
became nodal exchange centres, as also a revival of long-distance trade. The rural markets
or hattas closely correspond to the addas in eastern Deccan and santhes in western and
central Deccan. They were periodically held on certain days of a week. It can be presumed
that they had a direct link with the rural hinterland that supplied exchangeable agricultural
and artisanal produce (Chakravarti, 2010, 329-330). This phase of urbanization, therefore,
happened due to agrarian expansion and increased craft production which went beyond the
confines of temples or monasteries. And there also emerged several grades of traders
during this period.
Like the northern and western India, Deccan, too, witnessed the beginning of a new
type of market centre known as pentha, as suggested by epigraphic and literary sources.
Chakravarti argues, on the basis of Yashastilakachampu by Somadevasuri, that pentha was
divided into many well-laid out chambers, had large storage areas for merchandise and was
provided with drinking places, feeding house, assembly hall with seats and streets or shops.
Merchants from different areas flocked there. It was marked by ditches, rampart,
fortification and moat (Chakravarti, 2010, 329-330). It had a commercial character insofar
as the boxes of merchandise were opened as referred as stockade with warehousing facility.
Sometimes, many areas in the pentha were let out to merchants for storage, display and
sale of their commodities against payments of tolls, shares and rent at a moderate rate.
Other sources refer to pentha/pintha as a trade and toll-collecting centre. The size of this
trading centre was probably larger than rural-level market places and weekly fairs but
smaller than a sizable urban centre (Chakravarti, 2010, 331). These markets could reach
out to both rural hinterland and large urban market areas. Besides penthas, there were
nagarams and mandapikas that acted as middle-range commercial centres in their
respective regions. There are also several inscriptional and literary references to various
kinds of merchants, such as vaidehaka (petty traders), banjara (hawker), sarthavaha
(caravan merchant), shreshthin (very rich merchant), vadduvyavahari (senior merchant)
and nauvittaka (ship-owing merchants) (Chakravarti, 2010, 331).
Another noted historian, Andre Wink, in his book Al-Hind: The Making of Indo-Islamic
World (1990), postulates the commercial impact of Islamic expansion on the Indian
subcontinent. He cites evidence for towns and circulation of plenty of coins from the 7th to
the 11th century CE as the Islamic Middle East acquired economic supremacy while
establishing new links between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. He argues that the
growth and development of a ‘world economy’ in and around the Indian Ocean, with India
as the epicenter and the Middle East and China as its two dynamic poles. Thus, India was
affected by continuous economic, social and cultural integration into ever wider and more
complex pattern under the auspices of Islam.
There have also been many researches on the corporate associations or guilds of
merchants with a well-defined structure and a carefully framed code of conduct and
membership, governed by certain regulations and qualifications (Chakravarti, 2001, 326).
According to the earlier researches, the guilds began to decline in number in the Ganga
valley during the early medieval period. This view has been criticized by the recent
researches that demonstrate the prominent position of guilds and their merchants, as also
their and their commercial activities in Gujarat and far south (medieval Karnataka, Tamil
Nadu and Kerala), during this very period. Particularly notable are the works of V. K. Jain
and R. Champakalakshmi which show the role of mercantile bodies in early medieval
Gujarat and south India respectively.
The Indian Feudalism model and its thesis on the declining volume of India’s long
distance trade has hardly paid attention to the expansion of the Indian Ocean trade in
around the 8th century CE. With the rise of Islam, the Arabs expanded their political
dominion in northern Africa, the Mediterranean region, Central Asia and some parts of India.
This expansion gave them a prominent control over Indian Ocean trade. Their new faith with
a distinct thrust on commerce and urbanism inspired the Arabs to politically dominate vast
areas of Asia, northern and eastern Africa, as also some parts of Europe and thereby play a
significant role in the maritime commerce of the Indian Ocean zone (Chakravarti, 2002,
160-186).
Arab traders emerged as significant players in the trade along the overland and
maritime routes that connected Europe with east Asia. K. N. Chaudhuri, in his book Trade
And Civilization in the Indian Ocean (1985), argues that from middle of the 7th century CE
to the end of the 15th century CE, there existed a long line of trans-continental trade, going
all the way from southern China to eastern Mediterranean. The commodities exchanged
were such as could be easily integrated to the local demands. In regard to the Indian Ocean
trade, he states that it incorporated shorter voyages and distances with flow of commodities
going in the direction of regional markets. This pattern of trans-continental trade changed
probably in the beginning of the 10th century CE, when Arab ships and merchants sailed all
the way to China and back, calling at the intermediate ports according to the available
trading opportunities there. A single voyage mounted across the whole breath of the Indian
Ocean, though it incurred considerable transaction costs, and gradually this particular
pattern of trading was discontinued in favour of shorter, segmented voyages between a
number of leading port-cities (Chaudhuri, 1985, 37-39). By the 11th century CE, the Indian
Ocean trade was divided into smaller segments, such as the stretch from the Red Sea and
Persian Gulf to Gujarat and Malabar; from the Indian coast to the Indonesian archipelago;
and from Southeast Asia to East Asia. Many Asian products of trade, such as silk, porcelain,
sandalwood and black pepper, were exported and exchanged for incense, horses, ivory,
cotton textiles and metal products. This transoceanic trade later gave way to organized
trade in short segments, based on the intermediate urban emporia of the Malabar coast and
the strait of Mallaca (Chaudhuri, 1985, 49).
The emergence of the Cholas in south India and their maritime activities, conducted by
flourishing merchant guilds, at the centre of Indian Ocean trade system made south India
an equal participant along with China and Southeast Asia (Shrimali, 2008, 745). In regard
to south India, Kenneth R. Hall’s work, Trade and Statecraft in the Age of the Colas (1980),
demonstrate that there was considerable commercial activity in the south Indian hinterland
and that well-organized trade networks supplied the commodities demanded by foreign
traders during the Cholas period. Burton Stein’s work, Peasant State and Society in
Medieval South India (1980), indicates that from the 12th century CE, trade and urban life
in south India progressed in comparison to the preceding period.
B. N. S. Yadav, in his book Society and Culture in Northern India in the Twelfth
Century (1973), points out the increased productivity in agriculture and the developed state
of industry during the 11th and 12th centuries CE, which may be connected with the
comparative development of trade and commerce in northern India, as against the
economic decline which was the feature of the post-Gupta period. In a similar vein, V. K.
Jain’s Trade and Traders in Western India (1990), based on indigenous epigraphic and
literary sources and foreign accounts of western India during the period 1000-1300 CE,
shows that western India witnessed unprecedented commercial activities. As a large number
of luxury and essential goods were carried by merchants from a place to another, state
collected varities of tolls and taxes at toll houses. At the same time, there were active
mercantile activities at ports and in towns, and merchants occupied high positions in
contemporary society and politics. In totality, this suggests that there was a great economic
expansion in this period in the region of Gujarat and southern Rajasthan (Jain, 1990, 250-
53).
Jain argues that there was a greater use of money during this period. He also
suggests that though there are no references to vishti (forced labour) in the historical
records, there are clear references to payment of taxes, services and loans in cash. There is
also evidence for the use of hundikas or bills of exchange to assist large-scale commercial
transactions without the use of much currency (Jain, 1990, 250-53). Further, there are
inscriptional references to toll houses, and commercial taxes were a significant source of
state income. He also points to the factors for the development of trade and commerce in
western India, such as growth in population, consequent increase in the number of rural
settlements and in the agricultural production (as waste or virgin lands were brought under
cultivation), as well as cultivation of commercial crops like sugarcane, cotton and indigo.
While agreeing with Sharma’s feudalism theory, he points out that commercial development
of the age did not disturb the existing land-vassal nexus or the feudal mode of production.
For him, Indian foreign trade did exist, and although references to Indian traders going
abroad are scarce, he believes, they did have contacts with Arab traders who collected their
goods from China, Southeast Asia and India and carried them to the ports of the Persian
Gulf and the Red Sea for sale in the European continent (Jain, 1990, 250-53). Arab trading
activities did not let the market of Indian goods abroad to decline, as the traders of western
India were inclined to restricting their trade to coastal and internal trade. The main products
that continued to be imported to western India included precious and base metals, silk,
gems, ivory, fine spices, wine, frankincense and horses. However, there was a change in the
nature of Indian products exported overseas. Before the 11th century CE, Indian export
consisted mainly of luxury articles, such as textiles, silk and fine muslin, but later it also
included sugar, buckram, flaxen, cotton fabrics, tanned leather, leather goods, swords and
spears and also cereals (Jain, 1990, 71-108). The finds of early medieval coin-hoards from
various parts of western India suggest the use of money as a medium of exchange.
While R. S. Sharma opines that the articles of trade during the Pala and the Pratihara
periods were not meant for day-to-day use by common people, except salt and oil which
were not produced in the villages in sufficient quantity, Jain points out that both literary
and inscriptional sources of 10th century CE and later reveal that merchants in western
India handled a tremendous variety of essential and luxury commodities (Jain, 1990, 56).
B. N. Mukherjee, too, questions the Sharma’s theses on the paucity of coins (as
media of exchange) and decline of trade. He argues that there is no evidence for an unusual
decline of trade, but on the contrary brisk trading activities continued in some regions
during the early medieval period. On the basis of several historical sources, he refers to
different areas famous for production or availability of various articles of commerce. He
highlights the existence of regional, interregional and international Indian trade, by citing
references from indigenous and foreign travel accounts. The intensity of production and
commercial activities might have varied from region to region, but there was no concrete
evidence for the decline of trade in northern India during the early medieval period
(Mukherjee, 1986, 92). He further concludes that there was no paucity of coins in several
regions of north India, and it continued to be used as media of exchange to facilitate trade
and commerce. Thus the finds of a large number of early medieval coins suggest their use
in coin conscious zones for commercial transactions. Moreover, money in the form of
cowries, coins and units of pure metal encouraged the trade.
Another article of B. N. Mukherjee analyses the situation of commerce and money in

