The Trading World of the Tamil Merchant: Evolution of Merchant Capitalism in the CoromandelThe book focuses on the changes in the trading world of the Tamil merchants in the southern Coromandel region, with the arrival of European trading companies and the concomitant creation of European port enclaves and the rapid expansion of demand for Coromandel cotton textiles. The author uses impressive range of original sources literary, inscriptional and archival to cover a long period of history (beginning with the maritime trade in the Sangam period) to argue that the merchants evolved over the centuries into a distinct class of merchant capitalists with a conscious perception of their identity as an economic and social class. |
Contents
Temples Urbanisation and the Development of Trade | 25 |
The Vijayanagar Period 14001600 | 42 |
Merchants Capitalists in the Early Decades of | 53 |
Structurally Fragmented | 76 |
Merchant Capitalism | 103 |
Merchant Capitalists as a Social Class | 144 |
Conclusion | 168 |
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Common terms and phrases
agriculture Ananda Ranga Pillai Arasaratnam Arcot Asian trade broadcloth cent centres Champakalakshmi chief merchants Chinna Venkatadri Chinnanna Chola cloth trade commercial commodities contract Coromandel coast Coromandel region cotton prices Delhi demand dubash Dutch economic English European exports factors farm February foodgrain Fort St David Fort St George French FSDC Gingee Golkonda governor guilds Ibid important increase inscriptions institutions invoice joint stock Kanchipuram Kasi Viranna Kelavi Chetti longcloth Madras merchants Madurai Malacca Malaya Chetti Manigramam marakkal Masulipatnam medieval mercantile merchant capitalism merchant capitalists Mughal nagaram Nagarattar Nawab Nayaka organisation pagodas Pedda Venkatadri period political Pondicherry Ponkala ports production Pulicat referred revenue rulers San Thome September ships Silappadikaram society South India southern Coromandel specialised St David St George Council Subrahmanyam Sunku Rama Chetti supplying cloth Tambu Chetti Tamil Nadu Tanjavur taxes temple textile trade Timmanna Timmappa town urban urbanisation Vijayanagar villages weavers