208 J. HORNELL ON 



sea between Western India and the Babylonian river towns^ carried on by Indians 

 and comprising peacocks as one of the articles of export from India. 



That the peacock was exported from India at a very early date gains weight from 

 the fact that the Hebrew word for peacock as used in the Old Testament, ' thuki,' is 

 immediately derived from the Tamil tokei, and that peacocks were common in Greece 

 about 430 B.C.^ This trade probably existed from much earlier times, for other old 

 Jatakas make much mention of the sea- ports of Bharukaccha (Broach) and Surpara- 

 ka (Supara), and of long and perilous over -sea voyages made therefrom to distant lands 

 — to Suvarnabhumi in particular, which appears to be that Further India, or Golden 

 Chersonese, which we know as the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Java. 



The discovery of Indian timber in the Babylonian ruins of Birs Nimroud and of 

 Ur, in buildings dating circa 604-538 B.C.,'^ furnishes conclusive evidence of sea- 

 trade conducted in fairly large vessels between India and the Euphrates at this early 

 period. 



This sea-trade with Babylon, carried on in Indian vessels, cannot be less ancient 

 than the 6th century B.C. and is possibly a good deal older. Its continuance in 

 Achaemenid times is rendered probable by the discovery of Indian articles in the ruins 

 of Susa, these consisting of libation cups, bangles and ornaments made from the shell 

 of the Indian conch, fished even yet in quantities on the Kathiawar coast.* The age of 

 these ruins brings Indian trade with this region down into the 5th century, but some of 

 the ornaments^one bangle especially, obtained from a lower stratum — ^belong pro- 

 bably to a much older date, as Susa was a capital of the Elamites long before the 

 Achaemenid occupation of the site. I have also identified chank ornaments from 

 Tello (the site of the ancient Lagash) in the lyouvre Museum, Paris. 



Contemporaneous with this Persian Gulf trade, commercial relations with the 

 great emporia of Muza and Aden in S.W. Arabia were certainly being carried on. 

 Probably the earliest distinct record of this is the notice of Agatharcides of Alexandria 

 who, about the middle of the 2nd century B.C., saw large Indian vessels arriving at a 

 Sabsean port from Patala on the Indus. He notes how wealthy the Sabseans had 

 become by reason of their country being the exchange centre for the Indian goods 

 so brought by sea. This direct Indian trade is confirmed by the story told by Eudoxus 

 who himself twice voyaged to India towards the end of the 2nd century (118-112 

 B.C.), of an Indian ship found derelict off the entrance to the Red Sea with one fam- 

 ished Indian sailor alone alive. This man, brought to Egypt by the coastguard, sub- 

 sequently offered to show the route to be followed on the voyage to India and acted 

 as pilot for the first trading expedition under the leadership of Eudoxus.* Yemen 

 at this period and for hundreds of years previously had occupied a highly favoured 

 half-way position between India and Egypt, for it is doubtful if the direct passages 

 of Grseco-Egyptian vessels from Egypt to India commenced or at least were common 

 prior to the first century B.C. Indo-Sabsean trade must be exceedingly ancient and 



i Kennedy, J., J.R.A.S., 1898. 

 i Do. ibid., 1898. 



s Hornell, J., Marine Zoology of Okhamandal, Pt. II, p. 2, I<ondon, 1916. '^ Strabo, Geog. II. 3. 4. 