the western and central parts of eastern India (present-day Bihar, West Bengal and
Bangladesh) between 750 and 1200 CE. During this period, under the major dynasties,
namely the Palas and the Senas, the politically stable state encouraged the growth of
industry and regular movement of articles of commerce (Mukherjee, 1982, 65-66). On the
one hand, Ganga and its branches provided very convenient channels of communication; on
the other, the sea coast of the territory served as a base for maritime trade. Large-scale
trade in commodities and presence of specialized industries prove that the region had a

thriving industry and brisk commerce. This region under the Pala-Sena rulers saw trade in
local products and import of foreign items, as also exploration of valuable articles, produced
locally or brought from territories further inland. However, the volume of trade during this
period was comparatively less than that in the following period. The inscriptions refer to
local shops, markets and big markets. Ruling class may have acquired a portion of wealth
through taxation and participation in trade (Mukherjee, 1982, 66-67).
The inscriptions of this period do refer to the restrictions and taxes imposed by the
government on trading articles. They also refer to hattika (petty markets or market dues).
The royal officers collecting dues from markets, customs and ferries are referred to as
hattapati, saulika and tarika (Mukherjee, 1982, 66-67). Royal interest in the trade is thus
evident. Therefore, according to Mukherjee (1982, 66-67), the western and central regions
of eastern India witnessed brisk internal trade, transit trade and international trade during
the early Palas, the later Palas and the Senas. In the similar vien, Himanshu Prabha Ray in
her article ‘Maritime Archaeology of Indian Ocean: An Overview’ (1996), has utilised
archeological records from Southeast Asia and the Persian Gulf to suggest a continuity in
trade from 4th to 14th century CE. She suggests that trade did not cease with the decline of
empires; instead, there were relocations in routes and changes in the participants (Ray,
1996, 1-9).
The volume and variety of Indian trade in the early medieval period was, admittedly,
comparatively lower than the that in the modern period. There were changes in the list of
imports and export items from different countries in due space of time, but certain essential
daily items, such as drugs and spices, remained important. Trade in luxury items was still
active. Backward navigation techniques and danger of pirates forced the surrounding
countries to trade in luxury items, which were comparatively smaller in volume and weight,
in order to cater to the demands of the ruling class. Stiff competition existed between the
Arab, Indonesian and Chinese traders and, in turn, reduced the Indian traders to performing
the role of distributing wares within their country (Gopal, 1965, 159-160). The rise of
feudal lords and other chiefs accelerated the demand for luxury items from foreign
countries. This contributed to the decline in India’s profits from trade.
10.3 Inter-regional Trade
As per the feudal model, there was emergence of new consumers due to increase in
distribution of large scale land grants from the 8th century onwards. These were religious
men of highest order such as priests, who became entitled to hereditary rights of landed
estates and benefices. This new landowning class raised the demand of luxuries and other
necessities, in addition to earlier existing ruling and mercantile classes. These religious
institutions became huge consumers of many marketable goods. Thus big temples with
immense resources and requirements encouraged the growth of commercial activities. In
reference to South India, it gave a boost to the inter-regional trade during the concerned
phase.
Lallanji Gopal’s book The Economic life of Northern India (1965) analyzed the
internal and external trade, by land and sea; credit and banking, coinage, revenue system
and guilds. He shows that inter-state trade continued during the early medieval period,
which is evident from the fact that many significant items of daily use like spices, luxury
goods, metals and salt which were used all over India came from different regions (Gopal,
1965, 90-104). Other traded products of daily use were food-grains, oil, butter, jaggery and
madder etc. The references of these, paying tolls and taxes, showed the existence of
commercial activities. Many literary and epigraphic references stated that traders from one

