Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c13.340

v2.c13.340

The literary evidence leaves no doubt that trade was the chief stimulus of this intercourse between India and the Far East. Missionary and political activities must have followed in the wake of trade. Indeed, if literature can be regarded as a fair reflex of popular mind, trade and commerce must have been a supreme passion in India in the centuries immediately preceding and following the Christian era, perhaps very much in the same way as it is in Europe to-day. The extraordinary routes mentioned above, together with the details of ship-wreck and perils of the sea preserved in numerous stories, are but a faint echo of that romantic age of adventures and explorations. If the history of that wonderful epoch of new discoveries had been preserved to us, we might possibly present it as a not unworthy parallel of the similar period in modern age. We lay particular stress on this fact, as it is the background of our study of ancient Indian colonisation in the Far East.