Indian Shipping/Book 1/Part 1/Chapter 3

by Radha Kumud Mukhopadhyay

CHAPTER III.

Indirect Evidences: References and Allusions to Indian Maritime Activity in Sanskrit and Pali Literature.

I have already said that though ancient Indian literature furnishes rather meagre evidences directly bearing on Indian shipping and shipbuilding, it abounds with innumerable references to sea voyages and sea-borne trade and the constant use of the ocean as the great highway of international intercourse and commerce; which therefore serve as indirect evidence pointing to the existence and development of a national shipping, feeding and supporting a national commerce. We shall therefore now adduce those passages in ancient Indian works which, in Bühler's^[1] opinion, "prove the early existence of a complete navigation of the Indian Ocean, and of the trading voyages of Indians." The oldest evidence on record is supplied by the Ṛig-Veda, which contains several references to sea voyages undertaken for commercial and other purposes. One passage (I. 25. 7) represents Varuṇa having a full knowledge of the ocean routes along which vessels sail. Another (II. 48. 3) speaks of merchants, under the influence of greed, sending out ships to foreign countries. A third passage (I. 56. 2) mentions merchants whose field of activity knows no bounds, who go everywhere in pursuit of gain, and frequent every part of the sea. The fourth passage (VII. 88. 3 and 4) alludes to a voyage undertaken by Vaśiṣtha and Varuṅa in a ship skilfully fitted out, and their "undulating happily in the prosperous swing." The fifth, which is the most interesting passage (I. 116. 3), mentions a naval expedition on which Tugra the Ṛishi king sent his son Bhujyu against some of his enemies in the distant islands; Bhujyu, however, is shipwrecked by a storm, with all his followers, on the ocean, "where there is no support, no rest for the foot or the hand," from which he is rescued by the twin brethren, the Asvins, in their hundred-oared galley.^[2] Among other passages may be mentioned that which invokes Agni thus: "Do thou whose countenance is turned to all sides send off our adversaries as if in a ship to the opposite shore; do thou convey us in a ship across the sea for our welfare"; or that in which Agni is prayed to bestow a boat with oars.

The Rāmāyaṇa also contains several passages which indicate the intercourse between India and distant lands by way of the sea. In the Kishkindhyā Kāndam, Sugrīva, the Lord of the Monkeys, in giving directions to monkey leaders for the quest of Sītā, mentions all possible places where Rāvaṇa could have concealed her. In one passage he asks them to go to the cities and mountains in the islands of the sea^[3]; in another the land of the Kosakaras^[4] is mentioned as the likely place of Sītā's concealment, which is generally interpreted to be no other country than China; a third passage^[5] refers to the Yavana Dvīpa and Suvarṇa Dvīpa, which are usually identified with the islands of Java and Sumatra of the Malaya Archipelago; while the fourth passage alludes to the Lohita Sāgara or the red sea. In the Ayodhyā Kāndam there is even a passage which hints at preparations for a naval fight,^[6] thus indirectly indicating a thorough knowledge and a universal use of waterway. The Rāmāyaṇa also mentions merchants who trafficked beyond the sea and were in the habit of bringing presents to the king.

In the Mahābhārata the accounts of the Rājasūya sacrifice and the Digvijaya of Arjuna and Nakula mention various countries outside India with which she had intercourse. There is a passage in its Sabhā Parva which states how Sahadeva, the youngest brother of the five Pāṇdavas, went to the several islands in the sea and conquered the Mlechchha inhabitants thereof.^[7] The well-known story of the churning of the ocean, in the Mahābhārata, in the boldness of its conception is not without a significance. In the Droṇa Parva there is a passage alluding to shipwrecked sailors who "are safe if they get to an island."^[8] In the same Parva there is another passage in which there is a reference to a "tempest-tossed and damaged vessel in a wide ocean."^[9] In the Karṇa Parva we find the soldiers of the Kauravas bewildered like the merchants "whose ships have come to grief in the midst of the unfathomable deep."^[10] There is another sloka in the same Parva which describes how the sons of Draupadī rescued their maternal uncles by supplying them with chariots, "as the shipwrecked merchants are rescued by means of boats." In the Śānti Parva the salvation attained by means of Karma and true knowledge is compared to the gain which a merchant derives from sea-borne trade.^[11] But the most interesting passage in the Mahābhārata is that which refers to the escape of the Pāṇdava brothers from the destruction planned for them in a ship that was secretly and specially constructed for the purpose under orders of the kind-hearted Vidura.^[12] The ship was of a large size, provided with machinery and all kinds of weapons of war, and able to defy storms and waves.

