Inscribed Pots, Emerging Identities: The Social Milieu of Trade

Abstract

This chapter is an attempt at defining the social milieu of trade in peninsular India between the 4th century bce and the 4th century ce, the objective being to highlight the social factors that determined economic activity. It is suggested here that in the historical period, one significant use of writing was for trading activity. The chapter primarily focuses on patterns of use and the distribution of written records in an attempt to highlight both temporal and spatial variations. The use of copper plates for recording marks another turning point in the history of writing and is dated in the peninsula to the middle of the 4th century. These inscriptions have been studied with reference to the emergence of the feudal order and patterns of patronage and notions of kingship. The attempt here is to utilize these as social markers of literate groups, which included religious clergy and trading communities, and for defining transformations in trading networks.