The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c18.92

c18.92

³ Nearchos is the original authority for the use of closely woven [cotton] cloth (Strabo, xv, 67). A century ago merchants and shopkeepers in Mysore universally employed long strips of cotton cloth, from 8 to 12 inches wide and 12 to 18 feet long, as writing material. In ancient times these strips (*kadettum*) were used for records and public documents. The Kanarese writing on them was done with a pencil of *balapum*, or *lapis ollaris*, and could be rubbed out and renewed. The strips were neatly folded and kept in cases (Wilson, *Mackenzie Collection*, p. 342; 2nd ed., Madras, 1882). The statement of Megasthenes (Strabo, xv, 53) that the Indians were ‘ignorant of writing’ is erroneous. The letter sent to Augustus by an Indian king was on parchment (Strabo, xv, 73). The bark referred to, that of the birch (*Betula utilis*), was used only in Northern India. ‘The tender side of the barks of trees receives written characters like paper’ (Curtius, viii, 9). Many of the apparent discrepancies in the Greek account of India are due to the fact that different authors refer to different parts of the country. General statements about India are always misleading.