1. Asian Affairs, Vol. 27, No. 3 : 5-26, July - September, 2005
CDRB
publication
ASIAN AFFAIRS
(Murshidebad) who were infinitely greater wealthy that the citizens
of London”.
RISE AND DECLINE OF THE
ECONOMY OF BENGAL
SALAHUDDIN AHMAD
Introduction
Fertile delta of Bengal attracted people from all directions. Over
time the wealth generation in the economy of Bengal developed
significantly. As much as Agriculture developed with canal based
irrigation so did Industry with significant encouragement of
production based on industrial raw material and easy to extract
minerals. Trade with the world made Bengal one of the wealthiest
countries of the world. Manouchi the personal physician of
Aurangjeb, who spent 40 years in India, wrote about Bengal,
“Bengal is most known in France among all parts of huge Mughal
Empire. The huge wealth, which flows to Europe, is a proof of this
country’s fertility. In fact the productivity of this country in silk,
cotton, sugar and indigo surpassed Egypt. Everything is in plenty
here. Here there is plenty of fruits fertile, food grain, Muslin, golden
textile and silk” (Majumdar, R.C.).
Worldwide trade brought in gold from far off land such as Rome
and other lands leading to the improvement of living standard of
Bengal substantially.
Lord Verelest, while discussing the condition of Bengal on the
eve of Palassey’s war, states “ Farmers were well off and workers
were enthusiastic, Businessmen were wealthy and Bureaucrats were
satisfied”. (Sinha N.K.,1965).
Wealth of Bengal was described eloquently by Lord Clive. When
Clive entered the old capital of Bengal( Murshidabad,) the wrote
“The city (Murshidabad) was as wealthy as London and populous.
However the difference is that there are some citizens of this
Copyright©CDRB, ISSN 0254-4199
This brought in greedy hyenas, which started gnawing at the
growing economy of Bengal.Since the middle of 18th century decline
of the economy of Bengal ensued with the severe onslaught by the
British Colonialist.The following sections discuss the factors
affecting the rise and decline of Bengal .
Section 1 discusses availability and utilization of mineralwealth
in pre colonial bengal .section 2 analyzes development of
agriculture in pre colonial bengal. section 3 discusses growth of
crafts and industries in bengal. section4 discusses trade,inland
and foreign , of trade,inland and foreign , of pre colonial bengal
section 5 discusses rise and decline of international trade of bengal
before british colonialism
Availability and Utilization of Mineral
Wealth in Bengal
Arthasastra of Kautiliya(1909 )points to the finding of Diamond
in Paundrak and Tripur (Tripure) in Bengal. Jain Acharang states
that possibily dimond was available in Bajrobhumi in Rar country.
There is a mention in Ain-I Akbar of Diamond mines in Mandaran
or Garo Mandaran. This was spread in the boundary of western
Bihar up to Kokhra. Kauliya names a few types of mineral silver
named Gaurik found in Gaur.
Bhabishya Purah mentions Iron mines in Jangal Khand in Rar
country. Iron were melted by prehistoric method. Copper was found
in plenty in Jamshedpur and then in the west crossing
Chakradharpur. Periplus (Periplus of the Erythraean Sea Ed and
Trans from the Greek Wilfred H. Schoff, London 1912 ) mentions
pearl of Ganges. Even gold, not of good quality was available.
These minerals were easy to extract.As such these mineral wealth
provided the foundation of one of the richest countries in the
world.These attracted plunderers from all over the world.
