Living Without Silver

Download or read book Living Without Silver written by John S. Deyell and published by . This book was released on 1999-08-15 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is concerned with money as an indicator of economic activity. It makes a comprehensive examination of the use of money from Afghanistan to Bihar, and from Kashmir to Malwa, during the period AD 750-1250. Its major premise is that the patterns of production, exchange, and dispersion of money over time can be used to define the economic systems of early medieval North India. This book explains and interprets the economic history of the period, using current models of feudalization, decentralization, trade, and commerce. The author rejects the common perception that money during this period was scarce, primitive, and debased, by analysing the evidence of surviving coin hoards. His findings suggest a considerably greater reliance on money, closer co-ordination of its use, and its wider circulation in larger quantities, than is consistent with many current models of the early medieval Indian economy.