part of India regularly visited other parts for trading and commercial operations. Many
commercial activities were also promoted due to religious journey of pilgrimage (tirthas).
Similarly education centres, scattered in different parts, which kept alive the contacts
between different parts. The merchants anticipating in the inter-state trade generally
travelled in groups and were termed as caravan traders. These were considered to be a safe
against the robbers invading the highways. Many big merchants before preceding the
caravan journey, used to declare their intention to their fellow merchants in the city and
invited them to join them in the journey. These caravan leaders disclosed their fellow
travellers about the advantages of the route to be taken for journey and gave them useful
guidance. There are several references of decline in the volume of trade due to insecurity of
the highways. This could not be restrained because of absence of a strong central power
which led to the growth of feudal anarchy. These feudal chiefs took advantage of the
existing political chaos and the weakness of the central authority, to earn high profits by
robbery. Thus political fluctuations, frequent feudal raids and internecine wars must have
hampered trade.
There existed a vast network of roads connecting ports, markets and town of
different regions, which encouraged the exchanging trade relations between them. Detailed
information of several overland trade-routes within India are given in Arabic and Persian
records of different travellers such as Xuanzang [seventh century] and Albiruni [1030 CE].
There are detailed descriptions of the routes connecting Khurasan, trans-Indus and cis-Indu
regions and Sind to the interior parts of India which reflect the regular mercantile cultural,
political and military contacts between India and the Islamic world (Chakravarti and
Majumdar, 2008, 761). Other examples of overland route which passed from Bihar to Tibet
and to China are also given. The commercial traffic between India, Tibet and China along
the routes passing through Nepal drastically influenced the economy of Nepal. There are
references to the effect that Bengal received large number of horses that merchants
brought through this above mentioned trade route. Indian merchants actively participated in
the trade along the north-western India. They mostly visited Iran though not much into
Central Asia. After the Arabs established their control over Sindh, India and Muslim world
were brought in close proximity for trading relations. Large number of horses, and sufficient
quantity of saffron, asafetida and wine were imported to India along the overland north-
western route. The other overland trade routes mentioned were from Bayana in Rajasthan
to Karchi in Sindh; another from Mathura to the port of Western coast via Ujjain. These
routes played a major role in connecting the interior of India to the international sea trade
mostly in the post 10th century CE.
The heavy merchandise was carried by camels, buffaloes, fine oxen, mules and
donkeys. The carts drawn by bullocks, mules, buffaloes and other animals helped in the
transport and conveyance of merchants and their merchandise. Thus it appears that
providing transport and conveyance was a very lucrative business during this phase (Gopal,
1965, 90-104). Several references of roads are evident such as carriage street, a small
street, a high street and a high road, all of which were used for commercial inland trading
activities. Some vital roads were demarcated with mile-stones for the convenience of
travellers and merchants. In the plains of northern India, rivers were considered to be
better and safer mode of travelling and of transporting merchandise than roads.
During the 8th century CE, in south India, nagarams emerged, which were mainly
connected with the production and exchange commodities, at local, inter-regional or
international level. In regard to Chola state, there was an urban growth and direct royal
involvement in promoting trade and exchange networks by using the nagaram as one of the
agents of state synthesis. Trade and commercial activities were promoted by royal policy of

conquests, development of ports, the encouragement of production centres and guild

