Economy of ancient Tamil country

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Roman gold coins excavated in Pudukottai of Tamil Nadu

The economy of the ancient Tamil country (

Urayur were important centers for the textile industry; Korkai
was the center of the pearl trade. Industrial activity flourished.

Inland trading was conducted primarily through barter in busy market places by merchant associations and commercial lending institutions. Merchants formed associations that operated autonomously, without interference from the state. The people of ancient Tamil country engaged in brisk overseas trade with Rome; the trade reached a peak after the discovery of a direct route for merchant ships between Tamilakam and Egypt, taking advantage of the monsoon winds. Pepper, pearls, ivory, textiles and gold ornaments were exported from Tamilakam, and the main imports were luxury goods such as glass, coral, wine and topaz. Foreign trade brought in a large amount of internationally convertible Roman currency.

The state played an important role in building and maintaining infrastructure such as roads and ports—funded through taxation—to meet the needs of economic and social activity. Wealth was unequally divided among the people, giving rise to distinct economic classes.

Agriculture

Main article: Agriculture in ancient Tamil country

alluvial soil, red soil, black soil, laterite soil and sandy soil.[3]

Pearl millet

The Tamils cultivated

Kallanai, a dam built on river Kaveri during this period, is one of the oldest water-regulation structure in the world.[6][7][8] Surface irrigation, sprinkler mechanism and drip irrigation methods were followed to prevent wastage of water.[9]

Kallanai is one of the oldest water-regulation structures in the world

Most farmers cultivated their own plots of land and were known by different names such as Mallar, Ulutunbar, Yerinvalnar, Vellalar, Karalar and Kalamar.

peasants paid tax on the land and its produce – the land tax was known as Irai or Karai and the tax on produce was called Vari. One sixth of the produce was collected as tax.[11]
Taxes were collected by revenue officials known as Variya and Kavidi, who were assisted by accountants called Ayakanakkar. For survey and taxation purposes, various measurements were used to measure the land and its produce. Small lots of land were known as Ma and larger tracts as Veli. Produce was measured using cubic-measures such as Tuni, Nali, Cher and Kalam and weight-measures such as Tulam and Kalanju.

Industry

Main article: Industry in ancient Tamil country

During the

Urayur were important industrial centers, known for their cotton textiles. Muslin cloth was woven with fine floral work of different colors. Silk cloth was manufactured with its threads gathered in small knots at its ends. Clothing was embroidered for the nobles and aristocrats who were the main customers. Material was often dyed; the blue dye for the loin cloth was a preferred color. In addition to silk and cotton fabrics, cloth made of wood fibre called Sirai Maravuri and Naarmadi was used by the priestly class.[12] The cloth manufacturers wove long pieces of cloth and delivered it to the dealers. The textile dealers then scissored off bits of required length, called aruvai or tuni, at the time of sale. Hence, the dealers were called aruvai vanigar and the localities where they lived aruvai vidi. Tailors, called tunnagarar in Madurai and other big towns, stitched garments .[13]

Pearl fishing was an important industry in ancient Tamilakam

Pearl fishing flourished during the Sangam age. The Pandyan port city of

Pandyan kingdom were in demand in the kingdoms of North India as well. Several Vedic mantras refer to the wide use of the pearls, describing poetically that royal chariots and horses were decked with pearls. The use of pearls was so great that the supply of pearls from the Ganges could not meet the demand.[16]

The

fishing boat. Pahri, Odam, Toni, Teppam, and Navai were smaller craft. The large ship, called Kappal, Kalam had masts (Paaymaram) and sails (Paay).[18][19]

Other industries were carpentry, fishing, salt-manufacture, forestry, pottery, rope making, chank-cutting,

gem cutting, the manufacture of leather sheaths for war weapons, the manufacture of jewellery, the production of jaggery, and the construction of temples, and other religion-related items such as procession cars and images. Baskets made of wicker for containing dried grains and other edible articles were also constructed.[20][21]

