Trade in Pre-Colonial Bengal

Author(s): Biplab Dasgupta

Source: Social Scientist , May - Jun., 2000, Vol. 28, No. 5/6 (May - Jun., 2000), pp. 47-76
Published by: Social Scientist

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3518180

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BIPLAB DASGUPTA*

Trade in Pre-colonial Bengal

External trade was never a strong point of the Indian or Beng

economy and society. Here we define 'India' as it is now, plus Pakistan
and Bangladesh, again as it is now. By 'external trade' we mean tra
by this territorial entity we define as 'India' with countries or are
external to it. Obviously, this simplification raises a host of definition
and statistical problems and would not please many, but, by choic
we are avoiding those here.
THE UNIMPORTANCE OF EXTERNAL TRADE IN
INDIAN AND BENGAL HISTORY

The statement made above can be easily confirmed statistic

even when these three constituents that we define as India are taken
apart. The share of external trade in GDP is pitifully small in those
countries even today, and must have been, much smaller in the remote
past, the period we are dealing with in this paper, when transportation
was, to put it mildly, highly difficult.
A number of factors explain this low level of external trade. Unlike
many European countries, the size of the coastal area as a proportion
of the total land mass defined as India here is quite small. Further,
being large in size, its supply capability of nearly everything in demand
was large and varied. The villages, given the conditions of transport
in those days, were largely self-reliant in terms of their low levels of
needs, whereas whatever was not available within the village was
supplied by travelling salesmen from other parts of India. Nearly all
the major cities, until a few hundred years ago, were located inland,
away from the coastline. In fact, most parts of India were located far
away from the seas. A large part of whatever external trade existed
was conducted through known land routes. Further, the origin and

* Member of the Central Committee of the CPI(M) and Rajya Sabha, New Delhi.

Social Scientist, Vol. 28, Nos. 5 - 6, May - June 2000

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48 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

the destination of the flow of goods were not di

they passed through many hands before reaching the
The source of production and the ultimate point of
case of external trade, were connected by a chain o
each operating individually, and each having a sm
of operation.
TRADING BEFORE 1200 AD

There is no doubt that textile production and trade were impor

features of the Bengal economy and exports for a long time.
quality and expertise they achieved, that was recognised univer
by the world from the sixteenth century onwards, could not
been realised without many centuries of hard back behind it. This
can understand intuitively, but there is not enough documentary b
up of that heritage, but for a few stray references. Baines, the chron
of the history of the textile, claims that, even in the days of Alexa
"the Muslins of Bengal were then, as at the present day, superi
all others, and received from the Greeks the name of Gangat
indicating that they were made on the borders of the Ganges." [Ba
1966: 13]
A great deal of what we know about trade in general, and te
trade in particular, is derived from the accounts of foreign travel
most of whom began pouring in after the conquest by Khilji ar
1200 AD. The more important among them wrote in detail ab
their impressions. In many cases their accounts were subjective, on
sided, and aimed at the readership in their own country of dom
They did not give figures, and wherever they did there is no way
knowing how accurate these were. Still, these were men who
travelled widely, and were in a position to make compara
statements, more meaningfully than those who had not gone beyo
the frontiers of their own regions, or had acquired knowledge
Bengal and trade in Bengal from other sources, and not from d
experience, however imperfect it was.
The three great travellers we are referring to in this section vis
India and Bengal either before the Portuguese arrival in India in 14
or before their arrival had made any impact.
Ma Huan Ying - Yai Sheng-Lan, was a Chinese traveller,
accompanied the great Muslim eunuch Commander of the Ch
navy, Cheng Ho, in the first half the fifteenth century. He noted
the people of Bengal grew mulberry trees, silk worms and coc
and made fine and coarse silk and embroidered silk kerchiefs

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 TRADE IN PRE-COLONIAL BENGAL 49

did not know how to make silk-floss. [Ma Huan: 163]

Duarte Barbossa, who reached India two years after Vas
Gama, and worked for several years as a Portuguese official in Ke
was among the earliest Europeans to arrive in Bengal. He men
cotton and sugar as the two leading export items in Bengal.
city of Bengala, which had not yet been conclusively identifie
said, "are woven many kinds of very fine and coloured clothe
their own attire and other white sorts for sale in various countries.
They are very precious, also some which they call estravantes1 a certain
sort, a very thin kind of cloth much esteemed among us for ladies'
head-dresses, and by the Moors, Arabs and Persians for turbans."
These were available in pieces of 23-24 Portuguese yards, he added,
and then commented: "Here they are sold good cheap, they are spun
on wheels by men, and woven by them." [Barbossa: 145-146] He
also noted many cotton fields around the city. [Barbossa: 146-147]
Tome Pires, another Portuguese, who later became his country's
ambassador to China, visited in the first decade of the sixteenth
century, and wrote his travel book earlier than Barbossa, but it became
known much later. He commented: "A junk goes to Malacca once or
twice a year. Carry fine white clothes, seven kinds of sinabafos (white
fine cloth), three kinds of cahunatar (chadar), beatilhas, beirames
(fine cotton cloth of several colours) and other rich materials. They
will bring as many as twenty kinds". [Pires: 92]
A fourth traveller, probably the greatest of them all, Marco Polo,
never visited Bengal, but he had been to Eastern Bihar (Champa),
Ava (Burma) and many of the neighbouring areas. In one of his
references to Bengal he wrote: "They grow cotton in which they drive
a great trade." [Marco Polo: 115] Soufa, a Portuguese historian who
had probably not visited Bengal, commented about: "infinite
quantities of Cotthen, which they work, the Curiosity of their Quilts
is extraordinary." [Manuel de Faria Y Soufa, Vol.1: 416] There were
references to cotton from Bengal in the Arab literature from the ninth
century onwards. [Tarafdar: 17-18]
All these accounts, for the period before the Portuguese got
established in Bengal, show that, even in those early days, textile was
an important item of trade and its quality was appreciated by the
foreigners. When the Europeans reached the islands of the Indonesian
archipelago, in search of spices, they found Indian textiles very much
in demand, more than anything that the Europeans could offer. But
textile was by no means the only, or even overwhelmingly dominant,
item. Further, Bengal was not as important as Coromandal or Surat

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50 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

as trade regions, even in case of textile trade. [Ro

1998: 3] The textile in demand in Asia at that time wa
variety, in which Bengal did not enjoy any compar
over the producers of these two rival regions. In
absent in the map of the major trading centre
seventeenth and eighteenth century. Malacca was t
trade map, a true international port where 84 languag
as spice was the commodity the Europeans were ma
traders played a major role in trade in Malacca, not
Bengal trade, was controlled by migrants - Gujar
also Armenians, Greeks, Arabs, and who not? Ric
more important than textile among Bengal exp
[Prakash, 1998:9-21]
Trading could never be the same after 1498, when
sailed to Calicut, following the cape route, after a lon
the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Ara
trade took a new dimension after the European tr
one after another, entered the Indian market, and
textile for their continental markets in exchange
interesting that one of the first things Vasco da Gam
landed in Calicut, was that: "men wear fine textile
also soon heard about Bengal, where "the following
found: - much corn and much cloth of great value. Cl
be bought here for ten cruzados is worth forty at
also much silver." [Ravenstein: 49, 101] In oth
information that cloth in Bengal was much cheape
reached Vasco da Gama soon after his arrival.

