Post - Mauryan Age - Crafts, Trade and Towns

Crafts, Trade and Towns in the Post Mauryan Age 

The period pertaining to the Shakas, the Kushanas, the  Satavahanas and the three early kingdoms (that is, the period from 3rd century to 2nd cetury CE) was the most flourshing priod in the history of crafts and commerce in ancient India. Production of crafts started growing in this period with tremendous impetus, as trade and commerce, both internal and foreign, was dependent to a great extent on the craft activities. The Digha Nikaya, which belongs to pre-Maurya times, mentions nearly two dozen occupations but the Mahavastu, which belongs to this period catalogues 36 kinds of workers. Similarly, the Milindapanho mentions 75 occupations, of which 60 were associated with crafts. The level of specialisation was very high and as many as eight crafts or jewels, which employed separate artisans working in each craft. The technological advancement in iron is evident by the excavation of sophisticated iron artifacts, specially from the Karimnagar and Nalgonda districts of Telangana region. Indian iron and steel, including cutlery, were exported to as far as Abyssinian ports and were in high demand in western Asian countries. 

The manufacturing in textiles, silk-weaving, arms, luxury articles, handicrafts and terracotta figurines, made rapid progress during this period. The textile industry was a prominent industry. Mathura (famous for a special type of cloth called shataka) and Vanga (eastern Bengal) were famous for variety of cotton and silk textiles. The discovery of some dyeing vats at some sites in south India such as Uraiyur and Arikamendu indicates that dyeing was a thriving craft in the area during this period. Ujjain was a prominent bead-making centre. The shell industry was in a thriving state, and many shell products belonging to the Kushana period have been excavated. Coin-minting was an important craft, and this period is noted for numerous types of coins made of gold, silver, copper, bronze, protin and lead. Interestingly, the craftsmen even made fake Roman coins. The beautiful pieces of terracotta found in profuse quantities in almost all Kushana and Satavahana sites, especially Yelleshwaram in Nalgonda district, are truly matserpieces. It is generally believed that terracotta was meant mostly for the use of upper classes in towns. The artisans in this period touched new heights of prosperity, and there are numerous inscriptions which refer t the donations made by artisans to monasteries.

 

The communities of merchants were organised in groups known as shreni or guilds under the head called sreshthi. Another type of merchants groups was called sartha, which signified mobile or caravan trading corporation of interregional traders. The leader of such a guild was called sarthavaha. Like merchants, almost all craft vocations were also organised into guilds, each under a headmen called jetthaka/pamukkha. These included weavers, corn dealers, bamboo workers, oil manufacturers potters, etc. The guilds were associations of merchants and craftsmen following the same profession or dealing in the same commodity. They elected their head and framed their own rules regarding prices and quality to regulate their business on the basis of mutual goodwill. They also served as banks and received deposits from the public on a fixed rate of interest. It is interesting to note that around the 2nd century CE, in Maharastra, lay devotees of Buddhism deposited money with the guilds of potters, oil millers and weavers for providing robes and other necessities to the monks. Similarly, at Mathura at the same time, there is mention of deposite of money with a chief of flour guild for serving daily to the Brahmanas. The Yajnavalkya Smriti refers to the qualifications and powers of guild officers and also hints towards judicial role of guilds. The guilds heads used to have a good rapport with the king, and according to some Buddhist texts, they used to accompany the king as a part of the official entourage. Sometimes, they were also appointed as mahamatta. Certain officials known as the bhandagarika were appointed to keep a record of the transactions and conventions of guilds, as mentioned in the Nigrodha Jataka. These royal officers had some authority over the guilds. Some guilds also had a shrenibala, which was some sort of a corporate organisation of warriors maintained by these guilds. The importance of the guilds can be gauged by the fact that some guilds also issued coins and seals. Some coins found at Taxila have the legend negama, while two copper coins found at Kaushambi bear the legend gadhikanam. Some seals with the captions nigama, nigamasya have been found at the sites of Rajghat (seals with the legend of gavayaka, signifying guild of milkmen), Bhita (seals with the legend of shulaphalayikanam, signifying guild of makers of arrowheads), and Ahichchhatra (seals with the legend of kumhakara, signifying guild of potters).

One of the most important features of the post-Mauryan period was the growth of trade and commerce, both internally as well as externally. As we have discussed earlier, there were two major internal land routes in ancient India - Uttarapatha, which connected northern and eastern parts of India with the northwestern fringes, and Dakshinapatha, which connected peninsular India with the western western and northern parts of India. The Dakshinapatha started from Kaushambi near Allahabad, ran through Ujjain extended further up to Bhrigukaccha or Broach, an important port on western coast. The Dakshinapatha was futher connected with Paithan, the capital of the Satavahanas. We have already discussed about the flourishing trade and the different items of import and export of the three early southern kingdoms with Rome and south-east Asia. Interestingly, in addition to the articles directly supplied bt India, certain articles were brought to India from China and Central Asia and then sent to the eastern part of the Roman empire. For instance, earlier silk was directly sent from China to the Roman empire through the famous Silk Route, but after the annexation of Iran by Parthians, silk was diverted to the western Indian ports through the north-western part of the subcontinent and sometimes it was also transported via the east coast to west coast of the subcontinent. Thus the period c.200BCE-300CE was marked by urban prosperity all over India. More is known about the urban centres than the villages of this period.