URBAN ECONOMY

The Delhi Sultanate illustrates a highly urbanized economy, characterized by a significant

expansion of the money economy, particularly during the first half of the fourteenth century,
coinciding with a revival of urbanization in North India. This development sharply contrasts
with the economy on the eve of the Ghorid conquest, which was in decline, with fewer and
smaller towns in the preceding centuries.

In contrast, the Delhi Sultanate depicted a highly urbanized economy with a significant
expansion of the money economy, particularly during the first half of the fourteenth century,
which coincided with a revival of urbanization in North India. Although archaeological
evidence for the earlier period is scarce due to the lesser focus on medieval archaeology,
literary sources indicate the growth of urban centers. Ibn Battuta described Delhi, the capital,
as a thriving, populous city and the largest in the Islamic East. Other significant urban centers
included Daulatabad, Lahore, Multan, Patan, Cambay, and Kara. Despite fluctuations in these
cities' fortunes under different rulers and dynasties, the Delhi Sultanate maintained a highly
urbanized economy.
This accelerated urbanization during the period resulted from three key factors: (1) the
significant immigration of artisans and merchants from the Islamic East, bringing their crafts,
techniques, and practices to India; (2) the abundant supply of trainable labor obtained through
large-scale enslavement; and (3) the establishment of a system where a large share of the
agricultural surplus was directed for consumption in towns .The revival of towns depended
on their relation with the countryside. The towns needed to be fed and supplied with raw
materials from the countryside. The high level of agrarian taxation and the cash-nexus in
combination ensured that the peasants would have to sell much of their produce in order to
pay the land revenue. (mention Alauddin’s policy of ensuring regular supply of grains to
towns).

It seems that the urban craft production received a twofold impetus with the establishment of
the Delhi sultanate. According to Irfan Habib, First, the Sultanate ruling class remained
town-centered and spent the enormous resources it appropriated in the form of land revenue
mainly in towns, either on buying services or procuring manufacturers. They gave full
freedom to the artists to produce as a result their was a boom in production. While the
nobility created demand for high-priced skill-intensive luxury items, its hangers-on in all
likelihood created a mass market for ordinary artisanal product. The second factor that
contributed to urban manufacturers was the introduction of a number of technological devices
that reached India with the invaders.

According to Hameeda Khatoon, the growth of city centres & trade, merchants also
included the merchants in the [Link] were merchants dealing with grain called
nayakas & the one’s dealing with cloth called multani. The merchants specialising in carrying
grains were designated by Barani as karwanis (a Persian word meaning those who moved
together in large numbers). The contemporary mystic, Nasiruddin (Chiragh Delhi) calls them
 nayaks and describes them as those "who bring food grains from different parts to the city
(Delhi) some with ten thousand laden bullocks, some with twenty thousand" It can be said
with a degree of certainty that these karwanis were the banjaras of succeeding centuries. As is
clear from the Mughal sources, these were organised in groups and their headman called
nayak.
The other important group of merchants mentioned in our sources was that of the Multanis.
Barani says that the long distance trade was in the hands of these merchants. They were engaged
in usury and commerce (sud o sauda). It appears that the sahas and Multanis were rich enough to
give loans even to nobles, who, according to Barani, were generally in need of cash. The
Multanis prospered during the Delhi Sultanate. Speaking of the nobles during the reign of
Balban, Barani states that “The nobles took loans from the Multanis and sahs beyond limit, and
repaid the advances with drafts upon their iqtas”.
They not only benefitted by meeting the requirements of the members of the ruling class but also
through direct assistance given by the government. This was the case during the reign of
Alauddin Khalji, who in his attempt to reduce the prices of the luxury commodities advanced 20-
lac tankas to the Multanis.
Although, it is disputable whether Multanis were Hindus or Muslims but the fact that Barani
refers to them in conjunction with sahs suggests that they were Hindus, who were professionally
engaged in usury and commerce. The term sah or sahu was used in medieval times for a big
Hindu merchant and banker.

