Sources & further reading

Every source cited on this site, grouped by chapter. Each entry says whether it was read in full, read in part, or could not be opened.

A source marked not opened is cited only to say that it exists and what its title argues. Its contents are not summarised. URLs were accessed on 24 October 2026.

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• L. C. Jain. Indigenous Banking in India. With an introduction by Gilbert Slater. London: Macmillan, 1929. Digital Library of India scan on the Internet Archive.
  The closest thing to an insider's survey: a 1929 study by an economist from a banking community, free to read.partly readarchive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.1055 · accessed 24 October 2026. Read preface, contents and chapters I–II (pp. vii–48). Chapters III–IV (hundis, accounting, rates) not yet read.
• David West Rudner. Caste and Capitalism in Colonial India: The Nattukottai Chettiars. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. UC Press E-Books Collection.
  The deepest study of one merchant-banking network, free online from UC Press.partly readpublishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/public/book/caste-and-… · accessed 24 October 2026. Read introduction and chapters 2–3 (pp. 1–43); chapter 5 and appendices not yet read.
• Marina Martin. “Project codification: legal legacies of the British Raj on the Indian mercantile credit institution hundi.” Contemporary South Asia 23, no. 1 (2015): 67–84. doi:10.1080/09584935.2014.1000825. Author's accepted manuscript, University of Pretoria repository.
  The clearest account of what colonial and post-colonial law did to the hundi.readrepository.up.ac.za/bitstreams/d7e16768-2c3f-40d1-95c4-7b… · accessed 24 October 2026. Read in full (accepted manuscript, pp. 1–23). Publisher DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2014.1000825
• Marina Martin. An Economic History of Hundi, 1858–1978. PhD thesis, London School of Economics, 2012.
  Martin's doctoral thesis, the fuller economic history behind the article.partly readresearchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/131386 · accessed 24 October 2026. Abstract only.
• Claude Markovits. The Global World of Indian Merchants, 1750–1947: Traders of Sind from Bukhara to Panama. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Publisher's sample (introduction and chapter 1).
  How two Sindhi networks traded from Bukhara to Panama, and a sceptical look at “trust”.partly readassets.cambridge.org/97805216/22851/sample/9780521622851w… · accessed 24 October 2026. Read the publisher's sample, pp. 1–31.
• C. A. Bayly. Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion, 1770–1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983 (pbk 1988). Library catalogue record with summary.
  North Indian towns, bazaars and merchant families from 1770 to 1870.partly readlibcatalog.mef.edu.tr/bib/12519 · accessed 24 October 2026. Catalogue summary only.
• Thomas A. Timberg. The Marwaris: From Jagat Seth to the Birlas. Introduction by Gurcharan Das. New Delhi: Penguin (Portfolio), 2014. Publisher's page.
  A readable history of the Marwaris from Jagat Seth to the Birlas.partly readpenguin.co.in:443/book/the-marwaris-2 · accessed 24 October 2026. Publisher's description only.
• Anshuman Pandey. “Proposal to Encode the Mahajani Script in ISO/IEC 10646.” ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N4126 (L2/11-274), 12 July 2011.
  Everything you can learn about Mahajani script from one technical document.readunicode.org/wg2/docs/n4126.pdf · accessed 24 October 2026.
• Reserve Bank of India. Evolution of Payment Systems in India, Chapter II. Mumbai: RBI, 12 December 1998.
  The RBI's own short account of hundis and older payment instruments.readrbi.org.in/scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=155 · accessed 24 October 2026. Read chapter II in full (paras 2.1–2.19).
• B. M. Lall Nigam. “Bahi-Khata: The Pre-Pacioli Indian Double-entry System of Bookkeeping.” Abacus 22, no. 2 (1986): 148–161.
  The article that started the modern argument about bahi-khata and double entry.not openeddoi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6281.1986.tb00132.x · accessed 24 October 2026. Publisher site refused automated access. Citation confirmed via maaw.info and SHS 2017; content not read.

