market forms in sulthanate period
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Answer:
In the early 14th century, the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji (r. 1296-1316) instituted price controls and related reforms in his empire. Alauddin's courtier Amir Khusrau states that Alauddin's objective was the welfare of the general public. However, Ziauddin Barani (c. 1357) states that the Sultan's objective was to subjugate the Hindus and to maintain an unprecedentedly large army (the low prices would make low salaries acceptable for the soldiers).
Alauddin fixed the prices for a wide range of goods, including grains, cloth, slaves and animals. He banned hoarding and regrating, appointed supervisors and spies to ensure compliance with the regulations, and severely punished the violators. The reforms were implemented in the capital Delhi, and possibly, other areas of the Sultanate. They were revoked shortly after Alauddin's death, by his son Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah.
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Answer:
The first few Muslim Sultans could not devote their attention to trade and commerce as they were preoccupied with the problem of securing their position.
Balban is the first Sultan who got dense forests cut; roads built and secured form the danger of bandits.
This helped the traders and their commercial caravans to move from one market place to another. The economic reforms of Alauddin Khilji brought the prices to very low ebb though it was an artificial measure and had nothing to do with the true prosperity and economic growth.
However, it encouraged import of foreign goods form Persia, since the Sultan made advances to the foreign traders to import their goods and he always subsidised in such cases.
The failure of Mohammad Tughlaq that the country regained its economic prosperity and the revenue of Delhi alone reached the high figure of six crores while that of Doab was 80 lakhs. His encouragement to gardening and provisions of means of irrigation like the wells and canals increased the prosperity of the country.
During the days of this very ruler, we hear of Karkhanas in which he utilised his slaves. Besides these public commercial undertakings, there were private enterprises as well. We hear how many types of industries prospered during the reign of Feroze.
Dr. Ashirwadi Lai provides a very exhaustive list of these industries like the textile “including the manufacture of cotton, woolen and silk cloth. Dyeing industry, printing industry, calico printing industry sugar industry, metal work, paper industry, stone work, enameling, etc.”
Despite this industrial development the main occupation of the people was agriculture. Ala-ud-din realised 50% of the total produce in Doab and even then the farmers could find it economic to till the land.
It was the prosperity of these farmers which induced Mohammad Tughlaq to think of enhancing the land revenue. The foreign traveller, Ibn- Battuta speaks of black rice which he partook in royal feast during the reign of Mohammad Tughlaq and which was thought to be of the days of Ala-ud-din Khilji.
India’s foreign trade both overland and overseas was truly an international enterprise. Although the Arabs were the dominant partners in the India Ocean trade, they had been by no means ousted the Indian traders, viz. the Tamils and Gujaratis, both Hindu and Muslim.
The coastal trade and trade between the coastal ports and north India was in the hands of Marwaris and Gujaratis, many of whom were Jains. The Muslim Bohra merchants also participated in the trade. The overland trade with Central and West Asia was in the hands of Multanis, who were mostly Hindus and Khurasanis, who were Afghans, Iranians, etc. Many of these merchants had settled down in Delhi.
The Gujarati and Marwari merchants were extremely wealthy and some of them particularly the Jains, spent large sums for the construction of temples. Cambay was a great city in which many wealthy merchants live. They had lofty houses built in fine stone and mortar, with tiled roofs.
Their houses were surrounded by orchards and fruit-gardens which had many tanks. These wealthy merchants and the skilled craftsmen lived a luxurious life and were accustomed to good food and clothing. The merchants, Hindu and Muslim, were attended by pages bearing swords with silver and gold work. In Delhi, the Hindu merchants rode horses with costly trappings, lived in fine houses, and celebrated their festivals with great pomp and show.
Barani tells us that the Multani merchants were so rich that gold and silver were to be found in abundance in their houses, the nobles were so spendthrift that every time they wanted to hold a feast or a celebration, they had to run to the houses of the Multanis in order to borrow money.