Note 247 — Chapter XXXVIII

It is remarkable that the Baudhâyana-dharma-sûtra enumerates going to sea among the customs peculiar to the North (I. 1, 2, 4) and then (II. 1, 2, 2) classes making voyages by sea as the first of the offences which cause loss of caste. This seems to indicate that the emigrants from India came mainly from the North, but it would be rash to conclude that in times of stress or enthusiasm the Southerners did not follow their practice. A passage in the second chapter of the Kautilîya Arthaśâstra has been interpreted as referring to the despatch of colonists to foreign countries, but it probably contemplates nothing more than the transfer of population from one part of India to another. See Finot, B.E.F.E.O. 1912, No. 8. But the passage at any rate shows that the idea of the King being able to transport a considerable mass of population was familiar in ancient India. Jâtaka 466 contains a curious story of a village of carpenters who being unsuccessful in trade built a ship and emigrated to an island in the ocean. It is clear that there must have been a considerable seafaring population in India in early times for the Rig Veda (II. 48, 3; I. 56, 2; I. 116, 3), the Mahabharata and the Jâtakas allude to the love of gain which sends merchants across the sea and to shipwrecks. Sculptures at Salsette ascribed to about 150 A.D. represent a shipwreck. Ships were depicted in the paintings of Ajanta and also occur on the coins of the Andhra King Yajñaśrî (c. 200 A.D.) and in the sculptures of Boroboedoer. The Dîgha Nikâya (XI. 85) speaks of sea-going ships which when lost let loose a land sighting bird. Much information is collected in Radhakumud Mookerji's History of Indian Shipping, 1912.