This book is a part of series of books under the name of ' The Story of Indian Business' and it is mainly about the Multani and Shikaripuri merchants and how they went about building their trading empires in Central Asia .The much romanticized Silk Route as the west have called it was not an easy route that was built overnight but it was built with lot of effort, time, resources and money being spent to make it happen.
The book starts of with firstly throwing away the popular narrative that it was the East India Company and the Dutch who were the first to introduce cross border trade from the northern parts of India.The fact is trade between this region and Central Asia and Europe can be traced to as early as the Ghaznavid period in the 900 AD.
The merchants from Multan ( now in Sind province of Pakistan )most of them from the Khatri and the Arora Community and some even from the Muslim community had traveled far and established trade links in Central Asia( now covering Iran, Afghanistan, Azherbaijan, Uzbekistan and parts of Russia). Trade prospered and was encouraged by the Delhi Sultanate under the Lodhis and also under the various Mughal Kings most prominent among them being Akbar. They realized that it was in their own interest that they did enough to ensure smooth trade happening between their traders and the far off lands in central Asia. The main incentive being the tax collected from the traders, the same was reciprocated by the rulers in these lands across the Hindu Kush Mountains. The kings took many steps to ensure that the road that the traders took to move their caravans , camels laden merchandise was free from enemy and attacking tribes by deploying armed guards and outposts along the route, had enough trees with shades for these traders to rest and enough wells to provide for drinking water.
The major cities that hosted these caravan merchants from India also referred to as Multani or Shikaripuris were Bukharan, Ishrafan, Baku, Samarkhand etc etc all of which had thousands of merchants from India coming year after year and settling down in separate settlements given to them to sell their goods. The main goods they sold were textiles, Indigo, Sugar, Rice and human capital in the form of Slaves and in return they used to bring back Horses ( to be used in the cavalry) fruits, and wool.What ceases to amaze today's historians is also the fact that these merchant s who were predominantly Hindus were very adapt in setting up businesses in there Islamic states of Central Asia, which speaks volumes of how important it was for the local rulers to keep trade and business going, many a times there was friction between these merchants and the locals but the rule of law ensured that the business interests were never harmed.
Various travelers from Europe who were passing through central Asia were is awe of the network that these traders from India had built in the central Asia . They not only were involved in trading but also offered a complete set of financial services including money lending ( Shroff community) and also brokerage services for the farm produces( Dalals ). The concept of Hundis or Bill of Exchange where in to avoid carrying cash across long distances people to carry home to India just a piece of paper with coded language in it and presents it on their arrival in India and get their money here is something that the Multani traders had mastered and is something the European travelers were very impressed with and write about it in their chronicles . They also mention these traders from Multan, Shikaripuri and few Marwaris also were much better and smarter than the famed Jewish money lenders.
The heart of this trading firms that they built was the family firm which ensured that things do not go wrong as they all were part of an extended family or at least the same cast.Trade in this route prospered for a long time until the mid 1800s but after due to Russian invasions, invasion of Multan by the Sikhs, Marathas and British and instability in the Afghan region somehow this once famous busy trading route got dull as traders started looking for new pastures and route.
The book has been written By Scot Levi a Professor at Ohio State University and is more like a text book format taking reference from many books, papers and Chronicles but is worth reading to understand how trade happened and what techniques were used by these shrewd masterful traders from Multan.
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