Nature of Trade in Eastern India:The scenario in the latter half of early medieval period (9th century A.D.-12th century A.D.)

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This paper deals with trade, trade-routes and commerce of the eastern region of India in the latter half of the early medieval period i.e. 9th to 12th century A.D. The modern states of Bihar, Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam and modern Bangladesh have been incorporated in the thrust area. A brief literary review have been done, sources have been highlighted, the political scenario have been discussed and a thorough review of the different views of historians regarding trading activities in this period have been sought out, before entering into the main domain. The region in the period under review have received the least attention as a subject for research, may be due to paucity of primary sources and also may be due to the prevalent predominant theory of decline and feudalization of trade and commerce, which has hindered the progress of the study of the nature of trade in the concerned thrust area. In this paper, both literary and archaeological sources, specially epigraphical sources have contributed to the maximum, providing the paper the needed resources for an informative get up. Both internal and external, overland and overseas trading activities and inter state and inter national trade routes have also been taken into account. The main objective of this paper has been to deduce the existence of trade against a feudal backdrop. Key words: eastern India, early medieval period, trade, commerce, cowries, dramma, puraI„nIŸa  This paper