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2. RISE AND DECLINE
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Development of Agriculture in Bengal
The beginnings of agriculture in Bengal, as in the rest of India,
have to be traced back to the pre-historic past {(Bulletin…Orient),
(Chatterji,S.K.)}. Foundations of civilization of India, its village life
based on Agriculture, is now generally held to have been laid by
Nishadas or Austric speaking people. The Austric Tribes brought
with them a primitive system of Agriculture producing a varieties of
products. These Austric speaking people developed a large water
transportation system, initially using long Donga (Austric word) made
of sturdy tree stem. These, in turn, laid the foundation of wealth
generation through trade. In the initial stage both settlement and
agriculture followed the courses of the great river-systems of the
province, which acted as powerful fertilizing agents of the soil in
their neighborhood. With the growth of population, however, (owing
partly perhaps to an increase in birth-rate, partly to immigration)
there came about a steady increase in the cultivated area. One can
discern indication of this extension of cultivation in the copper-plate
inscriptions of the fifth, sixth and seventh centuries. These instances
suggest the inference that the three centuries, to which these
inscriptions relate, witnessed a steady extension of cultivation and
rural settlement. It is possible, though we have no positive evidence
to prove that this movement of agricultural extension commenced
much earlier, and continued with intermittent force and varying effect from century to century and from region to region. The pressure
of a growing population, the growing desire of priests for material
prosperity, and the religious zeal of kings, all served in various ways
to organize a widespread attack on some of the 'negative' lands of the
province, which settlement and agriculture had at first avoided.
Nanigopal Basak (1939)}. And so do the copper-plate inscriptions
ranging from the 8th to the 13th century, which, moreover, mention
the cultivators, Kshetra-karah or karshakali, as an important class
apart from the officials, Brahmanas and others, and in various ways
convey an idea of the important role they played in the economic life
of the community.
But whatever might have been the cause of this extension of
cultivation, there is no doubt that by the seventh century A.D. the
bulk of the people had taken to it as the chief means of livelihood.
The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang bears testimony to the fact that in
all parts of the province the countryside was regularly and
assiduously cultivated, and produced grains, flowers and fruits in
abundance { Beal, S, ( ed & trans )(1911)}.
Concerning agricultural practice, as it obtained in ancient
Bengal, it is not possible to draw any comprehensive picture. It seems
certain, however, that paddy (dhanya) was cultivated from a remote
antiquity as the staple food-crop of the people. The Mahasthan
Brahml inscription probably refers to a rice granary located at
Pudanagala (Pundranagara) (Epigraphia Indica).The Ramacharita (ibid)
mentions "paddy plants of various kinds" grown in Varendri. The
inscriptions of the Sena kings mention "smooth fields growing
excellent paddy,” and" myriads
of villages, consisting of land
growing paddy in excessive quantities." (Inscriptions of Bengal,vol iii
, by N.G.Majumdar). Kalidasa's Raghuvarhsa affords us a glimpse
into the method of rice cultivation. Describing Raghu's conquest of
the Vangas, the poet remarks that Raghu uprooted and replanted
them like rice plants. Rice, as is well known, is sown in three different
ways— broadcast, by drill, and by transplantation from a seed-bed
where it has been broadcast sown. Of these the third method is, as
a rule, the least risky and the most profitable. That it was known
and practiced in this province at least as early as the fifth century
A.D. seems clear from the aforesaid statement of the great Sanskrit
poet. The different processes of reaping and threshing also appear to
have been similar to those prevailing at present.
The description of Varendrl in the Ramacharita confirms the
testimony of the Chinese pilgrims. { R.C. Majumdar, R. G. Basak and
Another food-crop cultivated was probably sugar-cane. The
classical author, Aelian,{quoted in McCrindle(1927 )} speaks of a
kind of honey expressed from reeds which grew among the Prasioi.
Lucan (ibid) says that the Indians near the Ganges used to quaff
sweet juices from tender reeds. Susruta (ibid) mentions a variety
of sugar-cane called Paundraka ; and most commentators of
Sanskrit lexicon agree it was so named because it was grown in
the Paundra country (North Bengal). These statements, taken
together, naturally suggest the inference that certain species of
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3. RISE AND DECLINE
sugar-cane were cultivated in Bengal from very early times. It is
not improbable, as a writer has pointed out, that from the term
Paundraka have been derived such modern vernacular names as
Paundia , Paunda,Pundi etc.— a celebrated variety of sugar-cane
cultivated in almost all parts of India. Besides the above,
contemporary records mention a variety of other crops grown in
different parts of Bengal. These include malabathrum and
spikenard, mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (Ed and
Trans from the Greek Wilfred H. Schoff, London 1912 ) among the
exports of this province. These were obviously of excellent quality,
and were grown on an extensive scale in the Eastern Himalayas.