Inland trade

Ancient IND were active traders in various commodities, both locally and outside Tamil country. The kingdoms of

northern India sought pearls, cotton fabrics and conch shells from Tamilakam in exchange for woollen clothing, hides and horses.[22] Locally most trading was in food products – agricultural produce was supplemented by products from hunters, fishermen and shepherds who traded in meat, fish and dairy products. In addition, people bought other goods such as items for personal hygiene, adornment and transportation. Mercantile transactions took place in busy market places. Traders used various modes of selling: hawking their goods from door to door, setting up shops in busy market places or stationing themselves at royal households. Sellers of fish, salt and grain hawked their goods, the textile merchants sold cloths from their shops in urban markets and the goldsmith, the lapidary and sellers of sandalwood and ivory patronised the aristocrats' quarters.[12]
Merchants dealt in conches and ivory.

Most trade was by barter. Paddy was the most commonly accepted medium of exchange, followed by purified salt. Honey and roots were exchanged for fish liver oil and arrack, while sugarcane and rice flakes were traded for venison and toddy. Poems in

Pandya land well stocked with paddy that the housewife had exchanged for grams and fish. Artisans and professionals traded their services for goods.[21] Quantities were measured by weighing balance, called the Tulakkol named after Tulam, the standard weight. Delicate balances made of ivory were used by the goldsmiths for measures of Urai, Nali and Ma.[23]
A different kind of barter involving deferred exchange was known as Kuri edirppai – this involved taking a loan for a fixed quantity of a commodity to be repaid by the same quantity of the same commodity at a later date. Since barter was prevalent locally, coins were used almost exclusively for foreign trade.

Markets

Sangam works such as Maduraikkanci and Pattinappalai give a detailed description of the markets in big cities.[24][25] The market, or angadi, was located at the centre of a city.[26] It had two adjacent sections: the morning bazaar (nalangadi) and the evening bazaar (allangadi). The markets of Madurai were cosmopolitan with people of various ethnicities and languages crowding into the shops. Foreign merchants and traders came to Madurai from such northern kingdoms as Kalinga to sell merchandise wholesale.[27] According to the Mathuraikkanci, the great market was held in a large square and the items sold included garlands of flowers, fragrant pastes, coats with metallic belts, leather sandals, weapons, shields, carts, chariots and ornamented chariot steps. Garment shops sold clothing of various colours and patterns made of cotton, silk or wool, with the merchandise neatly arranged in rows. On the grain merchants' street, sacks of pepper and sixteen kinds of grains (including paddy, millet, gram, peas and sesame seeds) were heaped by the side. The jewellers, who conducted business from a separate street, sold precious articles such as diamonds, pearls, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, topaz, coral beads and varieties of gold.[25]

Cholas, had its market in a central open area close to the two main suburbs of the city – Maruvurpakkam and Pattinapakkam. Maruvurpakkam was adjacent to the sea where the fishermen and the foreign merchants lived. The main streets of the market met at the centre where there was a temple dedicated to the local guardian deity of the city.[29]

The market of Kaveripumpattinam was similar to the one in Madurai. Large quantities of dyes, scented powder, flowers, textiles, salt, fish and sheep were sold. Flowers were in great demand, especially during festivals such as Indira vizha. Near the bazaar were warehouses with little ventilation located underground.[citation needed] Since merchants from various places thronged the bazaar, each package for sale had the name and details of its owner written on it. Simple advertisements were used to indicate the goods available at different locations.[30]

Mercantile organization

There were different types of merchants who operated in the ancient Tamil market, which gave rise to a wealth-based class distinction among them. Merchants in the lower levels of the hierarchy were of two varieties: the itinerant merchants who sold goods that they manufactured themselves and the retailers who sold goods manufactured by others. Itinerant traders were found in both the rural and urban markets, but the retailers were concentrated in the cities. In the rural markets, salt and grain merchants usually produced the goods, transported them and sold them directly to the consumers. Salt merchants, known as umanar, travelled with their families in trains of carts.[12] In the cities, artisans such as the blacksmiths and the oil mongers sold their products directly to the consumers. The bulk of the retailers operated in the textile industry. The textile dealers (aruvai vanigar) bought their products from the weavers (kaarugar) and resold them to the consumers. Merchants selling agricultural produce in the cities were also retailers. At the upper end of the merchant hierarchy, were the rich merchants who participated in the export trade. There were three classes among them - ippar, kavippar and perunkudi - based on the extent of their wealth; the perunkudi made up the wealthiest class. Foreign merchants, mainly Romans, also did business in the Tamil markets – not just in the port cities, but in inland cities such as Madurai, where they exchanged indigenous goods for their offerings.[clarification needed] Another category of merchants were the intermediaries or the brokers, who acted as information channels and offered their services mainly to the foreign merchants.[31]

