TOWNS
AND CITIES
The role of towns should be understood. Gujarat cities such
as Surat, Cambay, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Baruch have been studied by historian
Briggs, G. W. Forest in his work ‘The Cities of India’ in 1903, made a study of
fifteen towns – Bombay, Surat, Ahmedabad, Mt. Abu and Ajmer, Jaipur, Delhi, Agra,
Fatehpur Sikri, Lucknow, Kanpur, Benares, Calcutta, Madras, Pondicherry and
Cuddalore.
However, this study was more in the nature of a travel
guide and rater sketchy in content.
A socio-economic survey of cities and towns may be made on
the following categorization.
1. Imperial
capitals – Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Delhi
2. Provincial
capitals:
a. Bengal
– Rajmahal, Dacca and Murshidabad
b. Bihar
– Patna, Azimabad
c. Awadh
– Lucknow
d. Deccan
– Hyderabad
3. The
three Presidency towns – Madras, Bombay and Calcutta
4. Commercial
centers and sea ports – Thatta (Sindh), Broach, Cambay, Surat, Goa,
Masulipattam, Ballasore, Hugli, etc.
5. Inland
emporiums – Ahmedabad, Bawde, Lahore, etc.
6. Religious
centers – Banaras, Multan, Puri, etc.
In many cases the lines of classification may cross each
other. E.g. Agra was both a political capital and an inland commercial center.
Patna was a provincial headquarter as well as an inland mart.
Physical aspects
As in late Medieval Europe, the rapid growth of towns in
number, sizes as well as wealth, was a striking phenomenon in the
socio-economic life of Mughal India. According to Prof. K. M. Ashraf – ‘The
peculiar conditions prevailing during the Turko-Afghan period in Hindustan gave
rise to urban life in some big towns which also served as the seat of local and
provincial administration. The towns were usually walled and protected and also
served as centers of refuge to the neighboring population in times of danger
and insecurity. In times of peace, they served as centers of distribution of
agricultural produce and industrial goods’.
These towns and cities were also centers of social and
intellectual culture and gave an impetus to economy as a whole. During this
period, some of the big cities were Delhi, Gaur, Cambay, Khambayat, Multan and
religious centers like Mathura and Ujjain. A few towns were built by Alauddin
Khilji, Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq and Firoz Tughlaq. The provincial kingdoms had
their own urban centers while in the Deccan there were cities like Vijaynagar,
Bidar, Gulbarga, etc.
But during the sixteenth and seventeenth a large number of
towns and cities grew in the Mughal Empire as well as the Decca. Some were new
and other were an evolution from older units. An illustration of the rise of
new towns was the construction of a fort at Patna in 1541 by Shershah and under
Akbar, Lahore and Agra forts were built at almost the same time (1565-80).
Fatehpur Sikhri which became Akbar’s capital grew out of a small village. Shah
Jahan redesigned Delhi as an urban center in the seventeenth century named Shahjahanabad.
‘Surat and Ahmedabad also grew in the later medieval period
due to the expansion of commerce, the wealth, prosperity and culture of many
Indian towns and cities impressed the foreigner (foreign visitors and
travelers).
In Medieval Europe, a town with a population of 20,000 was
considered to be very big. The Mughal Empire made Akbar was stated by
Nizamuddin Ahmed to contain 120 big cities and 3200 Qasbas (townships). Each
Qasba contained 100-1000 villages. (Agra – largest city in Medieval India in
seventeenth century)
Ralph Fitch found it a ‘great and popular city’. Jesuits
like Fr. Manrique and Xavier have made estimate of its large population. Even
after the Mughal court shifted to Delhi, Agra continued to be larger than Delhi
both in geographical size and population. The French traveller Bernier observed
that Delhi could be compared to Paris the largest city in Europe. According to
Fr. Coryat ‘Lahore was larger than Agra, greater than Constantinople, and he
calls Lahore ‘one of the largest cities of the whole universe’. Ahmedabad was
described by the English factors as bigger than London. William Finch has
described Surat in the seventeenth century as a city which contained many rich
merchants with their beautiful houses. Masulipattam was described by Frier as
containing a population of two lakhs. Benares and Patna were also observed to
be very important cities by foreign travelers.
Various factors were responsible for the development of
towns and cities in Mughal India. The most important factor was the gradual
transformation of some agricultural communities into urban.
1. Administrative
and Military
The establishment of the Mughal Empire
with increasing peace and security, the urban ethos of the ruling elite, and
the increasing opportunities of making a living in towns and cities – all
encouraged growing members of people shifting to royal camps and living under
the protection of the fort walls of cities. Developments of such a kind
occurred at Agra, Patna, Lahore and Delhi.
E.g. Murshidabad in Bengal (Provincial
Areas)
Deccan – Shivaji 240 forts (Some of these
forts became a hub of urban centers).
2. Commercial
factors
Because of Arab traders, coastal towns
became important. Malabar Coast – Urbanization because Arabs dominated the
Indian Ocean and Red Sea trade.
Vasco da Gama – 1498 – Europeans penetrate
sea frontier – Portuguese, English, Dutch and French.
New markets (growth of) for India’s
manufacturers. Old ports are given a new life – Surat, Cambay, Baroach and new
sea port towns formed – Bombay Balasore, Hubli, Calcutta.
3. Religious
Many traditional religious centers in
India e.g. Multan, Benaras, Mathura, Allahabad, Tirupati
Tombs and dargahs attracted people e.g.
Ajmer.
4. Geographical
and strategic factors
Natural strategic factors influenced the
growth of towns on certain sites. E.g. Delhi – Indraprastha from ancient period
(7 lives).
Agra on Jamuna river (Ganga- Jamuna
highway of trade upto Bengal).
Patna – (made important by Shershah)
strategic for trading purposes.
Surat – Tapti (estuary) river –
geographical position
Calcutta – (English) on Hoogli river.
Dutch (based at Chinsura) and French (based
at Chandarnegore) did not have river facility.
According to Prof. K. M. Ashraf, during the Turko Afghan
period, there was an urban ethos and the development of urban towns and cities
and even in the Mughal period there was a special urban system. Mughal
courtiers, officers and upper and middle class preferred town life to village
life.
Ref. K. M. Ashraf – Medieval India
