MERCHANTS OF GUJARAT 1572-1750 ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Boctor of ^l)iIofl!apJ)p IN HISTORY BY JAWAID AKHTAR Under the Supervision of PROFESSOR SHIREEN MOOSVI CENTRE OF ADVANCED STUDY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) 2008 ABSTRACT This study deals with the merchants of Gujarat during the period of Mughal rule from 1572 to c. 1750, the study seeking to embrace their social composition, economic stratification, business practices, relations with other groups and foreign companies, and connections with the state apparatus. The two major merchant communities of Gujarat, the Baniyas and Bohras are first studied^(Chapter I). The Baniyas were the most numerous and versatile of all the merchant communities during our period and have been amply described by contemporary Dutch, English and French observers. The Muslim Bohras of Gujarat also engaged in oceanic commerce, shipping and overseas trade. Merchants with large capital lived in towns, which provided them with labour and markets. In Chapter II, an account is offered of Ahmadabad which was both collecting and distributing centre of various goods. The Gujarat ports also were important during the period for both coastal and oceanic commerce. It is shown how their links with their hinterland were helped by the development of a new route via Burhanpur which, passing entirely through the imperial territory, led to Agra. In reconstructing mercantile history, biographies help us by offering pictures of how particular individuals could function in the environment of the time. Chapter III contains biographies of three eminent merchants of their time, viz. Shantidas Sahu, Virji Vohra and Mulla Abdul Ghafur, all of whom amassed huge fortunes and controlled extensive trading networks. An attempt has been made to assemble whatever information we have on their business activities as well as social and political roles. Merchants' property consisted not only of cargo and ships, but also of other forms of wealth, such as houses and real estate. This aspect is examined in Chapter IV, with much use of Persian documents. Ashin Das Gupta introduced to us Gujarati merchants operating in the Red Sea. In Chapter V, that study is supplemented by one of the activities of Gujarati merchants in the Indonesian archipelago, together with their relations with the Dutch Copany, which involved both collaboration and conflict. In Chapter VI we shift to foreign merchants trading in Gujarat. Since the annals of the English in Gujarat have already been well reconstructed, the chapter deals mainly with the Dutch, concentrating on the farmans issued to the Dutch by Shahjahan, surviving in a volume of Mughal documents, though not known from Dutch records. Among the Asian merchants, the Turkish merchants (Challebis) became quite prosperous and powerfiil at Surat during our period and an account of them is also offered here. Chapter VII seeks to develop a description of the cultural milieu of the Gujarati merchants, their social customs and values and lifestyle. In the final chapter VIII, the relations between the Mughal administration and the merchants are examined. Information has been collected regarding the degree of protection offered to merchants by the state and the extent of interdependence between the merchants and the administration. In the Conclusion a discussion is attempted of the relevance of our information to previously propounded views about the commercial classes in the Mughal Empire. It also contains, as a prelude to this discussion, a summary of the new evidence the thesis has presented. MERCHANTS OF GUJARAT 1572-1750 THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Bottor of ^l)iIo£(op)ip IN HISTORY BY JAWAID AKHTAR Under the Supervision of PROFESSOR SHIREEN MOOSVI CENTRE OF ADVANCED STUDY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) 2008 3 0 OCT 20n T8766 CENTRE OF ADVANCED STUDY Shireen Moosvi DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY Professor of History ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH-202 002 (U.P.) Tel, Off.: (0571) 2705792 Res.: (0571)2701539 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] 21 September 2008 This is to certify that the thesis 'Merchants of Gujarat 1572-1750' by Mr. Jawaid Akhtar is the original research work of the candidate, and is suitable for submission to the examiners and for the award of the Ph.D. degree. M^Shireen Moosvi) CONTENTS Page No. Acknowledgements i-ii Abbreviations iii Introduction 1-7 Chapter 1 Merchant Classes 8-30 i. Merchant Communities of Guj arat ii. Trade and Society in Gujarat Chapter II Trade : Ports and Cities 31-47 i. The City of Ahmadabad ii. The Gujarat Ports Chapter III The Great Merchants and Bankers 48-75 i. Shantidas Sahu ii. Mercantile and Financial Operations of Virji Vohra iii. Mulla Abdul Ghafur Chapter IV Merchants and Property 76-108 i. Merchants and Urban Property: A Study of Cambay documents ii. Shantidas's Property in Ahmadabad - An Analysis of is gift deed, 1657 iii. Merchant Houses in Mughal Gujarat Chapter V Gujarati Merchants Overseas 