Saturday, November 28, 2009

ECONOMIC CONDITlON

ECONOMIC CONDITlON

The Sangam economy was mostly self-sufficing. rhe common pel'ple \1 ere most I} agriculturists or cowherds hunters and iishermeil Thew were also manufacture'rs or traders Indigenous mdustnes were iairly ad\'anced and whene\"l'r it was kIt that foreign workmen were specialists in a particular field, they were invited to settle down in Tdmilakam Next to agnculture shlppmg and weal ing were' tlj(' most important and wilh 1\ prMthl'\.1l rdIfS ThL sm,th\ was an important industrial fdctor) 1lI1l'rc c',porLs uf \Yell ere forged and repdlred.

Ldrpentrv was a very comnhm indus­try and was practised as a hereditary profl'SS1H1. Most of the trade WdS carned on by barter Paddy constituted the most commonly ,Kceptcd n1l'dlum ot Lxchange The. most common and possibly the most considerable smgle source of revenue was land tax called kllrtll Rl'vcnuc was also collected from feudatones and \var booty IV hich .\as known as mil.

Tamilakam carried on an exteIblVL trade wIth t )reign countries from very early tnnes. \\l' hnd large hoards of Roman gold cams of the Augustan Age 1I1 mdilY parts of South India.

These kingdoms were taIrlV nh rhev grel\, spices, especially pepper, and exported them tu the western world. They also supplied l\'ory, which II as valued by the 'Nest. The sed Yielded pearls and the'lr mull'S produced preclOus stones. BesIdes, ther produced muslIn and silk clotl ,)f very hIgh qUdlity. They had volummous trade w1th the. Greek or Hellelllsttc kmgdom, egvpt and ArabIa the Malay archipeldgo, and Chllla For the first tWU-.1pJ .a-hait centu­ries after Christ these kmgdoms earned on a lucratl\e trade with the Romans.

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