activities. During the Chola period, in response to constant demand and encouragement,
specialization of crafts followed and production centres catered to an expanding market
(internal and external) through which organized commerce emerged (Champakalakshmi,
1996, 206). Champakalakshmi showed the growing role of nagarams in three phases, first,
early Chola period (850-985), growth in the use of metals (gold and silver) as a mode of
religious gifts and partial monetization of the economy, meant a greater role of nagaram in
commercial activities in comparison to the earlier periods. In this phase there were minimal
contact between nagaram and international mercantile organization. Second, middle Chola
period (985-1150), the proliferation and specialization of nagarams happened. Many
commercial towns appeared throughout the Chola territory and also emerged in the newly
conquered territories. Nagarams also became the part of wider network of inter-regional
and oversea trade from the eleventh century, with enhanced political influence in the crucial
links. The nagaram organizations and specialization in the marketing of specific commodities
became important factor for urbanization of 11th-13th centuries and it is characterized as
‘temple urbanization’, where the religious institution contributed to the urban and economic
growth during this phase. In this period, there established a new close relations between
the temples, Brahman communities and merchants guilds also extended to the areas newly
conquered by the Cholas rulers. Chola rulers led many raids in order to control the major
internal as well as lucrative Indian Ocean trade (Champakalakshmi, 1996, 215-222). Third,
the late Chola period (1150-1279 CE) saw a phenomenal increase in trading activities and
measures were taken to control over the movement of the goods by different merchant
bodies coming together and jointly fixing rates of tolls and the share of the town. In this
period local agricultural organization gained more independence and political power as they
were supported by merchant guilds. Due to absence of strong single political power under
the Chola rulers, these agricultural organizations and merchant guilds acted in independent
capacity and held the rights of fixing tolls, commission, share of the town, directing temple
building and transporting agricultural surplus and commercial goods (Ibid., 220-222). In the
thirteenth century merchant guilds emerged as one of the most powerful social and political
organization in southern India, at the cost of Chola court.
10.4 Maritime Trade
Besides giving accounts of inland trade of this period, Gopal showed the references
of presence of the Indian foreign trade via land and sea. In regard to foreign trade,
Northwest frontier of India had several passes which connected merchants to establish
overland trade routes with China, Persia, Arabia and Asia Minor. With the expansion of
Islam, the Arabs created hindrances for the Europeans to trade with the Orient. During 650
to 750 CE, there emerged a quadrangular struggle between the Turks, the Tibetans, the
Arabs and the Chinese for the occupation of Central Asia (Gopal, 1965, 105-118). Gradually,
trade routes across Central Asia declined to a great extent due to lack of Chinese interest as
it was unable to establish control over Central Asian states. During the second half of the
seventh century the sea-route between India and China was more in use than the overland
route. The chaotic conditions on the route across north-western India and Central Asia led
the merchants to seek and develop other possible trade routes through Assam, Burma and
Sikkim (Ibid., 105-118).
There are several references of Indian foreign trade via sea during the early
medieval period. Initially this oceanic trade was shared between Persians, Indians,
Indonesians and Ceylonese but after their rise, the Arabs established their dominance by
replacing Persians who were major participants in this trade. Soon they became the
foremost maritime power in the ninth century and expanded their influence in the east.
From the tenth century the Arabs had to yield a part of the monopoly, especially to the west
of Indonesian countries, to the ports of Sumatra, Java and Malaya (Ibid., 119-160). Later in
the twelfth century, they faced a firm competition with the Chinese who finally succeeded in
establishing hegemony right up to the Malabar ports.
Arabs had control over Persian Gulf and the Red Sea which helped them to expand
their maritime enterprise. By uniting western Asia and Egypt they were able to control all
the sea routes going towards India and other eastern countries. Other participants of
Southeast Asian trade were Ceylon, China and Indonesia. India lacked control over maritime
trade in comparison to these countries, firstly, due to backwardness in the techniques of
ship construction and navigation. As Indian ships were small in size and slow in speed, they
were incapable of taking long journey in comparison to their counterparts. The second
reason was the inability of the Indian states to protect the interest of Indian ships against
coastal powers engaged in piracy. The increasing instances of piracy must have deterred
Indian merchants taking frequent voyages to distant areas. Lastly, spreading of a taboo
against sea-voyages in the orthodox Brahmanical group curbed the trading activities, it was
considered to be a hindrance for the attainment of heaven (Ibid., 119-160).
There were many besides those who actually participated in shipping of merchandise
in sea trade. They were known as class of disbursing merchants who brought the goods
from the foreign merchants and circulated them within the country. Gradually, it seems that
Indian merchants were concentrating more on the process of distribution while the actual
trade was left in the hands of foreigners (Ibid., 144).
The movement of monsoon winds made the Indian peninsula, by the Cholas the
natural divide and an intersecting point between the Red Sea/Persian Gulf region and the
Chinese ports. The goods exported from the Chinese markets were traded by a group of
merchants engaged in trade between Western Asia and southern India, and then
transshipped at south Indian ports to trading ships concentrating on the southern India-
China sector. The long single voyages between the Arabian peninsula and China, were now
reduced and merchants adopted safer, less time and cost consuming trips. In this pattern of
trade, the Cholas facilitated the movement of merchants and commodities across the Indian
Ocean by linking it to the major maritime market of the world (Sen, 2003, 158-160). India
had been a trans-shipment centre between the commercial exchange of China and Rome.
During the sixth and the seventh centuries Indian ports supplied Chinese silk to the markets
in the Byzantine empire. With the foundation of Islam, Arab forces under the Umayyad
(661-750 CE) and the Abbasid (750-1000 CE) caliphates conquered many areas in northern
Africa, the Mediterranean region and even parts of northwest India and Central Asia. Slowly
and gradually, these Muslim traders started to monopolize India’s foreign trade in west of
coast of India or in the Arabian Sea. By the ninth century they also penetrated in the
maritime circuit between coastal India and China. By late tenth century, Muslim merchants
were actively transporting Chinese silk and porcelain through southern Indian and Sri Lanka
to the Persian Gulf and in return were carrying other goods from the Persian Gulf/Red Sea
region to Chinese markets. Thus, these Muslim merchants had organized an extensive
trading network spanning from the Far East to the Mediterranean region (Ibid., 160-166).
From 8th century CE onwards, maritime routes between India and China, that either
crossed through the Andaman and Nicobar Islands or passed around the ports of Bay of
Bengal to Sumatra and into the South China Sea, became more popular than the earlier
overland routes. Several factors contributed to the change from overland to seaborne routes
such as change in economic policies, developments in navigation, better understanding of
monsoon (seasonal winds), ship-building technologies and political stability which boosted
the seaborne trade between Indian and China (Sen, 2003, 168-176). Instability in Central
Asia and encouragement of the commerce by the southern Indian states in the eighth and
the ninth centuries helped in the rapid increase in maritime trade between India and China.
K.N. Chaudhuri pointed out a significant change which was noticed in the pattern of the
maritime voyages across the Indian Ocean at the end of the 10th century CE, where earlier
longer, time-consuming voyages were replaced by less costly, shorter and segmented trips.
He with the help of a map, tried to show that in the eleventh century the Indian Ocean
trade from the Red Sea region to the East Asia was divided into three natural segments,
first, ’there was the stretch from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf to the Gujarat and the
Malabar. The second segment included the annual voyages from the coastal provinces of the
India to the Indonesian archipelago. In the final segment lay the economic exchanges
between South East Asia and the Far East. At each junction of the segments, great urban
emporia had developed, providing cargo and shipping services to the merchants and
offering on the part of the political rulers an element of neutrality’ (Chaudhuri, 1985, 102-
105).
Source : K.N. Chaudhuri’s Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean: An Economic History
from the Rise of Islam to 1750, p. 104.
Chaudhuri had identified major cities engaged in maritime trade as Aden, Hormuz, Cambay,
Calicut, Satgaon, Malacca, Canton and Ch’uan-chou (Zaiton). To this existing emporia
Tansen made addition of another city based on archeological evidence, named
Nagapattinam (transshipped port between South Asia and Persian Gulf/Red Sea) on the
Coromandel coast that contributed in Indian Ocean commerce, which became the port of
departure for the Chola missions sailing to China (Sen, 2003, 179). There are many
epigraphic references to show the regular settlements of foreign merchants on the western
coast. There are also references of Indian commercial relations with several countries like
China, Arabia, Egypt, partially Europe and south-east Asia also.