A second major sector of urban employment was the building industry. With the arrival
of the ‘Saracenic’ architecture, with its emphasis on the use of lime mortar as the cementing
material and the true arch, dome and vault providing new devices for roofing, there was a
spurt in brick constructions in the towns. The forts, palaces, mosques and other public
buildings were also built on a large-scale. The historian Barani asserts that Sultan Alauddin
Khalji employed as many as 70,000 craftsmen for the construction of his buildings. Larger
numbers must have been employed during the reign of MBT and Firuz Tughluq.
During this period the Indian metallurgy had a worldwide reputation, especially in the
fashioning of swords. Fakhr-I Mudabbir thought that the Indian swords were the best in India
and highlights the fact that the damascened sword was the rarest and fetched the highest
price. Another kind was made of soft Iron alloyed with copper and silver, and still another,
from Gujarat was made of steel. The Geniza records show that the Deccan bronze and brass
industry induced imports of cotton and lead into India; vessels and utensils were even
fashioned for customers in Aden, who sent broken pieces to India to be remade. Finally, the
high quality of Sultanate coinage during this period also testifies to the high quality of
expertise attained by the minters.
A new industry which was introduced by the new regime during this period was that of
paper manufacture. While paper was first introduced in China there is no evidence to show
that paper was used in India prior to the 13th century. An anecdote related to Balban’s court
implies that paper was not torn, upon its contents being cancelled, but was washed,
apparently to be reused again. Another anecdote of this period suggests that the sweetmeat-
sellers of Delhi used written-paper as packing material, thereby, highlighting the fact that the
scarcity of paper had been eased during this period. Paper greatly facilitated and cheapened
the circulation of books, bringing into being a class of professional transcribers. However,
getting a copy made of a book, which meant buying paper and hiring a nassakh, remained a
difficult and expensive undertaking for scholars.

A new industry, which was widespread in India during this period was leather-working,
based on the large cattle-wealth in the country. This was largely organized on caste basis.
Superior quality saddles were produced for a large number of horses in the stables, or gifted
to nobles. Gujarat produced exquisite mats of red and blue leather, decorated with birds and
beasts or inlaid work.

Scientific technologies gave a boost to the trade which in turn would have raised the
economy of the period. According to Irfan Habib, the appearance of the magnetic compass
came as an aid to navigation. Bailak Qibajaqi (d. A.D. 1282) in his Kaniul Taijąr, gives a
description of the compass and tells us explicitly that it was used both in "the Indian seas"
and the Mediterranean. It is thus clear that the instrument (a magnetic needle floating on
water) had begun to be used by ships calling at Indian ports by the early years of the 13th
century.
For navigation in the Indian ocean the device had nearly as much significance as the
discovery of the monsoons during the early centuries of the Christian era, enabling ships
more confidently to sail directly across high seas. This must naturally have exerted
considerable influence towards enlarging the volume of India's oversea commerce. Similarly,
the innovations of time keeping devices allowed the regulations of economic activity in a
systematic manner.

During the third quarter of the 14th century Sultan Firuz Tughluq installed at the top of a
tower at Firuzabad (Delhi) a number of astrolabes and a sun-dial, and possibly also a
clepsydra (for the time is said to have been kept accurately even when the sky was overcast).
The time was announced by gong-beats heard throughout the capital. This "town clock" was
regarded by the Delhi citizenry as a unique wonder of the age. Hence, to conclude one can
see that the established of the Delhi Sultanate brought with it major changes in the areas of
urban manufacturers, technology, trade and the rise of new financial classes in society. Even
though the Delhi Sultanate provides a colourful picture of urbanization and development,
whether, these changes can be termed as an “Urban Revolution” or not, as suggested by
Mohammed Habib is a matter of great dispute.