TEXTILE TRADE: THE MAJOR ISSUES

Textile trade, more than trade in any other item, has given rise to
many controversies. Had there been no colonial intervention, could
India become highly developed by following the well charted 'textile
route' to industrialism? Was it possible that, at some stage, the Indian
middle men working with the Europeans in Bengal, would have moved
away from the 'putting out' system and shifted to factories? Was
there a likelihood that, had the textile trade fully used up the available
labour force, that would have impelled the indigenous elements to
seek innovations and labour saving technologies, leading to
industrialisation? Had India succeeded in retaining independence,
could the country take full advantage of the rivalries between the
European powers, by playing one against another, in India's interest?

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 TRADE IN PRE-COLONIAL BENGAL 51

Who will answer all these questions? History can not be recreat
All that we can do, around two and half centuries after the ba
Palashi, is to look at the balance of probabilities, of what or m
not have happened without colonial take over. We can never b
that actually X was gong to happen and not Y. One might even ar
given the chaotic political conditions prevailing in those days,
had it not been the British it might even be the French or the Dut
take over the reigns of power. But one point we can make, and
confidence that it is true and not a mere conjecture, that the B
victory took away that option of independent development.
In this paper we are dealing with these and several other quest
We begin in Section II with a brief outline of the changes br
about by European trading to the structure, pattern and direct
trade. In Sections III, IV and V we look into trading unde
Portuguese companies, under non-British East India Comp
particularly the Dutch one, and, finally, under the British com
in that order. In Section VI we examine the internal organisat
the textile production and supply for one century from the
until the battle of Palashi. Section VII looks into various econ
social and political implications of the textile trade in Bengal
raises the issue how far Bengal was ripe for industrialisation via t
production and trade, as in Europe, on the eve of Palashi.
II. TEXTILE TRADE UNDER EUROPEAN CONTROL
THE ERA OF OCEANIC VOYAGES

The epic voyage of Vasco da Gama in 1498, across seven seas

and several continents, radically altered the global trade scenario. In
the wake of his journey came the multinational trading enterprises
sponsored by the European nations. The trade was transformed from
something local to global in its scope, the scale of operation of the
enterprises engaged in external trade was now on an incomparably
larger scale, and the management was no longer personalised, the
key players were joint stock companies with a diffused ownership
structure. Not that pack animals and river-boats were given a go by,
but their importance was drastically diminished; this voyage opened
a new era when ships became the main vehicle of external trade.
[Prakash, 1998: 23] Further, while in the past the state seldom
provided any support to the trader outside its border, now the state
patronised companies domiciled within their territory, and gave strong
support when needed, both diplomatically and militarily. Some times,
the source of support transcended state borders. The Pope, the head

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52 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

of the Catholics all over the world, saw in the

commercial, and latter, colonial, activities, the opport
Christianity among 'heathens' and 'idol-worshippe
their enterprise. He did not stop with blessing, he als
territorial conflicts between contending Catholic n
the dispute between Spain and Portugal, he divided th
world into two parts, by drawing a line on the w
East of which whatever unconquered and unknown te
were the exclusive preserve of the Portuguese, while
the West of that line belonged to Spain. This decision
in a series of Papal Bulls.
The Dutch historians like Van Leur or Steensag
the trading in Asia before European entry as 'Peddler
of their work shows that they did mean the t
pejoratively. They were only trying to highli
transformation that had taken place with the inv
markets by very large, global, multinational entit
ownership, strongly supported by their states. Beca
size of their boats, and better navigational skills,
now less influenced by the vagaries of nature, such a
Leur: 133; Steensgaard: Chapter 1; Choudhury, Su
addition, they directly linked the Asian producer w
consumer, with few intervening intermediaries. They
efficient and more sophisticated in conducting trade
counterparts. [Prakash, 1998: 3]
TRADE WITH VIOLENCE

Conquering territories as a means of promoting commerce or

preaching Christianity was seen as a normal part of the activities
these enterprises. Accordingly, they brought to the Non-Europea
world, along with trade, new technologies of war that establishe
their supremacy over water on all sides of India2. Very soon, th
Portuguese displaced the Arabs as the dominant force on these waters
and were, in course of time, replaced by the Dutch and the British, in
that order. Having established their muscle power over the seas, they
controlled the inland trade too, through a chain of intermediaries
The Portuguese, and latter other European trading nations
introduced a system of passes or permits for the vessels moving in t
seas controlled by them. Such passes (cartaze, according to th
Portuguese) specified the routes, and could be obtained by vesse
intending to take the route from on-shore Portuguese (and, later, othe

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 TRADE IN PRE-COLONIAL BENGAL 53

European trading) establishments, by paying a fee. Failing to pa

such fee made those vessels vulnerable to seizure and/or destruction
and plunder. The monopoly the European powers, thus established
on the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean, by brute force,
eventually became more important than commerce itself. As Van Leur
put it: Customs house became more important than commerce, in
the Portuguese case. [Leur: 118; also quoted in Steensgaard: 83-85,
89]
Often, feeble attempts were made on the part of the Portuguese
historians to justify cartaze, in terms of the triple needs: to provide
protection against piracy, to spread Christianity, as also to protect
Portuguese territory. In the words of Freitas: "the right was again
derived out of regard for the safeguarding of the Portuguese territories
and of Portugal's responsibility for certain international tasks: the
combating of piracy and the spreading of Christianity according to
the Papal mandate." [Steensgaard: 89]. Indeed, from the beginning
their objective strayed beyond pure commerce and urge to make profit.
While these objectives were shared, more or less, by all the
European trading nations, others did not carry these to the extreme
as the Portuguese did. Their frequent raids on the passing vessels in
the Persian Gulf probably ruined the spice trade. [Prakash, 1998: 45]
The excessive emphasis on brute force proved to be its undoing at the
end, when, in 1632, the Mughals, at the peak of their power at that
time, destroyed them and threw them out of Hooghly. As Steensgaard
pointed out: "the profit was consumed in a seignorial way of life or
reinvested in redistributive enterprises, not in productive or
productivity - increasing enterprises. The Portuguese were tax
gatherers and Estado da India was a redistributive institution."
[Steengaard: 86] But the cartaze, no matter in which name it was
described now, survived the exit of the Portuguese domination of sea
trade. Practically every European nation, from the Dutch, English
and French to the minnows like the Danes, spared no opportunity to
demand protection money from the passing vessels or to seize vessels
under any pretext. They also blamed each other for indulging in
'piracy', when some one else did what they had been doing. However,
in Eastern India, the European nations that followed the Portuguese
were less bloody-minded, or rather more money-minded, and operated
their business side more efficiently.

