RAS question
During the Sultanate period, which commodity was India's largest export?
Correct answer: (D) Textiles (cotton and silk).
During the Delhi Sultanate period, India's largest export was textiles, especially cotton and silk cloth.
Explanation
Textiles were the leading export of Sultanate-period India, with cotton cloth especially important. Tamil Nadu Open University, MHYS-21 History of Medieval India (From 1206 to 1707 A.D.) describes textile production as the primary industry of India in this period and says silk, cotton and woollen clothes of varied quality and colours were produced in large quantity. It also identifies textiles of varied quality as primary export items. Indian cotton textiles were in demand across the Middle East, Southeast Asia and East Africa, with ports such as Cambay, Calicut and Quilon linking production centres to overseas markets. So the answer is not merely that textiles were exported, but that they formed the main export category.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Spices were traded and mattered commercially, but textiles, not spices, were the primary export category.
- (B) Horses cannot be the answer because horses were among goods imported into India, and the option asks for India's largest export.
- (C) Indigo was an important commodity, but it was below textiles in export significance for the Sultanate period.
Concept
This tests the economic history of the Delhi Sultanate, especially overseas trade and craft production. RAS often returns to such questions because commodities, ports and trade routes link political history with social and economic change.