The close connection between political power and business elite in
Gujarat goes back at least one thousand years. When Lavananprasada, the Vaghela
Chief wanted
to revive his sick empire in the early 13th century, he
asked fellow King (nominally his overlord) Bhima II for a minister, who at the
same time would be proficient in both replenishing the treasury and winning
battles. Bhima II lent him the services of two brothers, Vastupala and
Tejahpala. Through their military as well as financial success and patronage of
religion and literature, they soon overshadowed their political masters.
Vastupala, as the governor of Cambay, managed to curb piracy and greatly
contributed to growth of commerce at the premier port, resulting in huge
increase in revenue collection. He also defeated the ruler of South Gujarat or
Lata. As a result of this success, he was elevated to the post of the Prime
Minister, which he continued to occupy till his death. Tejahpala defeated the Chieftain
of Godhra, thereby extending the eastern boundary of the state and opening up
new trade routes. After Vastupala’s death in 1238 or 1241 CE, Tejahpala
succeeded him as the Prime Minister and continued till his death (either in
1247 or 1251 CE). More than anything else, it was their prudential fiscal
management, which helped Gujarat to become a rich state during this period and
greatly encouraged internal and external trade.
A large number of prabandhs
(essays), prasastis (panegyrics),
plays and kavyas (poetic
compositions) attest to the stellar role these two brothers played in
development of the state and culture in the first half of the thirteenth
century. Their contemporary, Jagadu was perhaps more important as a merchant,
who maintained his representatives in all major ports in Western India and
Middle East, including Hormuz in Persian Gulf. His life has been celebrated in
his biography, Jagaducharit. Once
when harvest failed, he opened his granary to feed the poor. He renovated old
temples and even built a mosque for Muslims.
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| Vastupala Vihar, Girnar |
Vastupala and Tejahpala were born in a family of aristocratic merchants
of Anahilavada. Their maternal grandfather, a Pragvata merchant, also served as
governor. This shows how a tradition established during the time of Vanaraja,
founder of the Chavada dynasty in the eighth century expanded over the next few
centuries. Vanaraja was helped to the throne by merchants and he symbolically
acknowledged their help by asking Sridevi, sister of a merchant to apply tilak on his forehead during his
coronation. He also appointed Jamba Sresthi as his Prime Minister. Vanaraja
invited merchant prince Ninnaya to the capital Anahilavada. Ninnaya eventually
became his prime counsellor and his family supplied a long list of ministers
and senior government officers for more than three centuries.
During the reign of Jayasimha Siddaraja (1093-1143), a number of Jain
merchants-turned-ministers like Sajjan (from the family of Jamba), Udayana,
Santu, and Munjala played the most important role in military-administrative as
well as financial matters. King Kumarpala (1143-1172) came to the throne with
the assistance of leading Jain merchants like Udayana and to defray the cost of
regular warfare, continued to depend on their resources. Though a Hindu, he
showed great reverence to Jain temples and preachers as Jain merchants
continued to be his main pillar of support. Merchants gained social status by
joining royal service at the highest level and probably this helped them to
expand their businesses too. On the other hand, the state benefitted from their
overall managerial and financial skills.
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| Dilwara Temple, Mt Abu |
Extraordinary commercial success in the post-10th-century
period also led the Gujarati traders to systematically train their next
generations. Most of the rich merchants employed home tutors but there are also
mentions of schools (Vidyamatha) and
arrangements for imparting basic education at Jain mathas. A compilation of essential commercial documents–Lekhapaddhati–establishes beyond doubt
the existence of a class of highly proficient clerks, who used to draft loan
agreements and bills of exchanges. Jain teachers, particularly Jinesvara Suri
and Hemachandra, advised merchants never to cheat on either weight or quality.
They also advised maintaining a close relation with the King and always flatter
the King in public as his support was crucial for business.
Though it is doubtful whether every businessman followed the path of
ethical business as we have enough examples from contemporary texts about
unfair means adopted by greedy merchants, but the general impression was that
of an industrious and enterprising business community. Nearly half a century
after Vastupala, Marco Polo echoes this while describing the Gujarati merchants
as the best business community in the world.
In Gujarat, trading castes like Pragvatas and Srimalas produced major
poets, men of letters and patrons of art. The greatest Gujarati scholar of this
period, Hemachandra, who wrote a new grammar, new metrics, new logic and a
defining work on the biography of Jinas, was son of a Modha merchant. Vastupala
was a noted poet himself and a large number of literary works were inspired by
him. Unusual for his age, he built three public libraries in Anahilavada,
Cambay, and Broach and an auditorium solely for staging dramatic performances.
Tejahpala’s famous wife Anupama, well known for her intelligence, composed a Kankana Kavya or verse for women. The
miniature paintings found in well-illustrated Jain manuscripts of this
period–executed under the patronage of rich merchants–provide one of the
earliest examples of the Indian miniature paintings. Prominent Gujarati
merchants spent a considerable part of their fortunes for construction of
temples, tanks, and other public utilities. Even after so many centuries, some
of the examples of their munificence at Mount Abu, Girnar, Palitana, and other
places still bedazzle us.
For more such stories related to Indian business history,
see Laxminama: Monks, Merchants, Money and Mantra by Anshuman Tiwari and
Anindya Sengupta Bloomsbury 2018
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