Another cultivated crop appears to have been mustard. The
Vappaghoshavata Grant of Jayanaga (7th century A.D.) mentions
the existence of a sarshapa-yanaka' (mustard-channel) in the
Audambarika-vishaya of Karnasuvarna (Ain-I-Akbari). Further,
epigraphic records, ranging from the eighth to the thirteenth century,
tell us that betel-nut palm (guvaka) and cocoanut (Narikela) were
extensively grown. Betel-vines were also cultivated in the form of
plantations (barajas) and formed, under the Sena kings, a source of
revenue to the state. Cotton was also cultivated to feed an
important industry of the province. Kautilya (Bk. n. Ch. 11)
mentions karpasika or cotton fabrics manufactured in Vanga.
According to the inscription of Vijayasena (v. 23), ordinary rural
folk were familiar with seeds of cotton. The early Charya-padas also
refer to cotton cultivation (BCD. 41). Referring to the people of
Bengal, Marco Polo says, "They grow cotton, in which they derive a
great-trade" (Yule, Marco Polo, n. 115). Fruits like mango (amra),
bread-fruit (panasa), pomgranate (dalimya), plantain, bassia latifolia
( madhuka ), date ( kharjura ), citron ( vija ) and figs ( parkati ) were
also widely cultivated.
Barnier (1656-1668) writes on Agricultural system of Bengal in
his travel account
“ One can see numerous canals from Rajmahal to the sea. These
have been dug with hard labour for river traffic and irrigation”.
Chinese traveler Yuan Chwang gives a vivid description of
Agriculture in Bengal. He points to the generation of wealth through
Agriculture, Crops, fruits and flower were growth in plenty.
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ASIAN AFFAIRS
Growth of Crafts and Industries in Bengal
Periplus describes exported commodities malabathrum and
gangetic spikenard, pearls and muslins of the finest sort called
Gangetic. It is said that there were sold in mines near the market
town called Ganges. Schoff guesses gold came through Ernnaboas
or presently “Son” river. Fame of Textiles of Bengal Muslin, spread
all over the world long before B.C. In fact Mummy has been found
wrapped with Muslin dated 2000 B.C. in Egypt.
Chinese traveler Chao-Ju-Kua ping stated about Kalo or
Bengal, that excellent swords were made there as well as cotton and
other textiles. Towards end of 13th century (1290) Marco Polo
discusses about textiles industry of Gujrat, Kambe, Telungana,
Malebar and Bengal. In the 15th century Chinese traveler Ma Huan
(1405) came to Bengal. Saifuddin Hamza was then the king of Gaur.
Wine was made from Cocoanut,,Rice,Palm and Kajang and was
sold publicly.
Urban civilization was founded by long necked Dravidian language speaking people.Words with urban connotation such as
Ur,Pur,Kut etc. has come from Dravidian language.Skill in crafts,
came from Dravidians.However,the Aryans internalized these and
facilitated the transfer of these techniques.
The most note worthy among the crafts and Industries were
Textiles, Sugar, Metal work, Stonework, Wood work and Pottery.
