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BANKING TRADE AND COMMERCE
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FAIRS
Besides weekly markets at certain well-known places, fairs are held at intervals. The chief Khandesh fairs are shown in the following table:-
KHANDESH FAIRS
[This account is based on the description of markets, fairs and village shopkeepers given in the Khandesh District Gazetteer, published in 1880.] |
Name |
Sub-Division |
Month |
Period |
Attendance | |
Dhulia |
Dhulia |
April |
15 days |
10,000 | |
Dharn |
Pimpalner |
May |
8 days |
2,000 | |
Navapur |
Pimpalner |
February |
8 days |
-- | |
Nandurbar |
Nandurbar |
Moharam |
8 days |
2,000 | |
Sarangkheda |
Shahada |
December |
8 days |
10,000 | |
Prakashe |
Shahada |
April |
-- |
3,000 | |
Patan |
Virdel |
February |
3 days |
5,000 | |
Mudavad |
Virdel |
February |
10 days |
3.000 |
Except that they arc much larger gatherings these fairs differ little from the weekly markets. Besides local pedlars and travelling dealers, most fairs are attended by the agents of many traders and
some of the leading firms in distant towns. The chief articles of traffic are cloth, pots, carts, and live-stock.
Village Shopkeepers.
Every large village has its shopkeeper, who deals in groceries, spices, grain, salt, oil, sugar, molasses, and other supplies. The value of his whole stock varies from Rs. 100 to Rs. 250. He buys some of the more lasting wares at one of the chief district trade centres or at some large fair. But most of his stock is bought from time to time at the nearest market or sub-divisional town. As the well-to-do lay by the chief part of their grain and groceries for a whole year, buying them in the larger markets, they take from the village shopkeepers such perishable articles only as clarified butter, oil, and sugar. The middle and poorer classes, except what they themselves produce, draw almost all of their supplies from the village shopkeeper, and according to their credit, pay ready money, or what is commoner, have a weekly or monthly account. Even in the remote parts the village shopkeeper seldom barters. He is very often a money-lender, and in the accounts of many of his customers, oil and spices entries are often mixed with money advances.
Below the village shopkeeper is the pedlar. Some are craftsmen who work up a stock of goods, generally cloth, during the rainy months and in the fair season move from village to village, offering them for sale. Others sell groceries and hardware, moving from house to house generally with a pack bullock or a pony.
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