Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c8.s1: I.—Extracts from The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea

Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c8.s1

Language: English

I.—Extracts from The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea

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¹ This is taken primarily from W. H. Schoff's translation of the anonymous Greek work entitled *Periplus maris Erythrae*, composed about the eighth decade of the first century A.D. when Ujjayinī was not a capital city, that is to say, some time before the Kārdamaka-Śakas made Ujjayinī their capital in the second quarter of the second century A.D. Ptolemy mentions Ozene (Ujjayinī) as the capital of Śaka Caṣṭana while the Śaka father-in-law of Ikṣvāku Virapuruṣadatta (3rd century A.D.) is mentioned in a Nagarjunikonda inscription as ‘the Mahārāja of Ujjayinī (Sel. Ins., 2nd ed., p. 231). See *JBRS*, Vol. XLIX, 1963, pp. 28ff. Cf. J. W. McCrindle's translation in *Ind. Ant.*, Vol. viii, pp. 108ff. ; also R. C. Majumdar, *The Classical Accounts of India*, pp. 288ff. In this section, Greek kappa and omicron (in the as ending) are represented by c and u respectively after Schoff.

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38. Beyond this region, the continent making a wide curve from the east across the depths of the bays, there follows the coast district of Scythia (Śakasthāna) which lies above toward the north ; the whole marshy : from which flows down the river Sinthus (Sindhu), the greatest of all the rivers that flow into the Erythraean Sea (the Indian Ocean including its adjuncts), bringing down an enormous volume of water ; so that a long way out at sea, before reaching this country, the water of the ocean is fresh from it. Now as a sign of approach to this country to those coming from the sea, there are serpents coming forth from the depths to meet you ; and a sign of the places just mentioned and in Persia, are those called graoe (Sanskrit grāha). This river has seven mouths, very shallow and marshy, so that they are not navigable, except the one in the middle ; at which by the shore, is the market-town, Barbaricum (Barbaraka, Barbara). Before it there lies a small island, and inland behind it is the metropolis of Scythia, Minnagara ; it is subject to Parthian princes who are constantly driving each other out.

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39. The ships lie at anchor at Barbaricum, but all their cargoes are carried up to the metropolis by the river, to the king. There are imported into this market a great deal of thin clothing, and a little spurious; figured linens, topaz, coral, storax, frankincense, vessels of glass, silver and gold plate, and a little wine. On the other hand there are exported costus, bdellium, lycium, nard, turquoise, lapis lazuli, Seric skins, cotton cloth, silk yarn and indigo. And sailors set out thither with the Indian Etesian winds, about the month of July, that is Epiphi : it is more dangerous then; but through these winds the voyage is more direct, and sooner completed.

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40. Beyond the river Sinthus there is another gulf, not navigable, running in toward the north; it is called Eirinon (Rann of Kutch; Sanskrit Īriṇa, a desert, waste or swamp); its parts are called separately the small gulf and the great; in both parts the water is shallow, with shifting sandbanks occurring continually and a great way from shore; so that very often when the shore is not even in sight, ships run aground, and if they attempt to hold their course they are wrecked. A promontory stands out from this gulf curving around from Eirinon toward the east, then south, then west, and enclosing the gulf called Baraca (Dvārakā), which contains seven islands. Those who come to the entrance of this bay escape it by putting about a little and standing further out to sea; but those who are drawn inside into the gulf of Baraca are lost; for the waves are high and very violent, and the sea is tumultuous and foul, and has eddies and rushing whirlpools. The bottom is in some places abrupt, and in others rocky and sharp, so that the anchors lying there are parted, some being quickly cut off, and others chafing on the bottom. As a sign of these places to those approaching from the sea there are serpents, very large and black; for at the other places on this coast and around Barygaza (Bhṛgukaccha, Broach), they are smaller, and in colour bright green, running into gold.

