Sangam Age: Trade Guilds and Urban Centres

Sangam Age: Trade Guilds and Urban Centres

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• In peninsular India, the growth of trade and the emergence of urban centres were not isolated phenomena — they were closely tied to other significant changes taking place in the region. These changes were driven by:
  • Changes within society across different parts of peninsular India, brought about by the growth of agriculture in major river valleys — to some extent connected with the iron technology of the peninsular Megalithic culture and with irrigation; agricultural surplus appears to have been available in some areas.
  • Mauryan expansion into peninsular India, which led to greater contact with the north and the movement of traders, merchants, and others — a development reflected in the advantages of the southern route (dakshina-patha) highlighted in the Arthashastra, alongside further contacts along the coasts. This significantly reshaped the earlier system and network of exchange in peninsular India.
  • From the close of the 1st century BCE, growing demand for Indian goods brought merchants and ships from the Roman world into close contact with peninsular India, providing a major impetus to the growth of trade and urban centres.
  • The growth of craft specialisation — increasing skill in producing items needed for local exchange or long-distance trade, such as different types of pottery, bead-making, glass-making, and cloth weaving, each requiring distinct skills.
• It should be remembered that not all parts of India were uniformly affected by these changes — older forms of culture persisted in some areas.
  • Between the Deccan and the far south, these changes were more prominent in different parts of the Deccan; in the far south, they were initially slower and more territorially limited.
• The growth of trade and urban centres can be studied under the following heads:
  • Exchange mechanisms in local transactions and long-distance trade
  • Organisation of guilds
  • Transportation, storage, and shipping
  • Means of exchange
  • Revenue from trade
  • Urban centres
  • Economic and social changes brought about by trade and urbanisation

Local Trade

• Barter was the most common mode of transaction in local exchange, with most bartered items intended for immediate consumption.
  • Regular items of barter in the far south included salt, fish, paddy, dairy products, roots, venison, honey, and toddy.
• Common barter exchanges included: salt for paddy; paddy for milk, curd, and ghee; honey for fish oil and liquor; and rice flakes and sugarcane for venison and toddy.
  • Luxury items such as pearls and elephant tusks occasionally appeared as barter items too, alongside consumption articles like rice, fish, and toddy.
  • Loans were not unknown within the barter system of the Tamil south — a fixed quantity of a commodity could be borrowed and repaid in the same kind and quantity at a later date, a practice known as Kurietirppai.
• Exchange rates were not fixed; petty bargaining was the usual method of setting the price of articles.
  • Paddy and salt were the only two commodities for which a set exchange rate existed in the barter system of the far south — salt was bartered for an equal measure of paddy.
• In the Deccan, under Satavahana rule, the use of coins was fairly common, though the continuation of barter cannot be ruled out — craft products such as pots, pans, toys, and trinkets were bartered in rural areas.
• The barter system of the far south displayed the following features:
  • Most items exchanged were articles of consumption.
  • Exchange was not profit-oriented.
  • As with production, distribution too was subsistence-oriented.

Long Distance Overland Trade

• Contacts between the northern and southern parts of India can be traced back to at least the 4th century BCE, if not earlier; the resources of regions lying south of the Vindhyan ranges were already known in the north.
  • Early Buddhist literature refers to a route running from the Ganga valley to the Godavari valley, known as the Dakshinapatha.
• Kautilya, author of the Arthashastra, wrote of the advantages of this southern route, noting that the southern territories abounded in conch-shells, diamonds, pearls, precious stones, and gold, and that the route passed through territories rich in mines and valuable merchandise.
  • He observed that this route was frequented by many in his time.
  • The Dakshinapatha touched many southern centres, including the city of Pratishthana, which later became the capital of the Satavahanas.
• Most goods carried in this north-south trade were luxury articles — pearls, precious stones, and gold — along with fine varieties of textiles.
  • A fine variety of silk, called “Kalinga” after its place of origin, moved between the north and south, and was an important item favoured by the Tamil chieftains; bards who sang in their praise received Kalinga silk cloth as a valuable gift.
  • Fine pottery known as Northern Black Polished Ware (NBP) also found its way to the extreme south — archaeologists have unearthed NBP sherds in the territory of the early Pandyas.
• Besides these, herbs and spices such as spikenard and malabathrum (used in preparing ointments) were also brought to the south and shipped further west.
  • Northern traders also brought large quantities of silver punch-marked coins, hoards of which have been unearthed across different parts of south India, testifying to the brisk commercial contact between north and south.
• Since this long-distance trade with the north was mostly in luxury goods, its benefits were largely enjoyed by a small section of society — the ruling elites and their retinues.

