Maritime Trade and Forms of Exchange in Early Medieval India

Introduction

• In the past, Indians were masters of sea-borne trade connecting Europe, Asia, and Africa.

• Indians built ships, navigated the sea, and controlled international commerce, both overland and sea.

• Sanskrit books frequently mention merchants, traders, and individuals engaged in commercial pursuits.

• From ancient times, India maintained enormous trade links with Asia and western countries.

• The glory of Indian overseas trade continued into the early medieval period.

• A significant aspect of external trade during this period was the widespread use of sea trade.

• This phenomenon also contributed to the spread of Indian culture to different parts of the world.

India’s Maritime Trade & Participants

• The era under survey saw great expansion of sea trade between the two extremities of Asia, the Persian Gulf and South China.

• India, located midway between these regions, greatly benefited from this trade.

• The hazards of extensive sea voyages were reduced by anchoring on Indian coasts.

• Arabs dominated the Asian trade during these centuries, especially after destroying the significant port of Valabhi on the Saurashtra coast in the eighth century, establishing their dominance in the Arabian Ocean.

• Despite Arab dominance, Indians continued to engage in trade with lands beyond the seas from the tenth century onwards.

• Abu Zaid, a tenth-century Arab author, mentions Indian merchants visiting Siraf in the Persian Gulf.

• Ibn Battuta, a 14th-century traveler, tells of an Indian merchant colony at Aden in the Red Sea.

• A 14th-century Gujarati text refers to Jagadu of Kutch, who traded with Persia via Indian mediators at Hormuz.

• Cola rulers in South India were deeply involved in maritime trade and sent embassies to China to improve economic relations.

• Tamil inscriptions found in Malaya and Sumatra show the commercial activities of Tamil mercantile society in these regions.

• The Colas sent naval expeditions in the 11th century against the Srivijaya empire to ensure safe sea routes to China for their trade.

• Despite limited references to the physical participation of Indian merchants, the demand for Indian products continued, reaching the outside world through Arabs and the Chinese.

Commodities Exchanged

• Chinese texts indicate that the Malabar coast received goods like silk, porcelain-ware, camphor, cloves, wax, sandalwood, and cardamom from China and South-east Asia.

• Some of these goods were for re-export to the Arabian world, but others, like silk, were in high demand in local Indian markets.

• Marco Polo informs that ships from the East to the ports of Cambay in Gujarat brought gold, silver, copper, and tin from South-east Asia.

• India’s exports included aromatics and spices, particularly pepper.

• According to Marco Polo, pepper was consumed at the rate of 10,000 pounds daily in Kinsay (Hang-Chau) alone.

• Chau Ju Kua, a Chinese port official, mentioned that regions like Gujarat, Malwa, Malabar, and Coromandel sent cotton cloth to China.

• Ibn Battuta (C.E. 1333) stated that fine cotton fabrics were rarer and more expensive than silk in China.

• India also exported ivory, rhinoceros horns, and semi-precious stones to China.

• Arabic inscriptions at Cambay, Samaratha, and Junagadh reveal that merchants from the Persian Gulf visited Western India in the 12th and 13th centuries.

• Ships from Hormuz in the Persian Gulf also arrived at the Gujarat coast, mentioned in the Lekhapaddhati.

• Jewish merchants took various goods from India’s West coast to the Egyptian markets, including spices, aromatics, dyes, medicinal herbs, bronze and brass vessels, textiles, pearls, coconuts, and more.

• India exported teakwood for shipbuilding and home construction in the treeless regions of the Persian Gulf and South Arabia.

• Surplus food-grains, especially rice, were exported from Indian ports to coastal regions lacking sufficient foodstuffs.

• Fine and embroidered leather mats from Gujarat were highly prized in the Arab world, according to Marco Polo.

• India was also renowned for its iron and steel products, especially swords and spears, which had a large market in Western countries.

• Horses were the main import from the West, driven by the growing number of feudal lords and chiefs in the early medieval era.

• According to Ibn Battuta, horse-dealers coming through the Northwestern land routes earned significant profits.

• Wassaf, an Arab author (C.E. 1328), mentions that more than 10,000 horses were brought annually to ports like Coromandel, Cambay, and others in the 13th century.

• Horses were imported from regions like Bahrein, Muscat, Aden, and Persia.

• Other imports from the West included dates, ivory, coral, and emeralds.

Ports & trading Centers

• A number of ports on the Indian coasts served both inland trade networks and linked eastern and western trade.

• Almost every creek offering safe anchorage for ships developed into a significant port.

• Debal, located at the mouth of the Indus, was a major port visited by vessels from Arabia, China, and other Indian ports, as mentioned by Al Idrisi (twelfth century).

• Major ports on the Gujarat coast included Somanatha, Broach, and Cambay.

• Somanatha had trade links with China in the East and Zanzibar (Africa) in the West.

• Broach, or ancient Bhrigukachha, had a long history as a significant port.

• Cambay, also known as Khambayat in Arabic and Stambhatirtha in Sanskrit, was first mentioned in the ninth century C.E..

• Other notable ports on the Western coast included Sopara and Thana.

• On the Malabar coast, Quilon emerged as a key port, with ships from the West stopping there for fresh water before heading to Kedah in South-east Asia.

• Chinese traders also used Quilon as a port stop while traveling to the Arab world.

• Between the tenth and thirteenth centuries, the Coromandel coast became a major hub for ships from the East and West.

• Wassaf, an Arab author, noted the wealth of the Persian Gulf isles and other distant lands, which were derived from the Coromandel coast.

• The most significant port on the Coromandel coast was Nagapattinam, with Puri and Kalingapattam also serving as important ports on the Odisha coast.

• In Bengal, Tamralipti saw a revival, although some scholars suggest it was being replaced by the port of Saptagrama.

• India had extensive trade links with various parts of the world during the early medieval period, making it a hub for foreign trade.

• Muslims initially controlled India’s trade but were later replaced by the Portuguese.

• Important ports like Gujarat, Goa, Calicut, Cochin, and Quilon played key roles in facilitating foreign trade.

• Vijayanagara provided complete freedom of travel and ownership to merchants, regardless of their religion (Christian, Jew, Moor, or Heathen), which attracted a significant number of traders to the city.

• India’s foreign trade has a rich heritage that dates back to the early medieval period.