Trade and Commerce of South Kongu with Special Reference to Udumalpet: Networks, Guilds and Regional Integration (c. 300 BCE–1300 CE)

Abstract

 This paper analyses the trade and business structure of the South Kongu region and specifically the Udumalpet area placing the region in the network of exchange of the peninsular India. Despite the numerous studies of the centres of ancient Tamilagam on the coastline, inland centres like Udumalpet are rather a neglected topic in the economic-historical literature. The area of the early historic to Medieval period (c. 300 BCE1300 CE) is covered by the study, which claims that South Kongu was an inland commercial area to integrate the Palghat Gap, Amaravathi basin, and the Kaveri plains. The work is based on the epigraphical documentation of Kolumam and other nadu divisions, Sangam literature, Roman numismatic record and archeological records of Kodumanal and Boluvampatti. With the help of historical-spatial reconstruction, the paper discovers trade routes, organization of merchant guilds, taxation systems, financial regulation, and industrial production patterns. The results reveal that South Kongu was marked with organized peruvali roads, institutionalized guild structures, the diversification of trading in the form of textiles, agricultural products and dairy and the regulatory functions of temples. Udumalpet became an even more central inland exchange point between maritime imports and agrarian zones of interior and the structural importance of interior routes to support long-distance exchange remains considerable.