The Penguin History of Early India

by Romila Thapar

  With the Mongols controlling central Asia, merchandise from China was transported by sea, particularly from southern China to western Asia and Europe. South India exported textiles, spices, medicinal plants, jewels, ivory, horn, ebony and camphor to China. The same commodities were also exported to the west, to ports such as Dhofar and Aden and, in addition, Siraf received cargoes of aloe wood, perfumes, sandalwood and condiments. Persia, Arabia and Egypt were the destinations of those trading with the west, with Siraf on the Persian Gulf as an entrepôt, and Cairo as well as Alexandria involved in the trade across the Arabian Sea. Quilon, on the Malabar coast, channelled Chera overseas trade westwards.

  Marco Polo, who like many others at the time claimed to have visited India, commented on the continuing and huge trade in horses which brought vast fortunes to both the Arabs and the merchants of south India, who between them had organized a monopoly of the import of horses. For a variety of reasons, India never took to breeding horses of quality, possibly because the climate, soil conditions and natural pasturage were not suitable. This extremely expensive commodity therefore always had to be imported. Marco Polo Wrote:

  Let me tell you next that this country does not breed horses. Hence all the annual revenue, or the greater part of it, is spent in the purchase of horses; and I will tell you how. You may take it for a fact that the merchants of Hormuz and Kais, of Dhofar and Shihr and Aden, all of which provinces produce large numbers of battle chargers and other horses, buy up the best horses and load them on ships and export them to this king and his four brother kings. Some of them are sold for as much as 500 saggi of gold, which are worth more than 100 marks of silver. And I assure you that this king buys 1,000 of them or more every year, and his brothers as many. And, by the end of the year, not a hundred of them survive. They all die through ill-usage, because they have no veterinaries and do not know how to treat them. You may take it from me that the merchants who export them do not send out any veterinaries or allow any to go, because they are only too glad for many of them to die in the king’s charge.

  Marco Polo, Travels (Pelican edition), p. 137

  Allowing for Marco Polo’s usual proneness to exaggeration, there is nevertheless some truth in these remarks. However, there were veterinaries familiar with the medical treatment of horses and elephants, both important to the cavalry and elephant wing of the army, and Sanskrit texts were written on the subject. If it is true that horses died in such large numbers, the reasons have to be sought elsewhere.

  The continuing interference by coastal pirates was an impediment to maritime trade. Shangam poetry had referred to pirates attacking Yavana ships and similar references continue. On the west coast piracy was sometimes organized by local chiefs to plunder the merchants active in the Rashtrakuta kingdom. Hero-stones from the Konkan carry graphic representations of the hero warding off the pirates. Such disturbances occurred in many coastal areas of the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the South China Seas. In contrast, the less disturbed ports provided a rich potential for trade and merchant associations made large profits. The Kakatiya king issued a special charter in the thirteenth century to protect merchants trading at the port of Motupalli on the coast of Andhra. The inscription in Sanskrit and Telugu stated that only a fixed duty was to be taken from merchants and their safety was to be guaranteed. According to Marco Polo, the exports from Motupalli were diamonds and muslin, both of the finest quality. The larger associations maintained their own force to protect the goods and the traders, a tradition going back to earlier times.

  Most production was for local consumption but trade, particularly overseas, provided an additional incentive to an existing market. Elephants, horses, spices, perfumes, precious stones and superior quality textiles were the commodities involved in large-scale trade, with metalware, jewellery, pottery and salt (produced in salt pans from sea water) being of lesser importance. Merchant associations, often described as guilds, controlled much of the trade. They may not have traded collectively although they belonged to an association. The more frequently referred to were the Manigramam, Ayyavole, Nanadeshi, Nagarattar, Anjuvannam and Valanjiyar. They did not all deal in the same items or trade in the same regions. The Manigramam were smaller bodies than the Ayyavole, while the Anjuvannam was particularly active in Kerala. Long-distance contacts and activities are evident from the fact that the Ayyavole, originating in Aihole and constituted of brahmans and mahajanas, was active in the trade of the Deccan and the Chola centres. Such brahmans were sometimes from agraharas and had the wealth to speculate in trade, ignoring the prohibition on brahmans being traders except in dire necessity, or for that matter the prohibition on crossing the seas. Members of this association were known as the 500 svamis of Ayyavole and they claimed that they also protected the customary law of their members. Intervention in the trade within the peninsula would inevitably have meant some intervention in overseas trade as well. Such associations are referred to in inscriptions in south-east Asia. The power of these associations in the economic life of the period is indicated by their access to any region irrespective of the boundaries of kingdoms, and by the fact that they could finance local projects, for example, the construction of a temple, or provide a loan to the king.