01 · The Book Wrapped in Red

• Drik Panchang. “2026 Chopda Puja” (Gujarati Diwali), New Delhi listing.readdrikpanchang.com/gujarati/diwali/chopda-puja/chopda-puja-… · accessed 24 October 2026.
• Priyanka Kochar. “The art of Bahi Khata.” Garland Magazine, 1 June 2025.readgarlandmag.com/article/bahi-khata/ · accessed 24 October 2026. A practitioner-family account, not a historical study.
• Anshuman Pandey. “Proposal to Encode the Mahajani Script in ISO/IEC 10646.” ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N4126 (L2/11-274), 12 July 2011.readunicode.org/wg2/docs/n4126.pdf · accessed 24 October 2026.
• Reserve Bank of India, Monetary Museum. “Hundies” (Miscellany), with a representative darshani hundi and translation.readrbi.org.in/SCRIPTS/ms_hundies.aspx · accessed 24 October 2026.
• WION. “Union Budget 2026: What is ‘Bahi Khata’? From briefcase to tablet.” 1 February 2026.readwionews.com/photos/union-budget-2026-what-is-bahi-khata-f… · accessed 24 October 2026.

02 · Jama and Naam

• L. C. Jain. Indigenous Banking in India. With an introduction by Gilbert Slater. London: Macmillan, 1929. Digital Library of India scan on the Internet Archive.partly readarchive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.1055 · accessed 24 October 2026. Read preface, contents and chapters I–II (pp. vii–48). Chapters III–IV (hundis, accounting, rates) not yet read.
• Priyanka Kochar. “The art of Bahi Khata.” Garland Magazine, 1 June 2025.readgarlandmag.com/article/bahi-khata/ · accessed 24 October 2026. A practitioner-family account, not a historical study.
• Management and Accounting Web (maaw.info). “Bookkeeping bibliography.”readmaaw.info/BookkeepingBib.htm · accessed 24 October 2026. Confirms the citations of Nigam (1986) and Nobes (1987); not their arguments.
• B. M. Lall Nigam. “Bahi-Khata: The Pre-Pacioli Indian Double-entry System of Bookkeeping.” Abacus 22, no. 2 (1986): 148–161.not openeddoi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6281.1986.tb00132.x · accessed 24 October 2026. Publisher site refused automated access. Citation confirmed via maaw.info and SHS 2017; content not read.
• C. W. Nobes. “The Pre-Pacioli Indian Double-entry System of Bookkeeping: A Comment.” Abacus 23, no. 2 (1987): 182–184.not openedmaaw.info/BookkeepingBib.htm · accessed 24 October 2026. Citation confirmed via maaw.info; article not read.
• Anshuman Pandey. “Proposal to Encode the Mahajani Script in ISO/IEC 10646.” ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N4126 (L2/11-274), 12 July 2011.readunicode.org/wg2/docs/n4126.pdf · accessed 24 October 2026.
• M. E. Scorgie. “Indian Imitation or Invention of Cash-book and Algebraic Double-entry.” Abacus 26, no. 1 (1990).not openeddoi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6281.1990.tb00232.x · accessed 24 October 2026. Citation confirmed via SHS 2017 reference list; article not read.
• Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Centre for Distance and Online Education. Evolution of Accounting in India (B.Com. Part II, Sem. III, IKS study material), 2025–26.readunishivaji.ac.in/uploads/distedu/2025_2026/Eligibility%20… · accessed 24 October 2026. A teaching text that argues for an Indian origin of double entry; used here as a statement of that position.

03 · The Scripts of Trade

• Anshuman Pandey. “Proposal to Encode the Mahajani Script in ISO/IEC 10646.” ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N4126 (L2/11-274), 12 July 2011.readunicode.org/wg2/docs/n4126.pdf · accessed 24 October 2026.
• Script Encoding Initiative, UC Berkeley. “Completed proposals.”readsei.berkeley.edu/completed-proposals · accessed 24 October 2026.

