Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c41.s13.3

v2.c41.s13.3

As a matter of fact, the Indian vessels were coasting along Gedrosia to Arabia and the Persian Gulf before the time of Alexander, for Nearchus got a guide in Gedrosia who knew the coast as far as the Gulf of Ormuz. (Tarn, 1938) The *Arthaśāstra* mentions (4.3.12 & 15) the voyage of Indian vessels from the Mahākaccha, and contains no reference to Rome or the Roman vessels. Indian army equipped with iron-tipped arrow and iron swords assisted Xerexes and other Aechemenid emperors in fighting Greece. Alexander’s historians testified to the gorgeous ornaments used by the Indian kings. These were fifth and fourth century BC events, (long before the Romans came to India), and therefore, placing the *Kautilīya Arthaśāstra* in the later half of the fourth century BC is entirely in order; this view has been elaborately justified in the beginning of this chapter.