Post graduation.Ancient Indian History. University of Delhi. By:-Sanchit Raj.
HISTORY OF INDIA FROM c.200 BCE TO 600 CE.
TOPIC – ‘GUILD ORGANIZATION IN ANCIENT INDIA’
Introduction:-
Harappan culture can be said to be the first developed civilization in India. so, it is accepted that there were economic organization in the harappan period, our knowledge of such organization remains nebulous for the lack of documentary evidence in this regard. there are several terms, frequently occur in the vedic literature, Sreni, Gana, Puga, Vrata, and Naigama, which denoted to co-operative organization in ancient India. so, some socio-economic, religious and political conditions had now become favorable for the emergence and growth of guilds.In the Buddhist and Jaina texts, naigama is used in the sense of commercial town centre inhibited by many tradesmen.However, division of labour under the varna system was conducive to the emergence of guild organization.Agriculture,cattle farming & trade, the three occupations of the vaisyas, in the course of time, developed as separate groups. The sudras, besides serving other varnas, took up such menial crafts as were looked down upon by the higher varnas,while some non-aryans, mostly incorporated into the sudra varna of the brahmanical society, too, came to form separate economic groups.
The emergence of sizeable kingdoms, from c.6th century BCE, led to the interlinking of far-flung areas and most of facilitated procurement of raw materials from, and sale of finished goods in distant regions. the pooling of resourses & managable skills could be achieved better by traders and craftsmen organised into guilds. The growth of towns and cities provided better prospects to artisans & made a number of village artisans migrate to cities. The use of iron became widespread for agricultural land and plough fields. this would have helped in the production of grain in surplus, enabling more artisans to act as whole-time craftsmen,receiving food in the lieu of artifacts manufactured by them.
Buddhism and Jainism, that emerged in the 6th century BCE, were more egalitarian than brahmanism and provided a better environment for the growth of guilds. material wealth and animals were sacrified in the brahmanical yajnas.the Buddhist and Jaina did not perform such yajnas.thus, material wealth and trade were saved and made available for trade and commerce. The Gautama Dharmasutra (c.5th century BC) states that ‘cultivators’,traders,herdsmen,money-lenders, and artisans have authority to lay down rules for their respective classes and the king was to consult their representatives while dealing with matters relating to them.the state seems to have come to exercise some contron over guild by appointing an official “bhandagarika” with ‘judgeship over all guilds’. In the jatakas tales, besides internal trade, there are also references to trade with Tamraparni( Sri-lanka),Suvarnabhumi(Sumatra),&Baneru(Babylonia).
The Mauryan empire (c.322-185 BCE ) witnessed better maintained high-ways and increased mobility of men & merchandise. the state participated in agriculture & industrial production.the government kept a record of trades & crafts and related transaction and convention of guilds, indicating state intervention in guild affairs.The state alloted guilds separate in a town for running their trade and crafts. the members of the tribal republics that lost political power due to their incorporation in the extensive mauryan empire took to crafts and trades and formed economic organization. Kautilya, considers the possibility of guilds as agencies capable of belonging centre of power.
Pre-Mauryan period (600-320 BCE )
The sixth century BCE is unique in ancient india for emergence of the sixteen mahajanpadas which led to the transformation of loyality from ‘tribal organization’ to ‘politico- geographical units’ ( Ghosh,1974,p-4). The use of writing helped in the codification of laws and in accountancy, and the introduction of coin-age, in the collection of taxes,payment of wages and also in the development of trade and commerce. the large scale use of iron tools and implements contributed to a considerable development in agriculture production, and transport.
Localization of Guilds:
Some towns were specially known for excellence in certain crafts,eg; Mathura and Kashi for their clothes. Kautilya prescribes allotment of different quarters and streets to the followers of different crafts,and even to merchants dealing with different merchandise. The Samuddavanjja Jataka refers to migration of the carpenters of a village en masse as, even after receiving advances, they failed to fulfil their commitment of manufacturing articles.
Hereditary Nature of Professions:
The Jatakas stories frequently refer to a son following the craft of his father. often,kula and putta occur as suffixes to craft-names, the former indicating that the whole family adopted a particular craft of his father.this ensured regular trained man-power and created more specialization. it may, however, be pointed out that adopting a family profession was more common with member’s of craftmen’s guilds than with members of trader’s guilds.
Guild Laws:
Guilds had their laws, based on customs and usuage, regarding organization, production, fixation of prices of commodities,etc.these rules were generally recognized by states. The laws were a safeguard against state oppression and interference in guild affairs. The Gautama Dharmasutras enjoins upon the king to consult representatives while dealing with matter concerning guilds. In Kautilya scheme ,a superintendent of accounts was to keep a record of the customs and transactions of corporations. Manu enjoins that a guild member who breaks an agreement must be banished from the realm by the king. According to Yajnavalkya, profits and losses were to be shared by members in proportion to their shares. Yajnavalkya prescribes severe punishment for one who embezzles guild property. In Ancient India, the credit of successfull training of craftmen ,so vital for the development of arts and crafts goes largely to guilds.
Guild structure:-
The guild was a compact organization.it had three components;
(a) The General Assembly
(b) The guild Head
(c) executive officer
(B) The guild head:- The head of the guild is often referred to as the jetthaka or pamukkha in early Buddhist literature.eg;’ head of garland makers’ ( malakara jetthaka ) ,’head of carpenter guilds’ ( vaddaki jetthaka),etc. Carvan merchants were guided by their leader, sarthavaha, who instructed them regarding halting, waterning, etc, and precautions against robbers ,etc. Setthis were merchants-cum-bankers and often headed merchant guilds. they were big businessmen in cities and also held landed property in village, and played an important role in both rural and urban economy.Ancient texts do not specify whether the office of the head of a guild was elective or hereditary.
