PART III.— THE PART PIvAYED BY INDIAN-BUII.T SHIPS 



IN PAST SEA TRADE. 



So far we have written as though India herself had been passive in regard to sea- 

 trade to and from her ports — a looker-on upon the brave and venturesome doings of 

 other nations and races. This is, I believe, only partially true, and arises from the 

 fact that her own sea-trafhc was in the main coastwise within her own boundaries 

 and that what portion was oversea traffic was far more largely directed to the east 

 than to the west. Greek and Grseco-Roman traffic with India was restricted almost 

 entirely to the west coast and as our only definite knowledge of ancient Indian trade 

 is derived from Greek and Roman writers, Indian traffic with the Malay Archipelago 

 and Peninsula failed to obtain adequate notice. There are, however, a few definite 

 indications that there was considerable indigenous naval and mercantile activity in 

 Indian waters at and from a very early date. 



There are passages even in the Sanscrit epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, 

 containing allusions to foreign maritime countries and to voyages thereto by sea, 

 but these are vague and undateable, and merely tell us of the fact that several centu- 

 ries B.C. sea- trade was known and carried on. 



More definite are ancient Buddhist legends embodied in the Pitakas and Jatakas, 

 particularly the latter, dating from the early centuries B.C. 



Among the former the Siitta Pitaka, attributed by Rhys Davids ^ to the fifth 

 century B.C., tells how long ago merchants when saihng on oversea voyages out of 

 sight of land carried with them " shore- sighting " birds which were used in locating 

 the nearest land when the ship's position became doubtful. The same custom is rela- 

 ted by Pliny (A.D. yy) as practised by the seamen of Ceylon, when making sea voy- 

 ages, as they were unable to steer by the stars. '^ 



Another passage of this Pitaka ' mentions voyages lasting for six months, made 

 in ships which were brought ashore and laid up during the winter, a custom curiously 

 similar to that practised to-day by the Sinhalese owners of the antique sewn-plank 

 craft called Yatra oruwa. (See p. 158.) 



Still more valuable is the evidence of the Jatakas which may go back as far as 400 

 B.C. but which enshrine folktales of much greater antiquity.* The most important in 

 this respect is the Baheru-Jataka ^ wherein we read of Indian merchants who made 

 periodical voyages to Babylon (Baberu). The story as told, is dressed fantastically, 

 but there can be little doubt that it has as its basis a tradition of a regular trade by 



1 J.R.A.S. April, 1899, p. 432. 2 piiny, Natural History, VI. 22. 



3 Quoted by Mukerji, loc. cit., p. 72,. * Kennedy, J., J.R.A.S., 1898. 



& Jatakas, Cambridge ed., 1907, III, p. 83. 



