Synopsis Situating trade and traders in the overall agrarian milieu of early India, this book highlights the diversities of merchants and market places, which are not viewed as an undifferentiated category. The Author strongly argues against the perception of declining trade in India during the period AD 600-1000, and demonstrates the linkages of trade at the locality level during this period. In-depth analysis of maritime commerce in the Bengal coast (C. 200 BC To AD 1300) is a major feature of the book. The author also examines the role of trading communities in the making of plural and complex society like India.