<論説>一七世紀北インドにおけるアイの生産と流通 : バヤーナ地方を中心として

Abstract

インドのアイは、一七世紀前半に毛織物の染料としてさかんにヨーロッパに輸出されたまさに世界史的重要性を持つ商品であったが、従来の諸研究では、その生産と流通の諸条件の解明が不十分である。そこで本稿では、最優秀アイの産地たるバヤーナ地方について、(一)諸生産町村の地図上の位置の比定とその歴史地理的位置の確認、(二)生産の自然的立地条件の検討と他の産地や一九世紀のイギリス人によるアイ・プランテーションとの生産過程の比較、(三)経営形態の分析、(四)市場構造の分析を行なった。そして、バヤーナ地方が当時の大街道沿いにあったこと、その生産過程は当時として最も労働集約的で、かつある程度の資金を必要としたこと、生産農民の中には富裕なものも出現し得たこと、同地方のアイ産業には、それぞれ市場町を中心とする五つの市場圏があり、各市場圏は郡の境域を越えて拡大していたが、それぞれの中心は郡の中心でもあったこと、またバヤーナ地方といえどもやはりアイより穀物生産の占める比率の方が大きかったであろうこと、などを強調した。

Indian indigo had a very important role in the world history, being much exported to Europe in the first half of the 17th century as a superior dye of woollen stuff. The existing studies, however, have had some lacunae in clarifying the conditions of its production and circulation. In this paper, taking up the Bayāna tract where the best indigo was produced, I tried (1) to locate the indigo producing towns and villages on a map and to find out historical geographical reasons for this tract's acquiring a promineut position in indigo production of that time ; (2) to enquire into the physical geographical conditions of its production and to compare its production process with that of the indigo plantations of the English planters in India in the 19th century ; (3) to classify the types of its management ; and (4) to analize its market structure. I emphasized the following points : the Bayāna tract was along one of the trunk roads of that time ; the process of indigo production in that tract was more intensive and expensive than in any other indigo producing tracts of that time; even some sections of the peasants were able to become rich in indigo production ; in the Bayānana tract there were five intermediate marketing areas, each of which had a respective intermediate market town ; though each intermediate market town was the center of a pargana, the marketing area under that market town was wider than that pargana area ; and even in the Bayāna tract (i. e., a group of the parganas which covered the five marketing areas), the total produdtion of indigo seems to have been much less in both its sown area and the income from its cultivation than that of food grains as a whole.