But besides the epics, the vast mass of Sutra literature also is not without evidences pointing to the commercial connection of India with foreign countries by way of the sea. That these evidences are sufficiently convincing will probably be apparent from the following remarks of the well-known German authority, the late Professor Bühler: "References to sea voyages are also found in two of the most ancient Dharma Sutras. Baudhāyana, Dh. S. ii. 2. 2, forbids^[13] them to the orthodox Brahmans, and prescribes a severe penance for a transgression of the prohibition, but he admits,^[14] Dh. S. i. 2. 4, that such transgressions were common among the 'Northerners' or, strictly speaking, the Aryans living north of the author's home, the Dravidian districts. The forbidden practices mentioned in the same Sutra as customary among the Northerners, such as the traffic in wool and in animals with two rows of teeth (horses, mules, etc.), leave no doubt that the inhabitants of Western and North-Western India are meant. It follows as a matter of course that their trade was carried on with Western Asia. The same author,^[15] Dh. S. i. 18. 14, and Gautama,^[16] x. 33, fix also the duties payable by ship-owners to the king." The later Smṛitis also contain explicit references to sea-borne trade. Manu (iii. 158) declares a Brahman^[17] who has gone to sea to be unworthy of entertainment at a Srāddha. In chapter viii. again of Manu's Code^[18] there is an interesting sloka laying down the law that the rate of interest on the money lent on bottomry is to be fixed by men well acquainted with sea voyages or journeys by land. In the same chapter there is another passage^[19] which lays down the rule of fixing boat-hire in the case of a river journey and a sea voyage. But perhaps the most interesting passages in that important chapter are those which are found to lay down the rules regarding what may be called marine insurance. One of them holds the sailors collectively responsible for the damage caused by their fault to the goods of passengers, and the other absolves them from all responsibility if the damage is caused by an accident beyond human control.^[20] Manu also mentions a particular caste of Hindus entrusted with the business of conducting trade, and upon them was enjoined the necessity of making themselves acquainted with the productions and requirements of other countries, with various dialects and languages, and also with whatever has direct or indirect reference to purchase or sale. In the Yājñavalkya Sańhitā^[21] there is a passage which indicates that the Hindus were in the habit of making adventurous sea voyages in pursuit of gain.

The astronomical works also are full of passages that hint at the flourishing condition of Indian shipping and shipbuilding and the development of sea-borne trade. Thus the Vṛihat Sańhitā has several passages of this kind having an indirect bearing on shipping and maritime commerce. One of these indicates the existence of shippers and sailors as a class whose health is said to be influenced by the moon.^[22] Another^[23] mentions the stellar influences affecting the fortunes of traders, physicians, shippers, and the like. The third,^[24] also, mentions a particular conjunction of stars similarly affecting merchants and sailors. The fourth passage^[25] mentions the existence of a class of small shippers who probably are confined to inland navigation. The fifth^[26] mentions the causes which bring about the sickness of passengers sailing in sea-going vessels on voyages, and of others. The last passage^[27] I would cite here is that which recommends as the place for an auspicious sea-bath the seaport where there is a great flow of gold due to multitudes of merchantmen arriving in safety, after disposing of exports abroad, laden with treasure.

The Purāṇas^[28] also furnish references to merchants engaged in sea-borne trade. The Varāha Purāṇa mentions a childless merchant named Gokarṇa who embarked on a voyage for trading purposes but was overtaken by a storm on the sea and nearly shipwrecked. The same Purāṇa^[29] contains a passage which relates how a merchant embarked on a voyage in a sea-going vessel in quest of pearls with people who knew all about them. In the Mārkaṇdeya Purāṇa^[30] also there is a well-known passage repeated as mantram by thousands of Brahmans which refers as an illustration to the dangerous plight of the man sailing on the great ocean in a ship overtaken by a whirlwind.

But besides the religious works like the Vedas, the Epics, and the Sutras and Purāṇas, the secular works of Sanskrit poets and writers are also full of references to the use of the sea as the highway of commerce, to voyages, and naval fights. Thus in Kālidāsa's Raghuvańsa (canto 4, sloka 36) we find the defeat by Raghu of a strong naval force with which the kings of Bengal attacked him, and his planting the pillars of victory on the isles formed in the midst of the River Ganges.^[31] The Raghuvańsa also mentions the carrying even into Persia of the victorious arms of Raghu, though of course he reached Persia^[32] by the land route. But this express reference to land route implies that the water route was well known. In Kālidāsa's Sakuntalā we have already noted the reference to China as the land of silk fabrics. The Sakuntalā also relates the story of a merchant named Dhanavṛiddhi whose immense wealth devolved to the king on the former's perishing at sea and leaving no heirs behind him. The popular drama of Ratnāvalī, which is usually attributed to King Harsha, relates the story^[33] of the Ceylonese princess, daughter of King Vikramavāhu, being shipwrecked in mid-ocean and brought thence by some merchants of the town of Kausambi. In the Daśakumāracharita of Dandin there is the story^[34] of a merchant named Ratnodbhava who goes to an island called Kālayavaṇa, marries there a girl, but while returning home is shipwrecked; and another of Mitragupta,^[35] who goes on board a Yavaṇa ship, and, losing his way, arrives at an isle different from his destination. The Śiśupālavadha^[36] of the poet Māgha contains an interesting passage which mentions how Śrī Kṛishña, while going from Dvārakā to Hastināpura, beholds merchants coming from foreign countries in ships laden with merchandise and again exporting abroad Indian goods.

