India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s3.21

c9.s3.21

Its Oxo-Caspian portion from India to the West by the Oxus and the Caspian is mentioned by Strabo (II. 73; XI. 509) and Pliny (Tarn, *The Greeks in Bactria and India*, p. 488, Appendix 14). 'Strabo, speaking of the Oxus, states (XI, 509) that it formed a link in an important chain along which Indian goods were carried to Europe by way of the Caspian and the Black Seas. He cites as one of his authorities Patrocles, who was an admiral in the service of Antiochus I, and thus makes it clear that the route was a popular one early in the 3rd century B.C.' (*Cambridge History of India*, Vol. I, p. 433). Strabo also wrote that 'The Oxus is sufficiently navigable for the Indian trade to be carried across to it and to be easily brought down the river to the Hyrcanian (sea) and the places beyond as far as the Black Sea by way of the rivers.' (Tarn, *op. cit.*, p. 489).