EUROPEAN MARKET CONTROLLED BY EUROPEAN COMPANIES

These particular aspects of the European trade - their territorial

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54 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

ambition, their use of force to achieve commercia

undisputed naval supremacy - have largely gone u
Indian literature on that period, Om Prakash' accou
being the solitary exception. But these are so muc
European trade in India and Bengal, that one w
partial picture of the trade and its significance if t
As we have observed elsewhere, while this trad
valuable to the Bengal economy, it was controlled b
The Indians had no direct access to the European m
had to be mediated through the Europeans. They h
to conduct oceanic voyages on their own. Even if t
not have the military capability to move through
Arabian Sea. Only the Europeans had the right bo
skills and muscle power to carry the goods. As a
Europeans also controlled the internal trade, with
intermediaries. The armed conflict between the rival
companies on Indian soil were often a replica of w
in Europe between their countries at that time, bu
they supported rival kings of princes in order to seiz
and to establish their own monopolies. A victorious p
grateful enough to allow the European trading com
its own chain of intermediaries.
A reading of the literature shows that the Eur
companies, not only the English but also the Dutch
Danes, never had much difficulty in obtaining a
emperor. They were allowed to trade on extremely fa
including the permission to conduct their trade wi
duty, in exchange of a nominal lump sum payment. P
trade was given to them almost as a matter of course
124-125] The Mogols got so used to the revenue the
exchequers, and to the bullion they imported to pa
they bought that percolated down to many areas
that they overlooked the European traders' occasio
highhandedness on wide rivers and the high seas.
and the Dutch had the temerity to seize the boat
Bengal or even to blockade the mouth of Bhagirat
than one occasion, and even going to the extent of ch
power with a squadron of navy brought from Eng
even after those conflicts, they were pardoned a
continued their business as usual, as if nothing hap

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 TRADE IN PRE-COLONIAL BENGAL 55

TEXTILE: THE MAIN EXPORT ITEM

The European traders did not come to the East with the ide
reaching Bengal and trading in textiles. The 'East India' in their na
did not refer to Eastern India, in those days the islands of the pr
day Indonesia carried the name 'East Indies', as a counterpart o
'West Indies' in the Caribbean. The aim of these companies w
reach those islands and to carry on trade in spices. Spices, being li
and valuable, were eminently suitable for trade across the contine
in boats that were quite small by today's standards. [Chaudhu
K.N.,1965: 10] After reaching Malaysia and some island
Indonesia, they found that the suppliers of spices were not intere
in what Europe wanted to sell to them, nor were they willin
transact business in exchange of bullion. But there was plent
demand for textile, particularly those produced in India. [Chaudhu
K.N., 1965: 14] Their search for textiles, to pay for spices, bro
them to India.

DEMAND FOR QUALITY TEXTILES IN EUROPEAN MARKETS

One of the major features of the European trade, in contrast w
trade in Asia, was that there was relatively more demand for 'qua
textile in Europe, while the Asian market took only the coarse
inferior variety. [Dasgupta, Asin: 413] The Europeans particu
liked the muslin of Dhaka and Sonargaon, and the malmal of M
and Santipur. Those brocaded in gold, silver or silk threads,
embroidered in coloured silk, were in heavy demand. [Prakash,
165]
In time, the demand for 'quality' textile continued to grow in
Europe, and this in turn boosted the demand for textile from Bengal.
For quality, probably nothing comparable to the Bengal muslin was
known in the world in those days. [Baines, 1966: 19] While, at the
time of the entry of the East India Companies, they paid as much
attention to Bengal textiles as to those from Coromandal coasts and
Surat, if not less, over time, the 'quality' of Bengal textile asserted
itself as the European market expanded. By 1720, about 1.5 million
pieces were exported from India to Europe. And, in case of silk, the
Dutches alone took, annually, about 19.6 million square yards during
this period. [Radha Kamal Mukherjee] The European countries paid
Bengal in gold or silver for most of these exports, unable to find
comparable merchandise for sale to India, at a time when the dominant
mercantilist thinking in Europe was strongly opposed to bullion
export. This was another confirmation of the quality, world-wide

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56 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

fame and popularity of Bengal textiles Sonargaon

from present day Dhaka, possessed the traditional cra
excellent muslins, and also had a right soil within a
produced high grade raw cotton, [Prakash, 1998:
Trading through the European companies, withi
Bengal textiles became immensely popular in Eur
with the ladies. In the eighteenth century, a new p
emerged in Europe, with a strong preference for t
products like fine calicoes, silk and mixed pieces. I
well off consumers and then percolated to the other
1998: 165] These high quality products competed f
best in Europe. Even after covering a great distanc
in transport, handling, and commission, the demand
to yield handsome profit to the companies engaged
1966: 80, Radha Kamal Mukherjee, 1957: 158-16
In case of England, this brought the wra
manufacturers, who induced their government to
Indian silks and printed calicoes. The Act of 1
introduction of Indian silks and printed calicoes f
under a heavy penalty of 200 pound for both the
seller, and was followed by another legislation in
was far from effective, as the Indian exports found m
European countries, and, within Britain, these 'fas
were continued to be imported, albeit illegally, in
strong preference of the ladies [Baines, 1966: 78-8
465]. It was interesting that the opposition to Ind
from the silk manufacturers, thus conceding that
textile was a match for the Indian rivals, [Baines, 1
even in raw silk, Bengal became a major supplier:
1720, Bengal accounted for 88 percent of the total
Amsterdam, in value terms, and more than 83 per
produced by a single reeling unit, located at Kasi
1998: 220-221]
Sushil Choudhury is of the view that the Asian
than the European trade. [Choudhury, Sushil: 4] Whil
trade' he included in it trade with areas outside B
India, while the 'European trade' was almost en
external to present day India, Pakistan and Banglades
if his statistics is okay, he is not taking into account
slightly less than half was the additional, growing pa
considering the 'quality' factor, that the European

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 TRADE IN PRE-COLONIAL BENGAL 57

Bengal an entirely new market in its quality products for which th

was no market in Asia.

