Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c7.28

c7.28

There are many references to sea-voyages between Indian ports and Suvarṇa-bhūmi or Suvarṇa-dvīpa, in old popular stories in the Sanskrit works based upon the lost *Bṛhat-kathā*, as well as in Buddhist Jātakas, Jain *Samarāïchcha-kahā* and other works. The heroes of most of these stories are merchants and, in a few cases, princes, or chiefs in straitened circumstances, who wanted to acquire wealth by trade or other means. The *Kathākośa* relates the story of Nāgadatta who went to Suvarṇa-dvīpa with five hundred ships in order to acquire wealth. The Buddhist works *Milindapañha* and *Niddesa* also refer to regular trading voyages to Suvarṇa-bhūmi.