In the vast Sanskrit literature of fables and fairy tales also there are many allusions to merchants and sea-borne trade. Thus the Kathāsarit Sāgara of the Kashmirian poet Somadeva bristles with references to sea voyages and intercourse with foreign countries. In the 9th book or Lambaka, 1st chapter or Taraṅga, there is the story of Prithvi Rāj going with an artist in a ship to the island of Muktipura; the 2nd chapter relates the voyages of a merchant and his wife to an island, and their separation after a shipwreck by storm; the 4th chapter describes the voyage of Samudrasura and another merchant to the Suvarṇa Island for commerce, and their shipwreck; the 6th chapter recounts the quest of his son by Chandrasvāmī, who goes to Ceylon and other islands in many a merchant's vessel for the purpose; and so on. The Hitopadēśa also mentions the story of Kandarpaketu, a merchant. In the Hitopadēśa a ship is described as a necessary requisite for a man to traverse the ocean, and a story is given of a certain merchant who, after having been twelve years on his voyage, at last returned home with a cargo of precious stones. In the Nītiśataka of Vartṛihari^[37] there is a passage which refers to ships as the means of crossing the illimitable expanse of water, even as lamps destroy darkness. The Rāja-Taraṅginī^[38] contains a passage describing the misfortunes of a royal messenger on the sea.

Lastly, we may notice in this connection the frequent mention in ancient Sanskrit literature of pearls and references to pearl fishery as one of the important national industries of India, and especially in the land of the Tamils towards the south. It is hardly necessary to point out that pearls could not have been procured without the aid of adventurous mariners and boats that could breast the ocean wave and brave the perils of the deep. According to Varāhamihira, Garuḍa Purāṇa, and Bhoja, pearl-fishing was carried on in the whole of the Indian Ocean as far as the Persian Gulf, and its chief centres were off the coasts of Ceylon, Pāralaukika, Saurāshṭra, Tāmraparṇī, Pārasava, Kauvera, Pāndyavāṭaka, and Haimadesha. According to Agastya, the chief centres of Indian pearl-fishing were in the neighbourhood of Ceylon, Arabia, and Persia. Pearls were also artificially manufactured by Ceylonese craftsmen, but the Tamils were out the most famous among Indians for pearl fishery, and they gave to the Gulf of Mannar the name of Salābham, "the sea of gain."

Thus Sanskrit literature in all its forms—such as the Vedas, the Sutras, the Purāṇas, poetry epic and dramatic, romance, etc.—is replete with references to the maritime trade of India, which prove that the ocean was freely used by the Indians in ancient times as the great highway of international commerce.

Further, the conclusions pointed to by these evidences from Sanskrit literature receive their confirmation again from the evidences furnished by the Buddhistic literature—the ancient historical works or the chronicles of Ceylon, the canonical books, and the Jātakas or Re-birth stories. The accounts of the Vijayan legends as set forth in the Mahāwańso and other works are full of references to the sea and sea-borne trade. According to the Rājavalliya, Prince Vijaya and his seven hundred followers were banished by the king Sińhaba (Sińhavāhu) of Bengal for the oppressions they practised upon his subjects, and they were put on board a ship and sent adrift, while their wives and children were placed in two other separate ships and sent away similarly. The ships started from a place near the city of Sińhapura, and on their way touched at the port of Supara, which, according to Dr. Burgess, lay near the modern Bassein on the western coast of the Deccan. Vijaya landed in Ceylon "on the day that the successor of former Buddhas reclined in the arbour of the two delightful Sal-trees to attain Nirvāṇa," approaching the island from southwards, and became the founder of the "Great Dynasty." Vijaya then sent a present of precious stones to the king of Pandya, and caused to be brought a princess whom he took to wife, and also seven hundred women attendants whom his followers married. According to Turnour's Mahāwańso, the ship in which Vijaya's Pandyan bride was brought over to Ceylon was of a very large size, having the capacity to accommodate eighteen officers of state, seventy-five menial servants and a number of slaves, besides the princess herself and seven hundred other virgins who accompanied her. A period of interregnum followed after the death of Vijaya without issue till his nephew, "attended by thirty-two ministers, embarked from the city of Sagal," reached Ceylon, and assumed the reins of sovereignty. There are two further sea voyages^[39] mentioned in this connection, the first undertaken by a princess who afterwards became the consort of Vijaya's nephew, and the second by her six brothers, both of which had the same starting-point in the city of Morapura on the Ganges, and the same destination, viz. Ceylon, and the latter voyage, according to Turnour's Mahāwańso, occupied twelve days.

Next in importance to the Vijayan legends,^[40] so far as sea-borne trade is concerned, are the legends of Punna, a merchant of Supparaka, who carried on a large trade, in partnership with his younger brother Chula Punna, with the distant region of Northern Kosala. At Srāvasti he heard Buddha preach, and became his disciple, and afterwards induced his former mercantile associates of Supparaka to erect a Vihāra with a portion of the red-sanders timber which Chula Punna and his three hundred associate merchants brought home on one of their sea voyages. The ship in which they made their trading voyage was of so large a size that besides accommodating over three hundred merchants there was room left for the cargo of that timber which they brought home. The legends next requiring notice in this connection are those of the two Burmese^[41] merchant brothers Tapoosa and Palekat, who crossed the Bay of Bengal in a ship that conveyed full five hundred cartloads of their own goods, which they landed at Adzeitta, a port in Kalinga in the northern section of the eastern coast, on their way to Suvama in Magadha. Again, in the legend of the conveyance of the Tooth-relic, as related in the Dāthādhātuwańso, there is mention of the voyage of Dantakumara conveying the relic from Dantapura to Ceylon. The voyage was performed in one of those ships which carried on a regular and ceaseless traffic between the port of Tamralipta in Bengal and the island of Ceylon.