III. THE TRADE BY THE PORTUGUESE

The Portuguese in Bengal were generally identified as pirates, s

traders and mercenaries. That impression was not altogether un
But, while engaged in trading in India, their main interest w
spices and in Kerala, neither textile not Bengal figured highly on
agenda. Still, the fact remains, that they were the first to tak
Bengal textile to Europe and contributed to its global populari
later years. In Bengal they conducted their trade mainly in Chitta
which they described as porto grande, large port, and Satgaon, wh
they described as porto piqueno, small port. When Satagon dec
they shifted to Hooghly and made it a very large city, and des
this too as porto piqueno, whose importance and prosperity w
surpassed by any other city in the Eastern region until Calcutt
built. In the east, the principal centre of textile productio
Sonargaon, which was located at a place very close to the presen
city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
In fact, soon after Vasco returned from his epic journey, a synd
was formed by the government to trade with Asia. But a large par
the trade was in private hands. Even many of those who were for
engaged by the crow monopoly concern, conducted trade on
own private account alongside their job. Private trade was all
to naval personnel and to some private institutions. Accordin
convention, the captain could reserve some space in the ships
goods needed for his own private trade; and, obviously, he chos
best located ones. [Prakash, 1998: 53-54]. Between 1564 and 15
state monopoly was no longer insisted upon. Some times pr
concerns were allowed to enter Asian trade, some times time-b
monopoly rights were given in specific items, say pepper, to
business concerns with money. The Portuguese India Compan
formed in 1628, but was dissolved in 1633. [Prakash, 1998: 27
Most probably, private trade accounted for about 90 percent o
total, while textile accounted for about 62 percent of the tra
value terms, according to one estimate. [Prakash, 1998: 37] The
of the Portuguese private traders resided in Indian settlem
[Prakash, 1998: 55] The three lucrative trade routes to Bengal
to Chittagong, Satgaon and Pipli in Orissa. [Prakash, 1998:58] T
ports were dominated by chains, deserters from Portuguese garris
and the administration in Goa was hostile to them. VOC was

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58 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

antagonistic to them because they violated its monopoly

1629 and 1636, VOC captured or destroyed 155 such s
1998: 60-62]
During the period when the Portuguese were t
European traders, there was a noticeable increase in
given by foreign travellers, mainly the Europeans, to B
Among the leading travellers two - Bernier and Tav
world renowned French travellers, Frederick and V
Italian, Manrique was a Portuguese friar, and Fitch was
who had been sent by businessmen to find a land ro
order to avoid the Portuguese on sea. None of them, exc
came to specifically for Bengal, almost all of them went
their way to somewhere else, be it China or Pegu or the
But almost all of them noted the importance of textile
and appreciated its variety and high quality.
Ralph Fitch noted, in late sixteenth century, that
an important port "Patna was described by him as an im
where there is the best and finest cloth made of cotton
India. Great stores of Cotton cloth goeth from hence an
wherewith they serve all India, Ceilon, Pegu, Malacca
many other places." [Foster: 28] At Tanda, the capit
that time, located very close to Gaur, the traditional cap
great trade and traffic in cotton and clothes. [Foster:
Vartthema found in the city of Banghella the rich
that he had ever met: "And here there are the richest m
met with. Fifty ships are laden every year in this pla
and silk stuffs... go through all Turkey, through Syria, t
through Arabia felix, through Ethiopia, and through
he added: "Cotton and silk goods, made by men a
participation of women, were the main export it
abounded in grains of all types, sugar, ginger, cotto
212, 214, lxxxii]
Manrique noted, referring to Bengal textile, the
propriety not met with elsewhere" in its production.
finest and richest muslins are produced in this country
sixty yards long and seven to eight handbreadths wide,
of gold and silver and coloured silks. So fine, indeed
that merchants place them in hollow bambus, about
and, thus secured, carry them throughout Corazane,
and many other countries." [Manrique: 56-58]
By the time Bernier and Tavnier arrived, mainly in t

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 TRADE IN PRE-COLONIAL BENGAL 59

British and the Dutch companies had begun their operation, but
on a limited scale. Bernier commented: "...there is in Bengale suc
quantity of cotton and silks, that the kingdom may be called t
common storehouse for these two kinds of merchandise, no
Hindoustan or the Empire of the Great Mogol only, but of all
neighbouring kingdoms, and even of Europe." He listed many variet
of textiles that were available in Bengal and were taken by the "Brit
Dutch, Portuguese, up to Kabul and Lahore, to Japan and Europ
The silk textile, though not so fine as those available in Persia, Syri
Saida or Beirut, was cheaper than its competitors. Bernier w
confident that a little more care in manufacturing could make a
difference: "...if they were well selected and wrought with care, the
might be manufactured into most beautiful stuffs." He noted th
the Dutch East India Company had 700-800 natives employed
their factory in Kaseembazar. [Bernier: 439-440]
Travernier noted that annually 22000 bales of silk was sold fr
Kaseembazar, each bale weighing 100 pounds, 7000 bales of thos
were taken by the Dutch, another 7000 bales by the Mogol Empe
and the rest went to Surat and Ahmedabad. [Tavernier: 126] He
mentioned white calicoes, twisted cotton and indigo as other ite
traded by Bengal. [Tavernier: 127-128]
IV. THE NON-BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANIES

As we have noted above, the downfall of the Portuguese in 16

created the opening for the other European nations to establish trade
in India and Bengal. Most of these were named East India Compani
and were formed under royal charter by their own governments. Su
charters conferred on them monopoly rights to trade in Asia, includin
India. However, the charter alone failed to secure their monopo
right. The rival interests, once realising that this trade was lucrative
formed rival companies, and, after a brief period of intense rivalr
were eventually merged under political pressure. This happened w
the British, the Dutch and also the French.
Another way such monopoly was undermined was to get the
company registered in some other country. Companies like Oste
Company, Danish Asiatic Company and the Swedish Asiatic Compa
had dubious ownership pattern. In such cases, the established Dut
or British East India Company, fearing intense rivalry, used their ow
governments to put pressure on the governments of the countri
where these were formally registered, to get those liquidated, as
happened with the Ostend Company.

