Trading practices

Trading practices

Administration in Kingdom taxes and land grants

There were many kind of traders and they have to pass through many kingdoms and forests. They usually travel in caravans and formed guilds to protect their interest.Several traders, especially horse traders, found association with headman who negotiated on their behalf with warriors who bought horses.There were several such guilds in South India from the 18th century onwards, the most famous being the Manigramam and Nanadesi. These guilds traded, extensively both within the peninsula,and  with Southeast Asia and China.Chettiars and the  Marwari Oswal who went on to become the main trading groups of the country.Gujarati traders, including the communities of Hindu baniyas and Muslim Bhohras, traded extensively with the ports of the Red Sea,Persian Gulf, East Africa, Southeast Asia and China.

They sold textiles and spices in these ports and,in exchange, brought gold and ivory from Africa; and spices, tin, Chinese blue pottery and silver from Southeast Asia and China.The towns on the west coast  were home to Arab, Persian, Chinese, Jewish and Syrian Christian traders. Cloth sold in the Red Seaport were purchased by Italian traders and eventually led European market fetching very high profit.Spices grown in tropical climate became an important part of European cooking, and cotton cloth was very attractive. This drew European traders to India.