Towns & Cities in Medieval India

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