10.4.1 China
In the early medieval period, India had trade relations with distinct countries. In the
eighth century, references show the brisk trade between India and China. This trade
expanded during the following centuries and reached its climax in the mid-11th century CE.
India’s share in the trade with China declined due to the competition of the Arab and
Indonesian merchants. South Indian states continued to maintain trading relations with
China (Gopal, 1965, 119-160). The Chola kingdom participated in the lucrative trade with
China. Chola embassies were sent to China, Rajaraja I (985-1014 CE) had an interest in
commercial relations with China and he also paid attention towards building the Chola navy
for the purpose of naval conquests. Later, Indian trade with Tibet, Central Asia and China
had to face stiff challenge with the rise of the Arabs and the Chinese. Arab and Persian
merchants continued to trade along the western and eastern seaboards of India and as far
as China. During the 10th to 13th century, trading ports and mercantile guilds of the Chola
kingdom played a vital role in linking the markets of China to the rest of world, as the
market structure and economic policies of Chola kingdom was conducive to a large-scale
and cross-regional market trade. Chola court supported merchants by providing them
protection in term of trade and sometimes they entered into marital relationship with the
mercantile community, whereas merchant communities supported the Chola kings during
the war and managing newly conquered areas (Sen, 2003, 156-57). The Chola economic
structures and policies probably proved significant in the segmentation of Indian Ocean
trade into profitable zone that linked China market to the rest of the world. The reign of
Chola kings Rajaraja I (985-1014 CE), Rajendra I (1012-1044 CE) and Rajadhiraja (1018-
1054 CE), were marked with internal stability and expansion of domestic and international
trade.
In regard to South Indian trade, Meera Abraham in her book Two Medieval
Merchants Guilds of Southern India (1988) tried to highlight that merchant guilds provided
the institutional framework for organized commerce internally and overseas. The
encouragement by the Chola court promoted the expansion of Tamil merchant associations,
such as the Manigramam and Ayyavole (two powerful medieval merchant guilds), into
Southeast Asia and China. She stated that Tamil merchants were engaged in the transport
and disbursement of a variety of commodities along the Indian Ocean trade routes, and also
controlled trade on both the Coromandel and Malabar coasts in south India. The
development of intimate association among the Chola state, merchant guilds and religious
institutions became important features of Chola state synthesis (Abraham, 1988, 87). On
the basis inscriptional records, Abraham highlights the import of large quantities of goods
into South India from West-Asia, Southeast Asia and China in the mid 12th century while
from the 13th century CE there was shift of importance towards western ports of South
India and Sri Lanka reflecting probably the rise in Indian trade with Egypt and West Asia.
After the decline of Chola state during the 12 th century CE, the merchant guilds of South
India became increasingly independent and less dependent on royal support. It was
reflected as trading caravans started to move with armed protection whereas merchant
guilds jointly began to fix tolls and cesses, and also made joint donations to temples (Singh,
2009, 603).
Xinru Liu in her book Silk and Religion: An Exploration of Material Life and the
Thought of People AD 600-1200 (1996), stated that bilateral trade was a significant factor
for Sino-Indian relations and it was linked by the fate of Buddhist interactions, as during
first millennium, Buddhist doctrine helped in creating a demand for the Buddhist-related
items in China which, played a substantial role in nourishing the commercial exchange
between China and India. In the similar vein, Tansen Sen in his book Buddhism,

Diplomacy and Trade (2003), stated that Sino-Indian relations between the 7th-15th
centuries CE reflect major changes in the nature and of Sino-Indian relations, from Buddhist
dominated to commerce centered exchanges. He stated during the early medieval period,
due to ‘fading role of Buddhist doctrines had significantly reconfiguration the pattern of
commercial exchange between the trade of India and China, including, (i) the infiltration of
non-Buddhist traders in Sino-Indian commerce; (ii) shifts in trade routes, with an enlarged
role for the Islamized maritime trade; (iii) the growing prevalence of nonreligious luxury and
bulk products’ (Sen, 2003, 142-43). He has divided the Sino-Indian trade relations in early
medieval period into three phases.
In first phase between 7-9th centuries, Buddhist doctrines and institutions sustained
Sino-Indian cultural, diplomatic and commercial relations. The interdependence network of
long-distance trade and the transmission of Buddhist doctrines from India to China
continued to flourish in this phase. A network of interdependence developed between
urbanized towns, long distance trade, and the spread of Buddhist theology. It fostered the
establishment of inter-regional and inter-cultural links, and also developed ties between
different groups of people. The nexus between the spread of Buddhist doctrines and Sino-
Indian trade flourished and strengthened due to the frequent use of Buddhist doctrines and
political rulers (Sen, 2003, 236). The second phase from 9-10th centuries, showed a decline
in the overland trade between India and China due to disturbing political conditions in
central Asia and Myanmar. According to him, the emergence of China as a centre of
Buddhism had profound implications on religious interaction, as it weakened the China’s
spiritual attraction towards India. Simultaneously, Chinese Buddhist schools and teaching
retrenched the need for doctrinal input from India. There were political upheavals along
overland routes and the Islamization of maritime channels which altered the Buddhist-
centered trading exchanges between India and China. Buddhist exchanges and translation
of Indian texts continued in the late 10th and the early 11th centuries CE. Inspite of these
activities, the interdependent network of long-distance trade and the transmission of
Buddhist doctrines from India to China had disintegrated. The Buddhist ideas failed to
inspire the flow of cultural elements and commercial items between India and China during
this phase. In the last phase from late 10th century CE, commercial relations revived and
both overland and maritime trade flourished. The growing interest in international
commerce shared by Indian and Chinese rulers acted as a stimulus for Sino-Indian trade.
Other factors were the ‘linking of local economy to external trade in the two countries, the
vibrant Islamic trading diasporas across the Indian Ocean kingdoms, and the emergence of
a well-organized and large scale trading network extending from coastal China to the ports
of the Mediterranean Sea all of which facilitated the successful transition of Sino-Indian
relations from Buddhist-dominated to trade-centered exchanges’ (Ibid., 237). Further, the
establishment of new trading diasporas, the military efforts of the Cholas to establish
trading links with the Chinese markets promoted their trade. The pre existing maritime and
overland channels between India and China facilitated the large-scale commercial
operations across the Indian Ocean and the Central Asian Silk road. During this phase the
Buddhist doctrine lost its spirit in Sino-Indian commercial interactions, as the exchanges
between the coastal regions of Indian and China were motivated by commercial concerns,
operated mostly by non-Buddhist Tamil and Muslim traders and the goods exchanged were
mostly non-religious luxuries and bulk commodities (Ibid., 237-41).
Chinese silk was the main Chinese commodity which was exported to India. Variety
of Chinese silk forms was used by aristocratic and wealthy families so it reached to India.
Sometimes this was brought as gift item by the Chinese diplomatic missions for Indian
rulers and abbots. Chinese silk continued to be of great demand among Indian elite and
religious groups because it had a special value and prestige attached to the commodity a