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60 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

The French East India Company was established in

through several rounds of liquidation, reformation and
1719, when it was properly relaunched. And played
role. [Prakash, 1998: 2, 79-80] The Danish East India
formed in 1616, but was liquidated in 1650; another
1670, to be liquidated in turn in 1729. The Danish As
that was formed in 1732, only played small key role
Asian trade. [Prakash, 1998: 78]
The Ostend Company, which contained a variety
interests such as Dutch, Flemish, Iris and Danish, and
an Englishman, was chartered, in 1722, at Vienna. Thoug
began in 1713, the British and the Dutch East Ind
pressured the Emperor of Austria, through the
governments, to withdraw its license. They also bri
faujdar at Hooghly, Rs 200000, so that he kept the
out, and then put fire to several villages and then b
Company for arson. They then decided to seize any Oste
floating on river Hooghly, and obtained the concurrenc
for this act of piracy by paying him Rs 325000 as br
the compulsions of European politics made him agree
and the company's operation was suspended in 1727, and
itself was abolished in 1731. However, several of
holding share in the Ostend Company now transferr
Danish Asiatic Company. Some of the money went
Swedish East India Company, that was active between
and organised several voyages to India, three of them
trade in textile. Another European Company, Pr
Company, was actually floated, in 1754, by the British i
were trying to circumvent the monopoly of the Bri
Company. This was actually used by many of the se
British Company itself as a conduit for sending their r
to England. A company called Imperial East India Compa
at Trieste, probably represented Italian interests, while
Company, represented Spanish interests, but both su
short a period to make any impact. To complete the pict
Company was formed with Dutch capital in 1647, bu
any vessel to India. [Prakash, 1998: 79-80, 263-265]
In addition to these formal, larger, European riva
many private companies, mainly owned by the Brit
described in the British documents of those days as 'int
private trade grew along with Company trade: in 1

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 TRADE IN PRE-COLONIAL BENGAL 61

shops were in operation from Calcutta, and by 1730 it becam

Some of the traders were highly distinguished, such as Thomas
the uncle of the future Prime Minister of England. [Prakash, 1998
242-256]
All of these companies had to face an internal problem: tr
rivalry from within. Virtually every one of the servants of the B
East India Company, from the head, through members of the Cou
to individual writers, were involved in private trade on thei
account. Initially, this was seen as an incentive, to make recrui
for work in a far away, unknown place, but this opened the gate
large scale corruption. This was as much true of the British as of
Portuguese and the Dutch. In case of the French, the largest p
trader was the head of the East India Company itself, Dupleix,
battles with Clive in the South are a part of history. [Prakash,
258] Some times company servants booked their goods in the s
the name of a non-existent Indian merchant, along with the
Company cargo, and then the contraband goods were taken in
boats just before the ship reached the port. [Prakash, 1998: 251
issue of private trade, as we have noted elsewhere, became a
issue of dispute with the Nawab of Bengal.
In some cases the company servants used the company fun
their possession to make advances to weavers on their per
account. Some times they borrowed from the local money ma
cheaply by invoking the name of the Company, and then re-lent
the weavers by charging an extra rate of interest. [Prakash,
170, 230-231]
The fourth type of problem, particularly faced by the British
the opposition they faced from the domestic cotton and woo
industry. Prompted by them, the British government imposed
on Indian textile imports in 1700, and again 1701, and it t
great deal of lobbying and hard work by the East India Compa
get those withdrawn.
The Dutch and the British were by far the leaders of the pack
times they fought, at some other times they cooperated. The
crushed the British ambition in the spice islands in the battles fo
in 1619 and 1623, and effectively drove them out in 1682. [Pra
1998: 106-108] The accounts of the foreign travellers also show
there was a certain amount of camaraderie among the Europ
doing business in various towns of Bengal. A new arrival, no m
from which European country, was greeted and helped, and was m
a part of the gossip network. At the same time, they were eco

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62 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

rivals. When the Dutch in Hooghly extended their he

their armed conflict with the Mogols, in order t
settlement between the two parties, the British, with
their face, were grateful. But latter, when detailed n
on, they had the suspicion that the Dutch wan
themselves with the Mogols and to extend their share
the cost of the British [Hedges: LV-LVI] The Dutch
defeated in a battle fought soon after Palashi, on the
river, in November, 1757, as decisively as the Brit
by the Dutch, more than a century ago, at Amboyna,
out of the Indonesian archipelago. [Prakash, 1998:
The Dutch East India Company (VOC) was establ
But to make trade in that area, they had, first, to estab
superiority over the Portuguese. Such fight for the co
long before the company was established. They defeat
at Panjim at Goa, and captured Sri Lanka from them
Daman and Diu, and two other Portuguese territor
The loci of VOC commerce in Asia were the spic
present-day Indonesian archipelago. As in the case o
other foreign companies, they began by exchangin
for Indonesian spices, but latter raw silk and opi
role in Dutch trade. [Prakash, 1998: 3] Like the
Companies, their monopoly was threatened by two ot
and as in the case of the British East India Compa
eventually merged. [Prakash, 1998: 77]
In Eastern India, they first established themselves
and Pipli, Orissa, but soon moved to Baleswar, Ori
between 1645 and 1647, and, within the next four
their factories at Kasimbazar and Patna. The factor
also came into being very soon, and the facto
established in 1676. They were required to pay, und
the Emperor, an excise duty of 2.5 percent, an
exempted from paying any internal duty. [Prakas
The Dutch displayed almost as much arrogan
mercantile enterprise, as the British, when they insist
of Dutch pass by every passing vessel, and twice s
Governor, Mir Jumla, in 1651 and again in 1655,
from him that they would be shelled. Again, like the
them, they were invited to provide naval help to t
their attack on Chittagong, then under Arakan p
1670s. [Prakash, 1998: 142-144]

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 TRADE IN PRE-COLONIAL BENGAL 63

Despite their arrogance, they proved to be much be

businessmen than the Portuguese. By 1640 the value of their trad
Bengal was more than one million florin a year, of which raw
accounted for 40 percent, which they mainly supplied to Japan, w
cotton textile accounted for 22 percent, most of which was m
for the European market. By 1693-94, Bengal trade, of which text
accounted for lion's share, made up for 73 percent of Dutch ex
to Europe. [Prakash, 1998: 195-203]
Until the 1720s the Dutch were ahead of the British in Be
trade. From then onwards the British began surpassing the Du
and by 1740 they were definitely ahead of their rival. Even then
were neck and neck, accounting for figures of 7,66 million florin
against the Dutch figure of 6,41 million florins. In addition, t
were many private companies, mainly owned by the British,
were described in the British documents of those days as 'interpol
[Prakash, 1998: 266]
V. THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANIES

It is important to understand what the company that capture

power in India was like? We can begin by introducing it as one of th
earliest predecessors of the giant multinational companies of today, a
joint stock corporate entity having interests spreading over a lar
number of countries. It was established by a royal charter in 160
just two years ahead of the Dutch company bearing the same nam
Their search for textiles, to pay for spices, brought them to India, b
after a great deal of trouble. The seas around India were dominat
by the Portuguese and they would not allow the British in. The
search for a sea-land route from Europe appeared to be futile. [Foster