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41. Beyond the gulf of Baraca is that of Barygaza and the coast of the country of Ariaca (Aparāntaka ; Konkan or Nothern Konkan), which is the beginning of the kingdom of Mambarus (a Śaka Satrap of the Kuṣāṇas of Kaniṣka's house) and of all India. That part of it lying inland and adjoining Scythia is called Abiria (Ābhīra), but the coast is called Syrastrene K(Surāṣṭra ; athiawad Peninsula or its southern part). It is a fertile country, yielding wheat and rice and sesame oil and clarified butter, cotton and the Indian cloths made therefrom, of the coarser sorts. Very many cattle are pastured there, and the men are of great stature and black in colour. The metropolis of this country is Minnagara, from which much cotton cloth is brought down to Barygaza. In these places there remain even to the present time signs of the expedition of Alexander, such as ancient shrines, walls of forts and great wells. The sailing course along this coast, from Barbaricum to the promontory called Papica (Goaphat or Gopinath Point), opposite Barygaza, and before Astacampra (Hastakavapra; Hathab near Bhavnagar), is of three thousand stadia.²

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² One stadium of this work was about 520 feet (Schoff, op. cit., p. 55), so that ten stadia were approximately equal to one mile.

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42. Beyond this there is another gulf exposed to the sea-waves, running up toward the north, at the mouth of which there is an island called Baeones (Piram Island) ; at its innermost part there is a great river called Mais (Mahi). Those sailing to Barygaza pass across this gulf, which is three hundred stadia in width, leaving behind to their left the island just visible from their tops toward the east, straight to the very mouth of the river of Barygaza ; and this river is called Nammadus (Narmadā).

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43. This gulf is very narrow to Barygaza and very hard to navigate for those coming from the ocean; this is the case with both the right and left passages ; but there is a better passage through the left. For on the right at the very mouth of the gulf there lies a shoal, long and narrow, and full of rocks, called Herone, facing the village of Cammoni ; and opposite this on the left projects the promontory that lies before Astacampra, which is callcd Papica, and is a bad anchorage because of the strong current setting in around it and because the anchors are cut off, the bottom being rough and rocky. And even if the entrance to the gulf is made safely, the mouth of the river at Barygaza is found with difficulty because the shore is very low and cannot be made out untill you are close upon it. And when you have found it the passage is difficult because of the shoals at the mouth of the river.

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44. Because of this, native fishermen in the king's service, stationed at the very entrance in well-manned large boats called trappaga (trapāka) and cotymba (kotia), go up the coast as far as Syrastrene, from which they pilot vessels to Barygaza. And they steer them straight from the mouth of the bay between the shoals with their crews ; and they tow them to fixed stations, going up with the beginning of the flood, and lying through the ebb at anchorages and in basins. These basins are deeper places in the river as far as Barygaza, which lies by the river, about three hundred stadia up from the mouth.

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45. Now the whole country of India has very many rivers, and very great ebb and flow of the tides ; increasing at the new moon and at the full moon for three days and falling off during the intervening days of the moon. But about Barygaza it is much greater, so that the bottom is suddenly seen, and now parts of the dry land are sea, and now it is dry where ships were sailing just before; and the rivers, under the inrush of the flood tide, when the whole force of the sea is directed against them, are driven upwards more strongly against their natural current, for many stadia.

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46. For this reason entrance and departure of vessels are very dangerous to those who are inexperienced or who come to this market-town for the first time. For the rush of waters at the incoming tide is irresistible, and the anchors cannot hold against it; so that large ships are caught up by the force of it, turned broadside on through the speed of the current, and so driven on the shoals and wrecked; and smaller boats are overturned; and those that have been turned aside among the channels by the receding waters at the ebb, are left on their sides, and if not held on an even keel by props, the flood tide comes upon them suddenly and under the first head of the current they are filled with water. For there is so great force in the rush of the sea at the new moon, especially during the flood tide at night, that if you begin the entrance at the moment when the waters are still, on the instant there is borne to you at the mouth of the river a noise like the cries of an army heard from afar; and very soon the sea itself comes rushing in over the shoals with a hoarse roar.

