How can you drag someone who was there before you?
You know, like the Hindu in the opium trade of the subcontinent, through Mughal rule.
Cheers, Doc
What makes you think that Hindus had control over anything under Mughal rule ?
Mughals actively TRADED in Hindu slaves. It was Shivaji who put and end to it. Made slavery illegal and trading in slaves illegal.
Bengal traded Hindu slaves under their sultans. It was East India company that ended it.
Under Mughal opium trade as State business. So Marwari businessmen did what they had to do.
Same thing under the British.
British had established a monopoly on Indian cotton and cloth. Indians were forbidden to sell to others. Indians were prevented from producing cloth to prevent competition to the mills of England.
It was illegal for Indians to build ships, run ships, make weapons, sell weapons. It was illegal for Indians to make steel. Anything of value was reserved for the british to trade in.
Parsi's did not have the same restrictions imposed on Hindus or even muslims. THAT is why they flourished.
Between 1805 and 1821, Daman was the main outlet for opium however the big opium dealers conducted the trade from Bombay. The Company raj made strenuous efforts to limit the Malwa trade which it could not monopolize like that in Bengal, but was un-successful.
However in 1819 the Maratha's lost the 3rd Anglo maratha war and this put the Dutch out of action. The british also put and end to the auctions of opium in Bombay from 1830.
From 1830, the Company Raj imposed a high duty on Malwa’s production.
Tarachand Ghanshyamdas (1791 to 1957.) was the leading Business House of the time. They primerly traded in woolen garments at that time. But due to the restrictive Raj policies they were forced to move into the Opium trade.
The grandfathers of both G.D. Birla and Lakshmi Mittal (Mittal steel) worked for great Tarachand Ghanshyamdas while grandfather of Raja Baldeo Das Birla worked at the great Ganeriwala Firm.
After the ban on Opium auction in Bombay the Marwaris' moved to Kolkata in mass.
In fact it was the Marwaris who invented and introduced the fist TELEGRAPH system in India.
Calcutta Marwari merchants wired the current rates for opium to Jaipur. Agents in Jaipur used a system of mirrors to flash the rates from hilltop to hilltop. From the final hill outside of Jhunjhunu a runner would come to the city and inform the merchants of the rates.
At night, If the information needed to be supplied, gunpowder explosions were deployed along the same route.
In 1896 four marwari firms, “Devibaksh Jivanram’, ‘Ramnarain Bhojraj’, ‘Daulatram Lakshminarain’ and ‘Shivnarain Baldeodas’ came together in a room at Kaligodam Number 18, Mullick Street in Bara Bazaar to form ‘Bare Chaurastiya’ (the Gang of Four) who speculates in Opium. They formed the "
Afeem Chaurasta Ki Panchayat" and enjoyed complete Juristicion over the Marwaris engaged in the Opium trade.
By 1915, the marwaris who moved to Kolkata formed a Cartel led by Sarupchand Hukumchand and Harduttrai Chamaria which enjoyed complete monopoly on Opium trade. By 1925 the opium trade ended.
From the Customer end, Opium sales were Legalized in Hong Kong in 1845 after the British defeated China in the 1st Opium War and after the 2nd Opium War, opium trade was unrestricted and on full blast from 1860 onwards.
The origin of the Share market can be traced to the Regular opium futures trading by Marwari’s in Bombay and Calcutta in the 1830's.
Shivnarain Birla, grandfather of Ghanshyamdas Birla began his career was an independent opium speculator and for 10 years perfected the art of opium speculation in which he made large gains. The same guys who funded Gandhi.