Textile Manufacture
The history of textile manufacture goes very far into history.There
were four varieties of textile commodity which were produced viz.
kshauma, dukula patrorna and karpasika. Kshauma was linen but
of a coarse variety, being mixed with cotton. Its chief seats of
manufacture were Pundravardhana (North Bengal) and Benares.. A
pure and finer form of linen was called dukula. It was of three
varieties ; the first, produced in Lower Bengal (Vangaka), was
white and soft ; the second, produced* in North Bengal (Paundraka),
was black and, " as soft as the surface of a gem ;" while the third,
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4. RISE AND DECLINE
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manufactured at Suvarnakudya in Kamarupa, had the " colour of
rising sun." Patrorna appears to have been wild silk. Amara defines
it" as "a bleached or white kausheya" while the commentator says
that it was a fibre produced by the saliva of a •worm "on the" leaves
of certain trees:" The author adds that patrorna was produced
in three regions, viz. Magadha, Pundra and Suvarnakudya. It is
significant that wild silk of the best quality is still produced in
these districts. Karpasika obviously meant cotton fabrics. These
were manufactured in various parts of India, but Vanga and other
regions, as Kautilya affirms,produced the best quality.It is thus
evident that as early as the time of Kautilya Bengal had attained to
great eminence as a seat of textile manufacture. The records of the
succeeding ages tend to show that she retained this eminence down
almost to the beginning of the nineteenth century. It may be noted
that- the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, written in the first century
A.D., includes "muslins of the finest sorts" among the exports of
Bengal. Referring to Ruhml (which Elliot identifies with Bengal), the
Arab merchant Sulaiman wrote in the ninth century A.D. that there
was "a stuff made in this country which is not to be found elsewhere ; so fine and delicate is this material that a dress made of it
was 3feet in breadth and about 29 feet in length and may be passed
through, a signet-ring.' Sulaiman added that it was made of cotton,
and that he was not speaking from hearsay, but had himself seen a
piece of it. Marco Polo, who visited India in the thirteenth century,
states that in his time Bengal still plied a lucrative trade in cotton
goods. In the fifteenth century Ma Huan, the Chinese traveller,
witnessed five or six varieties of textile goods being manufactured in
Bengal.
India in the suppiy of sugar to different parts of India. Ceylon, Arabia
and Persia.
Sugar
Another industry which seems to have made considerable
headway was sugar. Bengal was probably one of the earliest homes of
sugar-cane cultivation. Susruta (Majumdar,R.C.) mentions that the
paundraka cane (which grew in the Paundra country) were noted
for the large quantity of sugar which they yielded. In the thirteenth
century Marco Polo noticed that sugar was one of the important
commodities of export from Bengal. Early in the sixteenth century the
Portuguese traveller, Barbosa, found Bengal competing with South
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Salt
The manufacture of salt by means of evaporation either from
infiltrated sea-water or from subsoil brine was also probably known
and practiced in certain areas. The Irda Plate of the tenth
century A . D . records the grant of a village in the Dandabhukti-mondaia of the Vardhamana-bukti along with its salt pits
(lavanakarah). It is, therefore, permissible to infer that although the
manufacture of salt was known and practised in certain places, at
any rate from the tenth century onwards, it.had not developed into
any, considerable industry. The dampness of the climate and the
large amount of fresh water discharged into the sea by the Ganges
and the Brahmaputra might have, hampered the growth of any
large-scale salt manufacture.
Pottery
Among other crafts, pottery appears to have been practiced on an
extensive scale. A large number of specimens of the pottery-used by
the monks of Paharpur, and dating back probably to the eighth or
ninth century A.D., have been recovered in recent years. These
include large storage jars, spotted vases or lotas, cooking utensils,
dishes, saucers, inkpots and lamps of various designs. The potter's
art is also exemplified by the immense variety of terracotta plaques
discovered at Mahasthan (Bogra), Savar (Dacca), Paharpur and other
places. Some contemporary inscriptions refer to potters
(kumbhakara)1 and potter's . ditch (kumbhakara-garta).Context in
which these are mentioned seems to show that pottery as an
industry-was conducted from rural settlements for the most part.