Coin of Roman Emperor Augustus found in Pudukkottai

Merchants organized themselves into groups called Sattu or Nikamam. Stone inscriptions at Mangulam (c. 200 BCE) and pottery inscriptions found at Kodumanal refer to merchant guilds as nikamam and the members of the guilds as nikamattor. These findings suggest that merchant guilds were established at several industrial and trade centres of ancient Tamil country.[32] Many of these merchant associations acted in union in their public activities. They were autonomous, meaning that they enjoyed freedom from state interference but also suffered from the lack of state backing. Merchants were expected to abide by a code of conduct, which was: "Refuse to take more than your due and never stint giving to others their due".[citation needed] Therefore, they went about running their business by openly announcing the profit they were aiming at, known as Utiyam.[12][33] The mercantile community of Tamilakam was aware of elementary banking operations. Lending through houses specializing in monetary transactions and fixation of rates were common. This was, evidently, necessitated by the extensive overseas trade.[34] Accountants were in demand in view of monetary transactions and considerable trading activity.[35] Merchant groups from Madurai and Karur made endowments, or donations, as attested by inscriptions found in Alagarmalai (c. 1st century BCE) and Pugalur (c. 3rd century CE). These inscriptions also mention that the various commodities traded by such merchants included cloth, salt, oil, plowshares, sugar and gold.[32]

Foreign trade

The economic prosperity of the Tamils depended on foreign trade. Literary, archaeological and numismatic sources confirm the trade relationship between Tamilakam and Rome, where spices and pearls from India were in great demand. With the accession of

Roman emperors, there was a great demand for articles of luxury, especially beryl. Most of the articles of luxury mentioned by the Roman writers came from Tamilakam. In the declining period, cotton and industrial products were still imported by Rome.[36] The exports from the Tamil country included pepper, pearls, ivory, textiles and gold ornaments, while the imports were luxury goods such as glass, coral, wine and topaz.[37] The government provided the essential infrastructure such as good harbours, lighthouses, and warehouses to promote overseas trade.[38]

Trade route

Silk Road map showing ancient trade routes.

The

pirates. The ships returned from Tamilakam carrying rich cargo which was transported in camel trains from the Red Sea to the Nile, then up the river to Alexandria, finally reaching the capital of the Roman empire.[40]
Evidence of Tamil trading presence in Egypt is seen in the form of Tamil inscriptions on pottery in Red Sea ports.[41]

Imports and exports

Fine

amethysts and tortoiseshell. The Greek and Arabic names for rice (Oryza and urz), ginger(Gingibar and zanjabil) and cinnamon (Karpion and quarfa) are almost identical with their Tamil names, arisi, inchiver and karuva.[42] The imports were mostly luxury items such as glass, gold and wine. Horses were imported from Arabia.[22]

Foreign exchange

Local imitation of a coin of Augustus, c. 1st century AD.

The flourishing trade with the Romans had a substantial impact on the economy of ancient Tamil country and the royal treasury and the export traders accumulated large sums of Roman currency. Pliny writes that India, China and Arabia between them absorbed one hundred million

sesterces per annum from Rome. This sum is calculated by Mommsen to represent 1,100,000 pounds, of which nearly half went to India, the preponderance to South India.[43]

Coins hoarded by the early Roman emperors from

Alexander Severus (235 CE]) have been discovered, covering a period of nearly three centuries. By far the greatest number of these Roman coins belong to the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. After 235 CE, for the next one hundred years, there are no coins that can be dated, suggesting a temporary abeyance of trade between Rome and South India. This could have been due to internal revolts and external attacks suffered by the Roman empire during that period. When order and good government were restored in Rome, trade with Tamilakam revived, as indicated by the finding of an increased number of coins from this period. Zeno's coins have been traced to the end of the Roman empire. Scholars believe there was a Roman settlement near Madurai and that little copper coins with the Roman Emperors' heads on them might have been minted locally.[43]

