Medieval Indian Economy, Society and Trade Notes for UPSC

The economy and society of medieval India (about 1200 to 1750 CE) were shaped by land revenue, trade, towns, crafts and the arrival of European traders. For the UPSC Prelims, questions are asked on the reforms of the Sultans and the Mughals, on coins, the land revenue systems and the trade centres. For the Mains, you may be asked to describe the agrarian system or to explain the effect of the foreign trade on India. This note gives a simple and well-organised picture of the medieval economy and society with tables, key terms and a Mains structure.

Agrarian Economy and Land Revenue

Agriculture was the main occupation, and land revenue was the main source of income of the state. In the Delhi Sultanate, the revenue was collected through the iqta system, in which land was assigned to military officers (iqtadars) in place of salary. Alauddin Khalji was the first Sultan to order the measurement of land (paimaish) and fixed the revenue at about half of the produce in the Doab, which was collected directly by the state to reduce the power of the middlemen. Muhammad bin Tughlaq increased the tax in the Doab during a famine, which caused hardship, and Firoz Shah Tughlaq built canals for irrigation, set up new towns such as Firozabad and Hisar, and charged a separate water tax.

Sher Shah Suri (1540-45) improved the system by measuring the land, classifying it into good, middle and bad, and fixing the revenue at one-third of the average produce, with the farmer given a written deed (patta) and a receipt (qabuliyat). Akbar developed it further. His revenue minister Raja Todar Mal introduced the Zabt (also called the Ain-i-Dahsala) system in 1580, in which the average produce and the prices of the previous ten years were studied, and the revenue was fixed in cash for each area. Other systems used by Akbar were Kankut, Batai or Ghalla Bakhshi (crop sharing) and Nasaq (an estimate based on past records).

Classes in the Rural Society

• Zamindars: Hereditary landlords and chiefs who collected revenue from the villages and kept a share. They had their own forts and armed men.
• Peasants: The khud-kasht were the resident farmers who held land in their own village, and the pahi-kasht were the non-resident farmers who cultivated land of other villages on a temporary basis.
• Village artisans and labourers: They were paid in grain or a share of the harvest under a system of service.

Crops and Agricultural Change

Food crops were wheat, rice, millets and pulses, and the cash crops were cotton, sugarcane, indigo and opium. Through the Portuguese, new crops arrived from the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries, such as maize, tobacco, potato, chilli, tomato, groundnut and pineapple, and these later became important in Indian farming. Tobacco spread so fast that the Mughal emperor Jahangir issued an order against smoking. Irrigation was done by wells, tanks and the Persian wheel (rahat), and canals were built by Firoz Shah and by the Mughals.

Currency and Banking

The Sultans issued the silver tanka and the copper jital, introduced by Iltutmish. Muhammad bin Tughlaq tried the token currency of copper and brass in 1329-30, which failed because forged coins flooded the market. Sher Shah issued a silver coin called the rupiya, which became the model for the later Mughal rupee, and a copper dam. The Mughal system had the gold mohur, the silver rupee and the copper dam, with a high purity that made them accepted widely. Money-lenders and bankers, called sarrafs and seths, issued the hundi (bill of exchange), so that traders did not have to carry cash over long distances.

Crafts and Industries

Textiles were the largest industry: the muslin of Dhaka, the cotton of Gujarat and Coromandel, the silk of Bengal and Banaras, and the woollen shawls of Kashmir were famous in the world. The state ran royal workshops called karkhanas, which made luxury goods and weapons for the court. Other crafts were metalwork, paper-making, shipbuilding in Bengal and Gujarat, carpet weaving and jewellery. Artisans were organised in guild-like groups in the towns, and the skilled craftsmen were highly paid in comparison to unskilled labour.

Trade and Ports

The inland trade was carried by banjaras, who moved grain on bullocks, and by river boats. India exported textiles, indigo, spices, saltpetre and sugar, and imported horses, gold and silver, and luxury goods. Because of the high export of goods, a large amount of silver flowed to India. The European companies (the Portuguese, Dutch, English and French) came as traders, and the English East India Company, founded in 1600, got permission from Jahangir to set up a factory at Surat after the embassy of Sir Thomas Roe in 1615.