The Tibetan legend of the Sinhalese princess Ratnāvalī may also be mentioned, which tells of the voyage of the merchants of Srāvasti who were driven down the Bay of Bengal by contrary winds, but who subsequently completed their voyage to Ceylon and back. Again, in one of the Chinese legends of the lion-prince Sińhala,^[42] it is related how the boat in which the daughter of the Lion was cast away was driven by the winds westwards into the Persian Gulf, where she landed and founded a colony "in the country of the Western women." The tradition embodied in the Dīpavańsa version of the legend^[43] makes her land on an island which was afterwards called the "Kingdom of Women." As the Rev. T. Foulkes^[44] remarks, "underneath the legendary matter we may here trace the existence of a sea route between India and the Persian coasts in the days of Buddha." Among the Pitakas, the Vinaya mentions a Hindu merchant named Poorna who made six sea voyages, and in the seventh voyage he was in the company of some Buddhist citizens of Sravasti and was converted by them to Buddhism. The Sutta Pitaka contains also several allusions to voyages in distant seas far remote from land. In the Sańyutta Nikaya (3, p. 115, 5. 51) and in the Aṅguttara (4. 127) there are interesting passages which mention voyages, lasting for six months, made in ships (nāva, which means boats) which could be drawn up on shore in the winter. Very interesting and conclusive evidence is supplied by a passage in the Digha Nikaya (1. 222) which distinctly mentions sea voyages out of sight of land. It describes how merchants carrying on sea-borne trade would take with them in their sea-going vessels certain birds of strong wing which, when the vessels were out of sight of land, would be let loose and used to indicate in which direction the land lay. If the shore were not near or within easy reach, the birds would return to the ships after flying in all directions to get to land, but if there were land within a few miles the birds would not return.

Some very definite and convincing allusions to sea voyages and sea-borne trade are also contained in the vast body of Buddhist literature known as the Jātakas, which are generally taken to relate themselves to a period of one thousand years beginning from 500 B.C. The Baveru-Jātaka^[45] without doubt points to the existence of commercial intercourse between India and Babylon in pre-Asokan days. The full significance of this important Jātaka is thus expressed by the late Professor Bühler: "The now well-known Baveru-Jātaka, to which Professor Minayef first drew attention, narrates that Hindu merchants exported peacocks to Baveru. The identification of Baveru with Babiru or Babylon is not doubtful," and considering the "age of the materials of the Jātakas, the story indicates that the Vanias of Western India undertook trading voyages to the shores of the Persian Gulf and of its rivers in the 5th, perhaps even in the 6th century B.C. just as in our days. This trade very probably existed already in much earlier times, for the Jātakas contain several other stories, describing voyages to distant lands and perilous adventures by sea, in which the names of the very ancient Western ports of Surparaka-Supara and Bharukaccha-Broach are occasionally mentioned." The Samudda-Vanija-Jātaka^[46] tells the story of the village^[47] of wood-wrights who, failing to deliver the goods^[48] (furniture, etc.) for which they had been paid in advance, built a ship secretly, embarked their families, and emigrated down the Ganges and out to an island over-sea.^[49] The Vālahassa-Jātaka (Jāt. ii. 128, no. 196) mentions^[50] five hundred dealers^[51] who were fellow passengers on an ill-fated ship. The Supparaka-Jātaka^[52] (Jāt. iv. 138-142) records the perilous adventures on the sea undergone by a company of seven hundred merchants^[53] who sailed from the seaport town of Bharukaccha^[54] in a vessel under the pilotage of a blind but accomplished mariner.^[55] The Mahājanaka-Jātaka (Jāt. vi. 32-35, no. 539) recounts the adventures^[56] of a prince who, with other traders, is represented as setting out^[57] from Champa with export goods^[58] for Suvannabhumi on the same ship which is wrecked in mid-ocean—Suvannabhumi is "probably either Burma or the 'Golden Chersonese' or the whole Farther-Indian coast"—and this Jātaka also shows that the Ganges was navigable right away to the sea from Champa or modern Bhagalpur. The Sāṅkha-Jātaka (Jāt. vi. 15-17, no. 442) tells the story of a Brahman given to charity who sails in a ship for the Gold Country in quest of riches by which he can replenish the store^[59] his philanthropy was exhausting. He was a native of Benares, and gave away daily in alms 600,000 pieces of money. His ship, however, sprang a leak^[60] in mid-ocean, but he is miraculously saved by a kind fairy in a magic ship^[61] filled with the seven treasures of gold, silver, pearls, gems, cats'-eyes, diamonds, and coral. The Sussondi-Jātaka (Jāt. iii. 188, no. 360) mentions the voyage of certain merchants of Bharukaccha for the Golden Land,^[62] from which, as also from other Jātakas such as the Mahājanaka-Jātaka, it is evident that besides Ceylon, Suvannabhumi or Burma was another commercial objective of traders coasting around India from western sea-ports such as Bharukaccha. Lastly, there are several other Jātakas in which we are told explicitly of a successful, if sporadic, deal in birds between Babylon and Benares, and of horses^[63] imported by hundreds from the North and from Sindh.^[64]