(C) Executive officers:- To assist the guild head and to look after the day to day business of the guild , executive officers came to be appointed. the earliest reference to executive officers is met with in the Yajnavalkya smriti. their number varied according to need and circumstances.Yajnavalkya says that they should be pure, free from avarice and knowers of the vedas,the mentioned qualification suggests the presence of Brahmanas in the executive council. It is not specially stated whether the executive officers were elected by the assembly or were nominated by the guild head.
There were checks and balance in the functioning of the guilds. The members had the right to speak in the guild assembly. But a speech that was not sensible or that created hurdles in the functioning of a guild was punishable.
Sources of Income and Items of expenditure:-
Considerable amount of money in guilds came from the subscription of their members. profits earned in executing orders formed an important source of income. Fines recovered from erring members were added to guild funds. gifts bestowed by kings on guild heads and executive officers became the property of the guilds. Besides, at times, the guilds might also receive subsidies from the government.Although, the guilds spent a good deal of money on works of charity and religious piety and in providing help to the poor and destitute.
Function of the guilds:-
(a) General economic functions
(b) Functions related to religious piety and charity
(c) Bank- like functions
(d) Administrative functions
Guilds and Castes:
Guilds and Castes,though similar in some respect, are basically different. guilds were economic institutions, castes were social groups. caste is necessarily hereditary, but not guild membership. one could be a member of only one caste, but one could be a member of more than one guild. however, in areas populated by the people of same caste, member of guild and caste coincided and the head of the guild presided by the meetings of both guild & caste.It was only by the early medieval period that guilds become considerably fossilized into occupational sub-castes.
Guilds and the State:-
Guilds enjoyed considerable autonomy, which came not as a favour by the state but by their inherent right.The guilds safeguarded the interests of the traders and craftmen against oppression by the king as well as the legal descrimination they are normally subjected to. To protect the interest of village guilds, entry of an outsiders guild therein was banned. Manu lays down that a king should employ guards and spies near artisan’s shops as a protection against robbers.There is no evidence of a guild or a combination of guilds attempting to capture political power. the guilds of the period were local character, with no central organization. interests of different guilds were of different kinds, sometimes even conflicting and so they could hardly form a joint front against the state. However, in case of contests for succession to the royal throne, they might have helped the claimants of their choice in acquiring it.
Post-Mauryan period ;(200 BCE -300 CE)
In this period north- western and western part of India controlled by the Indo-Greeks, Sakas, Kushanas, and Parthians. India was the main exporter of the luxury items to the Roman empire and earned huge profits. A large number of coins of this period those of the Indo-Greeks, Sakas, Kushanas, Parthians indigenous rulers and tribal republics,cities and guilds have been found, some in hoards (kosambi,1956,p-254). It indicates a greater circulations of money- economy and fairly advancement of bricks trade and commerce,in which guilds must have played a significant role. ‘ Milindapanho’ refers to a numbers of occupational guilds , their number being much greater than the early periods.
The sixth century A.D. witnessed the ascendancy of the landed aristocracy in the forms of samantas over the nigamas ans srenis (Majumdar,B.P.,p-67-68). therefore ,samantas replaced srenis and nihamas in the political administrationof the sixth century A.D. The Dudhapani rock inscription of the 8th century A.D. tells us that three merchants become master of three villages in the Hazaribagh district of Magadha. thus the feudalization of merchants turned them into some kind of landed intermediaries. the dominant power of these feudal lords in the rural economy of this period was a great retrogatory factor. so the growth of feudalism with its emphasis on rural and self- suficient economy can also be expected to have had an adverse impact upon the fortunes of the guilds.
Decline of guild organization:-
The decline of guilds was also result of their being consolidated into sub-castes. In early medieval India, the guild mostly appear to have fossilized into sub-castes (Basham,1967,p-217). with in these sub-castes however some sort of social control over members and the instinct of co-operation which was at the route of all their successes in the beginning ,was rapidly disappearing. This change, therefore, appear to be one of the important factor which contributed to the degeneration of guilds.Although, it was a major cause of the decline of the guilds, in early medieval India,yet it was not the only one cause. It merely accelerated the process of their degeneration in this period (Gopal,1995,p-84). The rapid invasion of Islam in India broke down the vast organization of trade & industry.
Conclusion:-
With the break-up of Mauryan empire and the consequent weakening of state control, the guilds gained their power,prestige, and freedom of activity and became a formidable economic force enjoying considerable judiciala and administrative power & reached their acme in the Gupta Period.
Therefore, the post- gupta period of India was remarked by political unrest and mass emigration for the sake of security, feudalization of merchants, imposition of additional taxes on traders and artisans,competition between temples and guilds for economic benefits, consolidation of guilds into sub-castes, above all scarcity of co-operation, confidence and authoritative control of guilds over their members,.all these were the major factors for the guilds to their strives vigorously under the difficulties. Actually , the root of degeneration of guilds was generated a long prior to early medieval India(Chattopadhya,1999,p-152 ). In spite of unfavourable conditions in early medieval India, the guilds struggled hard to maintain their structure and social status intact, but they ultimately failed and became almost irrelevant in socio-economic society.
Bibliography :-
- Guilds in Ancient India up-to 300 A.D. by Kiran kumar Thaplyal
- class notes
- Exploring early India by Ranbir Chakrabarti
- trade and trade routes by Moti Chandra
5.guilds and monastry by H.P. Roy - guild , the institutional economic base of ancient India by Santosh Mahapatra.
BY: SANCHIT RAJ
COLLEGE : SRI VENKATESWARA COLLEGE.
ViRASAT 