Role of the state

The role of the state in trade related to two aspects: first, to provide an adequate infrastructure necessary to sustain the trade and second, to organise an efficient administrative apparatus for taxation.[44]

During the Sangam period, the main

Vilinam (Vizhinjam) were their west coast ports. Muchiri, Tondi, Kannur
, were the principal ports of the
Cheras, all of them on the west coast.[45]
These ports were cited by Pliny (early 1st century CE and Ptolemy (2nd century AD) also.

To collect revenue from commerce, the state installed customs checkposts (sungachavadi) along the highways and the ports. In the ports, duty was collected on inland goods, before being exported, and on overseas goods meant for the local markets, which were stamped with the official seal before being allowed into the country. The volume of trade in the port cities was high enough to warrant a large workforce to monitor and assess the goods. The state issued licenses to liquor shops, which were required to fly the license flag outside their premises. Flags were used by foreign merchants too, to indicate the nature of goods they were selling. The state also kept records of the weights and counts of all the goods sold by merchants. One of the significant aspects of the state intervention in commerce was that it reinforced the authority of the ruler.[44]

Personal wealth

How wealth was assessed varied from one community to another. Farmers counted the number of

F. R. Allchin, who has discussed the antiquity of gold mining in the Deccan, says that the high period of mining in South India was the last centuries of the pre-Christian era and the first two centuries of the Christian era, which coincides with the Sangam period.[47]

Sources

Part of a series on
History of Tamil Nadu
Main
Sangam period
Medieval history
Categories
Main article: Sources of ancient Tamil history

The most important source of ancient

Kaveripumpattinam and the economic activities in the city. The historical value of the Sangam poems has been critically analysed by scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries. Historians agree that the descriptions of society, culture and economy in the poems are authentic, for the most part: many eminent scholars including Sivaraja Pillay, Kanakasabhai, K.A.N Sastri and George Hart have used information from these poems to describe the ancient Tamil society.[54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61] Herman Tieken, a Dutch scholar, has expressed his disapproval of doing so, arguing that the poems were composed much later in the 8th-9th centuries CE.[62] Tieken's methodology and his conclusions about the date of Sangam poems have been criticized by other scholars.[63][64][65]

Among literary sources in other languages, the most informative ones are Greek and Roman accounts of the maritime trade between the Roman empire and the kingdoms of Tamilakam. Strabo and Pliny the Elder give the details of the trade route between the Red Sea coast and the western coast of South India. Strabo (c. 1st century BCE) mentions the embassies sent by the Pandyas to the court of Augustus, along with a description of the ambassadors. Pliny (c. 77 CE) talks about the different items imported by the Romans from India and complains about the financial drain caused by them. He also refers to many Tamil ports in his work The Natural History. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (c. 60 - 100 CE) an anonymous work, gives an elaborate description of the Tamil country and the riches of a 'Pandian Kingdom'.

Archaeological excavations at many sites in Tamil Nadu including Arikamedu, Kodumanal, Kaveripumpattinam and Alagankulam, have yielded a variety of artifacts belonging to the Sangam era, such as various types of pottery and other items including black and red ware, rouletted ware, Russet coated ware, brick walls, ring wells, pits, industrial items, and the remains of seeds and shells.[66][67][68][69] Many of the pottery sherds contain Tamil-Brahmic inscriptions on them, which have provided additional evidence for the archaeologist to date them. Archaeologists agree that activities best illustrated in these material records are trade, hunting, agriculture and crafts.[70] These excavations have provided evidence for the existence of the major economic activities mentioned in Sangam literature. Remnants of irrigation structures like reservoirs and ring wells and charred remains of seeds attest to the cultivation of different varieties of crops and knowledge of various agricultural techniques.[71][72][73][74] Spinning whorls, cotton seeds, remains of a woven cotton cloth and dyeing vats provide evidence for the activities of the textile industry.[75][76] Metallurgy has been supported by the discovery of an ancient blast furnace, along with its base and wall, anvil, slags and crucibles. The remains have indicated that, in addition to iron, the blacksmith may have worked with steel, lead, copper and bronze.[77] The Kodumanal excavation recovered several jewellery items and semi precious stones at different stages of manufacture, suggesting that they were locally manufactured.[78] Remains of import and export articles recovered from Arikamedu indicate the important role it played as an Indo-Roman trading station.[79] Building construction, pearl fishery and painting are other activities that have been supported by findings from these excavations.[74][80][81][82]