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47. The country inland from Barygaza is inhabited by numerous tribes, such as the Arattii (Araṭṭa of the Punjab), the Arachosii (people of the Kandahar region), the Gandaraei (Gandhāra of the Rawalpindi region) and the people of Poclais (Puṣkalāvatī in the Peshawar region), in which is Bucephalus Alexandria (on the west bank of the Jhelam). Above these is the very war-like nation of the Bactrians (Kuṣāṇas settled in Northern Afghanistan), who are under their own king. And Alexander, setting out from these parts, penetrated to the Ganges (Gaṅgā),³ leaving aside Damirica (Draviḍa=Tamilaka) and the southern part of India; and to the present day ancient drachmas (coins) are current in Barygaza, coming from this country, bearing inscriptions in Greek letters, and the devices of those who reigned after Alexander, viz., Apollodotus and Menander.

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³ This statement is inaccurate since Alexander is known to have returned from the western bank of the Beas.

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48. Inland from this place and to the east, is the city called Ozene (Ujjayinī) formerly a royal capital; from this place are brought down all things needed for the welfare of the country about Barygaza, and many things for our trade: agate and carnelian, Indian muslins and mallow cloth, and much ordinary cloth. Through this same region and from the upper country is brought the spikenard that comes through Poclais ; that is, the Caspapyrene (from Kaśyapapura=Kaśmīra) and Paropanisene (from the Hindu Kush region) and Cabolitic (from Kabul) and that brought through the adjoining country of Scythia ; also costus and bdellium.

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49. There are imported into this market-town, wine, Italian preferred, also Laodicean and Arabian ; copper, tin and lead ; coral and topaz ; thin clothing and inferior sorts of all kinds ; bright-coloured girdles a cubit wide ; storax, sweet clover, flint glass, realgar, antimony, gold and silver coin, on which there is a profit when exchanged for the money of the country ; and ointment, but not very costly and not much. And for the king there are brought into those places very costly vessels of silver, singing boys, beautiful maidens for the harem, fine wines, thin clothing of the finest weaves, and the choicest ointment. There are exported from these places spikenard, costus, bdellium, ivory, agate and carnelian, lycium, cotton cloth of all kinds, silk cloth, mallow cloth, yarn, long pepper and such other things as are brought here from the various market-towns. Those bound for this market-town from Egypt make the voyage favourably about the month of July, that is Epiphi.

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50. Beyond Barygaza the adjoining coast extends in a straight line from north to south ; and so this region is called Dachinabades (Dakṣiṇāpatha, Prakrit Dakkhiṇābadha), for dachanos (dakṣiṇa, Prakrit dakkhiṇa) in the language of the natives means ‘south’. The inland country back from the coast toward the east comprises many desert regions and great mountains ; and all kinds of wild beasts—leopards, tigers, elephants, enormous serpents, hyenas, and baboons of many sorts ; and many populous nations, as far as the Ganges.

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51. Among the market-towns of Dachinabades there are two of special importance ; Paethana (Pratiṣṭhāna, modern Paithan in the Aurangabad District), distant about twenty days’ journey south from Barygaza ; beyond which, about ten days’ journey east, there is another very great city, Tagara (modern Ter in the Osmanabad District). There are brought down to Barygaza from these places by wagons and through great tracts without roads, from Paethana carnelian in great quantity, and from Tagara much common cloth, all kinds of muslins and mallow cloth, and other merchandise brought there locally from the regions along the sea-coast. And the whole course to the end of Damirica is seven thousand stadia ; but the distance is greater to the Coast Country.

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52. The market-towns of this region are, in order, after Barygaza : Suppara (Sūrpāraka, modern Sopara in the Thana District), and the city of Calliena (Kalyāṇa in the Thana District), which in the time of the elder Saraganus (Śātakarṇi of the Śātavāhana dynasty) became a lawful market-town ; but since it came into the possession of Sandanes⁴ the port is much obstructed, and Greek ships landing there may chance to be taken to Barygaza under guard.