  Local merchant associations, the nagaram, were probably affiliated with the larger ones that acquired goods at the place of manufacture to distribute through an elaborate network. State support was not a condition of their ventures into overseas trade, but if necessary and where the state felt that it could interfere effectively on their behalf, as in the case of Srivijaya, it came to their assistance. Even on such occasions, however, the purpose of interference was not to acquire centres of raw material or markets but to remove the obstructions placed on the trade. Kings and higher officers of state may have invested in this trade, or else were provided with exclusive presents by the guilds to ensure support where required.

  Given the wealth and commercial ramifications of the large merchant associations, it is curious that they did not aspire to greater political power. The brahman element in these guilds was probably averse to challenging the political authority of the king, since they derived their financial capital from the land granted to them by the king, and the possibility of revoking the grant could have been a threat. Urban structures supporting the potential for an independent power-base, built on the ambitions of a range of professional organizations, seem not to have asserted greater independence. By now the concept of monarchy as the legitimate form of political authority was strongly rooted. Moreover, many guilds had overseas interests and were therefore dependent in the last resort on the military and naval strength of the Chola state. Those who bestowed legitimacy on the system would certainly have used every effort to curb the political power of the guilds. Merchant associations were more powerful, however, in the smaller maritime kingdoms which were largely dependent on mercantile prosperity.

  Barter continued in rural areas as a means of exchange, the major items in these transactions being paddy, domestic animals and cloth. Copper coins continued to be in circulation and used in markets. Gold and silver coinage was naturally reserved for buying and selling goods of high value, for long-distance trade and occasionally for the paying of taxes. The Cholas minted some silver coins from time to time, but gold remained the metal of high-value currency. The gold kalanju, sometimes valued in terms of the gadyana of the Deccan, was used in expensive transactions and the kashu for lesser ones. One of the advantages of merchant guilds having bases in various parts of the country was that, as in earlier times, the use of promissory notes encouraged long-distance trade.

  The circulation of gold coin was unrestricted, although some appear to have been debased from the eleventh century onwards. However, this is a debatable point since the gold content of coins varied from region to region. Differences in weights and standards compelled the gold committee of the assemblies, for instance, to constantly evaluate gold and gold currency. The use of coins encouraged an income from usury, by no
w a generally acceptable activity indulged in even by brahmans and the managers of temples. Presumably it was justified in these cases as helping in the propagation and prosperity of the religion.

  The Temple as an Institution

  There is a striking increase in the number of temples built at this time. This is unlikely to have been purely the result of a greater interest in worship. The temple would have performed other functions as well. Temples built from royal donations were not only closely connected to the court, but were also perceived almost as surrogate courts. As such, they could draw on resources from anywhere within the kingdom, for example, the Tanjavur temple which received revenue from villages in Sri Lanka. This encouraged a greater intervention of the court in local matters, although in many cases physical distance from the court and the immanence of local authority, required concessions to local opinion. The hymns of the Alvars and Nayanars underlined the parallels between the deity and kingship, and by endorsing the one they endorsed the other. Temples were visualized as palaces, and rituals marking the daily routine of the deity imitated those of the king. The temple received offerings and tribute and the service of the worshippers.

