South India’s Ancient Economic History

South Indian economic history began between 3550 BC and 1800 BC, with the establishment of the Indus Valley civilization. The Indus economic development was heavily reliant on trade, and the superior transportation network, such as sailing ships to trade with Mesopotamia, led to the business's quick rise (Subbarayalu, Y.).

The Indus people were farmers who raised domestic animals and created sharp weapons and tools out of copper, tin, and bronze. Gold, beads, pottery, jewels, shells, pearls, and silver were among the items traded by traders.

Mahajapandas created silver coins around 600 BC, during a period of increased trade and urbanization. Maurya Empire united much of the Indian subcontinent in 300BC when the Greek-controlled Middle East. The military security, prevailing economic system, increased agricultural productivity and political unity as well as standard weights of measurement and use of silver coins allowed for the trade to flourish.

South India saw its classical civilizations grow for the next 1500 years, generating lots of wealth. India, between 1st and 17th AD, South India had already acquired the largest economy in the ancient medieval world with total control of over 20% of the world’s wealth.

Mughal period

The ancient Mughal period occurred between 1526 and 1858 AD which saw India experience increased economic growth and prosperity. In the 16th Century, India’s GDP was at 25% of the world’s economy.

Marathas replaced the Mughals’ in the 18th century, occupying much of Central India while Nawabs occupied north and Nizams to the South. The British imperial empire began taking control of India in the 18th Century, set in the decline phase of the South Indian Industry.

Starting 1775 onwards, the British East India Company had expanded its political power in India, using the revenues Indian provinces under its rule to buy raw materials, spices and goods in India thus stopping foreign income for India from the exportation of the products.

In eighty years (1780-1860 AD) under colonial rule, India changed from an exporter of processed goods for which it received lots of revenue to be an exporter of raw materials to a buyer of processed products.

The British rule ruthlessly exploited India’s resources and affected its economy, subjecting Indian population to hunger, famine and world’s lowest life expectancy. In the 1950s, the colonial exploitation had caused India’s economy to drop from 27% in 1700 AD to 3% in 1950.

South India after independence (1950-1979)

India got independence in 1947 and began to rebuild her economy through centralized planning. As an agrarian economy, South India focused enhancing agriculture, constructing dams, infrastructure and laying irrigation facilities. Despite the efforts to grow its economy, India developed at a slower rate due to inadequate capital, cold war, politics, rapid population growth and excessive expenditure on defense.

Chola Dynasty

Chola dynasty is an integral part of the history of South India. The regime contributed to a remarkable political, cultural and socio-economic progress of the South India (Lippe, Aschwin). Chola dynasty was one of South India’s civilized and most extended ruling regimes. In the 9th century, Chola overthrew Pallavas and ruled until the 13th Century. Chola Empire extended its rule overseas and took control of Sri Lanka and parts of Maldives.

Chola Dynasty ruler divided Chola Emperor into provinces called Mandalams prospered, building enormous stone temples and sculptures such as Shiva using bronze (Appadurai, Arjun). The Chola Empire saw lots growth in society and culture.

Temples

Temples were institutions themselves, forming the primary centers for social and cultural gatherings. The courtyard of the temples were schools for learning languages and culture such as Tamil while the temple cardinals offered security during attacks or aggressive invasion.

The temple authorities served as bankers for the traders. The temples promoted economic growth and development of South India as it encouraged production and trade (Appadurai, Arjun).Temples formed the leading trading centers as traders such as the Tavares and Nakaras only met and carried out trading within the premises of the temple (Appadurai, Arjun).

Internal trade

The Chola rulers allowed autonomy onto their subjects, and South India organized and controlled their trade affairs. Conflicts and external invasions in Northern India enabled South India to experience rapid economic growth. The Chola Dynasty offered security that was necessary for the stability and growth of trade; opening markets that the Indian merchants needed to trade in products from Southeast Asia (Lippe, Aschwin)

The administrators promoted internal trade through enhancing cooperation with merchant guild leaders to seek commercial exploits. The guilds made their gifts of temple money and land through strengthening their relationships with economic institutions (Subbarayalu, Y.).

The government set up organized systems that ensured the growth of the internal trade of items such as pearl, spices and areca nuts. Sultan Alauddin in the 14th century for example strictly supervised marketplaces and trade centers. Traders who violated the set trading rules such as fixed price list received harsh punishments and penalties.

In the process, the trading communities also face unfair treatment form the government officials. Some of their conditions included forcing the traders to reduce the prices of their products or even to sell on credit which to some extent affected the internal trade. The government also set up local manufacturing companies and employed the artisans thereby increasing the domestic business (Appadurai, Arjun).

Good trading route networks such as rivers facilitated internal trade between different parts of south India. Traders used to transport their goods using boats between Ganges Valley and Indus while some merchants also owned their boats for ease of transportation.

The decline in trade started in the 9th century majorly due to the decrease in silver coins for trading. Factors such as power dispersal among the local chiefs, high taxation, and political wars due to fragmentation of political power discouraged traders led to the decline in trade in South India.

South India’s Society

Dravidians are the South India’s native speakers, forming a majority of the population. At the beginning of the Third Century, the Dravidians had developed vast political territories such as the Chola Dynasty. The medieval Tamil guilds and trading organizations such as Manigramam and Ayyayole played crucial roles in the development of South India’s trade (Subbarayalu, Y.).

Dravidian’s society had rich art with stylized temple architecture in main business centers as well as suing bronze and stones to produce images and sculptures such as Nataraja Sculpture from the Chola Dynasty period has remained a Hinduism symbol (Lippe, Aschwin).

The south India’s trading society formed trading guilds that organized and expanded trade (Subbarayalu, Y.). Through the guilds, Indian culture spread to other lands. Some of the trade guilds included Gatrigas, Birudas, and Nakaras. The Cholas community after replacing the Pallavas dominated the trade in Southeast Asia and South of India from 11th to 13th century.

Trade guilds were among the dominant part of the society which at times dictated a kingdom’s wealth (Subbarayalu, Y.). An example includes the Nanandeshis trade guild that lent money to the kings and financed the local development projects such as temple constructions (Appadurai, Arjun). The trade guilds employed troops had well developed trade network connections and enjoyed immunities from kings. In addition to trade, the society had rich culture revolving around dances, sculptures, theatre, music as well as architecture, art, and religious beliefs.

In conclusion, ancient South India economic trade was at its highest during Chola, one of the longest and most civilized dynasties in South India. Through its leadership, excellent transport network, temples, cultural beliefs, internal trading and trader’s guilds, the South India experienced growth in the economy (Subbarayalu, Y.).

Temples were the center of the trading activities. However, political divisions and increased taxation later affected the trade. The subdivision of the Kingdom into Kakatiyas and Hoysalas led to the fall of the Chola Empire and end of the trade.

Work cited

Appadurai, Arjun. "Kings, Sects, and Temples in South India, 1350-1700 A.D." The Indian Economic & Social History Review, vol 14, no. 1, 1977, pp. 47-73.

Lippe, Aschwin. "Divine Images in Stone and Bronze: South India, Chola Dynasty (C. 850-1280)." Metropolitan Museum Journal, vol 4, 1971, pp. 29-79. University Of Chicago Press

Subbarayalu, Y. "Trade Guilds of South India Up To the Tenth Century." Studies in People's History, vol 2, no. 1, 2015, pp. 21-26.