NCERT Summary: Towns, Traders & Craftspersons - Notes | Study Social Studies (SST) Class 7 - Class 7

Introduction

• During Medieval period, towns are specified in the functions.
• The types of towns included a temple town, an administrative centre, a commercial town or a port town or others.
• Also, sometimes all functions were combined in a single town as well.

Administrative Centres

• Thanjavur, the capital of the Cholas was an administrative centre.
• The perennial river Kaveri flows near this beautiful town.
• Rajarajeshvara temple was built by King Rajaraja Chola by the architect Kunjaramallan Rajaraja Perunthachchan in this town.
• There are palaces with mandapas or pavilions.
• The town is bustling with markets selling grain, spices, cloth and jewellery.

Temple Towns and Pilgrimage Centres

• Thanjavur is also an example of a temple town which represent a very important pattern of urbanisation, the process by which cities develop.
• Temples were often central to the economy and society.
• Temples were granted land and money to carry out elaborate rituals, feed pilgrims and priests and celebrate festivals.
  • Pilgrims who flocked to the temples also made donations.
• Temple authorities used their wealth to finance trade and banking.
• Pilgrimage centres also slowly developed into townships.

A Network of Small Towns

• From the eighth century onwards, several small towns started developing from large villages in the subcontinent.
• They usually had a mandapika (or mandi of later times) and market streets called hatta (haat of later times) lined with shops.
• There were streets for different kinds of artisans such as potters, oil pressers, sugar makers, toddy makers, smiths, stonemasons, etc.
• Usually a samanta or, in later times, a zamindar levied taxes on traders, artisans and articles of trade and sometimes “donated” the “right” to collect these taxes to local temples.

Traders Big and Small

• Traders had to pass through many kingdoms and forests, they usually travelled in caravans and formed guilds to protect their interests.
• The Chettiars and the Marwari Oswal went on to become the main trading groups of the country.
• Gujarati traders, including the communities of Hindu Baniyas and Muslim Bohras, traded extensively with the ports of the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, East Africa, Southeast Asia and China.
• The towns on the west coast were home to Arab, Persian, Chinese, Jewish and Syrian Christian traders.

Crafts in Towns

• The Panchalas or Vishwakarma community, consisting of goldsmiths, bronzesmiths, blacksmiths, masons and carpenters, were essential to the building of temples.
• Weavers such as the Saliyar or Kaikkolars emerged as prosperous communities, making donations to temples.

The Architectural Splendour of Hampi

• Hampi is located in the Krishna-Tungabhadra basin, which formed the nucleus of the Vijayanagara Empire, founded in 1336.
• It was a well-fortified city.
• The architecture of Hampi was distinguished by arches, domes and pillared halls with niches for holding sculptures.
• Temples were the hub of cultural activities and devadasis (temple dancers) performed before the deity.
• Hampi fell into ruin following the defeat of Vijayanagara in 1565 by the Deccani Sultans.

A Gateway to the West: Surat

• Surat in Gujarat was the emporium of western trade during the Mughal period.
• In the seventeenth century the Portuguese, Dutch and English had their factories and warehouses at Surat.
• There were also several retail and wholesale shops selling cotton textiles.
• The Kathiawad seths or mahajans (moneychangers) had huge banking houses at Surat.
• Surat began to decline towards the end of the seventeenth century because
  • The loss of markets and productivity because of the decline of the Mughal Empire
  • Control of the sea routes by the Portuguese
  • Competition from Bombay.

Fishing in Troubled Waters: Masulipatnam

• The town of Masulipatnam or Machlipatnam (literally, fish port town) lay on the delta of the Krishna river.
• The fort at Masulipatnam was built by the Dutch.
• The competition among various trading groups the Golconda nobles, Persian merchants, Telugu Komati Chettis, and European traders made the city populous and prosperous.
• In 1686-1687 Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb annexed Golconda.
• This caused the European Companies to look for alternatives.
• As the Company traders moved to Bombay, Calcutta and Madras (present-day Chennai), Masulipatnam lost both its merchants and prosperity.

New Towns and Traders

• The eighteenth century saw the rise of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, which are nodal cities today.
• The “blacks” or native traders and craftspersons were confined here while the “white” rulers occupied the superior residencies of Fort St. George in Madras or Fort St. William in Calcutta.