Page 62 - SST Class 07

Pilgrimage Towns
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A pilgrimage town is the one where is located a
place of pilgrimage for the people of one or more Indian traders sold spices and cotton textiles to
religions, such as the towns located on the bank of the parts of Red Sea, Persian Gulf, East Africa,
the Ganga, such as Varanasi, Allahabad, or where South-East Asia and China.
some important place related with a deity is Trade and Port Towns
located, such as Ayodhya. When the pilgrims visit
a place in large numbers, many people settle there Trade and commerce expanded greatly during the
in order to give them facilities, such as medieval period. There were a number of trading
shopkeepers, hoteliers, priests etc. Gradually, this towns like Agra, Surat, Patna, Ahmedabad, Delhi,
settlement develops into a town. Calicut, Malwa etc. The major products produced
here were textile, paper, opium, indigo etc. They
became the meeting points of foreigners and
Info Bits Indians, from where export and import of goods
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Amritsar, in Punjab region of India has been the were started.
religious centre for Sikhs since the sixteenth Sometimes the location of a town developed it
century. The famous Golden Temple there, with its into an important trade or port town. A trade town
gold covered copper roof, sit on the edge of a is a place where the traders often pass through or
sacred lake. When the roof of the temple was come to sell and buy commodities, such
regilded in 1830, it took 100 kg of gold to cover as—Kabul (now in Afghanistan) was famous for
the copper plates. horse trade, Ajmer for camel trade and Surat for

The pilgrimage towns play an important place in textile trade. The location of a town on the bank
the social interaction of the people as these towns of a river or on the coastline with favourable
are visited by the people belonging to different conditions could develop it into a port town, such
regions or countries. This develops culture and as Masulipatnam in southern India and Kolkata in
civilisation. This results in synthesis and spread of eastern India.
knowledge.
These towns have important temples or other
places of worship. You
have read that in
southern India, the
temples played an
important role in the
lives of the people in all Kabul Ajmer
a s p e c t s — s o c i a l ,
economic, religious, F ind Outind Out
cultural and political. Somnath Temple Find out famous forts and monuments which were
These temples were built without using cement.
rich, so they were the
eyesores of the invaders These towns were the centres of bustling trade
who wanted to plunder and commercial activity. These towns came into
prominence or got lost in oblivion due to several
them for their wealth, as
has happened with factors. For example, the importance of
Masulipatnam faded away because the British had
many temples such as
set up other port towns. Sometimes, favourable or
the Somnath and Kashi
Vishwanath. Kashi Vishwanath Temple unfavourable taxation by the rulers can also result
in the growth or decline of a trade town.
Contemporary Social Science-7
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