It is commonly believed that the trade of saltpetre was, in the beginning, initiated by the Dutch shortly after they settled down on the Coromandel Coast. A little later, Ahmedabad, Surat, Agra and Patna became the premier commercial centres of this important commodity,
 says Pramod Sangar

THE export of saltpetre was an added feature of Indian commerce during the 17th century. It was used in making gun powder which was particularly in demand in Europe. "Saltpetre is a kind of artificial salt prepared from nitrates, found from time to time in natural state in many parts of the world, chiefly South America, Persia, Spain, Hungary and southern part of Europe, China and India. It has been used extensively — as an ingredient for gun powder, in animal dyes, for medical and antiseptic purposes like preservation of fish and meat and embellishing food preparations, for manure, and in glass-making, bleaching, washing and cooling purposes".

It is commonly believed that the trade of saltpetre was, in the beginning, initiated by the Dutch shortly after they settled down on the Coromandel coast. A little later, Gujarat, Agra, Patna and Bihar became the premier commercial centres of this important commodity.

The increased use of artillery in European warfare had brought about a shortage of this essential commodity and during the first two decades of the 17th century, Dutch and Portuguese were found making heavy purchases of saltpetre on the east coast. In the beginning of the 17th century, the shortage of saltpetre in England and its excessive availability in India had drawn the attention of the East India Company to the possibility of importing this chemical from India. In 1624, commissioners of the navy felt that saltpetre should be bought from India as was already being done by the Dutch. Later in the same year, the company was told that it must make its own powder and fetch its own supplies of saltpetre. The company apparently ordered a supply from Surat in 1620.

This import commodity does not find any mention in the report of Thomas Roe about the goods available at Agra, Patna or Bengal. The earliest mention was made by Thomas Kerridge, president of the East India Company in 1621, affirming that it was procurable at Surat. In 1625 the company was informed by Thomas Kerridge at Surat that large amounts of saltpetre could be obtained at very cheap rates and would be shipped to England soon. From his letter of January 4, 1628, we learn that a large quantity of saltpetre had been sent to ballast the ships and that they would also send a large quantity on every ship, and more if it could be got. In January 1628, 2000 maunds of saltpetre were bought at Rs 2.25 per maund, while two months later the price fell to Rs 1.50 only.

Saltpetre was obtained from various parts of the country. Initially, the Coromandel coast, Gujarat and Agra were tapped but later the buyers had an easy access to Bihar, Orissa and Bengal as well.

"Great stores of saltpetre," says Tavernier, "come from Agra and Patna, a town of Bengal: and which is refined costs three times as much as that which is not. The Dutch have established a depot at Chopra, which is 14 leagues above Patna; and the saltpetre being refined there, they send it by river to Hooghly. They imported boilers from Holland, and employed refiners to refine the saltpetre for themselves; but have not succeeded, because the people of the country, seeing that the Dutch wished to deprive them of the profits of refining, would not supply them any longer with when, without the aid of which the saltpetre cannot be bleached, for it is worth nothing at all if it is not very white and very transparent. A maund of saltpetre costs 7 mahmudis; 5s 3d."

In 1626, the English at Surat took up the export of this commodity from Malpur, now a small town in Dabar Kantha district. In its natural state, saltpetre is bulky and needs to be refined by removing impurities. This was done by the English at Ahmedabad by the local method of evaporation, at first in the earthen vessels, and later in large copper vessels commonly used for this purpose

Balasore (a district in Orissa) was another place where saltpetre was available though not in a large quantity. The English factors, Gurney and Greenhill, informed the company in a letter written in 1652 that large quantities of the commodity could be obtained from Balasore and Hooghly. However, they found the process of its refinement in the copper pans rather very expensive as 200 out of 600 pans were damaged in the process. They felt obliged, therefore, to send saltpetre in its raw form. The English dispatched a ship loaded with saltpetre on February 21, 1651. The Dutch East India Company was also keenly interested in the trade of saltpetre. They sent in the same year 2000 tonnes of the commodity purchased from Balasore.

The total export of saltpetre by the English and the Dutch up to the year 1650 was not very great as the purchases were confined to the supplies obtained from Gujarat, and the volume of the trade was comparatively small as the combined purchases of the two nations was not more than 200 to 300 tonnes per year. Later with the establishment of English and Dutch factories at Patna, trade expanded due to the practically inexhaustible sources in Bihar.

The early reference made in English Factory records to the purchase and refining of saltpetre at Ahmedabad and Surat in the beginning of the 17th century are of great importance and interest particularly because of the opposition of Mughal rulers to its export from India. As the sale of saltpetre became a royal monopoly, it became almost impossible for the English to procure the supplies of saltpetre. In 1655, by the orders Emperor Shahjahan, a stock of 10,000 double maunds of saltpetre were officially ‘stored’ at Ahmedabad. In 1646, Prince Aurangzeb as viceroy of Gujarat gave strict orders banning the sale of this commodity on the ground that the Europeans would use their gun powder against Turkey.

Saltpetre was a state monopoly of which a reference is to be found in a letter of the Surat factors dated March 15, 1636, which ran as, "saltpetre is a prohibited commodity, and hath allwaies in all places paid some acknowledgement to the Governor of the place where it was bought." Again, mentioning about the monopoly exercised by the King, the Surat factors expressed fears for not getting the required commodity and wrote to the company (October 20, 1655) that the king who had "made it his commodity", had 10,000 double maunds of saltpetre, ores refined, very full of salt, costing 67 or 68 rupees a maund, lying at Ahmedabad, and that so long as any of this quantity was unsold, the English would not be allowed to purchase any saltpetre in the kingdom or procure the stipulated amounts from the saltpetre manufactures.

In March 1628, the Agra factors wrote to Surat that both the English and the Dutch were completely banned by the King "for buying and transporting saltpetre without his authority", and that two English factors, Gregory Clemant and John Bangham, were imprisoned for a day and a night in the Agra castle and after much persuasion the king gave them licence. Again in 1646, a caravan carrying saltpetre was detained. In 1654 Shahjahan’s diwan by the orders of the king disallowed the English from making any purchase or sale of this commodity. Similarly, in December 1655 the ‘release’ of the caravan was made by the English by much persuasion.

Monopolies of saltpetre existed in the Golkanda and Bijapur states too. The letters of the Masulipatam factory to Bengal (dated July 16, 1666, and September 1666) noted that due to Aurangzeb’s wars with the Golkanda King, the latter had monopolised all available saltpetre from the producers, including a large part of what the English factors were promised by the ‘brokers’. Similarly the King of Bijapur also exercised his right to monopolise the saltpetre sale.

At ‘Malpore’ (Gujarat) an incessant rivalry was going on between the English and Dutch for the monopoly of the saltpetre. In 1646, the president informed the company that the "best saltpetre came from Ahmedabad and was refined in their factory at Ahmedabad." The president further informed that the ‘purchase of saltpetre’ in its raw form was more economical. The English refined saltpetre in their ‘own factory’ and packed it in raw hides according to the usual method in ‘order to prevent the loss in storage.’

The caravans carrying saltpetre were often seen with armed guards as the highways were swarmed with robbers.

Thus the English and the Dutch carried on a profitable trade of saltpetre. By 1651, private English merchants had imported such large quantities that after satisfying the need of their government, they had exported much to France, Sweden, Holland and Italy.