  Temples built through royal donations could be located in the capital and intimately associated with the court, as was the case with the Rajarajeshvara temple at Tanjavur and the Rajendreshvara at Gangaikondacholapuram, both built in the eleventh century and celebrating the reigns of kings. The temple at Tanjavur had a commanding location and acquired the aura of the leading ceremonial centre. Sometimes worship came to focus on the king, thus helping to imprint divinity onto kingship. Ritual was another channel of authority, at times subtle and at other times obvious, particularly as it was not in itself sufficient and required reinforcing by more tangible sources of power. The rhetoric of ritual was not intended in a literal sense but as reflective of symbolic power. Puranic Hinduism did not require the king to be the patron of the Vedic sacrifice, but, being symbolic of the deity, he was thought to participate in the grace of the deity and this encouraged the devotion of the worshippers. The king, therefore, did not always have to proximate deity and in some situations it was sufficient if he was just the ideal bhakta, a devotee. Doubtless the king and the court, irrespective of religious conviction, were not unaware of the political edge of bhakti.

  As in all such structures, the assumed presence of the deity converted the temple into a sacred space where a relationship between the deity and the devotee could be sought. But implicit in this space and in the rituals were questions relating to authority and the establishing of rights and duties. The temple of Puranic Hinduism provided social and political space for the working out of such concerns over a large social spectrum, although the lowest social groups were excluded. The managers of temples represented political and economic interests and religious concerns, as is apparent from a close reading of temple inscriptions. Royal grants were a form of distributing wealth and acquiring supporters, even if the ostensible purpose of donations was to please the deity. There was a continuous tradition of giving gifts and donations – dana – and, although the form of the gift changed, the intentions were similar.

  Temples built from resources other than those gifted by the royal family had also evolved into complex institutions, related not only to religious requirements but also to fiscal, political and cultural needs. This can be seen more easily in the functioning of the larger temples in rural areas. Land owned by the elite was donated or, alternatively, land was purchased and then donated to the temple. The fiscal role of the temple became even clearer in later Chola times when both temples and merchants were the most frequent purchasers of land. As an institution, the temple became the location for many kinds of routine exchange, the focal point for many professions to whom the temple gave employment either directly or indirectly, a symbol of authority as a landlord who could intervene in the lives of rural people, a rural bank, a channel of various forms of legitimation and, not least, the focus of a particular sectarian religion. In rural areas, temples were the locations of the village assemblies and of formal education for upper-caste boys.

  Whereas the brahmadeyas were often grants to brahmans who were specialists in Vedic studies, the temples were closely associated with the belief and practice of Puranic religions. The juxtaposition of the two brought the rituals into proximity, but at another level demarcated the difference between them. New rituals and deities, incorporated through the assimilation of local cults, could be given respectability if introduced into temple ritual and the creation of new myths. Cults that were refused such admission were generally those associated with the marginalized groups, such as untouchables and certain lower castes, and their places of worship were segregated.

  The architecture, plan and embellishment of the temple marked a departure from the earlier monuments. Rock-cut temples gave way to freestanding temples, small to begin with but eventually reaching an immense size, as dictated by institutional functions. By the late Chola period, large temples were laid out in an extensive area with multiple courtyards, incorporating many lesser shrines within the parameters of the main temple. The presence of the brahmadeyas in the locality encouraged brahman control over temples even if the temple had been financed by an independent grant. The location was frequently at a nodal point of exchange or trade, or an administrative centre. Where it was the former it attracted merchants, some of whom were associated with the administration of the temple in addition to the brahman management. Small temples in the cities were built and maintained through the donations of guilds and merchants and would therefore be associated with a section of the city’s residents. As in the case of Buddhist stupa complexes, the wealthier temples also had a wide geographical reach among their patrons and this was reflected in the donations that they received from merchants and landowners.