Effects of the Foreign Trade

The foreign trade had both good and bad effects. It brought silver and money into India, helped textile and craft centres to grow, and encouraged the cultivation of cash crops. Port towns became rich, and Indian merchants, such as the Gujarati Banias and the Chettiars, grew powerful. But the European companies also fought among themselves for the control of trade and started to take political power through forts, private armies and treaties. In the 18th century, as the Mughal empire weakened, this trade-linked power became an important base of the rise of the British rule. This is why a student must read the economic history and the political history together.

Towns and Society

Towns like Delhi, Agra, Lahore, Fatehpur Sikri and Ahmedabad grew as centres of administration, trade and crafts, with large markets (bazaars) and caravan stops (sarais). The society had the ruling class of nobles (the Turani and Irani groups), the religious class of ulama and Brahmins, the merchants and artisans, and the peasants at the bottom. The caste system continued, but new groups, such as the Marathas and the Sikhs, rose in the Mughal age. Slavery existed, mainly in the domestic and court service. The position of women varied with class; some royal women, like Nur Jahan, Jahanara and Razia earlier, had political roles, while the practices such as sati and purdah were seen in some groups.

Foreign Travellers of the Age

• Marco Polo (13th century): visited South India and described the Pandya and Kakatiya lands.
• Ibn Battuta: Moroccan traveller in the Tughlaq period who wrote the Rihla.
• Abdur Razzaq, Domingo Paes and Nikitin: Visitors to Vijayanagara and the Bahmani lands.
• Bernier, Tavernier and Peter Mundy: European visitors in the Mughal period; Bernier, a French doctor, wrote about the lack of private property in land.

Mains Angle: Was There an Agrarian Crisis in the Late Mughal Period?

Historians like Irfan Habib argued that a heavy revenue demand, the shortage of jagirs and the oppression by officers led to a crisis, which showed in the peasant revolts of the Jats, Satnamis and Sikhs. Others emphasise the role of political weakness after Aurangzeb and the Maratha wars. A balanced answer will mention the economic causes, the political context and the later effects on the Mughal decline and the rise of regional states.

Practice Questions

• Q1. Who introduced the Zabt system? Answer: Todar Mal under Akbar.
• Q2. Which Sultan first measured the land? Answer: Alauddin Khalji.
• Q3. What was the hundi? Answer: A bill of exchange used by traders and bankers.
• Q4. Which port was called the gateway of Mecca? Answer: Surat.

Read this along with our notes on the Mughal administration and the Delhi Sultanate.

Quick Revision

• Iqta (Sultanate), Zabt (Akbar), patta-qabuliyat (Sher Shah).
• Tanka, jital, rupiya, dam, mohur.
• Khud-kasht and pahi-kasht peasants; zamindars as intermediaries.
• Surat, Masulipatnam and Hooghly ports; textiles as the main export.
• New crops: maize, tobacco, potato, chilli.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What was the iqta system?

It was the system in which land revenue rights were given to military officers (iqtadars) in place of salary in the Delhi Sultanate.

Who was the first Sultan to measure land?

Alauddin Khalji was the first Sultan to measure land for revenue.

What is the Zabt system?

It was Todar Mal's revenue system under Akbar, based on the average produce and prices of ten years and the fixed cash revenue.

What were patta and qabuliyat?

The patta was the title deed given to the farmer and the qabuliyat was his written agreement to pay the revenue, in Sher Shah's system.

What is the difference between khud-kasht and pahi-kasht?

Khud-kasht were resident farmers of the village, and pahi-kasht were non-resident farmers who cultivated land elsewhere.

What was the hundi?

The hundi was a bill of exchange used to transfer money without carrying cash.

What were karkhanas?

Karkhanas were royal workshops that produced luxury goods and weapons for the court.

Which port was called the gateway of Mecca?

Surat was called Bab-ul-Makkah, the gateway of Mecca.

Who introduced the silver rupiya?

Sher Shah Suri introduced the silver rupiya, which became the base of the Mughal rupee.

Which new crops came to India through the Portuguese?

Maize, tobacco, potato, chilli, tomato, groundnut and pineapple came to India through the Portuguese.

Who wrote the Rihla?

Ibn Battuta wrote the Rihla about his travels, including in the Tughlaq period.

When did the English East India Company set up its first factory at Surat?

The first English factory at Surat was set up in 1613.