The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c35.s1.25

c35.s1.25

The Tamil states maintained powerful navies, and were visited freely by ships from both east and west, which brought merchants of various races eager to buy the pearls, pepper, beryls, and other choice commodities of India, and to pay for them with the gold, silver, and art ware of Europe. The Roman *aureus* circulated in Southern India as freely as the English sovereign passed on the continent of Europe before 1914, and Roman bronze small change, partly imported and partly minted at Madura, was commonly used in the bazaars.¹ There is good reason to believe that considerable colonies of Roman subjects engaged in trade were settled in Southern India during the first two centuries of our era, and that European soldiers, described as 'powerful Yavanas, dumb Mlechchhas [barbarians], clad in complete armour,' acted as bodyguards to Tamil kings, while 'the beautiful large ships of the Yavanas' lay off Muziris (Cranganore) to receive the cargoes of pepper paid for by Roman gold. It is even stated, and no doubt truly, that a temple dedicated to Augustus existed at Muziris. Another foreign (Yavana) colony was settled at Kāviripaddanam, or Puhār, a busy port situated on the eastern coast at the mouth of the northern branch of the Kāviri (Cauvery) river. Both town and harbour disappeared long since, and now lie buried under vast mounds of sand.² The poems tell of the importation of Yavana wines, lamps, and vases, and their testimony is confirmed by the discovery in the Nīlgiri megalithic tombs of numerous bronze vessels similar to those known to have been produced in Europe during the early centuries of the Christian era, and by the statements of the *Periplus*.¹