The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v1.c19.s8.t2.1

v1.c19.s8.t2.1

The history of Bengal's foreign trade may be traced back to at least four or five centuries before the birth of Christ. Strabo refers to the “ascent of vessels from the sea by the Ganges to Palibothra,”⁷ and his information is probably derived from Megasthenes’ account. Conversely, a number of Jātaka stories mention merchants and businessmen taking ships at Benares,¹ or lower down at Champā (modern Bhagalpur),² and then either coasting to Ceylon or adventuring many days without sight of land to Suvarṇabhūmi.³ The *Periplus of the Erythraean Sea* proves that Bengal maintained an active overseas trade with South India and Ceylon in the first century A.D. The commodities exported are said to have consisted of malabathrum, Gangetic spikenard, pearls, and muslins of the finest sorts. They were all shipped from a ‘market-town’ called Gange (probably the same as Tāmralipti), and carried in vessels described in the *Periplus* as ‘colandia.’⁴