| Textile production and commerce engendered complex networks of relationships in early modern South Indian society. This dissertation examines the processes of producing cloth: first, commercial agriculture in cotton and indigo, second, cotton cleaning, cotton trade and spinning, third, warping and weaving, and fourth, washing, dyeing and painting cloth. These chapters analyze the social organization, geography, and economics of each process. This work describes the labor, organization and incomes of a wide range of agrarian laborers, women, weavers, washers and merchants. It also examines the social geography of diverse specialized settlements, including agrarian villages, weaving villages, washing and dyeing centers, and market centers. In total, this research demonstrates the structure of the textile industry in detail.; This comprehensive analysis of the textile industry in South India informs several fundamental issues in the social and economic history of South Asia. The social organization of family, household, gender specialization, caste and profession were all basic aspects of the production relations and credit relations in the textile industry. The specialized social geography of early modern South India pertains to the study of villages, markets, urban clusters, and trans-regional commercial networks. Finally, this dissertation demonstrates the integral connections between agriculture, artisan-production and commerce in early modern South Asia. |