04 · The Hundi

• L. C. Jain. Indigenous Banking in India. With an introduction by Gilbert Slater. London: Macmillan, 1929. Digital Library of India scan on the Internet Archive.partly readarchive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.1055 · accessed 24 October 2026. Read preface, contents and chapters I–II (pp. vii–48). Chapters III–IV (hundis, accounting, rates) not yet read.
• Claude Markovits. The Global World of Indian Merchants, 1750–1947: Traders of Sind from Bukhara to Panama. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Publisher's sample (introduction and chapter 1).partly readassets.cambridge.org/97805216/22851/sample/9780521622851w… · accessed 24 October 2026. Read the publisher's sample, pp. 1–31.
• Marina Martin. “Project codification: legal legacies of the British Raj on the Indian mercantile credit institution hundi.” Contemporary South Asia 23, no. 1 (2015): 67–84. doi:10.1080/09584935.2014.1000825. Author's accepted manuscript, University of Pretoria repository.readrepository.up.ac.za/bitstreams/d7e16768-2c3f-40d1-95c4-7b… · accessed 24 October 2026. Read in full (accepted manuscript, pp. 1–23). Publisher DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2014.1000825
• The Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (26 of 1881), section 1, as reproduced by KnowYourGST.readknowyourgst.com/gstlaw/negotiable-instruments-act-1881/se… · accessed 24 October 2026. Check against the official India Code text before publication.
• Reserve Bank of India. Evolution of Payment Systems in India, Chapter II. Mumbai: RBI, 12 December 1998.readrbi.org.in/scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=155 · accessed 24 October 2026. Read chapter II in full (paras 2.1–2.19).
• Reserve Bank of India, Monetary Museum. “Hundies” (Miscellany), with a representative darshani hundi and translation.readrbi.org.in/SCRIPTS/ms_hundies.aspx · accessed 24 October 2026.
• David West Rudner. Caste and Capitalism in Colonial India: The Nattukottai Chettiars. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. UC Press E-Books Collection.partly readpublishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/public/book/caste-and-… · accessed 24 October 2026. Read introduction and chapters 2–3 (pp. 1–43); chapter 5 and appendices not yet read.

05 · Networks of Trust

• C. A. Bayly. Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion, 1770–1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983 (pbk 1988). Library catalogue record with summary.partly readlibcatalog.mef.edu.tr/bib/12519 · accessed 24 October 2026. Catalogue summary only.
• L. C. Jain. Indigenous Banking in India. With an introduction by Gilbert Slater. London: Macmillan, 1929. Digital Library of India scan on the Internet Archive.partly readarchive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.1055 · accessed 24 October 2026. Read preface, contents and chapters I–II (pp. vii–48). Chapters III–IV (hundis, accounting, rates) not yet read.
• Claude Markovits. The Global World of Indian Merchants, 1750–1947: Traders of Sind from Bukhara to Panama. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Publisher's sample (introduction and chapter 1).partly readassets.cambridge.org/97805216/22851/sample/9780521622851w… · accessed 24 October 2026. Read the publisher's sample, pp. 1–31.
• Marina Martin. “Project codification: legal legacies of the British Raj on the Indian mercantile credit institution hundi.” Contemporary South Asia 23, no. 1 (2015): 67–84. doi:10.1080/09584935.2014.1000825. Author's accepted manuscript, University of Pretoria repository.readrepository.up.ac.za/bitstreams/d7e16768-2c3f-40d1-95c4-7b… · accessed 24 October 2026. Read in full (accepted manuscript, pp. 1–23). Publisher DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2014.1000825
• David West Rudner. Caste and Capitalism in Colonial India: The Nattukottai Chettiars. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. UC Press E-Books Collection.partly readpublishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/public/book/caste-and-… · accessed 24 October 2026. Read introduction and chapters 2–3 (pp. 1–43); chapter 5 and appendices not yet read.
• Thomas A. Timberg. The Marwaris: From Jagat Seth to the Birlas. Introduction by Gurcharan Das. New Delhi: Penguin (Portfolio), 2014. Publisher's page.partly readpenguin.co.in:443/book/the-marwaris-2 · accessed 24 October 2026. Publisher's description only.