109-114 i. The Gujarati Merchants in Indonesian Archipelago during the 17* century Chapter VI Foreign Merchants in Gujarat 115-134 i. Shah Jahan's Farmans to the Dutch ii. Turkish Merchants Chapter VII Mercantile Culture 135-145 Chapter VIII Mughal Administration and Merchants 146-169 Conclusion 170-177 Bibliography 178-189 MAPS After Page Economic Map of the Gulf of Cambay Region 7 The Hinterland of Gujarat Ports 41 Map of Surat, c. 1734 (3 Parts) 70 PLANS Merchant Houses in Cambay (Figures I-III) 77 Merchant Houses at Ahmedabab 81 Acknowledgements It is my pleasant duty to record thanks to those who helped me in preparing this thesis. The first and foremost to whom I would like to extend my deep sense of gratitude and express my indebtedness is my supervisor Professor Shireen Moosvi without her guidance and exhortations, this work could have never been completed. I have the privilege of receiving supervision from Professor Man Habib for the period that Professor Moosvi had gone abroad. He has always shown interest in my research throughout and helped me in numerous ways during the course of writing this thesis. I have also benefited from discussions with my favourite teacher Professor Athar Ali who is no more to see this work completed. I also wish to record my deep sense of gratitude to Professor Dirk H.A. Kolff, Dr George D. Winius and Dr. F.S. Gaastra who helped me in critically utilizing the Dutch material. Over the years Professor Hiromu Nagashima of the Nagasaki Prefectural University, Japan, has been sending me off prints of his papers, answering my queries and furnishing me with the reconstructed Mughal map of Surat, c.l734, which are reproduced in this thesis. I cannot thank him sufficiently for his kindness. I should take this opportunity to thank Mrs. Stella Sluyts and Mr. Denis Sluyts and their daughter Sophia for the courtesy and warmth shown to me during my stay in the Netherlands. It was a wonderful experience living with them. I should take this opportunity to thank Mrs. Stella Sluyts and Mr. Denis Sluyts and their daughter Sophia for the courtesy and warmth shown to me during my stay in the Netherlands. It was a wonderful experience living with them. My grateful acknowledgements are due to colleagues and friends. Faiz Habib (who has also drawn the maps in this thesis), Ramesh Rawat, S. Ali Nadeem Rezavi, Ishrat Alam, Najaf Haider, Vinod Kumar Singh and Nazar Aziz Anjum for their help and support. My thanks are also due to the staff of Maulana Azad Library, AMU: Research Library, Department of History, AMU; National Archives of India, New Delhi; Library of Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi, Tamil Nadu State Archives, Chennai; Algemeen Rijks Archief, The Hague; Konilijk Bibliothek, The Hague. I would also like to thank Ms Nazma and Mr Zeeshan who prepared the first draft of my thesis. My wife Kishwar and children Ali, Anam and Maria have been very supportive and understanding throughout, and I cannot thank them enough. I am most obliged to Mr. H.K. Sharma for his speedy and accurate word processing. Jawaid Akhtar 111 ABBREVIATIONS AMU Aligarh Muslim University ARA Aigemeen Rijksarchief, The Hague BN Bibliotheque Nationale Br.Mus. British Museum CSSH Comparative Studies in History and Society EFI (New Series) Charles Fawcett (ed.), The English Factories in India EFI The English Factories in India HIR Indian Historical Review lESHR Indian Economic and Social History Review JASP Journal of Asiatic Society of Pakistan JBBRAS Journal of Bombay Branch of Royal Asiatic Society JESHO Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient JIH Journal of Indian History Letters Received C.T. Danvers (ed.), Letters Received by the EngHsh East India Company, etc. MAS Modern Asian Studies MSA Maharahstra State Archives, Bombay NAI National Archives of India PIHC Proceedings of the Indian History Congress VOC Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie Introduction INTRODUCTION The Mughal conquest of Gujarat in 1572 undoubtedly had far reaching consequences for the province as well as the Empire. The northern and western regions of India were now politically integrated, and this could naturally pave the way for a further degree of economic integration. Gujarat, already commercially important, could now exploit a much larger and expanding hinterland. On its part, Gujarat was already the most urbanized area in the Empire, which is evident from the fact that about 1595, approximately 19 per cent of its revenue resources were realized from urban taxation.' Tome Pires in his account of the Indian Ocean commerce early in the sixteenth century highlighted the importance of Gujarat ports which were linked to the ports of West Asia, viz. Aden and Hormuz, and to Malacca and Achin in south-east Asia.^ The ports of Gujarat had for centuries served as entrepots for the flow of goods mainly textiles, silk, cotton and indigo, drawn from their own rich hinterland comprising a large extent of territory in northern and western India, and shipped to ports in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.