Long Distance Overseas Trade

• Indian goods such as spices, precious and semi-precious stones, timber, and ivory, along with many other articles, were in great demand in the western countries, with south India as their main source; these articles were shipped westward from very early times.
  • Given the scale of these transactions and the resulting profits, direct trade with the Roman world — attested from the close of the 1st century BCE — proved highly significant for the economy and society of peninsular India.
• Two stages can be identified in Rome’s commercial contact with peninsular India:
  • An early stage, with the Arabs acting as middlemen.
  • A later stage, in which direct contact was established following knowledge of the monsoon winds.
• For a long period, navigation in the Arabian Sea remained coastal, tedious, and expensive.
  • The Arabs had established commercial connections with India well before the beginning of the Christian era, making the sea a highway of trade; their favourable geographical position helped them enjoy a monopoly over East-West trade.
  • They possessed knowledge of the wind systems of the Arabian Sea, which they kept as a trade secret — allowing them to act as middlemen and earn considerable profit from trade with peninsular India.
• The “discovery” of the monsoon winds, attributed to the navigator Hippalus, allowed the Romans to establish direct contact with India, marking the beginning of a period of increased commerce between Rome and peninsular India.
• The Romans brought both raw materials and finished products to south Indian ports.
  • Raw materials included copper, tin, lead, coral, topaz, flint, and glass (used as material for bead-making).
  • Finished products included the finest quality wine, fine-textured clothes, fine ornaments, gold and silver coins, and excellent varieties of pottery.
• A large number of articles were shipped by the Romans from peninsular India to the west, falling into the following categories:
  • Spices and medicinal herbs, such as pepper, spikenard, malabathrum, and cinnabar.
  • Precious and semi-precious stones, such as beryl, agate, carnelian, jasper, and onyx, as well as shells, pearls, and tusks.
  • Timber items, such as ebony, teak, sandalwood, and bamboo.
  • Textiles, such as coloured cotton cloth and muslin, along with dyes like indigo and lac.
• Among these exports, beads and textiles were the finished goods; the Romans paid for Indian goods mainly in gold.
  • A majority of export items were locally available, and the collection of merchandise in the Deccan and south India was carried out by Indian merchants themselves, using wagons and pack animals for transport to the ports.
  • The actual shipping of merchandise to western lands, however, was carried out mostly by foreign merchants, though Indian maritime traders were also present in the Deccan and south India.
• South India also maintained commercial connections with Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, trading chiefly in spices, camphor, and sandalwood.
  • Tamil merchants were probably responsible for taking the initiative in this trade; Sri Lankan merchants also came to Tamilaham, and inscriptions in Tamil-Brahmi characters refer to traders arriving from Elam (Sri Lanka) — though further details of this trade remain unknown.

