Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s2.32

c12.s2.32

India has always been famous for its trees producing fragrant wood. Several varieties such as *chandana*, *agalu* and *tagara* are mentioned in the Pāli canonical texts and the *Jātakas*¹. Kauṭilya (ii. 11) mentions five kinds of fragrant wood, *viz.*, *chandana*, *aguru*, *taila-parṇika*, *bhadraśrī*, and *kāleyaka*. These are further distinguished according to their place of origin, colour, fragrance and so forth. To judge from the commentator’s identification, many of these varieties came from Kāmarūpa, while other kinds came from Ceylon, the Himalayan region and the like.