06 · The Munim and the Gaddi

• L. C. Jain. Indigenous Banking in India. With an introduction by Gilbert Slater. London: Macmillan, 1929. Digital Library of India scan on the Internet Archive.partly readarchive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.1055 · accessed 24 October 2026. Read preface, contents and chapters I–II (pp. vii–48). Chapters III–IV (hundis, accounting, rates) not yet read.
• Priyanka Kochar. “The art of Bahi Khata.” Garland Magazine, 1 June 2025.readgarlandmag.com/article/bahi-khata/ · accessed 24 October 2026. A practitioner-family account, not a historical study.
• Claude Markovits. The Global World of Indian Merchants, 1750–1947: Traders of Sind from Bukhara to Panama. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Publisher's sample (introduction and chapter 1).partly readassets.cambridge.org/97805216/22851/sample/9780521622851w… · accessed 24 October 2026. Read the publisher's sample, pp. 1–31.
• Anshuman Pandey. “Proposal to Encode the Mahajani Script in ISO/IEC 10646.” ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N4126 (L2/11-274), 12 July 2011.readunicode.org/wg2/docs/n4126.pdf · accessed 24 October 2026.
• David West Rudner. Caste and Capitalism in Colonial India: The Nattukottai Chettiars. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. UC Press E-Books Collection.partly readpublishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/public/book/caste-and-… · accessed 24 October 2026. Read introduction and chapters 2–3 (pp. 1–43); chapter 5 and appendices not yet read.

07 · What Survives

• Drik Panchang. “2026 Chopda Puja” (Gujarati Diwali), New Delhi listing.readdrikpanchang.com/gujarati/diwali/chopda-puja/chopda-puja-… · accessed 24 October 2026.
• L. C. Jain. Indigenous Banking in India. With an introduction by Gilbert Slater. London: Macmillan, 1929. Digital Library of India scan on the Internet Archive.partly readarchive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.1055 · accessed 24 October 2026. Read preface, contents and chapters I–II (pp. vii–48). Chapters III–IV (hundis, accounting, rates) not yet read.
• Sahil Tayal. The Kirana Observatory — A Living Ledger.readthekiranaobservatory.sahiltayal.com/ · accessed 24 October 2026.
• Priyanka Kochar. “The art of Bahi Khata.” Garland Magazine, 1 June 2025.readgarlandmag.com/article/bahi-khata/ · accessed 24 October 2026. A practitioner-family account, not a historical study.
• Claude Markovits. The Global World of Indian Merchants, 1750–1947: Traders of Sind from Bukhara to Panama. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Publisher's sample (introduction and chapter 1).partly readassets.cambridge.org/97805216/22851/sample/9780521622851w… · accessed 24 October 2026. Read the publisher's sample, pp. 1–31.
• Marina Martin. “Project codification: legal legacies of the British Raj on the Indian mercantile credit institution hundi.” Contemporary South Asia 23, no. 1 (2015): 67–84. doi:10.1080/09584935.2014.1000825. Author's accepted manuscript, University of Pretoria repository.readrepository.up.ac.za/bitstreams/d7e16768-2c3f-40d1-95c4-7b… · accessed 24 October 2026. Read in full (accepted manuscript, pp. 1–23). Publisher DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2014.1000825
• Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Finance. Release on ten years of UPI, 30 April 2026.readpib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2257087 · accessed 24 October 2026. The release is internally inconsistent on some figures; only uncontradicted figures are used.
• Sahil Tayal. One Mind. Infinite Worlds. Sahilverse index, sahiltayal.com.readsahiltayal.com/ · accessed 24 October 2026. Source for the URLs of Sahil's LinkedIn posts (posts themselves not opened).
• Manish Singh. “India's Khatabook raises $60 million to help merchants digitize bookkeeping and accept payments online.” TechCrunch, 19 May 2020.readtechcrunch.com/2020/05/19/indias-khatabook-raises-60-mill… · accessed 24 October 2026. Company figures as reported, not independently audited.
• WION. “Union Budget 2026: What is ‘Bahi Khata’? From briefcase to tablet.” 1 February 2026.readwionews.com/photos/union-budget-2026-what-is-bahi-khata-f… · accessed 24 October 2026.