Commercial Organisation

• In small-scale local transactions, producers were often the dealers themselves.
  • Fishing and salt-making were carried out exclusively by the community of Paratavas, mentioned in the Sangam region as living in the neytal (coastal) tract, occupying them full-time — leading to a distinct system for distributing fish and salt.
  • Fish was carried to neighbouring coastal areas by the womenfolk of fishing families, who sold it at village fairs and other rural gatherings.
  • As an essential commodity in demand everywhere, salt was distributed by a separate group — the salt merchants, known as umanas in Tamilaham.
    • In coastal areas and neighbouring villages, umana hawker-girls carried salt in head-loads and bartered it mainly for paddy.
    • In interior villages, salt was carried by the umanas in large bags transported by carts drawn by bullocks or donkeys; these salt merchants moved in large groups called umanchathu, bartering salt for local produce and thereby acting as collectors of merchandise from different regions.
    • The umanas travelled in caravans with their families — no organisation beyond the family is known to have existed among salt merchants.
• Besides salt dealers, there were also dealers in corn (koolavanikan), cloth (aruvaivanikan), gold (pon vanikan), and sugar (panita vanikan), among others.
  • These dealers appear in some ancient cave inscriptions of Tamilaham as donors of dwelling places to ascetics, indicating their affluence, though details of their trade organisation remain unknown.
  • There is a single epigraphic reference to a traders’ organisation at Tiruvellarai in the deep south, whose members are described as nikamattor — meaning members of the nigama, or guild.
• Organised trade guilds were seemingly rare in Tamilaham, but were a regular feature in the Deccan, where merchants’ guilds and associations were numerous.
  • Another route ran from the western hilly region to Kanchipuram, seat of a local chieftain and a famous “city” on the east coast.
  • Salt caravans and other merchants travelled these routes in large groups, often joined by wandering bards, dancers, messengers, and mendicants, since the journey was frequently hazardous — most routes passed through dense forests and hill country inhabited by wild tribes.
    • Wayside robbery was a constant threat, and in the absence of effective protection from rulers, caravans employed their own guards.
• In Satavahana territory, the picture was somewhat different: the main route to the Deccan ran from Ujjaini to Pratishthana (Paithan), the Satavahana capital, then across the Deccan Plateau to the lower Krishna, and further south to the cities of Kanchi and Madurai.
  • A network of roads developed early in the Christian era along this old route, linking interior production areas with inland markets, towns, and port towns on the western coast; the fertile Godavari and Krishna river valleys had similar networks connecting the interior to the coastal towns.
• Notably, several ancient Buddhist cave sites and religious centres in the Deccan were located along these trade routes, offering food, shelter, and even loans to merchant caravans.
  • Rulers also took interest in the condition of these routes — donating liberally to Buddhist establishments situated along them, building rest houses at port towns, establishing watering points on the routes, and appointing officials for their upkeep; information on road policing, however, is not available.
• Routes often had to cross rivers, where ferries were established and tolls collected from merchants, though some ferries were toll-free.
  • Given their long coastline and extensive river systems, south Indians were familiar with both sea and river navigation — smaller boats served for river crossings, while larger vessels enabled sea navigation.
• Navigation in Tamilaham was mainly coastal, with some trade connections to Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan (Elam) traders appear in south Indian inscriptions, while Tamil traders similarly appear as donors in early Sri Lankan inscriptions, confirming Tamilaham’s participation in maritime trade.
  • The Deccan too had merchants engaged in sea-borne trade — ships fitted out at Bharukaccha are known from the literature of this period, and Indian traders from peninsular India, especially the Deccan, are attested in Egypt and Alexandria by contemporary foreign writings.
• Royal authorities recognised the importance of maritime trade and provided facilities for traders — ships arriving at Bharukaccha were piloted by local boats to separate berths at the docks.
  • In the far south, the major chieftains of Tamilaham similarly encouraged sea trade — erecting lighthouses along the shore, maintaining wharves where Roman ships unloaded merchandise to be stamped with the chieftain’s emblem, and arranging storage and protection facilities at warehouses.
• Sea-borne trade in both the far south and the Deccan shows features of what modern scholars describe as “administered trade,” though these features were more prominent in the Deccan, remaining at a more rudimentary level in Tamilaham.

Coins

• Though barter remained the most common mode of transaction, the use of coins as a means of exchange became increasingly current during this period.
  • Coins known to early peninsular India can broadly be divided into two categories: local coins of different varieties, and Roman coins.

Local Coins

• Local coins of varying types were prevalent across different regions of peninsular India. Ancient Tamil literature mentions coin types such as Kasu, Kanam, Pon, and Ven Pon, though actual coins corresponding to these names have not been discovered.
  • In the Deccan, inscriptions refer to the use of Kahapanas (locally minted silver coins) and Suvarnas (gold coins of either Roman or Kushan origin).
• Coins of various types were minted in different metals — lead, potin (copper mixed with tin and other metals), copper, and silver.
  • The earliest of these were punch-marked coins, minted in north-west and north India from around the 6th–5th century BCE onward; different varieties of punch-marked coins were similarly minted across peninsular India.
  • Other coin types, produced using techniques such as casting and die-striking, gradually came into use.
• From the 2nd century BCE, kings of small localities and members of prominent families such as the Maharathis began minting coins in their own names; to these were later added coins of the Satavahana rulers, minted in different metals, possibly from the 1st century BCE onward.
• In the northern Deccan, Gujarat, Malwa, and adjacent regions, silver coins of the Kshatrapas were in great demand.
  • Between the 2nd century BCE and the close of the 2nd century CE, the widest variety of local coins was minted and circulated across peninsular India.