Metal-work
Along with pottery, metal-work of various kinds must have been
known, from very early times. No settled agricultural community
could get on without blacksmiths, whose services were required
in the manufacture and repair of agricultural implements ; and
contemporary
evidence
proves that apart from agricultural
implements, the blacksmiths manufactured other articles of
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5. RISE AND DECLINE
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general use like water-vessels of iron, and weapons of war such as
arrowheads, spear-heads and swords. Besides working in iron, the
metalworkers' practiced the "art of bronze-casting with considerable skill. This is shown by the discovery in different parts of
Bengal of a large number of bronze or octo-alloy images, dating from
the Gupta period onwards.
wood-carving of the pre-Muhammadan period have come down to
us . It seems evident, however, that the wood-workers built houses
and temples and also manufactured house-hold furniture, boats,
ships, and wheeled carriages .
Jewellery
Jewellery, too, provided occupation to a considerable group of
metal-workers, for it was the fashion of the rich to use gold and
silver dishes and ornaments made of pearls and precious stones
and metals for personal adornment. The Deopara inscription of
Vijayasena mentions "flowers made of precious stones, necklaces, ear-rings, anklets, garlands and golden bracelets," worn by
the wives of the king's servants. The same epigraph speaks of temple
girls "the charms of whose body were enhanced by (the wearing of)
jewellery." The Naihati Plate of Vallalasena refers to necklaces of
pearls worn by ladies of royal blood. (Chakravarti,P.C.) The
Ramacharita (in. 33-34) mentions "jewelled anklet-bells," "charming ornaments set with diamonds, , pearls, emeralds, rubies and
sapphires," and -"'necklaces with central gems and pure pearls of
round and big shape." The Tabaqat-i-Nasiri casually alludes to
the use of "golden and silver dishes" in the palace of
Lakshmanasena.(Periplus).
Stone and Wood Works
Two other categories of craftsmen were the workers in stone
and wood. The numerous pre-Muslim stone images discovered
in Bengal and the beautifully engraved inscriptions on stone
slabs bear eloquent testimony both to the volume and skill of
the stone-carvers' profession.
It has been suggested that the
black chlorite stone, out of which most of these images were carved,
was probably obtained from the Rajmahal Hills and carried in boats
to the different centres of the sculptor's art in the province.
Incidentally, this throws light on an important article of internal trade.
Alongside stone-carving, wood-carving and carpentry also appear
to have been practised on an extensive scale, although owing to
the perishable nature of wood only a few architectural specimens of
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Ship Building
There is evidence that there was a successful ship building industry in Bengal building boats,ships both for internal and foreign travel
as well as ports.Mukherji gives an account of Indian Shipping
Industry in his book entitled “A History of Indian Shipping”
(Mukherii,R. K,1912). We have several references to ships and dockyards {Pargiter (1895)}.
Ivory-Carving
Another important industry was ivory-carving. The Bhatera
Plate of Govinda-Kesava mentions an ivory-worker (dantakara) by
name, while the Edilpur Plate of Kesavasena refers to "palanquins
supported by staffs made of elephant's tusk."
Minor Arts
Among minor arts, crafts, professions and industries may be
mentioned those of scribes, florists, garland-makers, conchshellworkers, braziers, goldsmiths, painters, masons, oilmen, fishermen,
washermen, barbers, butchers, distillers of wine etc. who formed so
many distinct castes . As regards fishery, we get additional evidence
from the land-grants, some of which refer to the right of fishing as
included in the grant.
Concerning the, nature and organisation of industrial labour,
we hardly know anything definite. There are certain statements,
however,occurring here and there in the inscriptions, which suggest
the inference that the workers in various trades and industries
were organized in some kind of corporate groups. There are
references to the trade and craft-guilds in Bengal in the fifth and
sixth centuries A.D.
