Alam - Mughal Uzbek Relations
Alam - Mughal Uzbek Relations
Alam - Mughal Uzbek Relations
Relations, C. 1550-1750
Author(s): Muzaffar Alam
Source: Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient , 1994, Vol. 37, No. 3
(1994), pp. 202-227
Published by: Brill
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3632256
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Economic and Social History of the Orient
MUZAFFAR ALAM
(Centre for Historcal Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Ne
The vast expanse of Central Asia was connected with India both through
land and sea-routes. Seafarers first reached the Persian shores and hence
took the land routes to the north of the Amu Darya across Khura
principal routes on the mainland went through the Khyber and
passes. Lahore, Multan, Kabul and Qandahar were the major entre
these roads. In addition, there were the Kashmir routes which led th
the Kara Koram to Yarqand, where the routes from Ladakh, Tibet
and India were joined by those leading to Kashgar. From Kashga
caravans proceeded to Samarqand and Bukhara. Samarqand, th
major city of Transoxiana, was the junction of the main routes from
(via Kabul and Kashmir), Persia (via Merv) and the Turkish territ
The city of Samarqand, together with Bukhara, was thus the centr
Indian merchants for their trade in Central Asia. In a late sixteenth
manuscript collection of papers relating to the office of the chief qddf
quddt) of Samarqand, titled MajyimCa-t-Wathhfiq, numerous Mult
reported to have been involved in commercial and monetary transact
the city3). As early as 1326, Indians, next to Turks and Tajik
reported in a waqf-nama to be among the notable visitors (d'inda-o-ra
while in the fifteenth century lands (ardi), villages (dih, qarya, mawd
rest-houses (ribat) of the Hindus are mentioned in the sale and p
deeds from the Samarqand region. Interestingly, according to the aut
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Map I.
Rashhdtft Cayn al-haydt, the place where Khwaja Bahd al-Din Naqsband
founder of the Naqshandi order, was born and which by the time o
author had come to be identified as mawlid (birthplace) of the saint and
as qasr-z cdanfdn (palace of the saints) was earlier known as Kushk-i Hindu
The Sharaf-ndma-z-shdhT mentions the business of the Indian merchants
Shaybani territory5). This information is corroborated by other sources
1558, Anthony Jenkinson of the English Muscovy Company, for instan
met in Bukhara a number of merchants from North India and Beng
The fabulous wealth and unmatched trading skill of the Indians often s
to have excited enough jealousy on the part of the local people to land t
into trouble 7).
On the basis of the Persian material it is difficult to identify all the
modities which the Indian traders brought into Central Asia. Textil
varied range appear, however, to have been important items of expo
the Majmina-t- Wathd'iq the Multdnis figure as trading in chint of diffe
hues, plain coarse calico (fota) and fine cloth of Thanesar, silk bro
(jdmawdr), and fine calico (solagazi), as well as napkins and handkerc
(mzndil) of Lahore8). Varthema saw Indian goods in Central Asia fro
far as Bengal and Gujarat, and according to him many of these In
goods manufactured in Bengal and Khambayat also reached 'Tartary'
sia and Turkeyg). Varthema's observations are confirmed by a Persia
26) R.S. Sharma, 'Central Asia and Early Indian Cavalry, C. 20 B.C.-1200 A.D ', m
A. Guha (ed.) Central Asia: Movement of Peoples and Ideas from Times Prehistoric to Modem (Delh
1970), pp. 174-181.
27) Simon Digby, War Horse and Elephant in the Delhi Sultanate, (Oxford 1971), pp. 35
28) Ibn Baptfita, The Travels of Ibn Battpta, English tr. H.A.R. Gibb (Cambridge, 1962
2, pp. 477-479
29) Bdbur-ndma, p. 202.
30) FranCois Bernier, Travels in the Moghul Empire, English tr. A. Constable (New Delhi,
1968), p. 203; N. Munucci, Stona do Mogor, English tr. W Irvine, 4 vols. (London), 2, p.
391.
31) Cf. Iftikhar Ahmad Khan, 'Commerce in Horses between Central Asia and Indian
during Medieval Times' (mimeographed).
32) J. Gommans, 'The Horse Trade in Eighteenth Century South Asia', see JESHO 37,3
(1994), 228-247
33) Abfi Bakr Muhammad bin Jacfar al-Narshakhi, Tdrikh-t-Bukhdra (Persian version by
Muhammad bin Zafar) ed. Mudarris Rizawi (Tehran, 1972), pp. 21-22.
