Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome c11.73

c11.73

Costus. Skt. kuṣṭha, modern kut-lākṛī, called also uplet in Karachi, and puchuk in the Far East. It is the root of the Saussurea lappa (hence the Roman name Radix), and grows in the Himālayas. It was exported from Barygaza and Barbarikon, and fetched five denarii a pound in Rome, where it was used for making perfumes and for cooking. It is still exported from Kashmīr (where it is a state monopoly), via Karachi and Bombay, to China and Japan, where it is apparently used as incense. About 2000 cwt., valued at about Rs 40,000, are exported annually. Hamilton (New Account, I. 128), writing about 1720, says, “There are great quantities exported from Surat and thence to China, where it bears a good price. For being all idolaters and burning incense before their images, this root beaten into fine powder . . . will burn a long time like a match, sending forth a fine smoke whose smell is very grateful.”