(Ibid., 183). There are references of Chinese monks making pilgrimages to India during the
Tang period [618-907], carrying silk fabric for either travel-related expenses or for
donations to Buddhist monasteries. There was a decline of Chinese silk in India only during
the eleventh century when Islamic Turks introduced silk and sericulture technology into the
Indian subcontinent. Moreover, by the eleventh century, Chinese porcelain had replaced silk
as main commodity of import to India. Although, porcelain was demanded by few Indians
nevertheless it was an important item in Sino-Indian trade because Indian merchants
profited from re-exporting these commodities to the Islamic markets. Tansen said that the
demand for Chinese porcelain in the Persian Gulf/Red Sea markets and the capacity of the
Chola traders and ports to transships the commodity across the Indian Ocean’ were the key
factors for the rise of Indian peninsular trade. Several other Chinese commodities besides
silk and porcelain was imported in India, such as Chinese hides, vermilion, fruits, camphor,
lacquer and mercury. There are references of Chinese metals such as gold, silver and
copper which were imported to India (Ibid., 182-85).
10.4.2 Sri Lanka

The Cholas tried to subjugate and annex Sri Lanka for political and economic
reasons. Politically, they became the predominant power in south India after defeating the
Pandya Kings who took refuge in Sri Lanka and made it a centre to counterattack the
Cholas. Curbing their power was a political necessity of the Cholas, besides there were
several economic reasons which motivated the Cholas to establish their influence in Sri
Lanka, such as gaining booty; establishing control over the pearl fisheries of the Gulf of
Mannar; exploitation of gems and precious stones; and utilised this prime location as
entrepot for maritime trade (Chakravarti & Majumdar, 2008, 762). Besides Sri Lanka, the
Cholas also led military expeditions against ports of Malaysian peninsula and Indonesian
Island to loot and also to control the trade. The Cholas and the Pandyas established
commercial links with Sri Lanka for more than 300 years. Indian sailors and merchants
visited the ports of east and west coast to sell their local products or those brought from the
foreign lands by foreigners. That they even traded in Ceylon is evident from the eighth
century Ceylonese inscription (Gopal, 1965, 143-45).
During the 5th century CE, Sri Lanka became the entrepot for the Indian Ocean
trade, while many Tamil merchants settlement continued to exist in Anuradhapura and
Mahatittha that became significant port in the trade of the Indian Ocean 7th century CE
onwards. This resulted in Indian political intervention and temporary annexation of Sri
Lanka. Economic exploitation of this island by India in respect of their internal trade was
also evident. Between 10th and early 13th century CE, various changes in the relationship
between Sri Lanka and Cholas and their contemporaries could be witnessed.
10.4.3 South East Asia

There are many literary references of Indian trade with Southeast Asia which show
that in the Southeast Asia, Indian sailors and merchants extended their trade mostly to
Indonesia. The farthest limits of the ships from the west were the ports of Malaya, Java or
Sumatra. Tamralipti in Bengal was probably the chief port for sailing to Indonesia In the late
8th century, Pala dominions of northern India became predominant in the culture of
Southeast Asia. Later in the beginning of 11th century CE, Cholas came to power in south
India and established their influence in Indonesian trade. Vaijayanti was another port from
where ships sailed to Indonesia. Several references are present to suggest the long and
continuous intercourse between the Tamil country and Southeast Asia. It was not only the
eastern India but also western Indian states which had trade relations with Southeast Asia.

Gujarati traders had trading relations with Java. There were many Muslim merchants who
dominated the western coast of India (Gopal, 1965, 119-160).
10.4.3.1 Srivijaya
During the beginning of the 10th century CE, Srivijaya (in a port named Palembang
in eastern part of Sumatra) rulers developed close relations with both China and India.
When the rulers of Java threatened to subordinate Srivijaya, it tried to develop friendly
relations with China and the Cholas of south India, as both were keenly interested in the
maritime trade of the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. The Cholas made great
commercial ties with Srivijaya (Palembang) in South-east Asia, which is reflected by the
cultural patronatage of Srivijaya king to the Buddhist monasteries at Nagapattinam (in
Coromandel coast). The Chola King Rajaraja also gave huge land grant for the maintenance
of the monastery. Besides cultural exchanges there were brisk maritime trading activities
between these two regions. Since the beginning of the 11th century, there are many
references of brisk trade between Srivijaya and south India. The Cholas undertook the
maritime expeditions to the Southeast Asia not for short term plunder motive, but with the
goal of minimizing the role of Srivijaya as the intermediary between the Cholas and Sung
China (Chakravarti, 2010, 333). During the early phase in 11 th century CE, Rajendra Chola
made campaigns against Srivijaya and reduced his empire. The Javanese inscriptions give
references of brisk trade in the Malacca strait region in which merchants from different parts
of north, south and east India participated. In late twelfth century Srivijaya could retain
control over trade passing though the straits with the help of pirates but it lost the status of
entrepot in the Asian trade by the late 13th and early 14th century CE as it was overtaken
by establishment of northern Sumatran trading centres (Chakravarti & Majumdar, 2008,
765-771).
10.4.3.2 Java, Bali, Burma, Malya, Sumatra, Kambuja, Campa

The relations between Java and India were mainly based upon commercial
exchanges. They and also had contacts through art and literature. The flourishing trade of
Java with India and other countries was noticed by the fact that Arab and Indian merchants
from Cambay travelled to Java to purchase several commodities such as pepper, spices and
precious goods (Chakravarti & Majumdar, 2008, 771-773). Throughout early medieval
period and especially in the 12th century, many traders from Cambay region of Gujarat were
actively involved in the trade in archipelago. There were evidences of some commercial,
cultural or political relations with one or other south-east Asian states during different
periods in the early medieval era, most prominent among them being Bali, Burma, Malaya
and Sumatra. There are references of two way traffic between India and Kambuja by
merchants, fortune seekers, scholars and pilgrims. Some inscriptions also highlight the
trading activities between Indian and Khmers at ports of the Gulf of Surabaya. At this port,
the people of Campa also participated in maritime activities, directly between China and
west involving India also (Ibid., 775-782). Similarly there are also references of brisk trade
between Orissa coast, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and East Africa.
10.4.4 West
States of western coast of India played a prominent role in the sea-trade with
Muslim countries in comparison to the states situated in the eastern coast. Indian
merchants in large number visited Siraf and had friendly relations with the Muslim

