Private Traders in Medieval India

Title: Private Traders in Medieval India: British and Indian

Author: Jagadish Narayan Sarkar

Publisher: Bibliophil Kolkata, 2015 (First)

ISBN: 9789380477060

Pages: 304

Maritime trade of European commercial establishments after Columbus’ discovery of America paved the way for the emergence of colonialism. In India, the British were comparatively late to enter the trading ring, behind the Portuguese and the Dutch. However, like the proverbial hare and the tortoise, the British outrun the other European powers in the race for territorial sovereignty in this subcontinent. The English East India Company’s transformation from an overseas trading firm to the ruler of the land took place in 150 years from the death of Emperor Akbar. This impressive success story is, surprisingly, not accompanied by an efficient trading policy or stunning military might. On both these fronts, they availed the services of Indians as soldiers to fight the company’s battles and as financiers to bankroll its trade deals. On the policy front too, the company’s stand was shaky, as most of its employees indulged in private trade at their employer’s expense. Such avaricious deals transcended the hierarchical delineations as people on all levels tried their hand to make a quick profit. This book seeks to make an analytical study of the origin, nature, scope and impact of the private trading activities of the English and the measures of the company and its factors abroad for their regulation and suppression. This was first published as a monograph at the Indian History Congress in its Silver Jubilee session at Pune in 1963. This was thoroughly revised and enlarged by adding a section on private trade in Mughal India and outside, dealing with the activities of the Indian ruling classes and officials as well as the business circles. Jagadish Narayan Sarkar was a member of Bihar Educational Service for thirty years and later served Jadavpur University as professor. The Indian History Congress elected him as president in 1976. A prolific contributor to journals in English and Bengali, Dr. Sarkar is the author of numerous scholarly and widely acclaimed books.

The recruits to the East India Company belonged to lower gentry or merchants’ families. They were intelligent, moderately educated and competent. Even with this, their salaries were not proportionately high for the risks involved in a foreign land. Having to endure the blistering climate in India was no mean task, but the prevalence of contagious tropical diseases which often proved fatal was enhanced by poor sanitation as a result of lack of hygienic awareness and scarce financial means. There was always a very high likelihood of returning home in a coffin or worse still, ending up in a grave in the tropics. Naturally, the people were disposed to make some quick money other than salaries which they can repatriate comparatively easily. Private trade was the solution they hit upon in which the goods the company monopolized were clandestinely traded by the clerks and officers, sometimes in the company’s own ships and at times with its own cash. Collusion between the venal officials and seamen of transporting vessels made it impossible for appraisers to tell the legitimate cargo of the company and private merchandise apart. Stern measures were instituted by the company, but the fact that they had had to be issued frequently indicates that those were not very effective.  Some of the rules were later relaxed in order to bring the trade above board, but profiteering went on as usual. The private traders illegally made use of firmans and parwanas issued by local rulers to the company to claim waiver of customs duty for their private consignments. This made their goods more competitive than native traders’. The company was in difficulty here too, since the private traders either bought up produce so that the company’s ships had not much to load, or inundated the markets with cheaper ware which made the official warehouses bristle with unsold goods.

Private trade was a common feature of Mughal administration as well. Court officials, port supervisors, provincial governors, princes of the royal household and even Emperor Aurangzeb himself employed trade with overseas markets to make extra money. This was euphemistically called sauda-i-khas (private trade) as against sauda-i-am (trade in open market). The Mughal practice of farming out taxation of provinces and commercial centres to the highest bidder added to the problem. Aurangzeb was only following in the footsteps of his father Shah Jahan who indulged in trade while serving as governor of Gujarat. The major articles of commerce in those days were spices, cotton goods, tea, silk, sugar, copper, iron, lead, tin, coffee, salt-petre, indigo, opium and diamonds. The aristocrats maintained monopoly of a few items including salt-petre as it was the chief ingredient in making gunpowder and exercised intimidating tactics to make the ordinary traders do as dictated. The Bengal governors made a monopoly on staples and salt. This nudged the prices ever higher, causing distress to common people. Unfair means and rampant corruption made the situation unbearable for the populace.

Indians formed the backbone of English trading networks before 1757. The Europeans couldn’t manage on their own the intricate links between middlemen and producers of the country. Subsequently, they exercised much influence in the presidency towns of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. After Plassey, the administration of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa came in British hands and the experience of 150 years was quite sufficient for them to discard the local assistants as a whole. The trading communities bore the brunt of this rejection. The Parsis, Gujaratis, Bohras and the Moplahs controlled the trade on the West coast while Chettis and groups of Muslim traders dominated commerce on the East.

The book envelopes the time period from the beginning of seventeenth century to late-eighteenth century. The language is terse and not easily amenable to pleasurable reading. The string of footnotes on each page distracts the reader. A lot of typographical errors are seen in the text. The bibliography is impressive and comprehensively covers the period under discussion. The book includes an exhaustive index too.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 2 Star