Trade, Inland and Foreign of Bengal
The high antiquity of Bengal's inland and foreign trade is proved
by the Jataka stories, the accounts of Strabo and Pliny, and the
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Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. Two factors seem to have promoted
this early growth of commerce,—first, the qualitative and
quantitative development of Bengal's industries, and secondly, the
unrivalled facilities for movement afforded by the sea-coast and
river-systems of the "province.
businessmen taking ships at Benares or lower down at Champa
(modern Bhagalpur), and then either coasting to Ceylon or
adventuring many days wthout sight of land to Suvanjabhumi.The
Periplus of the_Erythraean Sea proves that Bengal maintained an
active overseas trade with South India and Ceylon in the first
century A.D. The commodities exported are said to have consisted of
malabathrum, Gangetic spikenard, pearls, and muslins of the
finest sorts. They were all shipped from a 'market-town' called Gange
(probably the same as Tamralipti), and carried in vessels described
in the Periplus as 'colandia.' Marco Polo mentions Sugar as major
exports from Bengal in 13th Century.Portuguese traveler Barbosa
talks about competition between South India and Bengal in Sugar
trade to Ceylone.Arab and Persia.Pliny points out in the first
century the amount of textiles which the western traders carried
was worth about one lakh gold coin.(Pliny, 1st Century). Yuan Chwang
also describes the import of huge amount of valuable
goods,stones,ornaments etc. (Beal-Records, 200-201).Because of
wealth generation the Traders were powerful in the
society.(Roy,1982).
Internal Trade
The chief routes of internal trade were probably the waterways
of the province, in proximity to which stood the principal towns.
The role of the rivers in the economic geography of Bengal cannot
be over-estimated. They fertilized the soil by the silt which they
carried ; they eliminated, to a large extent, the need for artificial
irrigation : and being navigable far inland throughout the year,
they served as 'corridors' or 'natural routes' for long-distance
traffic.
It is probable enough, although statistical data are
lacking, that throughout the ancient and mediaeval periods they
bore the greater part of the inland traffic of the province. Apart
from the rivers, a certain amount of trade probably passed along
land-routes. The itineraries of Fa-hien and Hiuen Tsang point to
the existence of such land-routes connecting some of the
important cities of the province. The Chittagong Plate of Damodara
mentions a public road (raja-patha) passing by the side of a
village. In recent years Mr. K. N. Dixit has discovered the
remains of two ancient embanked roads in the neighbourhood of
Dhanora.
Foreign Trade
Major ports were located on the coast from Sind to Ganga port
and Tamralipti There were twenty small / big sea ports. Roman
gold came to coastal India through ports of western India such as
Virgi Kachcho Shurashtro, Kalyan etc. Land routes included .from
eastern coast of China, through desert of Central Asia, Afghanistan,
Iran to Mediterranean.
In later centuries the overseas trade of Bengal seems to have
increased both in volume and extent. This is probably the chief
reason of the phenomenal growth of Tamralipi "as a port of "first- "
"rate importance. It is hardly necessary to stress the fact that in all
periods the city which controlled the mouth of the Ganges was
commercially the most important in Eastern India. There was a
succession of such dominant cities: Tamralipti down almost to the
end of the-Hindu period; later, Saptagrama till the close of the
sixteenth century ; then Hooghly, and finally Calcutta.
Bengal's foreign trade may be traced back to at least four or five
centuries before the birth of Christ. Strabo refers to the "ascent of
vessels from the sea by the Ganges to Pali-bothra,"(McCrindle) .
Conversely, a number of Jataka stories mention merchants and
The fame of Tamralipti as an emporium of trade spread all over
India and even far outside its boundaries. Hiuen Tsang notes that
"wonderful articles of value and gems are collected here in
abundance, and therefore the people of the country are in general
very rich" (Beal-Records, 200-201). According to the Katha-saritsagara, Tamralipti was pre-eminently the home of rich merchants,
who carried on overseas trade with such distant countries as Lanka
and Suvarnadipa (ibid. 175), and used to propitiate the sea with
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jewels and other valuable articles to ensure safe voyages across
(ibid. 72).
