How Tamil Nadu remained a global trade hub for many centuries

Time of India

22-06-2025

The economy of Tamil Nadu has shifted decisively to a high growth trajectory with the service sector contributing more than 54 % of the GDP and the manufacturing sector at around 34%.
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This figure when seen in the light of historical evidence is neither surprising nor unexpected. Industrial goods have turned up in archaeological excavations at Keeladi, Adichanallur, Kodumanal, Pattaraiperumbuddur and several other places. The megalithic sites distributed over the dry plains of Tamil Nadu have yielded beads made of carnelian and other semi-precious stones like agate, beryl and amethyst. The social organization necessary for such sophisticated industrial enterprises is reflected in the development of craft guilds and specialized merchant bodies which traded goods produced in Tamil Nadu, like steel, textiles, ceramics and metalware all across the Indian Ocean from the Red Sea to the Straits of Malacca and beyond.
The history of trade and mercantile activity from the Coromandel Coast to port towns located in present day Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam forms the mainstay of research both by Indian and Western scholars. Inscriptions of the early medieval period in both Tamil and other languages attest to the presence of merchant bodies like the famous "nanadesi" merchants who traded in the "five hundred directions". This particular guild which is revealed in early inscriptions had a long presence and seems to have operated almost till the end of the twelfth century.
Originating in Aihole in Karnataka, this merchant body worked in nagaram or trading centres where they carried out business activities which included sale of commodities which included essentials like rice, salt and cloth. Luxury goods like silk and aromatic products were dealt with by specialized merchants. Inscriptions from Kanchi Managaram from the early Chola period speak of the active role played by traders carrying out trade in luxury products.
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Farm products like arecanuts, flowers, ginger, turmeric figure prominently in medieval inscriptions. Forest products like timber, animal skins and elephant tusks are also known to have formed part of the goods involved in trade. We also have finished goods like iron ingots, gold and silver jewelry and textiles being exported from the region.
The rise of the Cholas in the Kaveri region around the middle of the ninth century AD gave further fillip to the flourishing trade with South East Asia, particularly the Srivijaya empire.
Chinese sources speak of trade missions that reached China from the Pandyan kingdom. The archaeological evidence from the port of Quanzhou suggests that merchants from Tamil Nadu were living in the port and an inscription of AD 1279 points to the presence of a temple at that site.
Excavations have led to the discovery of a temple whose fragments are now preserved in the museum. Similarly, an seafaring vessel was recovered from Kadakkarappally, a site in Kerala which can be dated to the medieval period.
Artifacts of Tamil origin have been found in South East Asia and these include textiles, religious icons, vessels made of copper and bronze and iron tools and weapons.
Historians are unanimous in placing the Tamil region as a preeminent trading and commercial hub of the medieval period. In AD 1025 when Rajendra Chola I (1014-1044) launched a naval expedition against Srivijaya, it appears that mercantile interests were significantly impacted as several towns and cities in Srivijaya were destroyed.
The trade in goods was sustained by the organized production of artisans in craft centres which contained weavers, carpenters, jewelers, metal workers and potters all of whom carried out their trade in fixed peasant localities termed as nadus. Merchants and traders belonging to various guilds gathered the goods produced and helped distribute them across the region and through the trans-oceanic routes to China and Southeast Asia.
Marco Polo's testimony of the shipping he witnessed when he arrived at Kayalpattinam suggests that even as late as the 13th century, goods produced in the region were finding their way across the Bay of Bengal.
More recently, we have seen trading communities from South India emerge as entrepreneurs and bankers in different parts of Southeast Asia particularly Malaysia and Myanmar. Falling back on historical links with regional trading communities, backed by entrepreneurial knowhow and social capital, helped build businesses that could hold their own even against discriminatory practices of colonial rulers.
The author earned his PhD in Medieval History from the University of Hawaii and was a lecturer at Pondicherry University for 35 years