The conclusions regarding the state of Indian trade to which these various hints in the Jātakas point may be thus summed up in the words of Mrs. Rhys Davids:—

Communication both inland and foreign was of course effected by caravans and water. The caravans are described as consisting of five hundred carts drawn by oxen. They go both east and west from Benares and Patna as centres. The objective was probably the ports on the west coast, those on the sea-board of Sobira (the Sophir (Ophir) of the Septuagint) in the Gulf of Cutch or Bharukaccha. From here there was interchange by sea with Baveru (Babylon) and probably Arabia, Phoenicia, and Egypt. . . . Westward merchants are often mentioned as taking ships from Benares, or lower down at Champa, dropping down the great river, and either coasting to Ceylon or adventuring many days without sight of land to Suvannabhumi (Chryse Chersonesus, or possibly inclusive of all the coast of Farther India).^[65]

 

1. Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet, p. 84.
2. The five passages are:—

   वेदा यी वीनां पदमन्तरिक्षेण पततां। वेद नाबः समुद्रियः॥

   (I. 25. 7.)

   उवासोषा उच्छाच्च नु देवी जीरा रथानां।
   ये अस्या आचरणेषु दध्रिरे समुद्रे न श्रवस्यवः॥

   (I. 48. 3.)

   तं गूर्तयो नेमन्निषः परीणसः समुद्रं न संचरणे सनिष्यवः।
   पतिं दक्षस्य विदथस्य नू सहो गिरिं न वेना अधिरोह तेजसा॥

   (I. 56. 2.)

   आ यद्रुहाव वरुणश्च नावं प्र यत् समुद्रमीरयाव मध्यं।
   अधियदपां स्नुभिश्चराव प्र प्रेंख ईंखयावहै शुभे कं॥
   वशिष्ठंह वरुणो नाव्याधादृषिं चकार स्वपा महोभिः।
   स्तोतारं विप्रः सुदिन त्वे अह्नां षान्नु द्यावस्ततनन्यादुषासः॥

   (VII. 88. 3 & 4.)

   तुग्रो ह भुज्युमश्विनोदमेघे रयिं न कश्चिन्ममृवाँ अवाहाः।
   तमूहथु र्नौभिरात्मन्वतीभिरन्तरिक्षप्रुद्भिरपोदकाभिः॥

   (I. 116. 3.)
3. The passage in question is: समुद्रमवगाढ़ांश्च पर्व्वतान् पत्तनानि च। (Kishkindhyā Kāndam, 40. 25.)
4. The passage in question is: भूमिञ्च कोषकाराणां भूमिञ्च रजताकराम्। (Kishkindhyā Kāndam, 40. 23.) The commentator explains कोषकाराणां भूमिम् as कोषेयतन्तूत्पादकजन्तूत्पत्तिस्थानभूतानां भूमिम् or the land where grows the worm which yields the threads of silken clothes. The silken cloth for which China has been famous from time immemorial has been termed in Sanskrit literature चीनांशुक and चीनचेल to point to the place of its origin. Thus in Kālidāsa's Sakuntalā we come across the following passage:—

   गच्छति पुरः शरीरं धावति पश्चादसंस्थितं चेतः।
   चीनांशुकमिव केतोः प्रतिवातं नीयमानस्य॥

   In the Yātrātattva of Raghunandana we find the following:—

   सर्व्वाङ्गमनुलिप्येच्च चन्दनेन्दुमृदुद्रवैः।
   सुगन्धि माल्याभरणैश्चीनचेलैः सुशोभनैः॥

   The following further evidence of a Western scholar may be adduced to show that China was the prime producer of silk: "The manufacture of silk amongst the Chinese claims a high antiquity, native authorities tracing it as a national industry for a period of five thousand years. From China the looms of Persia and of Tyre were supplied with raw silk, and through these states the Greeks and the Romans obtained the envied luxury of silk tissues. The introduction of silkworm eggs into Europe was due to two missionaries who brought them concealed in a bamboo to Byzantium. The food also of the silkworm, the white mulberry (Morus alba), is of Chinese origin." (Growth and Vicissitude of Commerce, by J. Yeats, LL.D., F.G.S., F.S.S., etc.) The same author, in his Technical History of Commerce, p. 149, says: "Fabrics of silk and cotton are of Oriental origin. For 600 years after its introduction from China (A.D. 552), silk cultivation was isolated within the Byzantine Empire. The rearing of the worms and the weaving of the silk was practised in Sicily during the 12th and in Italy during the 13th century, whence it was subsequently introduced into France and Spain."