SEARCH FOR A FOOTHOLD IN INDIA

The first letter of Queen Elizabeth I was addressed to Empe

Akbar as the 'King of Cambay', [Foster] It was after a great dea
effort that the British established a bridgehead in Surat in Gujarat
1713. [Hunter, 1903: 170] Their interest in the spiceisland
Indonesia suffered a big blow when they were defeated decisivel
the Dutch, at Amboyna in 1624, giving them an additional reaso
concentrate on India. [Chaudhuri, K.N. 1965: 61-65; Hunter, 19
167] The defeat of the Portuguese at Hooghly, in 1632, in the h
of the Mogol Governor Sayestha Khan, gave them the opportunity
enter Eastern India - at Piplai in Balswar in 1634, but it was not un
1651 that they established their factory in Hooghly. Another impor

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64 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

factory was located at Kasimmbazar, mainly specialising

In time they also began to take interest in Saltpetre
Patna. And, as we have noted already, after the misadve
they founded the city of Calcutta in 1690.
RECRUITMENT DIFFICULTS AND PRIVATE TRADE

From the beginning, the East India Company was dogged wit
the problem of recruitment. The top layer of the staff was occup
by the 'covenanted servants', who had to be nominated by a Direc
of the Company, and had to finish a security. But the rank and filewe
'writers', whose age of qualification was 16, and who were expect
to have some knowledge of mathematics and accounting. After servin
for five years as a 'writer', one was eligible for promotion to t
grade of 'factors', who, in turn, were promoted, after three years, a
'junior merchants', while the latter needed another three years
qualify as 'senior merchants'. At the top of the Company was a 1
man body of Directors, located in London [Marshall, 1976: 11]
Those who came for work in India, were far from the brightes
As Marshall observed, "Those who wished to shine or who had sho
in their profession would stay in Britain for obvious reasons." On
"those who despaired of promotion or wanted to make fortune,
were willing to come. Apart from the reluctance to work in far away
land, the salary was low. In this situation the only way the job co
be made attractive to the British lads was by permitting private trad
on the side. It was thought that this private trade would not cost th
company anything, but would bring more income in terms of custom
and taxes. [Marshall, 1976: 17-20] The company salaries, even
those days, would not seem low by Indian standards - around 15
pound sterlings per man - but the concern to provide them with
good life style, in order to make the job attractive, led the compa
to allow private trading, that in time became a major issue
controversy with the Nawab. [Marshall, 1976:180]
The company also jealously guarded its monopoly of trade in
India, did not wish the 'interlopers' to take away trade from the
and tried their best to curb private visits to India but failed. Ma
enterprising individuals went without company license. In 1756, t
number of Europeans not under East India Company employme
was 751, 64 of who were not British. [Marshall, 1876: 21-24] Th
British merchants could earn 2-3 times more than in Englan
[Marshall, 1976:49]
In the early 18th century, there were only 28 servants of th

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 TRADE IN PRE-COLONIAL BENGAL 65

company, and the number steadily rose to 50 before Palashi. Th

army was bigger, with 200 men and 5-6 officers; half Eurasians
converted Christians, one quarter British and another quarter Indian
and some Dutch and French. [Marshall, 1976: 15-16]
TEXTILE PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY

One of the reasons for building Calcutta, in 1690, on the 'wro

eastern, side of the river was the fear of attack by the Mogo
also the confidence that with a pool of water between them a
Mogols they could protect their city. Another was the import
the village called Sutanuti as a major centre of textile trade3,
name also implied. The main task of the factory in Calcutta, as it
also in Hooghly or Kaseem-Bazar, was to buy textile goods in
for the incoming ship from London, but they were helped b
prominent weaver families of Sutanuti - Seths and Basaks - who
as their agents or suppliers or banians. They had practically n
to sell in the Bengal market, as there was virtually no demand fo
British-made goods, and had to pay for the supply in bullion-
silver. One of their major tasks was to organise the supplies of te
goods, and storing those, pending the arrival of the ship from Lo
so that the ship could return in a short time.
Because of language and other difficulties, the British (and
other foreign companies) preferred to work through these b
and agents, whose number grew as the trade expanded. In ti
network of banians and gomosthas was created, covering mo
the textile producing centres in Bengal, and engaging a very
number of people whose livelihood depended on this trade.
According to W Bolts the banians were: "interpreter, head
keeper, head secretary, head broker, the supplier of cash an
keeper, and in general also secret-keeper." Many of them were se
and many rose to become very influential. Kantobabu, Gokul G
and Sett-Basaks of Calcutta, were among the top of this tribe
of them were too intelligent to be taking orders and reduced
English masters to the role of commission - receivers, while r
the business more or less autonomously by using his name. The B
were happy because they could earn two to three times more t
England, as the return was 20 to 30 percent. [Marshall, 1976
VI. INTERNAL TRADE IN TEXTILE

This world-wide growth in demand for Bengal textile could not

but make an impact on the organisation of textile production, bot

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66 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

in the villages and in the towns. The control exercised

companies over the internal trade was nearly total, and
with the domestic traders and producers was one-si
them to buy textiles and other commodities at a ch
make large profits. [Prakash, 1998: 91]
In the towns, the textile trade by the European
support from the indigenous bankers and moneylen
requirement was for the bridging loan between the t
and when the next one arrived. This was the time for
and storing textiles in their warehouses, so that th
came, could be quickly loaded and sent off, thus re
around' time to the minimum. The way they org
they had to make advance payments to the Ch
gomosthas, who in turn made advance payments to th
and so on down the hierarchy of intermediaries, unti
actual user was reached. The companies were always
to pay for those advances, and the Sarafs, who cont
and in effect controlled the indigenous fiscal and m
advanced the necessary credit. [Choudhury, Sus
Mogols also had a highly developed system of mints t
to standardise weights. [Prakash, 1998: 4] The Dut
relationship smooth between them and the supplier
formation of a joint stock company by the latter, bu
find much enthusiastic support. [Prakash, 1998: 5,
The relationship with the Chief agent was far
[Choudhury, Sushil: 49-60, 103-107], and both the
Dutch tried, latter, to deal, directly with the gomost
rid of the Chief Agent. [Prakash, 1998: 5, 278] Th
were variously known as paikars, dalals, foreys, a
paid 2 percent as commission [Prakash, 1998: 168]
In the villages, until the European arrival, like o
the village, the weaver was a part-time farmer, main
fellow villagers and, occasionally, for markets outs
satisfy his other needs in exchange. Until the time
took off, the 'quality' component of the industry wa
and other urban centres, and catered to the luxury m
by the royal court [Alavi, 1982: 47] Until the boom
probably the rural production was 'crude', while the u
were more developed, better organised and produ
products. [Gadgil: 97] Now, with the growth of exp
established a link between him and the world out

