Earlier supply merchants very often lived within the weaving village, and had a close relationship with the weavers, looking after their needs and helping them in times of crisis.
[2] A gomastha may also be described as ‘a paid manager of the private trader’s concerns’, who claimed ‘hardly any share in the profit and loss of his employer’s business’.
The Company tried to eliminate the existing traders and brokers connected with the cloth trade, and establish a more direct control over the weaver.
For this purpose they appointed paid servants called the gomasthas were employed who would obtain goods and from local weavers and fix their prices.
[2] The Company’s agents who had the right to enforce contracts could well use the same coercive power to extort rents from the weavers.
In this way the gomastas were useful in obtaining goods at a low price for the Company which made huge profits from their exports.
[the gomastha ] makes [the weavers] sign a bond for the delivery of a certain quantity of goods, at a certain time and price, and pays them part of the money in advance.
[6] The gomastas' profound knowledge about a particular area and their negotiating ability with local smaller merchants would be indispensable to firms.
[7] In 1804, weavers of Golaghar submitted a petition against the Resident at the factory and his gomastas, alleging, among other things, that they classified their cloths into lower categories but gave them to the Company as higher quality.