Global historians remind us that the cross-cultural exchange of goods and ideas by means of trade, conquest, migration, and investment forms an important part of human history. Almost all significant examples of change in the conduct of material life contain elements of borrowing. Equally, the desire for goods and services acts as a strong motivation behind attempts to establish new channels of transaction, sometimes by force.

The Indian subcontinent has long enjoyed a pivotal place within overlapping webs of cross-cultural exchange. A coastline thousands of miles long; convenient access from West Asia, Central Asia, Africa, and East and Southeast Asia; the presence of skilled artisans; a robust mercantile tradition; states created by warlords and nobles of foreign origin; and kings who sponsored and protected merchants all secured the strategic position of the world economy in Indian life and of India in the world economy. Classics of Indian literature are replete with the heroic undertakings of the itinerant trader. Sanskrit and Persian works on statecraft set out kingly duties toward the merchant. Medieval ballads recorded how fortunes were made, and lost, in a business environment that posed great risks and yet promised huge returns for those intrepid enough to take the risks.