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 TRADE IN PRE-COLONIAL BENGAL 67

with faraway lands that he had never heard of... Even if the qua
was poor at the rural end, to start with, and the foreign compa
were initially lured by quality production in the towns, the scal
demand being what it was, the bulk of production, of all qualit
now took place in the villages. [Baines, 1966: 65] While importa
urban centres like Dhaka, Santipur, Murshidabad, and Malda play
an important role in organising production, village production
outstripped production in those towns. Even by the early ninetee
century, when the textile industry was in a declining state in Beng
Francis Buchanan Hamilton noted that textile production took p
practically every where in the province. The preparation of cot
thread and spinning were largely a family enterprise, ma
undertaken by women, mostly the wives of farmers but also by wo
of Brahmin households. [Buchanan-Hamilton: 288]. Alavi's argum
that there was no particular economic advantage in locating the cott
industry in the villages, misses the point that much depended on th
location of the village vis-a-vis the centres of consumption/exp
[Alavi, 1982: 49] While the rural areas specialised in product
trading and organising of exports were undertaken by the towns
a consequence, with so many intermediaries involved in product
transport and export, there was a jump in urban population to
particularly in Dhaka and Murshidabad and, after 1690, in Calcu
In Bengal it was easier to get the production decentralised becaus
the existence of an elaborate and cheap water transport syst
[Prakash, 1998: 164-165] The artisan used cotton yarn produ
within the household or the village, and absorbed the risk
production. He exercised formal control over the output until
handed it in to one of the intermediary traders, and took a part of
final value as advance that was a part of an agreement that conta
price, quantity and the delivery date. [Prakash, 1998: 166]

PUTTING OUT SYSTEM, AS OPERATING IN BENGAL

As long as such demand was small, the artisan could remain h
own master, himself paying for the replenishment of the raw mate
and the repair or replacement of the tools, and making his
decisions. But, as the scale of production expanded, he proba
became more exclusively absorbed in this undertaking at the cos
farming; and many new, ordinary non-weaving families also ente
the occupation to match the demand. Furthermore, he also bec
increasingly dependent on the trader from the urban areas for capi
and raw material, and the locus of the decision making pow

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68 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

gradually shifted away from him. [Baines, 1966: 73

This happened for a number of reasons. First, if he
production substantially, he could not do so with
that it would be sold outside the village; it was the
give him such undertaking, and therefore, the wea
his production plan according to the orders placed
Second, while low quality local raw cotton p
adequate for a small scale textile manufacturing ac
meet the local demand, with increased production
on supplies of raw cotton from outside the village gr
was the trader through whom the supplies of raw cot
village. In the case of Bengal, with the expansion in t
raw cotton had to be imported from Surat, Gujar
2; Roy, M N, 1971] According to Buchanan, in the
of the amount (and three-fifths of the value) of raw
imported into Bengal, through large dealers, who
this through smaller dealers to spinners and weavers.
However, there is no agreement among the histori
and to what extent, the weaver in Bengal depended
for raw material. Om Prakash takes the view that
rarely provided raw material to weaver; perhaps he w
the position before the demand shot off. [Prakash,
Third, with increased production, for maintena
on the existing looms and for capital expenditure on
and other implements, the weaver became dependent
from the traders. Thus, a kind of 'putting out' system
with the trader making the necessary decisions on
investment and advancing money and raw materials,
worked at the village level in accordance with the pro
the trader. According to Alavi, the money ad
moneylender to the weaver was not comparable w
out' system, since the raw materials were not supplie
difficult to believe, particularly in the case of Bengal
villages cotton had to be procured from outside. It is
that those who supplied cotton to the weavers were t
who advanced loans to weavers [Alavi, 1982: 4
Mukherjee took the view that the moneylender provi
"with raw materials and advanced the subsistence
Kamal Mukherjee, 1967: 151]
In other words, a sort of 'putting out' system, sim
vogue in Europe at a comparable stage in their dev

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 TRADE IN PRE-COLONIAL BENGAL 69

operation new organisation of cotton textile production created

ties and new production relations, and eroded the traditional f
structure. The weaver, still subjected to the overriding author
the zamindar, was now participating in a wider network of econom
relationships through the trader. His production was no longer re
to the immediate consumption needs of the people he knew, or to
own goal of procuring goods with use value, but was principall
exchange.
The weaver's ties with the village community and zamindar
remained, but, over time, he became increasingly bound by the
economic power of the trader. As long as the political and social
power of the zamindar over him remained unchallenged, and through
this the power to appropriate his surplus from this new line of
production, the former had no reason to oppose the waver's growing
integration with the outside world. But this peaceful coexistence
between the two parallel systems of production could not go on
indefinitely, as it undermined the very basis of the feudal economic
and social system. It reduced the personal dependence of the weaver
on the zamindar and provided him alternative opportunities which
could not but make him 'less unfree', and created new allegiances
and relationships which struck at the very root of the self-reliant low
level equilibrium of the traditional village society.
POSSIBILITIES OF INDUSTRIALISATION VIA THE TEXTILE ROUTE

From this stage, several kinds of development were possible. Firs

the foreign companies themselves could decide to set up factorie
the urban areas with workers recruited from the rural areas. This
was what had happened with the industry in Europe when, with
increase in the scale of operation, supervision of the work of the
artisans, spread over a large area, became excessively costly and
inefficient, and the traders decided to move from the 'putting out'
system to a more direct organisation of labour in the factories. Perhaps
the textile production in Bengal too would have moved in that
direction, with more exclusive dependence of the weavers on the
traders, had the battle of Palashi not intervened. There are repeated
references to 'head weavers' in the literature, who were under
agreement to arrange supply to the company, and who organised
weavers under them in a given place and supervised their work.
[Prakash, 1998: 168-169; Choudhury, Sushil, 1995: 151] In 1736,
there were 1736 shops headed by a head weaver in Dhaka. The head
weaver procured the thread for weaving, exercised some authority

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70 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

over the weaver, and acted as an intermediary betw

and the merchant. [Choudhury, Sushil, 1995: 151] In
were master weavers, each possessing two or three loom
had an apprentice (nikari) and a journeyman (kareeg
them. [Sushil Choudhury, 1995: 151]
Second, it was also possible, in due course, for the' In
themselves to bring some weavers to the towns and
production. One of the compelling factors could
increasing difficulties of quality control. As the dem
Bengal textiles expanded quite rapidly in Europe, th
lost their innocence and found various ways of chea
Such cheating was not easy to monitor, widely disperse
were over a large area. There is evidence that this had
to happen in Bengal. [Prakash, 1998: 171-173, 219-2
Sushil, 1995: 170]
Third, some of the artisans themselves could con
the crucial jump from producing to becoming
production by others at the village level. Any of th
have led to industrialisation of the kind witnessed i
In Dhaka a factory system did emerge during thi
employed workers and processed a variety of goods.
factories in Europe, these were publicly owned and
the direct patronage of the royal courts. [Radha Kam
87-90] The best weavers were selected and brought t
'karkhanas', and were given looms, but they were ex
their own raw material - threads. Thus, while using
looms, they were not working as factory labourers
only contributing their labour, but were also paid c
wages, for their work. [Sushil Chaudhuri, 1995: 145] A
was the contract made by the Dutch at Kasimbazar,
'master reeler', who had been given some advance an
start with, and who latter, in 1674, became a salaried m
Dutch Company. The master reeler had 700-4000 r
under one roof. [Prakash, 1998: 174] As we have seen
noted this factory in his account, and put 700-
employees. Even if we take the smaller figure, this
large by the standards of those days.
However, under the impetus of the export trade,
had the potential for further and more rapid growth, an
coming under private ownership, and for the weave
role of sellers of labour power in exchange of wages. L