34) Bermer, Travels, p. 249
35) Nir al-Din Jahdngir, Tgzak-z-Jahdngfrf ed. Saiyid Ahmad Khan (Aligarh, 1864), pp.
173, 2098 and 212.
36) Ibid, p. 173.
37) Bernier, Travels, pp. 203-204.
II
38) Mirak Shdh Munshi, Maktibadt, Subhan Qull Khan's letter (nzshdn) for the rdhdd
(route-in-charge) of wilaydt Khinjan, ff. 152a-153b.
39) For Powinda qdfilas and qdfilabdshz, see Gommans, 'Mughal India and Central A
pp. 55-56.
40) Jenkinson, Early Voyages, p. 87, see also Ashraf, Life and Conditions, p. 147
41) Mirak ShTh Munshi, Maktzibdt, ff. 4a-5b and 72.
42) Diyf,-al-Din Barani, Tdrfkh-z-Firziz Shdhf, pp. 309-311.
43) Majmuca-t- Wathdiiq, ff. 182a, 188b; see also Dale, 'Indo-Russia Trade', pp. 149-151.
44) Jenkmnson, Early Voyages, pp. 87-88.
45) "jamckathlr az tuj`ir azjamicbildd-a-Hind wa Dakan wa Gujardt ... " (Hdfiz Tanish, Sharaf-
nama-t-Shadh, f. 451b).
46)Khwindmir, Habfb al-Siyar, 4 vols (Tehran, 1954), vol. 3, part 3, p. 335; see also 'Abd
al-Husayn's Introduction to his edition of CAbd al-Razziq Samarqandi's Matlac SaCdayn w
MajmaC Bahrayn (Tehran, 1974), pp. 9-10.
47) H.K. Sherwani and P.M. Joshi (eds), History of the Medieval Deccan, 1295-1724, 2 vols
(Hyderabad, 1974) 2, pp. 77-115, 218-220. It was in consideration of the Decanis'
familiarity with Khurasan that the fifteenth century Russian traveller, Athanasius Nikiti
chose to live in Bidar under the assumed name Khwaji Yfisuf Khur~isini (ibid. 1, p. 185
see also H.K. Sherwani, The Bahmanzs of the Deccan (Hyderabad, 1953), p. 148.
48) Sanjay Subrahmanyam, 'The Portuguese, Thatta and the External Trade of Sind,
1515-1635', Revtsta de Cultura (1991), pp. 48-58.
49) Ya. G. Gulyamov (ed.) Istorzya Uzbekzstan, (Tashkent, 1967) 1, p. 537, quoted i
Gopal, Indians in Central Asia, p. 6.
50) Andre Wink, Al-Hind: the Making of the Indo-Islamic World, Vol. 1, Early Medieval India
and the Expansion of Islam, 7th-llth Centuries (Leiden, 1991), pp. 45-64.
51) A.M. Peterov has briefly discussed the rationale and historical reasons of the shift
from land to sea routes in his 'Foreign Trade of Russia and Britain in the Seventeenth and
Eighteenth Centuries', Modern Asian Studies, 21, 4, (1987), pp. 625-637
52) Moreland, India at the Death of Akbar, p. 205-207
53) E.H. Aitken, Gazetteer of the Province of Sind (Karachi, 1979), p. 116.
III
All this, however, also created a climate in which the rulers of both Kabu
and Qandahar recognized the necessity of a policy of protection of the land
route, notwithstanding their political rivalries. Thus, the land-route in the
seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries not only competed successfully
with the maritime route, but it also seems to have posed a kind of threat t
it. The English had to persuade the Armenians to send their goods m ships.
The caravan routes proved reasonably secure and also quick, to the exten
54) Calvin H. Allen Jr., 'The Indian Merchant Community of Masqat', Bulletin of th
School of Oriental and African Studies, 40,4,1 (1981) pp. 39-53.
55) Mesrovb Jacobs Seth, The Armenzans in India (Calcutta, 1937), pp. 122-126, 282-283
and 604-606; Gopal, 'Armenian Traders in India in the Seventeenth Century', in Guha
(ed.) Central Asia, pp. 200-213.