Inscriptions are another source of deducing ancient Tamil history: most of them are written in Tamil-Brahmi script and found on rocks or pottery. The inscriptions have been used to corroborate some of the details provided by the Sangam literature. Cave inscriptions found at places such as Mangulam and Alagarmalai near Madurai, Edakal hill in Kerala and Jambai village in Villupuram district record various donations made by the kings and chieftains.[83] Brief mentions of various aspects of the Sangam society such as agriculture, trade, commodities, occupations and names of cities are found in these inscriptions.[84] Several coins issued by the Tamil kings of this age have been recovered from river beds and urban centers of their kingdoms. Most of them carry the emblem of the corresponding dynasty, such as the bow and arrow of the Cheras; some of them contain portraits and written legends. Numismatists have used these coins to establish the existence of the Tamil kingdoms during the Sangam age and associate the kings mentioned in the legends to a specific period.[85] A large number of Roman coins have been found in Coimbatore and Madurai districts, providing more evidence for the brisk maritime trade between Rome and Tamilakam.[86]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Venkata Subramanian (1988), p. 26.
  2. ^ "Thirukkural". உழுதுண்டு வாழ்வாரே வாழ்வார்மற் றெல்லாம் தொழுதுண்டு பின்செல் பவர். They live who live to plough and eat; The rest behind them bow and eat.
  3. ^ Balambal (1998), p. 60.
  4. ^ Pillai (1972), pp. 50–51.
  5. ^ a b Pillai (1972), p. 51.
  6. ^ Balambal (1998), p. 64.
  7. ISBN 81-7764-548-X
    .
  8. ^ "This is the oldest stone water-diversion or water-regulator structure in the world" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 February 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2007.
  9. ^ Balambal (1998), p. 65.
  10. ^ Balambal (1998), p. 61.
  11. ^ Balambal (1998), p. 67.
  12. ^ a b c d Venkata Subramanian (1988), p. 86.
  13. ^ Subrahmanian (1980), pp. 240–241.
  14. ISBN 978-81-206-0145-1
    . Retrieved 15 July 2005.
  15. ^ a b Venkata Subramanian (1988), p. 55.
  16. ISBN 978-81-206-0145-1
    . Retrieved 15 July 2007.
  17. ^ Subrahmanian (1980), p. 241.
  18. ^ Sundararajan. Ancient Tamil Country. p. 85.
  19. ^ Subrahmanian (1980), p. 253.
  20. ^ Subrahmanian (1980), p. 356.
  21. ^ a b Sivathamby. Drama in ancient Tamil society. pp. 173–174.
  22. ^ a b Krishnamurthy. Sangam Age Tamil Coins. pp. 5–6.
  23. ^ Venkata Subramanian (1988), p. 87.
  24. ^ Venkata Subramanian (1988), p. 45.
  25. ^ a b Husaini. The History of the Pandya Country. p. 24.
  26. ^ Venkata Subramanian (1988), p. 81.
  27. ^ Subrahmanian (1980), pp. 244–245.
  28. ^ Venkata Subramanian (1988), pp. 75–76, 80.
  29. ^ Venkata Subramanian (1988), pp. 71, 80.
  30. ^ Subrahmanian (1980), p. 254.
  31. ^ Mukund. The Trading World of the Tamil Merchant. pp. 17–19.
  32. ^ a b Mahadevan. Early Tamil epigraphy from the earliest times to the sixth century A.D. p. 141.
  33. ^ Subrahmanian (1980), p. 246.
  34. ^ Subrahmanian (1980), p. 360.