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53. Beyond Calliena there are other market-towns of this region : Semylla (modern Chaul to the south of Bombay), Mandagora (probably Bankot on the mouth of the Sāvitrī), Palaepatmae (probaby modern Dabhoi), Melizigara (probably modern Jaygarh or Rajapur in the Ratnagiri coast), Byzantium (probably modern Vizadrog), Togarum (probably modern Deogarh) and Turannoboas (probably modern Malvan). Then there are the islands called Sesecrienae (probably the modern Vengurla Rocks) and that of the Aegidii (probably modern Goa) and that of the Caenitae (probably the modern Oyster Rocks), opposite the place called Chersonesus (probably modern Karwar)—and in these places there are pirates,—and after this the White Island (probably the modern Pigeon Island). Then come Naura (probably modern Cannanore) and Tyndis (probably modern Ponnani), the first markets of Damirica (Draviḍa), and then Muziris (modern Cranganore) and Nelcynda (near modern Kottayam), which are now of leading importance.

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54. Tyndis is of the kingdom of Cerobothra (Keralaputra); it is a village in plain sight by the sea. Muziris, of the same kingdom, abounds in ships sent there with cargoes from Arabia, and by the Greeks ; it is located on a river, distant from

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6. The appellation Candra (supposed to be associated with Candana of Iranian origin) is sometimes prefixed to the name of the Yueh-tchi (literally ‘the moon-race’, Candra-vaṃśa) or Kuṣāṇa king Kaniṣka I in Chinese, Tibetan and Khotanese traditions ; cf. Chinese Chen-t’an (Chan-t’an, Chan-t’o) Chia-ni-cha. On this basis, it has been suggested that Sandanes of the *Periplus* may be either Kaniṣka I or one of his successors, since Candra may have been their dynastic appellation. The tradition regarding the said Kaniṣka’s supremacy over South India seems to be corroborated by the fact that the Śaka Satraps of Western India, who appear to have owed allegiance to the Kuṣāṇas of Kaniṣka’s house, were in occupation of Northern Maharashtra during the rule of Satrap Nahapāna (119-24 A.D.) who is often wrongly identified with Mambarus of the *Periplus*. See S. Lévi in *Journ. As.*, Tome ccxxviii, pp. 61ff. ; H. W. Bailey, *Khotanese Texts*, Vol. ii, pp. 201ff. ; *Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies*, Vol. xiii, pp. 926ff. ; cf. B. N. Mukherjee in *Jour. As. Soc.*, Vol. v, 1963, pp. 83ff. In this connection, it may remembered that Gautamīputra Śātakarṇi ruled over a portion of South India, but claimed suzerainty over the whole land. See Sircar, *Select Inscriptions*, 2nd ed., p. 203, note 4.

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Tyndis by river and sea five hundred stadia, and up the river from the shore twenty stadia. Nelcynda is distant from Muziris by river and sea about five hundred stadia, and is of another kingdom, the Pandian (Pāṇḍya). This place also is situated on a river, about one hundred and twenty stadia from the sea.

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55. There is another place at the mouth of this river, the village of Bacare (probably modern Porakad near Aleppey), to which ships drop down on the outward voyage from Nelcynda, and anchor in the roadstead to take on their cargoes; because the river is full of shoals and the channels are not clear. The kings of both these market-towns live in the interior. And as a sign to those approaching these places from the sea there are serpents coming forth to meet you, black in colour, but shorter, like snakes in the head, and with blood-red eyes.

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56. They send large ships to these market towns on account of the great quantity of pepper and malabathrum (tamāla-patra, cinnamomum tamala). There are imported here, in the first place, a great quantity of coin; topaz, thin clothing, not much; figured linens, antimony, coral, crude glass, copper, tin, lead; wine, not much, but as much as at Barygaza; realgar and orpiment; and wheat enough for the sailors, for this is not dealt in by the merchants there. There is exported pepper, which is produced in quantity in only one region near these markets, a district called Cottonara (in Malabar). Besides this there are exported great quantities of fine pearls, ivory, silk cloth, spikenard from the Ganges, malabathrum from the places in the interior, transparent stones of all kinds, diamonds and sapphires, and tortoise shell; that from Chryse Island (Suvarṇa-dvīpa), and that taken among the islands along the coast of Damirica. They make the voyage to this place in a favourable season who set out from Egypt about the month of July, that is Epiphi.