64) Muhammad
Haig, H.shim
2 vols (Calcutta, Khdfif
1869) Kh.n,
2, p. 651. Mun
65) M. Alam, The Crists of Empire in Mug
169-175.
vient to the coercive state system, while the markets were generated throu
the unproductive lifestyle of the ruling class, which thrived, in turn, on
irrationally high claim over the social surplus66). The financial difficultie
of the nobles, it could well be argued, affected the prospects of trade as we
But this model helps us appreciate the situation within a limit only. Furthe
the trade in India in general was little affected because of the financ
distress of the Mughal nobles in the eighteenth century.
Much work is to be done before we can say anything in definitive term
about the nature and extent of the Khatris' share in political power. But i
is interesting to note that the Khatris saw themselves as a people who com
bined tjyarat or trade with amdrat or dominion. Anand Ram Mukhlis, a not
eighteenth century Khatri poet and author speaks boastfully of numer
Khatris who excelled in both67).
What is of greater interest to us is that if, on the one hand, the Khatr
who were principally a business community had a share in administrat
and politics, some of the members of the Mughal ruling elites, on the oth
also participated in trade. Shahjahan not only defended the Indian overseas
merchants, especially the Muslim shippers, he also had his ships in Sur
kdrkhdnas in Burhanpur, like his son, Prince' Ddra Shukoh, and daugh
Princess Jahdn Ara68). Awrangzeb, as a prince, tried to build his own por
in Sind, and his grandson, Prince CAzim-al-Shan, as is well known, w
accused of saud-z-khas, monopolistic control over business, in Chittago
and Dacca69). Among the nobles, Shdyasta Khhn and quite a few others
Bengal, for instance have been noted in our sources as merchants
descending from a family of merchants (tiajrat-plsha and tdjir-zddeh)70).
From the history of the trade with Central Asia we get a considera
amount of evidence of a close link between trade and politics. The majmic
z- Wathd'iq refers to one Mirzd Salim, son of Mawlana Ibrdahim Sadr,
important member of the ruling elite (natyjat-al-umdra, amadrat mai 'b) who wa
Masqat
royal and Subh.nand
establishment Quli
for Khin
sale tofrom India,
the nobles andboth for consumption
the members of the royalin the
family, through their favourite slaves. And since the Hajj offered an ideal
occasion for trade, they showed not merely special concern for the protec-
tion of the Uzbek HSijjis and traders, but also tried to promote good rela-
tions with the Sharif of Mecca 7 ).
Further, our sources also help us in getting some idea of how Indian mer-
chants adjusted to different social and political situations to maintain their
credit-worthy status and to protect and promote their trade. Their par-
ticipation in administration and politics apart, the fact that they operated
across frontiers imposed constraints on them. It had to appear that their
movements ensured good for all. They were thus allies, at home, of the
Mughals, earned favours from the Safavids and succeeded in maintaining
their own autonomous organization in Central Asia. In Astrakhan, as
Stephen Dale tells us, the Indian merchants lived in separate quarters and
followed their own customs and rituals. But, being unaccompanied by
women, they had mistresses and sometimes even married women from th
local Turkic groups75). In the Uzbek territory too, the Hindus had th
own leader (dqsaqdl, kaldntar) to take care of their needs and maintain com
munity cohesion. The aqsaqdl appointed by a royal order (manshur), enjoy
the ruler's support to deal autonomously with the affairs of his communi
spread over the towns of the Uzbek Khanate 76). Not much is known abou
their internal organization. We can only speculate that they were there w
their own priests and had their own places of worship, like in Baku in Az
baijan. We can also speculate that the Hindu Khatris, like the other tradin
communities in the region 77), settled their disputes, including commerci
and succession issues, according to their own caste and family rules 78
The facilities for autonomous community organization, again, seem to b
a seventeenth-century phenomenon, a follow up of the Indians' Increas
strength of number and of a newly developing general policy in the regio
of tolerance and co-existence. The earlier pattern seems to have been a
different. While we notice Hindu quarters in fifteenth-century Bukhara
Samarqand, we also see the Indian merchants and master craftsmen gettin
almost completely absorbed into local society. They lived in mixed mohalla
their houses and shops surrounded by those of the local Uzbeks or t
Ta-jiks. Many abandoned their ancestral religion, took Muslim names, mar
ried Uzbek women and were identified with their in-laws 79). And in com
mercial and money matters they all had to approach the courts of the loc
qddis.
IV
That the trade with Central Asia had an important impact on the histor
of the region is stating the obvious. But the details of this impact are yet
be identified. We now probably know enough of the history of Mug
North India to be able to suggest a link between this trade and t
60 657 707'
oshkent -
KwUZOE"
Nosof
(Sk
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Mvry 4 Termer
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Balkh Bodkhson
0 Tokeqofl
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THE AFAVIDS hn
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HU DI A N .. r)a m
25
*(' 70'
Further:
And:
"Without capital, the Trader looks about in the four continents (in vain),
For he knows not the Reality that his capital lies buried within himself.
