HINDU PERIOD
red sea. In the Ayodhyā Kāndam there is even a passage which hints at preparations for a naval fight,[1] 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.[2] The well-known
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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.) - ↑
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.]
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