merchants of that place. Some references show that some of them had Indian agents at
Hormuz. They maintained regular trade relation with Persia and transported goods in their
own ships (Gopal, 1965, 119-160). The centre of Indian trade continued to shift, in the
seventh century, it was Basra, then it was transferred to Siraf (in Persian Gulf) and later to
Kish and Hormuz. But the rise of the Arab merchants did not leave much space for Indian
ships to proceed further to the west. After capturing the major port and market of Valabhi
on the Saurashtra coast during the eight century, the Arabs became the major maritime
force in the eastern side of India as the trade with Mesopotamia, Egypt or Eastern coast of
Africa was mostly dominated by Persian and Arab merchants. There were mercantile links
between India and the Islamic world, ‘as there were historical references of routes
connecting Khurasan, trans-Indus and cis-Indu regions and Sind to the interior parts of
India’ (Chakravarti & Majumdar, 2008, 761). The Arab traders traded with the kings of the
western coast, especially with the Rastrakutas (probably due to their religious toleration)
who patronized them and wanted to enjoy the monopoly of products brought by them.
Many Indian coastal powers tried to attract the Arab merchants to their ports. The
Chalukyas played an active role in the coastal trade and had control over three ports of
Cambay, Broach and Somanatha. The Paramaras also tried to control ports of the western
coast which they succeeded only temporarily. The states of the western coast tried
earnestly to regulate the sea-trade and make commercial benefits. Many Jains traders and
merchants of Gujarat played important role in western India. These merchants of Gujarat,
besides engaging in commercial activities, also became patrons of learning; they patronised
the works of kavya, poetics, philosophy and grammar; and also gave generous grants to
support the buildings of temples, wells and tanks (Singh, 2009, 586).
10.5 Indian ports

Many historical sources refer to number of ports on the east and west coasts of
India. At the end of Indus was an important port of Debal which was visited by ships from
Arabia, China and other ports. Important port of Gujarat coast were Somanatha, Cambay
and Broach. Sopara and Thana were also major ports in western coast of India. In Bengal,
earlier Tamralipti and later Saptagrama port gained prominence with the trade with South-
East Asia. Other important ports of eastern coast were Puri, Kalinga, Cikaculi (Chicacole),
Banpur and Ramesvara. Tamil merchants continued to establish their commercial activities
in the Indian Ocean, especially in the ports of Anuradhapura and Mahatittha. Malabar or the
Coromandel Coast also appeared to the commercial centres where huge ships sailed and
brought merchandise for trade. In Malabar Coast, the most important port was Quilon
where large number of trading activities took place by the foreign merchants. Arab writers
mentioned about other ports of lesser importance of the western coast such as Kudafarid
(Alimukam), Sinjili (Kodungallur), Tandiyur (Kadalundi), Manjarur (Mangalore) and others.
The significant ports of Gujarat were Bhrgukaccha, Broach, Cambay, Somnath (Gopal,
1965, 143-152) and Sthanaka (Thanna), Samyana (Sajan), Surparaka (Surbara), whereas
Chemuliya (Chaul to the south of Bombay), Chandrapura (near Goa) The port of Debal at
the mouth of Indus river was significant for Arab and Chinese traders. In the Coromandal
Coast were several premier ports for overseas trade i.e Mamallapurm in the Pallava’s reign
and Nagapattinam under the Chola rule. Puri and Kalingapattam were chief ports on the
Orissa coast. In Bengal coast was an important port which was called Samandar (near
Chittagong in Bangladesh) by Arabs. Many references suggest that this port had commercial
interactions with many neighborhood regions and countries.
10.6 Indian Exports and Imports

India exported to Arab, many valuable merchandise which made them earn huge
profits. India exported several articles such as perfumes like musk, aloes, amber and
camphor, pearls of various varieties and sizes, diamonds, corals and innumerable kind of
medicinal herbs. (Gopal, 1965, 149-152). Another source mentioned other items of exports
such as diverse species of aloe-wood, sandalwood, camphor, nutmeg, clovepink, cubeb,
cocoanut, vegetable stuffs, textiles of velvety cotton and ivory. Spices were the chief
merchandise to export from India. Foreign accounts give details of merchandise exported
by different Indian ports such as Sind exported costus, canes and bamboos; Gujarat
exported to Arabia a great quantity of indigo, red kino, myrobalans and foreign cotton stuff
of all colours; the Rastrakuta kingdom exported teak; several slaves were exported to
Persia from Gujarat Coast. India also seems to have exported varied kind of textiles, aloe
wood, teak for shipbuilding, coconut coir, grains specially rice of various type, spices both
indigenous and those brought from the South-east Asia.
In the eleventh century the main items exported from India to China in return, were
horses, sandalwood, gharuwood, sulphur, frankincense, sandalwood, elephant tusks,
sapanwood, rosewater, rhinoceros horn, spices, camphor, ivory, putchuck and cinnabar.
There were three changes witnessed by Tansen in the composition of products traded
between India and China through the maritime routes, ’first the proportion of Buddhist-
related items marked by the seafaring traders seems to have dropped drastically. Second,
the export of non-luxury Indian products increased in the tenth and the eleventh centuries
whereas…by the twelfth century, third-country products, such as frankincense or products
destined only for markets in the third country became essential components of Sino-Indian
maritime trade’ (Sen, 2003, 192-93). Some products like frankincense and rosewater,
originated in the Persian Gulf and transshipped to China through the south Indian ports.
Most of these products were shipped to China from ports of Malabar and Coromandel.
During the latter half of 13th century CE, cotton fabric from Bengal, Coromandel and Malabar
became one of the most prominent Indian exports to Chinese markets.
India imported several commodities in exchange of its exports, the main

merchandise were incense from the Middle East, copper and lead from the west, ivory came
through the route of Oman to India; dye came from Persia and horses from the Arabia;
Chinese silk, gold, silver and some amount of iron metal from China; several commodities
were imported from Southeast Asia such as porcelain-ware, camphor, rhubarb, bees wax,
cloves, lump-camphor, sandalwood, cardamoms and gharu-wood, spices (cloves, spikenard
and other fine spices reached Malabar from Java and Sumatra), silk and metals such as
gold, silver, copper and blue vitriol (Gopal, 1965, 149-155). India received pearls, dry
ginger, tin and fine fabric from Ceylon. Many of these items were re-exported to Arabian
world while others were consumed in India. The demand of war horses in India was huge,
so during 600 CE from Central Asian steppes came the horses via land to the northwestern
borderlands. Later these horses were imported to India preferably via sea-trade. The
proliferation of regional powers and their expanding military plans created a huge increase
in demand of the martial quality of war horses from Arabia, Persia and Syria, which cost
huge sums of money and were generally called bahri (sea-borne) (Chakravarti, 2010, 233-
34). Early medieval Bengal was also famous for trade in horses, as the Pala inscriptions
from the 8th to 12th century CE also give reference of supply of best quality horses from the
northern quarters. There are also references that Bengal during the Sena rule, received
supply of horses from the mountainous north-eastern parts (Chakravarti, 2010, 233-34).
Varied kind of trade commodities and links related to Indian trade were established in the
early medieval period. Meera Abraham made a detailed research on the list of commodities
based on inscriptions of the Ayyavole guild that shows the shift from luxury goods to
commonly needed goods such as textiles, dyes, processed iron, yarn, pepper and horses.