Taking Tamralipti as the centre, and radiating from it there are
three principal routes of overseas trade. The first led in a
southeasterly direction past the coast of Arakan to Burma and
beyond. Most of the early voyages from Tamralipti to Suvarnabhumi
were probably made along this route. But there was a second line of
overseas trade with the Malaya Peninsula and the Far East. Ships
came along the coast up to Paloura, near modern Chicacole, and
then proceeded right across the Bay of Bengal. This was known to
Ptolemy in the second century A.D. By the seventh century ships
sailed directly from Tamralipti to the Malay Peninsula. An interesting account of this route is preserved by I-tsing in his biography of
Hiuen-tsang, who made a direct voyage from Keddah to Tamralipi.
of business in Northern India along this highway of traffic. But
Kamarupa was not the terminus of this route, for it seems to have
extended eastwards to South,China through the hills of Assam or
Manipur and Upper Burma. This is testified to by the famous report which Chang-kien. the Chinese ambassador to the Yue-chi
country, submitted in 126 B.C. When he was in Bactria he was
surprised to find silk and bamboo which came from the Chinese
provinces of Yunnan and Szechwan. On enquiry he was told of
the rich and powerful country of India across which the caravans
carried these products from southern China to Afghanistan. This
route evidently continued in use till the ninth century A.D., and was
joined by another from Annam. Kia Tan (785-805 A.D.) describes
the land-route from Tonkin to Kamarupa, which crossed the
Ganges to Kajangal, and finally reached Magadha, (Majumdar,R.C.
Champa).
The third line of trade led in a south-westerly direction past the
coasts of Kajinga and Coromandel to South India and Ceylon. As
already said, use of this route is mentioned in the Jataka
stories and the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. Pliny also refers to
it adding that ‘the island of Ceylon was thought to be twenty days'
sail "from the country of the Prasioi,". The distance came
afterwards to be reckoned at a seven days' sail, according to the
rate of speed of our ships.’ In the early years of the fifth century
A.D., the Chinese pilgrim, Fa-hien, embarked at Tamralipti on
board a great merchant vessel and sailed to Ceylon en route to
China, the voyage taking "fourteen days and nights." From the
itinerary of I-tsing we learn that in the latter part of the seventh
century numerous other Chinese pilgrims traveled along the
same route in their voyages to and from India.
More celebrated and frequented, however, was the line of trade
which led westwards from various points in Bengal and joined the
network of highways which converged at Benares. The Kaiha-saritsagara mentions merchants travelling from Pundravardana to
Pataliputra. I-tsing, who landed at Tamralipti in 673 A.D., says that
when he left the sea-port, "taking the road which goes straight to
the west," many hundreds of merchants accompanied him in bjg
journey to Bodh-Gaya. A rock inscription of a chief named
Udayamana, which has been assigned on paleographical grounds
to the 8th century A.D., reveals that merchants from such distant
places as Ayodhya used to frequent the port of Tamralipti for
purposes of trade. These western routes formed the principal means
of communication and also the grand military routes between
Bengal and Northern India.
Besides the sea-routes, there seem to have been a number
of land-routes by which Bengal's foreign trade was carried.
One of these was the route which connected Pundravardhana with
Kamarupa. It was along this route that Hiuen Tsang journeyed
to the latter kingdom in the seventh century A.D. From very
ancient times Kamarupa was noted for her textiles, sandal and
agaru, and it seems likely that these were taken to the main centres
A third line of overland trade seems to have led through the
passes of the Himalayas, past Sikkim and Chumbi Valley, to Tibet
and China. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea bears testimony to
the fact that as early as the 1st century A.D. "raw silk, silk yarn and
silk cloth" came into Bengal from China and were re-exported to
"Damirica by way of the river Ganges." It is not impossible that
much of this stuff came in along this line of trade. In later period
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8. RISE AND DECLINE
ASIAN AFFAIRS
this route became the great highway of Buddhist pilgrim-travel
between Magadha and Tibet. Horses in large number appear to have
been imported into Bengal along this track. Referring to a town
variously named as Karbattan, Kar-pattan or Karambatan, which
has not yet been satisfactorily identified, but which was obviously
located somewhere at the foot of the Himalayan range, the
Tabaqat-i-Nasiri says :
Arab merchant ships and navy almost covered India & Pacific ocean
Mediterranean and Red sea.