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57. This whole voyage as above described, from Cana and Eudaemon Arabia (Eden), they used to make in small vessels, sailing close around the shores of the gulfs; and Hippalus was the pilot, who by observing the location of the ports and the conditions of the sea, first discovered how to lay his course straight across the ocean. For at the same time when with us the Etesian winds are blowing, on the shores of India the wind sets in from the ocean, and this southwest wind is called Hippalus, from the name of him who first discovered the passage across. From that time to the present day ships start, some direct from Cana, and some from the Cape of Spices; and those bound for Damirica throw the ship's head considerably off the wind; while those bound for Barygaza and Scythia keep along shore not more than three days and for the rest of the time hold the same course straight out to sea from that region, with a favourable wind, quite away from the land, and so sail outside past the aforesaid gulfs.

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58. Beyond Bacare there is the Dark Red Mountain (probably the Red Bluffs near Varkkalai), and another district stretching along the coast toward the south, called Paralia (Purali=Travancore; but cf. Ptolemy). The first place is called Balita (probably modern Varkkalai); it has a fine harbour and a village by the shore. Beyond this there is another place called Comari (Kumārī=Comorin), at which are the Cape of Comari and a harbour; hither come those men who wish to consecrate themselves for the rest of their lives, and bathe and dwell in celibacy; and women also do the same; for it is told that a goddess once dwelt here and bathed.

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59. From Comari towards the south (north-east) this region extends to Colchi (modern Kolkoi near Tutikorin), where the pearl-fisheries are;—they are worked by condemned criminals;—and it belongs to the Pandian kingdom. Beyond this there follows another district called the Coast Country, which lies on a bay, and has a region inland called Argaru (Uragapura=Uraiyur near Tiruchirapalli). At this place, and nowhere else, are bought the pearls gathered on the coast thereabouts; and from there are exported muslins, those called Argaritic.

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60. Among the market towns of these countries, and the harbours where ships put in from Damirica and from the north, the most important are, in order as they lie, first Camara (probably Kāverī-pattana near modern Karikal), then Poduca (near modern Pondicheri), then Sopatma (near modern Madras); in which there are ships of the country coasting along the shore as far as Damirica; and other very large vessels made of single logs bound together, called sangara (jaṅgār, double canoe); but those which make the voyage to Chryse and to the Ganges are called colandia (kulāntara, ‘foreign shore’), and are very large. There are imported into these places everything made in Damirica, and the greatest part of what is brought at any time from Egypt, here, together with most kinds of all the things that are brought from Damirica and of those that are carried through Paralia.

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61. About the following region, the course trending toward the east, lying out at sea toward the west is the island Palaesimundu (Pārasamudra), called by the ancients Taprobane (Tāmraparṇi, Ceylon). The northern part is a day’s journey distant, and the southern part trends gradually toward the west, and almost touches the opposite shore of Azania (Zanzibar coast-sic). It produces pearls, transparent stones, muslins and tortoise-shell.

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62. About these places is the region of Masalia (Masulipatam region)

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stretching a great way along the coast before the inland country; a great quantity of muslins is made there. Beyond this region, sailing toward the east and crossing the adjacent bay, there is the region of Dosarene (Tosali in the Puri-Cuttack region), yielding the ivory known as Dosarenic. Beyond this, the course trending toward the north, there are many barbarous tribes, among whom are the Cirrhadae (Kirāta), a race of men with flattened noses, very savage; another tribe, the Bargysi; and the Horse-faces (Aśvamukha) and the Long-faces (Dīrghāsya), who are said to be cannibals (Puruṣāda).

