Towns , Traders and Craftsman Class 7 Social

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1. Towns, Traders and Craftsmen By Sruthi R

2. Towns developed in Medieval India In the medieval times (between the 8th and the 18th centuries), there were temple towns, administrative centres , commercial towns famous for arts and crafts, and port towns. Moreover, some big towns and cities were famous for more than one of those things.

3. Administrative Centre The centres where medieval rulers held court rapidly grew into cities. Among such cities were Thanjavur, Delhi, Agra, Patan , Lakhnauti , Daulatabad and Hampi , Royal Attendants, nobles, officials, soldiers, scholars, physicians, artists, and enterainers settled in these cities to serve the ruler. Their needs created a demand for goods such as silks, fine ornaments, decorative items, weapons, paper and so on.

4. Karkhanas Karkhanas (workshops) were set up, for crafts such as weaving, leather working, metalworking, and paper-making. Large numbers of mansons , sculptors, etc., were employed to build public works and monuments. Learning and cultural activities also flourished . All this led to rapid urbanization (town development) at these centres .

5. Administrative Centres, Temple Towns ,  Pilgrimage Centres Thanjavur, situated on the banks of river Kaveri in Tamil-Nadu, was the capital of the Chola dynasty a thousand years ago. It was a busy commercial town with markets for grains, spices, cloth, and jewellery . And water was supplied to its people and visitors from big wells and tanks. Its architecture included different temples and palaces with 'mandapas' ( pavallions ) that were used by kings to hold courts and carry out their administrative affairs. But they were also used as prayer halls, and some even housed religious dancing and music concerts. So Thanjavur is also an example of a temple town, where urbanisation (town development) happened as temples became central to society and economy.

6. Temples were built by rulers not only to show their devotion but also to unify different communities. And they were maintained through cash and land grants from rulers and merchants, as well as from donations made by pilgrims. Big temples also used surplus (extra) funds for businesses such as trade and banking. To cater to the needs of the pilgrims and of the temples, priests, workers, artisans, traders, etc. started living in the areas around the temples. This led to the growth of temple towns such as Somnath in Gujarat, Kanchipuram and Madurai in Tamil Nadu, Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, and towns around  Bhillasvamin ( Bhilsa or Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh). Centres of pilgrimage also started turning into townships such as Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh and Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu. Ajmer, the city in Rajasthan that was both the capital of the Chauhans in the 12th century and the suba headquarters of the Mughals, is a great example of religious co-existence.

7. L arge Villages Become Small Towns After the 8th century, many small towns emerged out of large villages all over the Indian sub-continent. These towns had ' mandapikas ' where markets or ( haats ) were set up to sell agricultural produce, horses, salt, camphor, saffron, betel nut and spices like pepper. Streets were also set up to help small businesses and artisans such as potters, oil pressers, sugar makers, toddy makers, smiths, and stonemasons.

8. Samantas  ( zamindar , landlords) built forts around large villages and turned them into developing towns. They also collected taxes from traders and artisans, and inscriptions in temples tell us that some  samantas  gave away the rights to collect taxes to temples.

9. Different Traders There were different kinds of traders in the medieval times, including the  banjaras  (nomadic people). And traders who travelled a lot came together to form traders' associations or guilds, the most famous ones being Manigramam and Nanadesi . They did this to protect their interests both within the Indian sub-continent and in Southeast Asia and China. The largest Indian trading groups were the Chettiyars and Marwari Oswal , and Gujarati traders such as Hindu Baniyas and Muslim Bohras .

10. There was extensive trade with the ports of the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, East Africa, Southeast Asia, and China. Indian spices and cloth were exported, and gold, ivory, spices, tin, Chinese blue pottery, and silver were imported. Many of these products also reached European markets, and this attracted European traders to India. Their arrival once again changed the structure of trading and towns in India.

11. Different Towns, Different Crafts

12. Biddar Vishwakarma community The inlay work in copper and silver done by the craftspersons of  Bidar  (a district in north-east Karnataka) became very famous and came to be called  bidri  (from Bidar) Goldsmiths, bronze smiths, blacksmiths, masons, and carpenters of the Panchala or the Vishwakarma community built many public buildings such as temples, palaces, tanks, reservoirs etc.

13. Continued… Developed towns As town developed, some aspects of cloth making, such as cotton cleaning, spinning and dyeing, became specialised and independent crafts. And many weavers, such as those from the Saliyar and the Kaikkolar communities, became very rich and made donations to temples.

14. A Closer Look   Hampi , Masulipatnam and Surat The Architectural Splendour of Hampi

15. Hampi is a village in northern Karnataka. It was located in the ruins of the city of Vijayanagara (once the capital of the the Vijayanagara Empire). By archeological findings, we know that the city was well fortified but no cementing material was used for binding the bricks or stones, rather they were wedged together by interlocking. The architecture in there was splendid, consisting of the royal buildings with arches, domes, pillared halls, sculptures, well-designed gardens and orchards. In the 15th and the 16th centuries, Hampi became the centre for various cultural and commercial activities. The markets consisted of traders such as Moors (name used for muslim merchants), the Chettis and the Portuguese.