5. The passages alluded to are:—

   यत्नवन्तो यवद्वीपं सप्तराज्योपशोभितम्।
   सुवर्णरूप्यकद्वीपं सुवर्णकरमण्डितम्॥ ***ततो रक्तजलं भीमं लोहितं नाम सागरम्।

   Ptolemy adopted the Sanskrit name of the island of Java and mentioned its Greek equivalent, while modern writers like Humboldt call it the Barley Island. Alberuni also has remarked that the Hindus call the islands of the Malay Archipelago by the general name of Suvarna Island, which has been interpreted by the renowned French antiquarian Reinaud to mean the islands of Java and Sumatra. (Journal Asiatique, tome iv., IVe Série, p. 265.)

6. नावां शतानां पञ्चानां कैवर्त्तानां शतं शतं।
   सन्नद्धानां तथा यूनान्तिष्ठन्त्वित्यभ्यचोदयत्॥

   (Ayodhyā Kāndam, 84. 78.)

   [Let hundreds of Kaivarta young men lie in wait in five hundred ships (to obstruct the enemy's passage).]

   The following sloka from Manusańhitā, while enumerating the various and possible methods and means of warfare, includes also naval fight by means of ships:—

   स्यन्दनाश्वैः समे युध्येदनूपे नौद्विपैस्तथा।
   वृक्षगुल्मावृते चापैरसिचर्म्मायुधैः स्थले॥

   (Manu, 7. 192.)

7. सागरद्वीपवासांश्च नृपतीन् म्लेच्छयोनिजान्।
   निषादान् पुरुषादांश्च कर्णप्रावरणानपि॥
   द्वीपं ताम्राङ्कयञ्चैव स नृपं वशे कृत्वा महामतिः।

   [The magnanimous Sahadeva conquered and brought under his subjection the Mlechchha kings and hunters and cannibals inhabiting the several islands in the sea, including the island called Tāmra, etc.]

8. भिन्ननौका यथाराजन् द्वीपमासाद्य निर्वृताः।
   भवन्ति पुरुषव्याघ्र नाविकाः कालपर्यये॥
9. विष्वगिवाहता रुग्ना नौरिवासीन्महार्णवे।
10. निमज्जतस्तानथ कर्णसागरे
    विपन्ननावो वनिजो यथार्णवात्।
    उद्दध्रिरे नौभिरिवार्णवाद्रथैः
    सुकल्पितै र्द्रौपदीजाः स्वमातुलान्॥
11. वनिक् यथा समुद्राद्वैयथार्थम् लभते धनम्।
    तथा मर्त्त्यार्णवे जन्तोः कर्म्मविज्ञानतो गतिः॥

12. ततः प्रवासितो विद्वान् विदुरेण नरस्तदा।
    पार्थानां दर्शयामास मनोमारुतगामिनीम्॥
    सर्व्ववातसहां नावं यन्त्रयुक्तां पताकिनीम्।
    शिवे भागीरथीतीरे नरैर्विश्रम्भिभिः कृताम्॥

    आदिपर्व्व।
13. "Now (follow the offences) causing loss of caste, (viz.) making voyages by sea." (Bühler's translation in S.B.E.)
14. "Now (the customs peculiar) to the North are, to deal in wool, to drink rum, to sell animals that have teeth in the upper and in the lower jaws, to follow the trade of arms, to go to sea." (Ibid.)
15. "The duty on goods imported by sea is, after deducting a choice article, ten Panas in the hundred." (Bühler's translation in S.B.E.)
16. "Hereby (the taxes payable by) those who support themselves by personal labour have been explained, and those payable by owners of ships and carts." (Ibid.)

17. आगारदाही गरदः कुण्डाशी सोमविक्रयी।
    समुद्रयायी वन्दी च तैलिकः कूटकारकः॥

    ["An incendiary, a prisoner, he who eats the food given by the son of an adulteress, a seller of soma, he who undertakes voyages by sea, a bard, an oilman, a suborner to perjury."]

18. समुद्रयानकुशला देशकालार्थदर्शिनः।
    स्थापयन्ति तु यां वृद्धिं सा तत्राधिगमं प्रति॥

    ["Whatever rate men fix, who are expert in sea voyages and able to calculate (the profit) according to the place, and the time, and the objects (carried), that (has legal force) in such cases with respect to the payment (to be made)."]

19. दीर्घाध्वनि यथादेशं यथाकालं तरो भवेत्।
    नदीतीरेषु तद्विद्यात् समुद्रे नास्ति लक्षणम्॥

    ["For a long passage the boat-hire must be proportioned to the places and times. Know that this (rule refers) to passages along the banks of rivers; at sea there is no settled (freight)."]

20. The passages in question are:—

    यन्नावि किञ्चिद्दाशानां विशीर्य्येतापराधतः।
    तद्दाशैरेव दातव्यं समागम्य स्वतोऽंशतः॥
    एष नौयायिनामुक्तो व्यवहारस्य निर्णयः।
    दासापराधतस्तोये दैविके नास्ति विग्रहः॥

    (Manu, viii. 409. 9.)

    ["Whatever may be damaged in a boat by the fault of the boatmen, that shall be made good by the boatmen collectively (each paying) his share.

    "This decision in suits (brought) by passengers (holds good only) in case the boatmen are culpably negligent on the water; in the case of (accident) caused by (the will of) the gods, no fine can be (inflicted on them)."]