Roman Coins

• Ancient Tamil literature refers to Yavana (Roman) ships bringing large quantities of gold to Tamilaham to be exchanged for pepper.
  • The Roman emperor Tiberius wrote to the Senate in 22 CE, lamenting that the empire’s wealth was being drained to foreign lands in exchange for trivial goods.
  • In the 1st century CE, Pliny, author of The Natural History, similarly complained that a huge amount of Roman wealth flowed out every year to India, China, and Arabia for luxury goods.
• These statements are well supported by the large number of Roman coin hoards discovered across peninsular India — in Andhra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala — most dating between the 1st century BCE and 3rd century CE, suggesting brisk Roman contact with peninsular India during this period.
  • Roman coins were mostly in gold and silver; copper coins are extremely rare, though not entirely unknown.
• Roman money was brought to purchase goods especially valued by westerners, which could not be procured through bulk exchange of Roman goods alone.
  • Larger transactions were conducted using gold coins, while silver coins served smaller purchases.
  • Some scholars hold that Roman gold was accepted not as coinage but as bullion, while other scholars suggest it was used as ornaments by south Indians.
• Some numismatists maintain that Roman coins and punch-marked coins circulated side by side in the country, being of roughly similar weight — in some hoards, the two are found together, and both show similar wear, suggesting they were current for a long time before being placed in hoards.
  • Imitation Roman coins also circulated in south India, especially along the Coromandel Coast, where Roman trading stations existed — these imitations may have been manufactured to satisfy the needs of such “colonies.”

Revenue from Trade

• The collection of revenue as a regular source of income for the treasury depended on several factors, including the efficiency of the government; since political developments varied across regions of peninsular India, the revenue system too varied from region to region.
• Tolls were collected on merchandise moving on pack animals and carts — this toll was known as Ulku, derived from the Sanskrit term sulka, meaning “toll,” suggesting the concept itself was borrowed from the north.
  • All the crowned chieftains and lesser chieftains of the south are said to have taken particular interest in trade, especially with the Yavanas, evidently keeping an eye on the income it generated.
  • In the Chola port town of Kaveripumpattinam, agents of the Chola ruler affixed the Chola emblem of the tiger on merchandise, and tolls were also levied on goods, though detailed information on this practice is unavailable.
• Further north, in Satavahana territory, taxation appears to have been more regular and systematic — tolls were collected on each item of trade, and customs duties and various levies were imposed on merchants at every major town, though the exact rates are not specified anywhere.
  • Ferry duties were another source of income; Ushavdata, son-in-law and representative of the Kshatrapa ruler Nahapana of western India, is said to have arranged toll-free ferries on certain rivers. Revenue was received either in kind or in cash.
• Artisans were also required to pay tax on their products, known as Karukara (karu = artisan, kara = tax).
• From this fragmentary information, it can be inferred that the ruling authorities derived considerable income from trade and commerce.

Weights and Measures

• A developed system of exchange requires regular weights and measures — the ability to weigh, measure, and count objects being bought or sold made exchange both easier and more efficient, removing uncertainty for both buyer and seller.
• In the Deccan, where trading centres regularly dealt in varied goods, the idea of exact measurement appears to have been well established.
  • Coins were issued in different denominations, and land was measured in terms of nivartanas.
• In the far south, Ma and Veli were units of land measurement, while grain was measured in ambanam — likely a larger measure, used especially in the context of paying tribute.
  • Smaller measures such as nali, ulakku, and alakku were also known.
• Weight was determined by means of a balance, likely a rod marked with graduations — even minute weights, such as that of gold, could be measured this way.
  • In day-to-day transactions, linear measurement was expressed in terms of the length of a gingelly grain (el), a paddy grain (nel), a finger, or a hand.

