Glimpses of ancient indian economy
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Glimpses of ancient Indian economy
Prof Venkatesh GanapathyAssociate Professor
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Ancient India economy
• Indus valley civilization• Gangetic civilization
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Two types of civilization
• Indus valley civilization - Bronze Age, urban economy
• • Vedic civilization – Iron Age, economy
[agricultural mode of production]
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Indus valley civilization
• canal and docking facility at the coastal city of Lothal, signifying the importance of overseas trade.
• The Indus civilization's economy appears to have depended significantly on trade, which was facilitated by major advances in transport technology.
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Indus valley economy
boats and bullock driven carts
Many of the figurines of the boats are small, flat-bottomed craft, perhaps driven by sail.
There is also some evidence of large sea-going craft.
The figure of bullock-driven cart points to its use in the inland trade as a mode of transportation.
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Trade networks
• Afghanistan, the coastal regions of Persia, northern and central India, Egypt and Mesopotamia.
The people of Indus valley civilization traded with Sumer and Sumerian merchants referred them as Meluhha.
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Export items
• surplus grain, pottery vases, inlays, ivory combs, pearls, precious woods, and semi-precious stones.
• Indus Valley farmers grew wheat, barley, field-peas, melons, sesame, and dates.
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Cotton
• Cotton was first developed around 2000 B.C. and Indus valley people were the first to turn cotton into yarn and weaving the yarn into cloth.
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Ancient India Economy in Vedic Age
•The Aryans entered the northern part of India from Central Asia by 1500 BC.
• The Aryans re kindled the light of a new economy on the banks of the river Ganges.
• The Aryan society - nomadic lifestyle • cattle rearing - the chief occupation.
• Cattle and cows were held in high esteem and frequently appear in Rigvedic hymns; goddesses were often compared to cows, and gods to bulls.
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Aryans
• Learned to use iron by 1,000 BC• as the community settled down, Agriculture
gained prominence. • In the course of time Aryans went on to became
farmers.• They learned to farm rice cultivation by 600 BC. • It’s because of farming activity a more ordered
and settled society evolved.
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• Society - organized on caste system
• economic structure - division of labour of the caste.
• Aryans - became the priests, rulers, warriors, peasants and merchants, the lower rank was left for the natives called as Shudra.
• The occupations were based on four major varnas, Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra.
• The food of the Rigvedic Aryans consisted of parched grain and cakes, milk and milk products, and various fruits and vegetables.
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• Consumption of meat - common among, at least among the upper classes.
• • The Rigveda contains many references to animal sacrifice
and meat offered to the gods.
• The people in the Vedic period lived in straw and wooden huts.
• They also introduced horse and chariot races.• The social life cantered on Yagna meaning s a ritual of
sacrifice.
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• Money was unknown, and bartering with cattle and other valuables was the favoured way of conducting trade and commerce.
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• With a more settled and ordered society trade and commerce started to flourish.
• Life in towns evolved again and writing was re-invented.
• By 600 BC a highly civilized society had emerged in India with its economy based on rural mode of production and its surplus being exported through trade and commercial activities
•
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Maurya Empire
• The Empire was founded in 322 BCE by Chandragupta Maurya, who had overthrown the Nanda Dynasty
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• Under Chandragupta and his successors, internal and external trade, agriculture and economic activities, all thrived and expanded across India thanks to the creation of a single and efficient system of finance, administration, and security.
• After the Kalinga War, the Empire experienced nearly half a century of peace and security under Ashoka.
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• For the first time in South Asia, political unity and military security allowed for a common economic system and enhanced trade and commerce, with increased agricultural productivity.
• Farmers were freed of tax and crop collection burdens
from regional kings, paying instead to a nationally administered and strict-but-fair system of taxation as advised by the principles in the Arthashastra.
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• Chandragupta Maurya established a single currency across India, and a network of regional governors and administrators and a civil service provided justice and security for merchants, farmers and traders.
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• The Mauryan army wiped out many gangs of bandits, regional private armies, and powerful chieftains who sought to impose their own supremacy in small areas.
• Maurya also sponsored many public works and waterways to enhance productivity, while internal trade in India expanded greatly due to newfound political unity and internal peace.
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Indo-Greek friendship treaty
• Ashoka's reign, an international network of trade expanded. • The Khyber Pass, on the modern boundary of Pakistan and
Afghanistan, became a strategically important port of trade with the outside world.
• Greek states and Hellenic kingdoms in West Asia became important trade partners of India.
• Trade also extended through the Malay peninsula into Southeast Asia.
• India's exports included silk goods and textiles, spices and exotic foods.
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• New scientific knowledge and technology with expanding trade with the Mauryan Empire.
• Ashoka also sponsored the construction of thousands of roads, waterways, canals, hospitals, rest-houses and other public works.
• The easing of many over-rigorous administrative practices, including those regarding taxation and crop collection, helped increase productivity and economic activity across the Empire.
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Mauryan Empure versus Roman Empire
• In many ways, the economic situation in the Mauryan Empire is analogous to the Roman Empire of several centuries later.
• Both had extensive trade connections and both had organizations similar to corporations.
• While Rome had organizational entities which were largely used for public state-driven projects, Mauryan India had numerous private commercial entities.
• These existed purely for private commerce and developed before the Mauryan Empire itself.