The Rise of Merchants and Traders in Eighteenth-century Rajasthan, India: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

The collapse of the Mughal Empire in Rajasthan during the first half of the eighteenth century initiated important reconfigurations in its polity, society and economy. Emergence of regional political order and a new notion of commercialisation widened the sphere of engagements of merchants and traders. This article traces the structural changes that ensued, focusing specifically on (a) the emergence of the non-peasant sector in agriculture, (b) the rise of a cross-caste mercantile class and (c) change in commercial relationships under the new governance between the principalities, traders, artisans and the merchants. The research is based on insights from rich archival primary sources from the Rajasthan State Archives in Bikaner, focusing primarily on careful and extensive examination of the Bahis. With the objective of enriching the current understanding of how trade and commerce played a pivotal role in serving as engines of social change and economic growth, this study finds ample evidence of thriving trade, growing commercialisation and capitalist development, characterised by complex financial networks and an intricate system of credit in highly speculative commodity trade markets. Evident economic prosperity in most parts of Rajasthan helps add to the existing literature debunking the idea of eighteenth century being a ‘dark age’.