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63. After these, the course turns toward the east again, and sailing with the ocean to the right and the shore remaining beyond to the left, Ganges (Gāṅga= Vaṅga; cf. Plolemy’s Gangaridae) comes into view, and near it the very last land toward the east, Chryse (Suvarṇa-bhūmi). There is a river near it called the Ganges, and it rises and falls in the same way as the Nile. On its bank is a market town which has the same name as the river, Ganges (near modern Gaṅgāsāgar). Through this place are brought malabathrum and Gangetic spikenard and pearls, and muslins of the finest sorts, which are called Gangetic. It is said that there are gold mines near these places, and there is a gold coin which is called caltis. And just opposite this river there is an island in the ocean, the last part of the inhabited world toward the east, under the rising sun itself; it is called Chryse; and it has the best tortoise-shell of all the places on the Erythraean Sea.

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64. After this region under the very north, the sea outside ending in a land called This (China, from Ts’in), there is a very great inland city called Thinae (city of the Ts’in) from which raw silk and silk yarn and silk cloth are brought on foot through Bactria to Barygaza, and are also exported to Damirica by way of the river Ganges. But the land of This is not easy of access; few men come from there, and seldom. The country lies under the Lesser Bear, and is said to border on the farthest parts of Pontus and the Caspian Sea, next to which lies Lake Maeotis; all of which empty into the ocean.

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65. Every year on the borders of the land of This there comes together a tribe of men with short bodies and broad, flat faces, and by nature peaceable; they are called Besatae (Vasāti), and are almost entirely uncivilized. They come with their wives and children, carrying great packs and plaited baskets of what looks like green grape-leaves. They meet in a place between their own country and the land of This. There they hold a feast for several days, spreading out the baskets under themselves as mats, and then return to their own places in the interior. And then the natives watching them come into that place and gather up their mats; and they pick out from the braids the fibres which they call petri (patra). They lay the leaves closely together in several layers and make them into balls, which they pierce with the fibres from the mats. And there are three sorts; those made of the largest leaves are called the large-ball malabathrum; those of the smaller, the medium-ball; and those of the smallest, the small-ball. Thus there exist three sorts of malabathrum, and it is brought into India by those who prepare it.

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66. The regions beyond these places are either difficult of access because of their excessive winters and great cold, or else cannot be sought out because of some divine influence of the gods.⁵

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⁵ On Indian trade with Africa, Section 14 says, “The voyage to all these far-side market towns (of Eastern Africa) are made from Egypt about the month of July, that is Epiphi. And ships are also customarily fitted out from the places across the sea, from Ariaca and Barygaza, bringing to those far-side market towns the products of their own places: wheat, rice, clarified butter, sesame oil, cotton cloth—the monache and the sagmatogene—and girdles, and honey from the reed (ikṣu), called sacchari (śarkarā). Some make the voyage especially to these market towns, and others exchange their cargoes while sailing along the coast.”

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The Indian names of some of the articles of trade mentioned in the work would be as follows:—agate—nānā-varṇa-prastara (akik), antimony—srotoñjana (añjan, sulphuret of lead), bdellium—guggulu, carnelian—māṃsa-varṇa-prastara, clover—triparṇa, coral—probāla (palā) or vidruma, costus—kuṣṭha (kuṭh), frankincense—kunduru (lobān), ivory—hasti-danta, lapis-lazuli—nīl-opala or vaidūrya, lycium—dāru-haridrā, malabathrum—tamāla-patra (tej-pātā), nard—jvarāṅkuśa (gandhabenā), orpiment—haritāla, pepper—kāla-marica, long pepper—pippalī, realgar—manaḥśilā (śeṅko-biṣ), sapphire—nīlakānta, spikenard—jaṭāmāṃsī, storax—śilāpuṣpa, topaz—puṣparāga (pokhrāj) or pīta-sphaṭika, turquoise—harit-āśman vadūrya.

Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c8.s1: I.—Extracts from The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea

I.—Extracts from The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea

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