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 TRADE IN PRE-COLONIAL BENGAL 71

in the organisation of textile production in the villages, this

organisation of production with hired wage labourers, all wo
under the same roof, could not but profoundly affect the produc
relationship in other spheres, and probably held the key t
transformation of the consumption-oriented Mogol urban system
one that was orientated towards industrial production. With
export trade making textile production profitable, there was
than an even chance that a part of the vast capital amassed b
merchants, traders and moneylenders would have been event
diverted into this sphere.
However, there was no technological upgradation; more dem
for textile was accommodated with more women, children an
working, and peasants giving more time to this part-time occupat
and not by seeking better machines.4 Idle labour power was
available in the villages, and, therefore, the pressure for technolo
upgradation was yet to be felt. [Sushil Choudhury, 1995: 174] B
the demand continued to rise, it was a matter of time befor
traders were going to look for better technologies. In fact, until 1
the machines used in Britain for textile production were no b
than those in use in India. [Baines, 1966: 115] Such attempt c
also become linked with the technological upgradation of agricultu
as more people moved away from agriculture for undertaking tex
production. Unfortunately, there was no agricultural, scientifi
geographical revolution that could form the basis of such indu
revolution, as in Europe. [Dasgupta, Asin: 33] Before the f
conducive to such transformation appeared, that option was
away by the colonial subjugation.
VII. THE INDUSTRIALISATION DEBATE

Morris, however, took the view that the colonial subjugation m

little difference and manual dexterity was no substitute for l
technology, implying that the Indians were not very efficient pe
and were incapable of technological upgradation. [Morris, 19
This view goes against the world-wide history of technol
advance, which repeatedly confirms the adage that 'necessity
mother of invention.'
Some of the other views of Morris are also equally wrong. I
not at all true that virgin lands were not brought under cultivati
though his point about low level of mineral use in agriculture
right. [Morris, 1969: 5] Recent studies have shown that cleari
forest and establishing settlements was undertaken in a big w

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72 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

the two centuries preceding Palashi. This was large

an ecological change - Padma becoming more i
Bhagirathi, carrying more water of Ganga and makin
eastern Bengal accessible - and helped by grants of
the government. [Eaton: 196-197] Nor was he right
that average agricultural productivity grew during th
period [Blyn: 253; Morris, 1969: 8; Bepan Chandra:
might have been true for the commercial crops an
His view on political stability can not be sustained
of Bengal, excepting during the Maratha raid in th
two years in the 1750s. On the whole this period
the administration was orderly, but for the raids
during the 1740s and the early 1750s. This period
long Governorships or Vice-royalties: of Shah Suj
and 1659, of Shaista Khan between 1664 and 1688
Md Azim between 1698 and 1707. [Sushil Choudhu
There were, however, two major obstacles. First
the export trade and of the Indian Ocean, the Ara
of Bengal remained firmly in foreign hands, and the
played only a subsidiary role in this. Since we have
detail elsewhere, there is no point in repeating tho
even the trade within the country, was dependent
outlets provided by these foreign countries. They set u
of trading outposts, employed a massive army of
dealers, and advanced money to the producers thr
making them dependent on the British. This class pla
in spreading the economic and, then political, pow
companies through their extensive network in bot
areas, and, ultimately, paved the way for the establis
rule. Further, the demand created by the European tr
been enough to lure to spinning and weaving a vast
whose traditional caste occupations were different, w
peasants but now responded to the opportunity c
[Sushil Choudhury, 1995: 4]
The question is why these traders did not take step
a factory system in Bengal/India. What the Indian
was not capital, which they had in plenty. As we hav
the East India Company of the British and also th
organisations of the European nations raised fun
capital market for financing textile purchases. [M
Further, the textile trade brought bullion in large am

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 TRADE IN PRE-COLONIAL BENGAL 73

Om Prakash showed how the European trade and the conseq

import of bullion profoundly influenced the host economy. It cre
nearly 200000 jobs directly and another 800000 jobs indirectly,
fuller use of rural manpower, made possible the use of imported
as ornaments or to pay for other imports, significantly augm
the monetisation of the economy, and boosted production, and
was no inflation despite such heavy inflow.[Prakash, 1998: 315
All these created a large pull of vested interests, which were, one
or the other, connected with the Company operations.
The main explanation could be that the Indian capitalists,
having direct access to the foreign market, lacked confidence
export possibilities on their own account, while the high rate of r
from commercial and money-lending activities dampened
enthusiasm to organise and to take the consequent risk of indu
production. However, with better knowledge of the intricacies of
foreign trade, it remained open for the comprador capitalist
eventually stand on their own, had the battle of Palashi not
away that option. While the speculative debate on what co
could not have happened had Bengal/India remained independe
never be resolved, the point to emphasise is that the optio
independent development was closed by the conquest. In retro
one might say, that the best thing that could happen to India, in
of possibilities of indigenous capitalist development, was to re
independent under a strong government and to allow these fo
companies to compete for the supply of Indian textiles. That w
to be.

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NOTES
1. Sar-band or seerband, band or fillet for hair (turban) according to the editori
note in the book.
2. Lane argued that violence was needed to give protection to the ships. He
made a distinction between tribute (the transferred income that exceeds
production costs of the protection) and protection rent (difference between
profits generated by different levels of protection). [Lane: 412-420].
3. Suta meant thread or yarn in Bengal. The name implied that already the
was a market in yarn in existence when Charnock arrived. His decision t
locate the great city, Calcutta, in this place, was probably influenced by thi
factor, though, as we have discussed it elsewhere, his bosses in London were
opposed to it.
4. As Baines commented, despite the low level of technology and little divisi
of labour, they produced 'Fabric of the most exquisite delicacy and beauty
unrivalled by the products of any other nation" [Baines, 1966: 74] Baines
attributed this to: "the fine sense of touch possessed by the effeminate people."
(Baines, 1966: 74]'

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