Commerce and Culture in South Asia: Perspectives from Archaeology and History

Abstract

This review examines aspects of the trajectory of economic change in South Asia, particularly the development of markets, money, commercial production, and certain specialized economic institutions, in light of the longer historical experience of posturban polities. A review of archaeological and historical evidence from the Early Historic (500 bc–ad 500) through the Middle Period (ad 500–1600) highlights several consistent themes: urbanization and related transformation of settlement; monetization and the increasing role of production for markets; the volatile relationship between long-distance exchange and local political and economic structure; the intensification of production; and the shifting roles of religious and other institutions such as monasteries, temples, and guilds.