The establishment of Delhi sultanate brought several changes in the economic system in
India. Several opinions have been expressed whether the establishment marked any
significant departure in the socioeconomic life of the people during 13th -14th centuries.
Some (DD Kosambi, KS Lal, Lallanji Gopal) argue that the changes brought by the sultans of
Delhi did not mark a break from the past and in the long run it reinforced the feudal features.
Others (Muhammad Habib) postulate that it marked significant change to the extent that it
can well be called revolution. Still others (Irfan Habib) argue that there were several forces at
work and changes were significant too, but these cannot be called revolution in the modern
sense of the term. Latest historiography on the theme represented in the writings of Chetan
Singh, Sunil Kumar, BP Sahu and others argue that the significance of impacts of the policies
of the sultans and technological changes has been overstated.

Irfan Habib's analysis of the socio-economic changes during the Delhi Sultanate period
acknowledges significant shifts but argues against labeling them as modern revolutions. He
attributes urban expansion and technological advancements not solely to Islamic influences
or urban ruling class preferences, but also to deeper societal changes:

1. **Technological Advancements**: New techniques and technologies, such as the spinning

wheel and Persian Wheel, were introduced but were not immediately adopted by native
populations. Instead, their impact on production was felt due to immigration of artisans and
craftsmen from the Islamic East and the enslavement of war captives who became a cheap
labor force.

2. **Agricultural Policies**: Sultans like Muhammad bin Tughlaq and Firuzshah Tughlaq
implemented measures to promote agriculture, including establishing agricultural
departments and building canals. These policies aimed to increase agrarian productivity.

3. **Agrarian Exploitation**: The extraction of heavy land revenue from rural areas
facilitated urbanization but led to a one-sided flow of resources from villages to cities. This
system, characterized by high land revenue and additional taxes imposed on peasants,
contributed to a parasitical relationship between rural and urban areas.

In summary, Habib argues against the notion of a social revolution during the Delhi
Sultanate, instead emphasizing the creation of a new system of agrarian exploitation that
fueled urbanization while draining resources from rural to urban centers.

Several postulations and arguments of Irfan Habib have been questioned by many historians
in recent times. Sunil Kumar, Andrew Watson, Chetan Singh, BP Sahu and others are
prominent among these. Chetan Singh has pointed out that the climatic condition in the
Punjab region was not conducive for the Persian Wheel. Sunil Kuamr has expressed the
opinion that the economic impact of the political establishment of the Sultanate was confined
to the urban areas only. He also criticised Irfan Habib for making an external element
(Persian Wheel) as the factor of change in north India thereby going against one of the basic
tenets of the Marxism that internal contradictions lead changes in society. B. D.
Chattopadhyaya and B. P. Sahu have criticised Irfan Habib by arguing that his formulation of
economic developments during the Sultanate gives impression of static early medieval phase
which is not true.

TRADE
The growth of urban centers during this period and the development of urban manufacturers
provided a solid economic base for the growth of trade during this period. The development
of a cash-nexus and the compulsion on the peasants to pay their revenue in cash had helped in
creating a market in the towns for agricultural products. This trade resulting from the
compulsions of land revenue system is termed as 'induced trade'
The inland trade developed at two levels (a) the short distance village-town trade in
commodities of bulk, and (b) long distance inter-town trade in high value goods. The village-
town trade, as already explained, was a natural consequence of the emergence of towns and
realization of land revenue in cash. The urban centres were dependent for supply of food
grains and raw material for manufactures from the surrounding villages whereas the villages
had to sell the agricultural products to receive cash for meeting the land revenue demand. The
mandis were supplemented by local fairs where animals were also sold. The peculiar nature
of this trade was the one-way flow of commodities. While the towns received grains and raw
material from the villages in the vicinity they had no need to send their products in exchange
to the villages which were by and large self-sufficient. This one-way trade was owing to the
land revenue demand imposed upon villages which naturally led to a continuous drain on
rural sector and made the towns dependent on villages. The taxation system assured all the
time a heavy ‘balance of payments’ in favour of the towns, which were the headquarters of
the Sultan and members of the ruling class. The turnover of this trade was high in terms of
volume but was low in terms of value. The commodities were food grains, that is wheat, rice.
gram, sugarcane, etc. and raw material like cotton for urban manufactures.
The inter-town trade was mainly in luxury articles and was thus high value trade. The
manufactures of one town were taken to another, for example Barani reports that Delhi, the
capital itself, received distilled wines from Kol (Aligarh) and Meerut, muslin (fine cloth)
from Devagiri and striped cloth from Lakhnauti (Bengal) while, according to Ibn Battota,
ordinary cloth came from Awadh and betel-leaf from Malwa (twenty-four days journey from
Delhi). Candy sugar was supplied to Multan from Delhi and Lahore and ghi from Sirsa (in
Haryana).