Summing Up
Several contradictory arguments have been given in the preceding discussion regarding the
presence of trade in the early medieval period. The Indian feudal model reflected
languishment of trade while others negated this by citing several evidences of the presence
of inland and sea-borne trade in India. The latter believe that there was no dearth of trade
within the subcontinent and also there was no decay in India’s role in the maritime
commerce of the Indian Ocean. The argument put forward by the Feudal model was the
existence of trade in only luxury items while the other group stressed the existence of trade
in daily commodities as well. One needs to take both the arguments into consideration
before making any judgment regarding the nature of trade in the early medieval period.
This theme requires further study, rethinking and revision to discern the changing contours
in the economic historiography of the concerned period.
Exercises
Essay questions
1) The debates surrounding condition of trade in early medieval India.
2) Discuss the state of inter-regional and maritime trade?
3) Which were the famous Indian ports, and major commodities of imports and exports in
early medieval India?
Further Reading
Abraham, Meera. 1998. Two Medieval Merchants Guilds of South India. Delhi: Manohar
Publications.
Chakravarti, R. 2001. Trade in Early India, Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Chakravarti, R. 2002. Trade and Traders in early Indian Society, Delhi: Manohar Publisher
and Distributors.
Chakravarti, Adhir and R.C. Majumdar. “India’s Contact with the Outside World” in A
Comprehensive History of India, eds. R.S.Sharma and K.M. Shrimali. 2008. Vol IV, Part 2,
Delhi: Manohar.
Champakalakshmi, R. Trade, Ideology and Urbanization: South India 300 CE to 1300 AD.
Delhi: Oxford University Press
Chattopadhyaya, B.D. 1994. The Making of Early Medieval India. Delhi: Oxford University
Press.
Chaudhuri, K.N. 1985. Trade and Civilization in the Indian Ocean, An Economic History from
the Rise of Islam to 1750. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
Cunningham, A. 1967. Coins of Medieval India, Varanasi: Indological Book House.
Deyell, John S. 1990. Living Without Silver. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Jain, Rekha. 1995. Ancient Indian Coinage, Delhi: D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd.
Kosambi, D.D. 1981. Indian Numismatics, Delhi: Orient Longman.
Lallanji, Gopal, 1965. The Economic Life of Northern India, c A.D. 700-1200, Varanasi:
Motilal Banarsidass.
Liu, Xinru. 1996. Silk and Religion: An Exploration of Material Life and the Thought of People
AD 600-1200, Delhi: OUP.
Mukherjee, B.N. 1982. Commerce and Money in the Western and Central Sectors of Eastern
India (c. A.D. 750-1200), Indian Museum Bulletin, Vol.XVII, 65-84.
Mukherjee, B.N. 1986. ‘Media of Exchange in Early Mediaeval North India’ in Numismatic
Digest, 10, December, 91-105.
Sen, Tansen, 2003. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian
Relations, 600-1400, USA: University of Hawai’i Press and the Association for Asian Studies.
Sircar, D.C. 1968. Studies in Indian Coins, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas
Sircar, D.C. 1969. Landlordism and Tenancy in Ancient and Medieval India as Revealed by
Epigraphical Records, Lucknow: The Upper India Publishing House Pvt. Ltd.
Sharma, R.S. 1965. 1980. Indian Feudalism. Delhi: Macmillan India Limited.
Sharma, R.S. 1987. Urban Decay in India (c.300 – c. 1000.) Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.
Sharma, R. S. 2001. Early Medieval Indian Society: A Study in Feudalisation, Oriental

Longman.
Sharma, R.S. 2011. Economic History of Early India. Delhi: Viva Books.
Sharma, R.S. and K.M. Shrimali. eds. 2008. A Comprehensive History of India, Vol IV, Part
2, Delhi: Manohar.
Shrimali, Krishna Mohan. “Money, Market and Feudalism” in A Comprehensive History of

India, eds. R.S.Sharma and K.M. Shrimali, 2008. Vol IV, Part 2, Delhi: Manohar.
Singh, Upinder. 2008. A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to
12th Century. New Delhi: Pearson Education.
Wink, Andre. 1990. Al-Hind, The Making of the Indo-Islamic World, Delhi: Oxford University
Press.

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Inter-Regional and Maritime Trade

Lesson: Inter-Regional and Maritime Trade

Lesson Developer: Dr. Sakul Kundra

College/ Department: History, Motilal Nehru College,

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Chapter 10 : Inter-Regional and Maritime Trade

 10.1: Definition of Trade

10.1 Definition of Trade

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

10.2 Debates Related to Trade in Early Medieval India

10.2.1 Relative Decline of Trade

In regard to India’s trade with Southeast Asia, on the basis of archaeological

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

10.2.2 Critics of the Theory of Decline of Trade

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Another view of Sharma, in relation to the Sino-Indian trade, was challenged by

Further, Chattopadhyaya challenges the notion that a stable political structure

Another article of B. N. Mukherjee analyses the situation of commerce and money in

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

10.3 Inter-regional Trade

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

conquests, development of ports, the encouragement of production centres and guild

10.4 Maritime Trade

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

10.4.2 Sri Lanka

10.4.3 South East Asia

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10.4.3.2 Java, Bali, Burma, Malya, Sumatra, Kambuja, Campa

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

10.5 Indian ports

10.6 Indian Exports and Imports

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

India imported several commodities in exchange of its exports, the main

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

1) The debates surrounding condition of trade in early medieval India.

2) Discuss the state of inter-regional and maritime trade?

Chakravarti, R. 2001. Trade in Early India, Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Cunningham, A. 1967. Coins of Medieval India, Varanasi: Indological Book House.

Kosambi, D.D. 1981. Indian Numismatics, Delhi: Orient Longman.

Sircar, D.C. 1968. Studies in Indian Coins, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas

Sharma, R. S. 2001. Early Medieval Indian Society: A Study in Feudalisation, Oriental

Shrimali, Krishna Mohan. “Money, Market and Feudalism” in A Comprehensive History of

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

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