The Urban Economy in Premodern Muslim India: Shahjahanabad, 1639-1739
Author(s)
Blake, Stephen P.
Abstract
Attempts to outline a theoretical description of the economy of Mughul India utilizing the writings of Irfan Habib and other historians. Agriculture was the primary mode of production. Many village workers formed long-term patron-client relationships with several families and received shares of the harvests. Others supplied goods and services on an irregular basis and were paid in kind. Nonagricultural workers lived in towns and produced for the market. Most goods and services changed hands through traditional, nonmarket forums. Suggests that Mughul Indian guilds, unlike those in medieval Europe, were not economic associations, but rather social and religious organizations. Urban households were the major units of consumption.