The long-distance inter-town trade also carried goods coming from other countries from
entry-point towns to other urban centers as well as the export goods to exit-points. Multan
was perhaps the great entrepot for overland foregn trade and served as a centre of re-export,
while Gujarat port t o h s such as Broach and Cambay were exchange centres for overseas
trade
During the Sultanate period, overland and overseas trade were in a flourishing state. The
Khalji annexation of Gujarat gave a great impetus to the development of the Sultanate
seaborne trade. This even must have enlarged trade relations between the Delhi Sultanate and
the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea as Gujarat was connected with the Persian Gulf as well as
the Red Sea. Hormuz and Basra were the chief ports for the ships passing through the Persian
Gulf, while the ports of Aden, Mocha and Jedda along the Red Sea were important for
Gujarat. Through these ports, commodities moved on to Damascus and Aleppo, on the one
hand, and Alexandria on the other. Aleppo and Alexandria opened upto the Mediterranean
Sea with linkages to Europe. Merchandise of Gujarat were also carried towards the East the
port of Malacca situated at the Malacca straits and Bantam and Achin in the Indonesian
archipelago. A European traveller Tome Pires, who came to India in the first decade of the
16th century, comments on the trade of Cambay as follows "Cambay chiefly stretches out
two arms : with her right arm she reaches out towards Aden,with the other towards
Malacca…” Pires further says: "Malacca cannot live without Cambay, nor Cambay without
Malacca, if they are to be very rich and very prosperous. If Cambay were cut-off from trading
with Malacca, it could not live, for it would have no outlet for its merchandise." The main
export from Gujarat to Malacca was the coloured cloths manufactured in Cambay and other
Gujarat towns. These cloths were in demand in these places. In exchange, the Gujarati
merchants came back with spices grown there. This pattern of "spices for coloured cloths"
continued even after the Portuguese advent in the Asian waters. The I1 Khanid court historian
Wassaf reports that 10,000 horses were annually exported to Malabar and Cambay from
Persia. The Broach coin-hoards (see Unit 19) containing the coins of the Delhi Sultans along
with the gold and silver coins of Egypt, Syria, Yeman, Persia, Genoa, Armenia and Venice
further testifies to largerscale overseas trade.

