Book contents
- Frontmatter
- INTRODUCTION
- PART I c. 1200–1500
- PART II c. 1500–1750
- VI Population
- VII State and the Economy
- VIII Systems of Agricultural Production
- IX Agrarian Relations and Land Revenue
- X Non-Agricultural Production
- 1 Mughal India
- 2 Maharashtra and the Deccan
- 3 South India
- XI Inland Trade
- XII The Monetary System and Prices
- XIII Foreign Trade
- XIV Towns and Cities
- XV Standard of Living
- Appendix The Medieval Economy of Assam
- Bibliography
- Map 10 Asia and the Indian Ocean: major trade routes and ports, seventeenth century
- References
3 - South India
from X - Non-Agricultural Production
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- INTRODUCTION
- PART I c. 1200–1500
- PART II c. 1500–1750
- VI Population
- VII State and the Economy
- VIII Systems of Agricultural Production
- IX Agrarian Relations and Land Revenue
- X Non-Agricultural Production
- 1 Mughal India
- 2 Maharashtra and the Deccan
- 3 South India
- XI Inland Trade
- XII The Monetary System and Prices
- XIII Foreign Trade
- XIV Towns and Cities
- XV Standard of Living
- Appendix The Medieval Economy of Assam
- Bibliography
- Map 10 Asia and the Indian Ocean: major trade routes and ports, seventeenth century
- References
Summary
In south India, as in other parts of the country, handicrafts were based almost exclusively on manual labour and development of professional habits. Technical improvements in the implements are not traceable. Technological improvements were to a great extent checked by caste rules, which fixed the methods of work. Natural sources of energy (for instance, water and wind power) were not used. To a very limited extent charcoal (in metallurgy) and cattle power (in oil-pressing and some other industries) were used.
Non-agricultural production demonstrated a great variety of forms of economic organization and of methods of integration into the macro-system of the economy. The classification given below is relative as there were no water-tight compartments. The two main kinds of handicrafts were, first, ‘natural’ and, second, market-oriented ones.
The first included the domestic crafts inside the agricultural families, inter-community professional crafts which met the demands of a narrow locality; and the manufactures attached to the chiefs’ courts.
For example, at the Golconda court guns, muskets, expensive arms and cloth etc. were produced. These workshops were natural in the sense that they were concerned with the immediate consumption of the court, the nobles, the army and not connected with the market. The labour in such workshops might be compulsory to some extent. It seems that this form of production did not develop much in south India which may perhaps be explained with reference to the limited resources commanded by the south Indian rulers in comparison with the Mughal emperors.
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- The Cambridge Economic History of India , pp. 315 - 324Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1982
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