21. ये समुद्रगा वृद्ध्या धनं गृहीत्वा अधिकलाभार्थं प्राणधनविनाशशङ्कास्थानं समुद्रं गच्छति ते विंशं शतकं मासि मासि दद्युः।

22. उन्नतमीषच्छृङ्गं नौसंस्थाने विशालता चोक्ता।
    नाविकपीड़ा तस्मिन् भवति शिवं सर्व्वलोकस्य॥

    (4. 8.)

23. आश्विनवारुणमूलान्युपमृदनन् रेवतीञ्च चन्द्रसुतः।
    पण्य भीषग् नौजीविक तुरगोपघात करः॥

    (7. 6.)

24. स्वातौ प्रभूतवृष्टिर्दूतवणिङ् नाविकान् स्पृशत्यनयः।
    एन्द्राग्नेऽपि सुवृष्टिर्वणिजाञ्च भयं विजानीयात्॥

    (9. 31)

25. तुरग तुरगोपचारककविवैद्यामात्यहार्कजोऽश्वि गतः।
    याम्पे नर्त्तकवादकगेयज्ञ क्षुद्र नौ कृतिकान्॥

    (10. 3.)

26. चित्रास्थे प्रमदाजनलेखक चित्रज्ञ चित्रभाण्डानि।
    स्वातौ मागधचरदूतसुत पोतप्लव नटाद्याः॥

    (10. 10)

27. अथवा समुद्रतीरे कुशलागतरत्नपोत सम्बाधे।
    घननिचुललीनजलचरसितखगशबलीकृतोपान्ते॥

    (44. 12.)
28. E.g. the Vayu Purāṇa, the Mārkaṇdeya Purāṇa, and the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.

29. पुनस्तत्रैव गमने वणिग् भावे मतिर्गता।
    समुद्रयाने रत्नानि महास्थौल्यानि साधुभिः॥
    रत्न परीक्षकैः सार्द्धमानायिष्ये बहूनि च।
    एवं निश्चित्य मनसा महासार्थपुरःसरः।
    समुद्रयायिभिर्लोकैः संविदं सूच्यनिर्गतः॥
    शुकेन सह संप्राप्तो महान्तं लवणार्णवम्।
    पोतारूढ़ास्ततः सर्व्वे पोतवाहैरुपोषिता॥

30. मार्कण्डेयपुराणान्तर्गतदेवीमाहात्म्ये—

    राज्ञा क्रुद्धेन वाज्ञप्तो वध्यो बन्धगतोऽपि वा।
    आघूर्णितो वा वातेन स्थितः पोते महार्णवे॥

31. वङ्गान् उत्खाय तरसा नेता नौसाधनोद्यतान्।
    निचखान जयस्तम्भं गङ्गास्रोतोऽन्तरेषु च॥ ["Having by his prowess uprooted the Vaṅgas (Bengalis) arrayed for battle with a naval force, that excellent leader (Raghu) posted pillars of victory on the isles formed in the midst of Gangā."]
32. ारसीकान् ततो जेतुं प्रतस्थे स्थलवर्त्मना।
33. अन्यथा क्व सिद्धादेशजनितप्रत्ययप्रार्थितायाः सिंहलेश्वरदुहितुः समुद्रे यानभग्ननिमग्नायाः फलकासादनम्। क्व च कैशाम्बीयेन वणिजा सिंहलेभ्यः प्रत्यागच्छता तदवस्थायाः संभावनम्। ["Otherwise how was the attainment of a plank possible of the daughter of the king of Sińhala, shipwrecked on the sea, with her desire kindled by the faith born of the words of saints? How also was she observed in that state by the merchant of Kausambi returning from Ceylon?"]
34. ततः सोदरविलोकनकुतूहलेन रत्नोद्भवः कथञ्चिच्छ्वशुरमनुनीय चपललोचनयानया सह प्रवहणमारुह्य पुरुषपुरमभिप्रतस्थे। कल्लोलमालिकाभिहतः पोतः समुद्राम्भस्यमज्जत्।

    [Then, anxious to see his brother, Ratnodbhava, with the permission of his father-in-law, started for Pushpapur (Patna) on board a ship with his wife, having her eyes rolling. The vessel sank in the water of the sea, being beaten by rolling waves.]

35. अस्मिन्नेवक्षणेनैकनौकापरिवृतः कोऽपि मद्गुः अभ्यधावत्। अबिभयुर्यवना। तावदतिजवा नौकाः श्वान इव वराहमस्मत्पोतं पर्य्यरुत्सत।

    [At this very moment a fleet of many ships was in pursuit. The Yavaṇas were afraid. Then like dogs attacking a boar the pursuing vessels very soon surrounded the ship.]

36. विक्रीय दिश्यानि धनान्युरूणि द्वैप्यानसावुत्तमलाभभाजः।
    तरोषु तत्रत्यमफल्गुभाण्डं सांयात्रिकानावपतोऽभ्यनन्दत्॥

    [He (Srī Kṛishña) was glad to see merchants of distant islands, after realizing great profits from the sale of the products of many countries, reload their vessels with merchandise of Indian origin.]