The ports of Bengal had trading relations with China, Malacca and Far East. Textiles, sugar
and silk fabrics were the most important commodities exported from Bengal. Varthema noted
that about fifty ships carried these commodities annually to many places, including Persia.
Bengal imported salt from Hormuz and sea-shells from the Maldives islands. The latter were
used as coins in Bengal, Orissa and Bihar. Sindh was yet another region from where seaborne
trade was carried on. Its most well-known port was Daibul. This region had developed close
commercial relations with the Persian Gulf ports more than the Red Sea zone. Sindh exported
special cloths and dairy products. Smoked-fish, too, was its specialty.
It was natural for the coastal trade to flourish right from Sindh to Bengal, touching Gujarat,
Malabar and Commandel coasts in between. This provided an opportunity for exchange of
regional products along the'coastal line distinct from inland inter-regional trade.
The overland trade routes lay through the Bolan pass to Heart, and through the Khyber pass
to Bokhara and Samarqand and also by Kashmir routes to Yarkand and Khotan for onward
transmission to China. Multan was the major trading centre for overland trade. India was
connected to Central Asia, Afghanistan and Persia through the Multan-Quetta route. But, on
account of repeated Mongol turmoil in Central Asia and Persia, this route was less preferred
by the merchants. However, when the relations between the Sultan and the Mongols were one
of peace the trade benefitted significantly as the Mongols themselves traded in camels and
horses, arms, falcons, furs and musk. With the gradual assimilation of the Mongols to Islam,
conditions for trade improved further during the 14th century.
The information about the commodities, which entered long-distance trade is sketchy and
incomplete. The two principal items of import were (a) horses that were always in demand
for cavalry since superior horses were not bred in India and Indian climate was not well-
suited to Arabian and Central Asian horses. They were primarily imported from Zofar
(Yemen), Kis, Hormuz, Aden and Persia. The commerce in horses extended to Bengal. It
imported horses from the Himalayas; and Simon Digby has suggested that these were not the
Himalayan ponies, but a superior breed from South-west China. In return Bengal must have
exported its fine muslin and perhaps later on silk. The horses besides serving a military
purpose were also purchased for status and show. Hence, the careful regulation of the sale
and purchase of the horses was a high priority for the state. (b) precious metals viz. gold and.
silver, especially silver that was not at all mined in India but for which there was a high
demand not only for metallic currency but also for fashioning luxury items. Brocade and silk
stuffs were imported from Alexandria, Iraq and China. Gujarat was the major centre from
where the luxury articles from Europe used to enter. Other items that were imported into
India included camels, furs, white slaves, velvet, dry fruits and wine. Tea and silk were
imported from China.
The bulk commodities included food-grains, oil, ghee, pulses etc with some regions having a
surplus and the others a deficit. Thus, rice and sugar, which were in surplus in Bengal and
Bihar were carried by ships to Malabar and Gujarat. Wheat which was in surplus in modern
east UP was transported to the Delhi region. Apart from food stuff the other important items
of export were textiles. The Sultanate India mainly exported grain and textiles. Some of the
Persian Gulf regions totally depended on India for their food supply. Besides, slaves were
exported to Central Asia and indigo to Persia along with numerous other commodities.
Precious stones like agates were exported from Cambay.
It appears that the goods were transported both by pack animals and on bullock-carts. Perhaps
the share of the pack animals was more than the latter. Ibn Battuta mentions 30,000 mans of
grains being transported on the backs of 3,000 bullocks from Amroha to Delhi. Bullock-carts
were also used, according to Afif, for carrying passengers on payment. The overland
transport was expensive and was carried on mainly by the banjaras, who moved with their
families along with thousands of bullocks. Expensive but bulky goods, like fine quality
textiles, were carried on the backs of horses or in bullock carts. The movement of such goods
was in caravans or tandas, protected by hired soldiers because roads were unsafe on account
of both wild animals and dacoits. The pack-oxen were of course a cheap mode of transport
travelling slowly, grazing as they went and moving in large herds, thus reducing the cost of
transport specially along the desert routes. Ibn Battuta describes that highways ran through
the empire marked by minarets spaced at set distances.
The Sultanate created certain conditions, which favoured the growth of commerce. Highways
ran through the empire marked by minarets spaced at set distances and inns at close quarters
to one another. Trees were planted on both sides of the road and a halting station (sarai) was
built every two miles where food and drinks were available. In Bengal, Ghiyasuddin Tughluq
built long embankments to carry roads invulnerable to flood. The government had its own
system of communication by relay runners as well as horses. But there also existed private
postal arrangements: apparently letters sent from one place to another were announced by
crying out the names of the addresses in the market-place. Boats were employed for riverine
routes to carry bulk goods, while large ships used for seabrone trade.