Indian Slaves
There were probably always slaves
in India, but until about 1000 AD
there were only a few slaves, and most of them worked as house servants.
But when Islamic conquerors
reached India, they forced many more people to be slaves. They sold
thousands of these slaves out of India to work in Persia
(modern Iran) or Afghanistan. Many of these people worked in the mines.
Another form of slavery was debt-bondage, where people became slaves in exchange for a loan of money. You could be free again if you paid off the loan, but most people never managed to pay it off, because of the very high rates of interest. These people worked in the fields, or making shoes or weaving saris or carpets. Debt bondage is still very common in India today, especially for children between four and twelve.
