Explore the socio-economic conditions of 18th century India, including agriculture, trade, industry, and the impact of British rule.

Overview of Socio-Economic Conditions: Poverty and Luxury Side by Side

• Eighteenth century India failed to make progress economically, socially or culturally, at an adequate pace.
• India became a land of contrasts because extreme poverty and extreme luxury existed side by side.
• The common populace remained impoverished, backward and oppressed and lived at the bare subsistence level.
• The rich and the powerful enjoyed a life of luxury and lavishness.
• But it is worth noting that the life of the Indian masses was, by and large, better in the 18th century than it was after 100 years of British rule.

Agriculture: Peasant Hardship and Exploitation

• Though agriculture was technically backward, it was worked by the hard labour of peasants.
• But this hard-working class seldom got the fruits of their labour.
• Even though the agricultural produce supported the rest of the society, a peasant’s own reward was miserably inadequate.
• They were forced to pay exorbitant amounts to the state, the *zamindars*, the *jagirdars*, and the revenue-farmers.
• But this worsened under British rule.

Trade and Industry: Flourishing Handicrafts and Extensive Trade

• On account of being self-sufficient in handicrafts and agricultural products, India did not import foreign goods on a large scale.
• On the other hand, its industrial and agricultural products were in good demand in foreign markets.
• Hence its exports were more than its imports; trade was balanced by import of silver and gold.
• India was known as a sink of precious metals.
• Views: Bear in mind that the commerce of India is the commerce of the world and… he who can exclusively command it is the dictator of Europe. —Peter the Great
• India was a far greater industrial and manufacturing nation than any in Europe or any other in Asia.
• Her textile goods—the fine products of her looms, in cotton, wool, linen and silk—were famous over the civilised world; so were her exquisite jewellery and her precious stones cut in every lovely form.
• So were her pottery, porcelains, ceramics of every kind, quality, color and beautiful shape; so were her fine works in metal—iron, steel, silver and gold.
• She had great architecture—equal in beauty to any in the world. She had great engineering works.
• She had great merchants, great businessmen, great bankers and financiers.
• Not only was she the greatest shipbuilding nation, but she had great commerce and trade by land and sea which extended to all known civilised countries.
• Such was the India which the British found when they came. —J.T. Sunderland
• For centuries the handloom weavers of Bengal had produced some of the world’s most desirable fabrics, especially the fine muslins, light as ‘woven air’, that were coveted by European dressmakers.
• As late as the mid-eighteenth century, Bengal’s textiles were still being exported to Egypt, Turkey and Persia in the West, and to Java, China and Japan in the East, along well-established trade routes, as well as to Europe. —Shashi Tharoor, *An Era of Darkness*
• Items of Import:
• From the Persian Gulf Region—pearls, raw silk, wool, dates, dried fruits, and rose water;
• From Arabia—coffee, gold, drugs, and honey;
• From China—tea, sugar, porcelain, and silk;
• From Tibet—gold, musk, and woollen cloth;
• From Africa—ivory and drugs;
• From Europe—woollen cloth, copper, iron, lead and paper.
• Items of Export:
• Cotton textiles, raw silk and silk fabrics, hardware, indigo, saltpetre, opium, rice, wheat, sugar, pepper and other spices, precious stones, and drugs.

Important Centres of Textile Industry: Dacca, Murshidabad, and More

• Dacca, Murshidabad, Patna, Surat, Ahmedabad, Broach, Chanderi, Burhanpur, Jaunpur, Varanasi, Lucknow, Agra, Multan, Lahore, Masulipatnam, Aurangabad, Chicacole, Vishakhapatnam, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Madurai, etc.
• Kashmir was a centre of woollen manufactures.

Ship-building Industry: Maharashtra, Andhra, and Bengal Leading the Way

• Maharashtra, the Andhra region and Bengal were the leaders in ship-building.
• Indian shipping also flourished on the Kerala coast at Calicut and Quilon.
• The Zamorin of Calicut used the Muslim Kunjali Maraikkars (who were well known for their seafaring ability) for his navy.
• Shivaji Bhonsle’s navy put up a good defence on the west coast against the Portuguese.
• According to Bipan Chandra, the European companies bought many Indian-made ships for their use.