Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome c6.11

c6.11

On the obelisk of Shalmaneser III, 860 B.C., are apes, Indian elephants, and Baktrian camels; and in one of the *Jātaka* stories, called the *Bāberu Jātaka*¹, we hear of Indian merchants who took periodical voyages to the land of *Bāberu* (Babylon). There were very few birds in that country, and on their first visit the merchants brought with them an Indian crow, which excited great admiration. But on a subsequent voyage they took a wonderful performing peacock, and the poor crow found himself quite eclipsed!