Radha Kumud Mukhopadhyay

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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) . ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ↑ "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. ↑ The following is a brief summary of its story: A prince suspects his brother, without reason, rebels against him, and kills him. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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) . ”

“ 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.) ↑ "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. ”

“ 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. ”