UNIVERS-ITYOFMICHIGAN TIIE COMPANY WEAVERS OF BENGAL This volume is sponsored by the Inter-Faculty Committee for South Asian Studies University of Oxford Google Original frcm 01gitized by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Or19lnal from UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Oxford University South Asian Studies series THE COMPANY WEAVERS OF BENGAL The East India Company and the Organization .. of Textile Production in Bengal 1750-1813 HAMEEDA ~SSAIN DELHI OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS BOMBAY CALCUTfA MADRAS 1988 Google Original frcm 01gitized by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN !ID C/886 ":J. 'f3 ff '/,;;i_ Ox/Md U,U,,.nily P,,,,, Wohcn Strttl, Ox/Md OX26DP Nt>. Y0 1.I: T0 1onto /C/8~ Dtllii Bombay Ca/cUlta Madtas Karoclu Pttaling Joya Singapott Hong Kong Tokyo Noi1obi Da1 ts Salaam Mtl"°"'1w A i.ckliutd and auocialn in Btirut Bt1/in Ibadan Nicruia © Oxford Univtnil)' P1tss 1988 SBN 19 562fHJ 7 Typatl by Taj &rvicts, Noida, U. P., lnditl Prinlld by Rtkhll Printen Pvt. Lid., New DtUU 11()()2() Publislitd by S. K. Moo.l:nju, Ox/01d Uniwnity l'ra8, YMCA Library Building, Joi Singh Road, New Ddhi Jl(J(J()l Google 0119lflal from 01g1t1,.dby UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ... b . -- , . : CONTENTS Acknowltdgtmtnts vii Abbreviations 1x /nlroduction XJ 1 The Social and Economic Environment 1 2 The Weaver at Work 20 3 Markets, Merchants and Money 64 4 The Weavers under the Company's Control 108 5 Production Centres of the Company: The Dhaka 140 Arangs: 1792- 1806 Conclusion 173 Appnadicu 1PriceofriceinBengal,1750-1800 179 2 Price of sugar in Bengal, 1750-1800 180 3PriceofmustardoilinBengal, 1750-1800 181 4 Price of gur in Bengal, 1750-1800 182 5PriceofghiinBengal, 1750-1800 183 6 List of assortments manufactured in Bengal 184 7 Types of merchant organizations involved in the 187 textile trade Glossary 189 Bibliography 195 Index 205 Google Original frcm 01gitized by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MAPS· Map I Areas of cotton cultivation in Bengal and places of import from India 32 Map 2 Some factories and arangs established by the Company which indicate the density of production 72 Map 3 Commercial settlements and weavers' quarters in Dhaka 142 ILLUSTRATIONS between pages 46- 47 I Woman ginning cotton ' 2 Woman cleaning cotton 3 Dhunera or carder with his bow 4 Woman spinning by hand 5 'Muhammedan woman spinning' 6 'Weaver sticking a warp' 7 Weavers straightening the warp threads 8 'Weaver called Julahas' mussulmaun~ 9 Weaver seated at a pit loom . . 10 Cotton ,muslin. Dhaka. Nineteenth century 11 Embroidered border and ends" in purple '.and· green. " . Dhaka. 1800 '. · . ' . Endpapers: ·Processes in the manufacture o{ Dhaka muslin . (J. Forbes Watson, Textile !rfariufuftura f'f India, 1. 886). Google Original frcm 01gitized by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In my work, I have received and advice from many per ~upport sons whom I shall remember even though I cannot acknowledge them individually. My special thanks go to my supervisor, Dr Tapan Raychaudhuri, for his guidance and support; to Profes sor Abdur Razzaq, National Professor, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, for his encouragement and for his insights into the eighteenth century; to Dr Barun De, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta; to members of the India Institute at the Bodleian Library; to those at the India Office Library. who provided valuable assistance in my search for sources, particularly to Mr Michael O'Keefe for introducing me to the Bengali Manuscripts, recently discovered in its stacks, and to the Painting and Drawing Section for providing illustrations. plates 1- 9; to the. Trustees of the Victoria and Alben Museum for pennission to reproduce plates 10 and 11; to Dr Anisuzzaman. Professor of Bengali, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, whose help in de ciphering the eighteenth-century Bengali script and language was indispensable for the interpretation of these documents; equally important was his help in analysing the records. This work was submitted for the D.Phil. degree at Oxford Uni versity in 1982. I am grateful to St Antony's College and the Beit Fund for making this possible. As one of my examiners, Major J.B. Harrison was particularly helpful in giving very detailed criti cism. I hope I have been able to incorporate his suggestions. In preparing the manuscript for publication I have also sought advice from Dr Mafakharul Islam, Professor of History, University of Dhaka. Mrs Humaira Ahmed's assistance with typing has been invalu able. Thanks are due to the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh for permission to use material originally published in an article entitled 'The Company Controls over Textile Production: Implica tions of its Legal Framework for Weavers 1757 to 180()'. in the Journal oft he Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Vol. XXVlll. Google Original frcm 01gitized by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN VIII Acknowledgements No I, June 1983; and to the Indian Economic and Social History Review for data which was published as 'Alienation of Weavers: Impact of the Conflict between the Revenue and Commercial Interests of the East India Company', July-September 1979, Vol. XVI, No 3. A briefer version of the material in chapter V has appeared in the Oxford Universily Papers on India, Volume 1, part 2. Without the moral support given by Kamal, Sara and Dina this work would never have been completed. Google Original frcm 01gitized by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN