Slavery in India

In this episode, we trace the long history of unfree labor and slavery in the Indian subcontinent, from its uncertain beginnings in Vedic and Buddhist literature to its major expansion during the medieval Muslim conquests and under the Mughal Empire. We explore how European colonial powers such as the Portuguese, Dutch, and British drew India into the wider Indian Ocean slave trade, and how 19th-century legal bans gradually reshaped these systems without ending exploitation. The episode also examines the rise of the Indian indenture system, which sent more than a million laborers abroad under harsh conditions often compared to slavery, and concludes by connecting this history to present-day realities, including debt bondage, human trafficking, and the ongoing struggle against modern slavery in India.