Urban Centers

• The western and eastern coasts of peninsular India had several port towns.
  • The coastal Andhra region, in the delta of the Godavari and Krishna, held several important centres, from which ships sailed to the Malay Peninsula and the eastern archipelago.
  • The western port towns of Bharukaccha (Broach), Sopara, and Kalyana appear to be older and more important during the early phase of Indo-Roman trade.
• In the interior, both large and small urban centres existed, including Pratishthana (Paithan), Tagara (Ter), Bhogavardhana (Bhokardan), Karahataka (Karad), Nasik, Vaijayanti, Dhanyakataka, and Vijayapuri (Nagarjunakonda).
  • The rise of these centres — distinct from ordinary rural settlements — can be attributed to several factors:
    • An agricultural hinterland capable of generating the surplus needed to sustain different social groups living in urban centres.
    • The emergence of groups such as traders, artisans, and handicraftsmen, not directly involved in food production.
    • The emergence of guilds organising the activities of traders and craftsmen.
    • Facilities for the collection of commodities required for local and foreign exchange, along with the development of shipping.
    • A ruling class capable of channelling surplus toward these centres, while also offering protection and support.
    • The emergence of a monetary system.
    • The spread of writing, essential for accounting and record-keeping.
• Functionally, urban centres fell into different categories — administrative centres, collection centres, cantonments, centres of foreign trade, markets, and manufacturing centres — though a single urban centre often performed several of these functions simultaneously.
• Based largely on references in Sangam poems and other literary writings, and to some extent on archaeology, three distinct types of centres can be identified within Tamilaham:
  • Rural exchange centres
  • Inland market towns
  • Port towns
• In the process of exchanging goods for subsistence between the different tinais (eco-zones), several centres emerged as points of contact — often located at junctions along traditional routes.
  • Some of these centres grew more active through regular exchange, though it would not be appropriate to call them “urban” in the modern sense; contemporary society, however, viewed them as distinct from ordinary peasant settlements.
  • Inland towns such as Uraiyur (near modern Tiruchirapalli), Kanchi (Kanchipuram), and Madurai developed markets but did not evolve into full-fledged urban centres.
• Pattinams, or port towns, were more active under royal patronage, and included several notable centres:
  • On the east coast: Puhar or Kaveripumpattinam (of the Cholas), Arikamedu, and Korkai (of the Pandyas).
  • On the west coast: Muziris and Tyndis (of the Cheras), Bakare, and Nelcynda.
  • These were centres of maritime trade, and some — such as Arikamedu — had “colonies” of Yavanas; Muziris in particular was a busy centre, its port crowded with ships of all kinds, with large warehouses and markets.
• Since trade at these port towns emphasised luxury goods, the pattinams were not closely linked to local exchange networks, remaining “pockets of foreign trade” catering mainly to rulers and the wealthy.
  • Their growth was therefore a direct result of external trade — and with its decline, these centres gradually dwindled and disappeared.
• The nature of these urban centres was thus marked by the absence of:
  • Linkage with local exchange networks.
  • Craft specialisation.
  • Support from institutions such as monasteries and guilds.

Impact of Trade and Urban Centers on Society

• Early trade and urban development do not appear to have brought fundamental changes to the social life of Tamilaham.
  • Local exchange remained subsistence-oriented — goods exchanged locally were meant for regular consumption among different groups.
  • Long-distance trade, being mostly in luxury goods, did not circulate beyond the kinship circles of chieftains and their retinues.
• Individual merchants’ wealth and prosperity — as reflected in their gifts to monks — were not especially impressive.
  • Craftsmen and traders were not organised into guilds; they functioned instead as members of a family or close relatives, operating according to the norms of tribal kinship relations.
• The situation in the Deccan was markedly different: the participation of local trading groups was essential even for long-distance trade, allowing its benefits to filter down to other levels of society.
  • The wealth and prosperity of artisans, craftsmen, and traders in the Deccan is reflected in their donations to Buddhist monasteries.
  • Guild organisations of artisans and traders played an important role in breaking down old kinship ties and introducing new forms of relations in craft production and trading ventures.
• The relationship between rulers, commercial groups, and Buddhist monastic establishments was responsible for introducing significant changes in the society and economy of the Deccan.