"Every morning in the market of the city, about fifteen hundred
horses are sold. All the saddle horses which come into the territory
of Lakhnauti are brought from the country. Their roads pass through
the ravines of the mountains, as is quite common in that part of the
country. Between Kamrup and Tibet there are thirty-five mountain
passes through which horses are brought to Lakhnauti."
A fourth overland route ran southwards, along the Kalinga coast,
to the South Indian peninsula.
Trade was well managed.There were customs-officers called
vyapara-karantfaya or vyaparantfya in the two grants of the time of
Dharmaditya, and vyaparaya-viniyukta in the Grant of Gopachandra.
These were, as Pargiter points out, obviously officials "charged with
the duty of looking after trade"{Pargiter (1895)}.
Rise and Decline of International Trade of
Bengal Before British Colonialism
Living standard of Bengal started improving from the middle of
st
1 century.The land of Bengal was turned into a golden land from
4th and 5th Century. The main reason was the development of sea
trade. Even before that the country had a business relationship with
eastern Mediterranean countries. But the trade was mainly in the
hands of the Arabs. But from 50 A.D. India and Rome got into direct
contact. Gold continued to flow into India from Rome. Pliny stated if
the flow of gold continues to be like this then there will be no gold
left in Roman Empire. However, Trade with Rome started to decline
since 475 A.D. through to half of 7th century. Since the advent of
Islam Arab trade started to rise from 606-7 A.D. Within 100 years
19
The Devastation of the Economy of Bengal by
British Colonialism
Industrial revolution in England led to mass production of cheap
textiles. It could not compete with Indian textiles – Muslin, Calico.
East India company, set up in 1600, lobbied to ban calico and put
high tariff on Muslin. English expedition found route to India and
ultimately conquered Bengal in 1757.
East Indian company’s commercial activities led to damage of
indigenous industrial and trading activities. Such destructive
activities included :- cutting of fingers of Nakod (Muslin
producers),particularly the British looted the factories of Armenian
traders at Sayedabad and imprisoned the factory workers.(Bolt ) .
British Colonists did every thing possible to quash the growth of
local Indian entrepreneurs. There was huge grabbing by employees
of East Indian company , of the products of local producer’s at cut
throat prices. “The English employees of East Indian company were
buying and selling betel nut, ghee, rice, fish, jute, garlic, sugar,
tobacco etc. at only quarter price. They used to snatch these
commodity at these prices”.( Dutt Rajani Pam, 1947).
Taxes were put on transport of industrial production of locally
owned industries. When such entrepreneurs tried to increase the
speed of local production British industries tried to quash the
Indian industries As Earl of Shafts Bury points out “ We must bear
in mind that India has the raw material and cheap labor, and if we
allow the manufactures to work their operatives 16 or 17 hours and
put them under no restrictions, we are giving them very unfair
advantage over the manufacturers of our country ( England ) and
we might be undersold in Machester itself by manufactured goods
imported from the East. (Bose,Sanat Kumar 1980). These steps
initiated the decline of the Bengal’s Industrial sector
Lord Cornwalis developed a new land rent system in1793
entitled Permanent settlement in which the tenure of land was
20

9. RISE AND DECLINE
delared secure.Lord Cornwalis stated in a speech(Tripathi,1956).
“There is every ground to expect that the large capitals possessed
by many of the natives will be applied to the purchase of landed
property as the tenure is declared to be secure” From the beginning
the noveau Zamindars did not live in the villages nor did they invest money in land development.They employed middlemen who
tortured farmers and imposed excess rent .According to clause 7
imposed in 1799 zamindars were given the power to take away the
land of the defaulting farmers.
ASIAN AFFAIRS
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D,Varthema
26