History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.834

v4.c63.t2.834

on Yāj. III. 288 quotes the sūtra of Baud. Manu (III. 158 and 166-167) provides that a brāhmaṇa who had been on a sea voyage was sinful and was not to be invited at a śrāddha. But it is clear that Manu does not say that such a brāhmaṇa altogether loses caste or that he becomes altogether unfit to be associated with; all that Manu provides is that such a brāhmaṇa became unfit for invitation at a śrāddha. The Auśanasasmṛti (IV. pp. 525-526) declares that those who sell the Veda, who marry a widow, who undertake a sea voyage are *patita* and are not to be invited at a śrāddha. These passages show that the prohibition against sea voyage affected only brāhmaṇas and even then they did not apparently become altogether unfit to be associated with. That brāhmaṇas crossed the ocean and went to such distant countries as Siam, Cambodia, Java, Sumatra and Borneo can be easily proved¹⁸¹⁰. E. I. vol. 17 p. 314 gives references to inscriptions from Borneo to show that brāhmaṇas from India migrated to that country about 400 A. D. That kings and merchants undertook sea voyages is also clear from several considerations. The Bāveru Jātaka (vol. III No. 339, Fausböll) tells us that merchants from Benares went to Babylon in order to sell Indian goods. The 'Questions of Milinda' S. B. E. vol. 36 p. 269 refers to a ship-owner voyaging by sea to distant countries¹⁸¹¹. The Rājataraṅgiṇī refers to the sea voyage of an envoy of king Jayāpīḍa of Kashmir to Ceylon (IV. 503-506). Manu VIII. 157 prescribes that the king should allow that rate of interest which those who are adepts in sea voyages and land journeys and who understand what is required to be the interest at certain times and in certain places determine to be the proper one. Yāj. II. 38 provides for very high interest (20 per cent per month) from those who engage in trade by sea. Nār. IV. 179 says that a trader (*samudra-vaṇik*) who makes sea voyages is not a proper witness. The Vāyu (45. 78–80) and other purāṇas state that Bharatavarṣa¹⁸¹² has nine divisions called *dvīpas*, all of which are separated from each other by the sea and are not (easily accessible, that Jambudvīpa (India proper) is the 9th dvīpa and the other eight are Indra, Kaseru, Tāmraparṇī, Gabhastimat, Nāga, Saumya (Siam?), Gandharva, Vāruṇa (Borneo?). Therefore Bharatavarṣa according to Paurāṇic Geography included modern India and also Greater India. None of the ancient works at least says anything against śūdras undertaking sea voyages; but now even śūdras, probably in their desire to emulate the brāhmaṇa and rise higher in social esteem, think that sea voyage is forbidden to them also.