INDIAN SHIPPING
amphora being regarded as weighing about a fortieth of a ton.[1]
The development of this national shipping made possible and necessary the creation and organization of a Board of Admiralty[2] as one of the six Boards which made up the War Office of Emperor Chandra Gupta (321 b.c. to 297 b.c.), "one of the greatest and most successful kings known to history." Fortunately, for information regarding this Board of Admiralty and the Naval Department we can depend not only on foreign notices like those of Megasthenes and Strabo, but also on the much more elaborate and reliable account given in the invaluable Sanskrit work of the period, the Arthaśāstra of Kautilya, which is undoubtedly one of the most important landmarks not only in the literary history of India but also in the history of Indian civilization itself. The book[3] requires to be thoroughly studied,
- ↑ Pliny, vi. 22. With regard to the equivalent of the amphora and the tonnage of these ancient vessels, McCrindle says: "The amount of cargo carried by ancient ships was generally computed by the talent or the amphora, each of which weighed about a fortieth of a ton. The largest ships carried 10,000 talents or 250 tons. The talent and the amphora each represented a cubic foot of water, and as the Greek or Roman foot measured about .97 of an English foot, the talent and the amphora each weighed very nearly 57 lbs. See Torr's Ancient Ships, p, 25."
- ↑ V. A. Smith's Early History of India, p. 124. Cf. also Strabo, xv. 52: "Next to the city magistrates there is a third governing body which directs military affairs. This also consists of six divisions with five members to each. One division is associated with the Admiral of the Fleet."
- ↑ In using this book for my purposes I was greatly helped by the translations of Pandit R. Syāma Sāstry in the Mysore Review.
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