HINDU PERIOD
contrary to Buddhist practices, evidently to show the contrast of a Buddhist ascetic with a Roman ascetic.
Besides these evidences from ancient Indian works regarding the intercourse with Rome, there are also evidences from foreign works bearing on the subject. We have already referred to the enumeration and description of the vegetable and mineral products which India sent abroad, by Pliny, who calls India "the sole mother of precious stones," "the great producer of the most costly gems." Even as far back as 177 b.c., Agatharcides, who was President of the Alexandrian Library, and is mentioned with respect by Strabo, Pliny, and Diodorus, describes Sabaea (Yemen) as being the centre of commerce between Asia and Europe, and very wealthy because of the monopoly of the Indian trade. He also saw large ships coming from the Indus and Patala. But the more important works in this connection are undoubtedly the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (a.d. 100) and Ptolemy's Geography (a.d. 140). The Periplus, a sort of marine guide-book, is the record of an experienced sailor who navigated the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Malabar and Coromandel coasts, and resided for many years at Barygaza-Bharoach. According to the Periplus, Bharoach was the principal distributing centre of Western India, from which the merchandise brought from abroad was
131