  35. ^ Subrahmanian (1980), p. 357.
  36. ^ Husaini. The History of the Pandya Country. p. 20.
  37. ^ Krishnamurthy. Sangam Age Tamil Coins. p. 6.
  38. ^ Subrahmanian (1980), p. 359.
  39. ^ "More studies needed at Pattanam". The Hindu. 23 May 2013.
  40. ^ Husaini. The History of the Pandya Country. p. 18.
  41. ^ Salomon, Richard. "Epigraphic Remains of Indian Traders in Egypt". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 111 (4): 734–735. Retrieved 11 February 2024 – via JSTOR.
  42. ^ Husaini. The History of the Pandya Country. p. 19.
  43. ^ a b Husaini. The History of the Pandya Country. pp. 20–21.
  44. ^ a b Mukund. The Trading World of the Tamil Merchant. pp. 22–23.
  45. ^ Krishnamurthy. Sangam Age Tamil Coins. p. 5.
  46. ^ Subrahmanian (1980), p. 232.
  47. ^ Sivathamby. Drama in ancient Tamil society. p. 175.
  48. ^ Subrahmanian (1980), p. 22.
  49. ^ Sharma, TRS (2000). Ancient Indian Literature: An Anthology. Vol III. Sahitya Academy, New Delhi. p. 43.
  50. ^ "Cankam literature". The Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2. 2002. p. 802.
  51. ^ Rajam, V. S. 1992. A reference grammar of classical Tamil poetry: 150 B.C.-pre-fifth/sixth century A.D. Memoirs of the American philosophical society, v. 199. Philadelphia, Pa: American Philosophical Society. p12
  52. ^ Dr. M. Varadarajan, A History of Tamil Literature, (Translated from Tamil by E.Sa. Viswanathan), Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1988 p.40
  53. ^ Sastri. A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar. p. 127.
  54. ^ Pillay, Sivaraja. The Chronology of the Early Tamils. p. 11.
  55. ^ Venkata Subramanian (1988), pp. 12–13.
  56. ^ Subrahmanian (1980), p. 23.
  57. ^ Sundararajan. Ancient Tamil Country. p. 3.
  58. ^ Pillai (1972), p. 8.
  59. ^ Sastri. The Pandyan Kingdom. pp. 14–15, 21, 31.
  60. ^ Mukund. The Trading World of the Tamil Merchant. p. 24.
  61. ^ Husaini. The History of the Pandya Country. p. 7.
  62. ^ Tieken, Herman Joseph Hugo (2001) Kāvya in South India: old Tamil Caṅkam poetry. Groningen: Egbert Forsten. pp. 229-230
  63. JSTOR 4132191
    .
  64. ^ G.E. Ferro-Luzzi. Tieken, Herman, Kavya in South India (Book review). Asian Folklore Studies. June 2001. pp. 373-374
  65. ^ Anne E. Monius, Book review, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 61, No. 4 (Nov., 2002), pp. 1404-1406
  66. ^ Begley, p. 461
  67. ^ Rajan, p. 57
  68. ^ Tripati et al., pp. 86, 89
  69. ^ Gaur and Sundaresh, pp. 126-7
  70. ^ Abraham, p. 219
  71. ^ Cooke et al., pp. 342-3, 348-9
  72. ^ Tripati et al., pp. 86-88
  73. ^ Gaur and Sundaresh, p. 124
  74. ^ a b Begley, p. 472
  75. ^ Rajan, p. 67
  76. ^ Begley, p. 475
  77. ^ Rajan, pp. 65-66, 95, 98-102
  78. ^ Rajan, pp. 66-67
  79. ^ Begley, pp. 472, 480
  80. ^ Tripati et al., pp. 86, 88-89
  81. ^ Gaur and Sundaresh, p. 127
  82. ^ Rajan, p. 141
  83. ^ Mahadevan, pp. 7-24
  84. ^ Mahadevan, pp. 115-159
  85. ^ Krishnamurthy, pp. 20-23, 97-107, 132-148
  86. ^ Husaini, pp. 20-21

References

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