2016-09-19 Mon

From pastoralist to agrarian society, ancient people saw a drastic change. After they settled in specific regions, they claimed ownership over land and its resources and lived harmoniously in tribes or communities.

In the course of time, with growth of community and contacts with other regions, they came to know about the products of other regions and became interested in acquiring them. They gave one’s own product in exchange for those of others. The exchange of different products became necessity of time and it evolved in a system called as barter system.

Various products were used as of means of exchange. One such object that was used as a means of exchange is Cowry shell. The age old practice is prevalent in many part of the world not to speak of India alone. Cowries are most abundant in the Indian Ocean, and were collected in India, Sri Lanka, and in various parts of the African coast.

Shell money was important at one time or another in the trade networks of Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. In India, Gold, silver and copper coinage was used by kings, traders and rich-men for bulk transactions, the low income group used cowries for their daily transactions. Land revenue was paid in cowries even during colonial period.

Even today, some business women retain single cowry inside their cloth purse which may be considered as persistence of an age old practice.