  The income of the temple came from the wealth and land acquired as donation, from contributions by the village assemblies, from taxes that it was permitted to collect as part of the grant, from offerings of devotees and from its function as a banker in rural areas. The temple maintained the priests who performed the rituals, as well as the record-keepers, accountants and administrators who looked after its management. There were others who serviced the buildings and guarded them. Professional herdsmen took care of the animals owned by the temple. And those involved at a lesser level with the ritual and the entertainment were the cooks, garland-makers, musicians, dancers and devadasis. Many were encouraged to offer their services free as a form of devotion, but others were also dependent on the temple for their livelihood. Since temples had access to surplus resources they attracted traders and craftsmen, among whom were bronze-workers, stonecutters and the makers of textiles.

  The process of building a large temple, over many years, altered economic relationships within the area with the provision of building materials, labour, skilled artisans and those employed in its long-term maintenance. When this extensive patronage towards maintaining a temple ceased, the temple would fall into disrepair and even be deserted. Temples could be in ruins because of the collapse of the authority responsible for maintaining them, not necessarily only as a result of conquest and deliberate destruction. The decline of a temple, therefore, as of other large monumental structures, could be caused by a variety of changes.

  The maintenance of temples compares with that of any large-scale institution. The temple at Tanjavur, which took almost a decade to build and was possibly the richest during this period, is said to have had an average income of 500 lb troy of gold, 250 lb troy of precious stones and 600 lb troy of silver, which was acquired through donations, income from taxes and the revenue from about 300 villages. It also maintained temple staff, consisting of about 600 employees, among which were the devadasis, 212 attendants – which included treasurers, accountants, record-keepers and watchmen, 57 musicians and readers of the texts, quite apart of course from the craftsmen of various categories (such as carpenters, braziers, goldsmiths, tailors) and the many hundred
s of priests who also lived off the temple. A number of these were allotted land to live permanently in the vicinity, and inevitably an urban centre emerged alongside the temple. It became imperative for the temple authorities to keep the income flowing in. Temples did this in part through financing various commercial enterprises and through acting as banker and moneylender to village assemblies and similar bodies, loaning money at the generally accepted rate of n to 15 per cent per annum. In this the temples were now following the tradition of the wealthier Buddhist monasteries.

  Caste and Sect

  The brahmadeya also acted as an agency of political integration, the well-being of the elite being a primary concern. The system introduced the varna hierarchy into an area where it may have been new or may have become more dominant than before. Social distinctions of earlier times that drew on kinship connections were giving way to caste. Nevertheless, although caste was adopted as a form of social stratification there were adjustments of exclusion and inclusion of certain social categories that were related to regional forms and functions. The velalas, who in varna terms were often equated with shudras, were second in importance after the brahmans, but the velalas spanned a large economic range. The rest of society was gradually shuffled into a caste hierarchy.

  Vedic Brahmanism had declined somewhat but was still the privileged practice of brahmans and kings. Its insistence on exclusivity confined it to the upper castes. The centrality of the temple grew with the growth of the Shaiva and Vaishnava sects. Those who managed the temple, especially in rural areas, were inevitably the brahmans and the wealthier velalas. These identities congealed into what had begun earlier as the brahman and the shudra, forming the two main social groups. Temples and Shaiva monasteries also followed the pattern of Buddhist and Jaina institutions and sought the patronage of merchants. This competition for patronage led to shifts and realignments among the sects, sometimes of a hostile and violent kind. The earlier rivalry between the Buddhists and Shaivas was extended to antagonism between the Jainas and the Shaivas. Compositions such as the twelfth-century Periya Puranam, with its hagiographics of Shaiva devotees, fuelled these rivalries, accompanied by attempts to convert Jaina temples to Shaiva use. It was said that kings achieved greater glory through association with Shiva, an idea also captured in painted and sculptured depictions of the king as a royal devotee of the god. Kings tended to give greater support to the more widespread religion, which in many areas was Shaivism. These changes also led to some confrontations with the Vaishnavas, who were attempting to reorient their rituals to bring in a wider range of worshippers and were also competing for patronage. The Bhagavata Parana projected a Vaishnava world-view. The Agamas provided information on the liturgies of the Puranic religions.