37. पोतो दुस्तर-वारिराशितरणे दीपोऽन्धकारागमे
    निर्व्वाते व्यजनं मदान्धकरिणां दर्पोपशान्त्यै शृणिः।
    इत्थं तद् भुवि नास्ति यस्य विधिना नोपाय-चिन्ता कृता
    मन्ये दुर्ज्जन-चित्तवृत्तिहरणे धातापि भग्नोद्यमः॥

38. सान्धिविग्रहिकः सोऽथ गच्छन् पोतच्युतोऽम्बुधौ।
    प्राप पारं तिमिग्रासात्तिमिमुत्पाव्य निर्गतः॥

    [The royal messenger fell into the sea while proceeding on a vessel, and a whale devoured him; but ripping open its belly, he came out and crossed the sea.]

39. Upham's Sacred and Historical Books of Ceylon, i. 71; ii. 177. Turnour's Mahāwańso, 55.
40. Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, 56, 57, and 60.
41. Bishop Bigandet's Life of Godama, 101.
42. Si-yu-ki, ii. 246.
43. Si-yu-ki, xiii. 55.
44. Indian Antiquary, 1879.
45. Jataka iii., no. 339, in the Cambridge Edition.
46. Jataka iv. 159, no. 466.
47. "There stood near Benares a great town of carpenters containing a thousand families."—Ibid.
48. "The carpenters from this town used to profess that they would make a bed or a chair or a house."—Ibid.
49. "There they sailed at the wind's will until they reached an island that lay in the midst of the sea."—Ibid.
50. The Vālahassa-Jātaka relates how "some shipwrecked mariners escaped from a city of goblins by the aid of a flying horse."—Ibid.
51. "Now it happened that five hundred shipwrecked traders were cast ashore near the city of these sea-goblins."—Ibid.
52. "The story mentions how a blind mariner was made the king's assessor and valuer, and how he was pilot to a vessel which traversed the perilous seas of Fairyland."—Ibid.
53. "It happened that some merchants had got ready a ship and were casting about for a skipper. . . . Now there were seven hundred souls aboard the ship."—Ibid.
54. "There was a seaport town named Bharukacch or Marsh of Bharu. At that time the Buddhisatta was born into the family of a master mariner there. . . . They gave him the name of Supparaka Kumara. . . . Afterwards, when his father died, he became the head of his mariners. . . . With him aboard no ship ever came to harm."—Ibid.
55. "Four months the vessel had been voyaging in far-distant regions; and now, as though endowed with supernatural powers, it returned in one single day to the seaport town of Bharukacch."—Ibid.
56. The following is a brief summary of its story: A prince suspects his brother, without reason, rebels against him, and kills him. The king's consort, being with child, flees from the city. Her son is brought up without knowledge of his father, but when he learns the truth goes to sea on a merchant venture. He is wrecked, and a goddess brings him to his father's kingdom, where, after answering some difficult questions, he marries the daughter of the usurper. By-and-bye he becomes an ascetic, and is followed by his wife. (Cambridge edition of the Jātakas.)
57. "Having got together his stock-in-trade (viz. store of pearls, jewels, and diamonds) he put it on board a ship with some merchants bound for Suvannabhumi, and bade his mother farewell, telling her that he was sailing for that country."—Ibid.
58. "There were seven caravans with their beasts embarked on board. In seven days the ship made seven hundred leagues, but having gone too violently in its course it could not hold out."—Ibid.
59. "One day he thought to himself, 'My store of wealth once gone I shall have nothing to give. While it is still unexhausted I will take ship, and sail for the Gold Country, whence I will bring back wealth. So he caused a ship to be built, filled it with merchandise, and, bidding farewell to his wife and child, set his face towards the seaport, and at mid-day he departed."—Ibid.
60. "When they were come to the high seas, on the seventh day the ship sprang a leak, and they could not bale the water clear."—Ibid.
61. The following contains a full description of the ship: "The deity, well pleased at hearing these words, caused a ship to appear made of the seven things of price; in length it was 800 cubits, 20 fathoms in depth; it had three masts made of sapphire, cordage of gold, silver sails, and of gold also were the oars and the rudders."—Ibid.
62. "At that time certain merchants of Bharukaccha were setting sail for the Golden Land."—Ibid.
63. Jātaka i. 124, or Tandulanali-Jātaka, no. 5, which tells the story of an incompetent valuer declaring five hundred horses worth a measure of rice, which measure of rice in turn he is led to declare worth all Benares, contains a passage of which the following is the English translation: "At that time there arrived from the North Country a horse-dealer with five hundred horses." Similarly, Jātaka ii. 31, Suhanu-Jātaka, no. 158, has the following: "Some horse-dealers from the North Country brought down five hundred horses." Again, Jātaka ii. 287, or Kundaka-Kucchi-Sindhava-Jātaka, no. 254, mentions how the "Boddhisatta was born into a trader's family in the Northern Province; and five hundred people of that country, horse-dealers, used to convey horses to Benares and sell them there."
64. Jātaka i. 178, or Bhojajanuya-Jātaka, no. 23, mentions how "Boddhisatta came to life as a thoroughbred Sindh horse." Similarly, Jātaka i. 181, or the Ajanna-Jātaka, no. 24, refers to a warrior who fought from a chariot to which were harnessed two Sindh horses.
65. Economic Journal and J.R.A.S. for 1901.