Without the merchandise, he grieves and grieves,
The False one is deceived by Falsehood.
He who has the knowledge of the Jewel (within himself) reaps
profit, over and over again,
And gathers his goods at home and fulfils
himself, (Mind),
Trade with the True Traders and dwell on the Lord,
through the Gurfi's words"
The visible growth by the sixteenth century of big and small towns in the
Punjab, Multan and Sind and the areas north of Delhi was another signifi-
cant feature of North-Indian history All these towns were connected with
each other through roads and riverine routes. The entire area then came to
be linked, on the one hand, to India's eastern and western seashores, while
opening up, on the other, to Central Asia and Persia through Kabul and
Qandahar. The well-known road building activity of Shar Shah Stiri (1530-
1545) here is worth noting: ".... and he [Sher Shih] built a road with
resthouses which commenced from the fort that he had constructed in the
Punjab and it ran up to the town of Sonargaon, which lay situated on th
edge of the Bay of Bengal. He built another road that ran from the city of
Agra to Burhanpur, on the borders of the Deccan. He made another roa
80) Chetan Singh, Regzon and Empire: Punjab in the Seventeenth Century (Delhi, 1991), p
173-203.
81) 'Abbas Khan S~rwani, Tirfkh-i-Shir Shdih, ed. Imamuddin (Dacca, 1964), pp.
216-217
,K "9,irabad.Paithan
ab Jamia Ghakkar Kangra -32
32- Eminabad *Kahnuwahan eas I
S BS MS
91 ,RA Khan Nuruddin jh
Naurangba Fatehabad ar
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Naushahra Nurrnahat Phillaur - -31
1Sadghara Firozpur Ludhlana oMhachhiwar Plaur
Shor
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K
arappa Dipalpur
h ar
Lasnr Khanna
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Tulamba Pattan Ambal hzrabad
Qabula Bhatinda
Su"amu am
-( Tirawari e
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Sarai Pul.cc
Karnal
oBhatnair Gharaunda
PaLPan'at rana
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*0 Sidhmukh Nareta Hapur
T Luckn
DELHI Ghaziud in Na
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_40 60 8 Pataudi *u
20 20_40 60 80
Kms
Pataudiallabga
.Jhunjunu Rewar, Sohna 'al Khu
Narnaul . 28
720 73o 740 75 760 ~77 780
Map III. Towns and Production Centres in Punjab and Delhi
Century
Tabriz 84). Our sources also mention the Afghan tribes of Qandahar in
markets of Sind"5). Towards the later decades of the seventeenth century,
Shikarpur began to emerge as a major entrep6t mn Sind, where, later in the
eighteenth century, many trading families from the upper Indus country,
84) Muhammad Hddi Kimwar Khan, Tadhkirat-al-Salatin Caghta, (Portions dealing with
the post-Awrangzeb period). ed. Muzaffar Alam (Bombay, 1980), pp. 53 and 335.
85) Khwajd CAbd-al-Karm Kashmiri, Bayan-z-Wdqic, ed. K.B. Nasim (Lahore, 1970), p.
57
Asian disciples
Chanykov through
Collection, No. "Hindu.n-i-Shikirp
83, ff. 167a-174b. U
is not given; but the MS contains a number of
including
their Shaykh
associates Ahmad
and Sirhindi,
disciples Mirz;
in Central M
Asi
88) Alam, Crisis of Empire, pp. 134-147, 18
89) L. Lockhart, Nadir Shah (London, 1938) pp. 35-45; Roger Savory, Iran under the
Safavtds (Camaridge, 1980), pp. 226-54; Encyclopedia Irantca, Vol. 5, pp. 193-195.
90) Commans, 'Mughal India and Central Asia'
91) Hifiz Tanish Sharaf-ndma-z-shadhT, f. 451a.
dynamism is not always tenable. I would suggest the need for a cautious re-
thinking There is evidence of an agrarian crisis in regions like in Punjab.
But the explanation for this should not be traced back only to the internal
working of the Mughal system. To understand the crisis we also need to
look at the fluctuations of trade caused by the factors beyond the pale of the
Mughal jurisdiction as well as at the vicissitudes in the relationship of the
Mughal state with the outside world.