An Economic History of Early Modern India PDF
Preview An Economic History of Early Modern India
AN ECONOMIC HISTORY OF EARLY MODERN INDIA The death of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1707 until the annexation of MarathaterritoriesbytheBritishEastIndiaCompanyin1818wasaperiodoftran- sitionfortheeconomyofIndia.Thisbookfocusesonthesetransitions,andshows howastudyofthisperiodofIndianhistorycontributestoadeeperunderstanding ofthelong-runpatternsofeconomicchangeinIndia. MomentouschangesoccurredinbusinessandpoliticsinIndiaduringtheeigh- teenthcentury–theexpansionoftradewithEuropeandthecollapseoftheMughal Empire–resulting intheformationofanumberofindependentstates.Thisbook analyses howthese twoforces wereinterrelated, andhow they went onto change livelihoodsandmaterialwellbeingintheregion.Usingdetailedstudiesofmarkets, institutions,ruralandurbanlivelihoods,andthestandardofliving,itdevelopsanew perspective on the history of eighteenth-century India,one that places business at thecentre,ratherthanthetransitiontocolonialrule. This book is the first systematic account of economic change in early mod- ern India. It is an important contribution for students and scholars of Economic History,BusinessHistoryandSouthAsianHistory. Tirthankar RoyisProfessorofEconomicHistoryattheLondonSchoolofEco- nomics and Political Science, UK. His previous publications include India in the World Economy from Antiquity to the Present (2012), The Economic History of India 1857–1947 (third edition, 2011) and Rethinking Economic Change in India: Labour andLivelihood(Routledge,2005). Thisp age intentionally left blank AN ECONOMIC HISTORY OF EARLY MODERN INDIA Tirthankar Roy Firstpublished2013 byRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada byRoutledge 711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness (cid:2)c 2013TirthankarRoy TherightofTirthankarRoytobeidentifiedasauthorofthisworkhas beenassertedbyhiminaccordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright, DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproduced orutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans, nowknownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording, orinanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissionin writingfromthepublishers. Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksor registeredtrademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationand explanationwithoutintenttoinfringe. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Roy,Tirthankar. AneconomichistoryofearlymodernIndia/TirthankarRoy. pagescm Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. 1.India–Economicconditions–18thcentury. 2.India–Economicconditions–19thcentury. I.Title. HC434.R6982013 330.954’029–dc23 2012047350 ISBN:978-0-415-69063-8(hbk) ISBN:978-0-415-69064-5(pbk) ISBN:978-0-203-38091-8(ebk) TypesetinBembo bySunriseSettingLtd,Paignton,UK ForOmPrakash Thisp age intentionally left blank CONTENTS List of illustrations viii Preface ix 1 Introduction:the‘early modern’in Indian economichistory 1 2 Formation of new states 13 3 Consequencesof stateformation:colonialism,publicgoods and institutions 39 4 Theagrarian order 50 5 Conditionsofbusiness 73 6 Towns 103 7 Levels ofliving 126 8 Conclusion 139 Notes 145 References 158 Index 169 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figures 2.1 Shah Alam II seatedon athrone overlookingariver 22 2.2 Mahadaji Sindhiaentertaininga Britishnaval officer and military officer 28 5.1 Banian (agentor comptrollerin Europeanor Indo-European firms ofCalcutta) 92 5.2 Sarkar (chiefsteward inEuropeanorIndo-Europeanfirms of Calcutta) 93 5.3 Weaver ofcloth 95 6.1 ChitporeRoad, Calcutta 119 7.1 India, peasantsirrigatingfields 133 Maps 2.1 Geographicalzones andpoliticalformations,1800 17 3.1 Political divisions,1930 42 5.1 TheIndian Ocean trading world,routes andports, 1700 82 6.1 Overland traderoutes andtrading towns,1700 107 Tables 3.1 State income, 1667–1853(million£) 42 5.1 Therelative scaleof foreigntrade, 1750–1913 76 6.1 Populationestimatesforselected towns 108 PREFACE The idea for this book suggested itself in 2009 when I was revising my Economic History of India 1857–1947. There was insufficient scope in that book to discuss the controversial eighteenth century. But leaving that period of Indian history as onlyapreludemeantmissingthechancetoreadtheeighteenth-centuryscholarship closely,toquestiontheconceptoftheearlymodernandtotellmyownstoryabout theearlymodern.Inthisbook,Igiveventtoallthreeambitions. The story itself, which reads the early modern as a time when two orders of capitalism recast their relationship, I have suggested elsewhere (India in the World EconomyfromAntiquitytothePresent,Cambridge,2012;and‘CapitalisminIndiain the Very Long Run’, the Cambridge History of Capitalism project led by Larry Neal and Jeffery Williamson). One of these paradigms was located in the land- locked interior andformed a partof the imperialfiscal system and overlandtrade, and another on the seaboard, engaging in foreign trade from a base within rela- tively weak coastal-deltaic states. In the eighteenth century the seaboard emerged asthe dominantforce, eventually takingcontrol of theinland businessworld.The emergence oftheseaboardisseenasthemostdynamicelementinthestory;inall other spheres, change came slowly. I restate this thesis here with reference to the researchthatisthemostgermanetoit. But the book is driven above all by the first of the three ambitions, that is, to delve into the scholarship on the eighteenth century. I find that research using archival material is very diverse, and much of it has grown without reference to the academic debates that have placed early modern India at the centre of recent discussionsonglobalhistory.Thatfactjustifiedtheattemptatasynthesis. The book has gained from the experience of teaching Indian and global his- tory, and participation in writing projects connected with these fields. It would be impossible to list the many individuals who have directly or indirectly con- tributed to both these enterprises. Specific to the book, I should first of all thank theanonymous readersofthebookproposalforthe manyhelpful suggestionsthat theymade,andwhichIhavetriedheretoimplement.RosanneDasGuptareadthe entire manuscriptwithpainstakingcare,and suggested many improvements.Mina Moshkeri of The London School of Economics and Political Science drew three ofthefourmaps.
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