16. The cultural activities included celebration of various festivals such as Mahanavami (known as Navaratri now in the sothern part of India), one of the most important festivals of Hampi . Temples became the centre for not only worship but also for the development of various religious and cultural traditions such as that of 'devadasis' (the temple dancers). Archaeologists have also found the  Mahanavami  platform, that the kings used to hold meetings and from where they watched various music and dance performances and wrestling matches. Inspite of all these developments, Hampi , the cultural capital, started deteriorating after the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire, as it was defeated by the Deccani Sultans- rulers of the Golconda, Bijapur , Ahmadnagar , Berar and Bidar.

17. Krishnadeva Raya (1509-1530)

18. Surat and Trade

19. The city of Surat was cosmopolitan as people of all castes and creeds lived there. During the Mughal period, Surat, Cambay (present day Khambhat) and later Ahmedabad carried out trade with the west. It was also called the gate to Mecca as the pilgrim ships set sail from here. In the 17th century, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the English set up their factories and warehouses in Surat. Textile industry of Surat has been famous for its Zari Work (intricate art of weaving threads of fine gold and silver) and has a market in West A sia, Africa and Europe. 

20. Architecture of the city included magnificent buildings, many rest houses, pleasure parks, huge banking houses (set up by Kathiawad seths or Mahajans ). The 'hundis' (financial instrument developed in the medieval times for use in trade and credit transactions) of Surat were honoured in markets of Cairo in Egypt, Basra in Iraq, and Antwerp in Belgium. Towards the end of the 17th century, Surat began to decline as the trade capital because of many reasons like the decline of the Mughal Empire and resulting in the loss of markets and productivity, control over the sea routes by the Portuguese and competition from Bombay (present day Mumbai) as the East India Company shifted its headquarters there in 1668. However, Surat is a bustling commercial centre of Gujarat today.

21. Masulipatam

22. The town of Masulipatnam is located on the bank of river Krishna. In the 17th century, the English and the Dutch East India Companies tried to control the town as it became the most important port of the coast near Andhra Pradesh. The Golconda rulers established royal monopolies on the sale of the textiles, spices etc. to prevent the various East India Companies to control them completely. But due to this competition between the Golconda nobles, Persian merchants, Telugu Komati  Chettis , and European traders – made the city populous and prosperous.

23. The Mughals in the 17th century started extending their power to Golconda and in 1686-1687, Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb conquered Golconda. Thus the East India Companies then devised a new policy which described that the new trading centres should combine the political, administrative and commercial roles. In the 18th century, Masulipatnam declined and lost its merchants and prosperity as the Company traders moved to Bombay, Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) and Madras (present-day Chennai).

24. New Towns and Traders

25. In the 16th and the 17th centuries, the English, the Dutch and the French formed East India Companies in order to expand their commercial activities in the east. Initially they faced a resistence from the local traders, but the companies soon gained control over the sea routes and forced the local traders to be their agents and emerged as the commercial and political superpower of the subcontinent. The demand for goods like textiles increased and so the crafts of spinning, weaving, bleaching, dyeing, etc. expanded greatly as many people participated in it and the quality of the textiles improved.

26. But this period saw the decline of the independence of craftspersons as they now began to work on a system of advance payments which meant that they had to weave cloth which was already promised to European agents. Weavers no longer had the liberty of selling their own cloth or weaving their own patterns. The 18th century saw the rise of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras which are major metropolitan cities today. The crafts and commerce also underwent changes as the local or native artisans and merchants were moved to the 'black towns' (areas set up by the whites for the blacks or locals) while they occupied the superior residencies of Fort St George in Madras or Fort St William in Calcutta.

27. Conclusion

28. Things to Remember

29. Overview There were different towns with different functions in the medieval times such as temple towns, administrative centres , commercial towns famous for arts and crafts or port towns. These towns represented the process of urbanisation . After the 8th century, many small towns emerged out of large villages in the whole subcontinent and tax and the zamindari system developed. Extensive trade was carried out with the ports of the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, East Africa, Southeast Asia, China. The products in turn reached different European markets and thus due to it, the European traders were drawn to India. Their arrival changed the scenario of the trading and towns of India. Different crafts like  Bidri , weaving, cotton cleaning, spinning and dyeing developed and the architecture included temples, palaces, tanks, reservoirs etc.  Hampi (village in Karnataka) developed as an architectural splendour and became the cultural capital of Vijayanagara Kingdom in the 15th and 16th centuries.

30. Surat (city in Gujarat) developed as a major trading centre in the beginning of the 17th century. Masulipatnam became a major port of the coast of Andhra Pradesh in the 17th Century. In the 16th and the 17th centuries, the English, the Dutch and the French formed East India Companies in order to expand their commercial activities in the east and emerged as the commercial and political superpower of the subcontinent. New arts,crafts and new towns were developed. The 18th century saw the rise of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras which are major metropolitan cities today.

31. Important Glossary Karkhanas – Workshops Dargah – Shrine Mandi – wholesale market Haats – Occasional markets Bohras – Mostly Muslims Hundis – Bills of exchange Sharrafs – moneychangers Guilds – associations Nanadesis – guilds of traders from other kingdoms Zari – Gold or silver thread