PREFACE.
About two years ago I submitted a thesis which was approved by the Calcutta University for my Premchand Roychand Studentship. It was subsequently developed into the present work. As indicated by its title, it is an attempt to trace the history of the maritime activity of the Indians in all its forms from the earliest times. It deals with what is undoubtedly one of the most interesting, but at the same time often forgotten, chapters of Indian history. The subject, so far as my information goes, has not been treated systematically by any writer, and has not received by any means the attention it deserves.
This is my excuse for attempting this subject, but the attempt, from its very nature, is beset with difficulties. The field of work is new and almost unexplored, and one has to work at it single-handed. I have had to depend chiefly on my own resources for the discovery, collection, and arrangement of the materials.
I have indicated fully, both in the Introduction and in the footnotes, all the sources of information I have drawn upon. The evidences used have been both literary and monumental. For the collection of literary evidences I have had to be at great pains in ransacking the vast field of Sanskrit literature as well as Pali (especially the Jātakas) throughout which they are scattered, and then in piecing the evidences together. The Sanskrit texts, as well as the Pali, I have studied both in the original and in translations. Besides Sanskrit and Pali, I have been able to gather some very valuable evidences from old Tamil literature with the help of a book by the late Mr. Kanakasabhai Pillay, now unfortunately out of print, called The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago. I have had also to consider and use all the evidences bearing on my subject that are contained in classical literature, made accessible to Indian students by the translations of McCrindle. Old Bengali literature, too, has been laid under contribution in connection with the account of Bengali maritime activity. Further, I have, with the help of translations, found out all the evidences bearing on the history of Indian maritime activity that are furnished by Persian works, most of which have been made accessible through Sir Henry Elliot's History in eight volumes. Lastly, I have had to use the material supplied by such Chinese and Japanese works as are accessible through translations in giving an account of Indian maritime intercourse with the Farther East.
I have had also to study MSS. of unpublished works, both Sanskrit and Bengali, in the original. Much labour was involved in the search for these Sanskrit MSS., especially those which belong to the class of Śilpa Śastras, a good number of which I found in the famous Tanjore Palace Library (containing some 18,000 Sanskrit works), in the Adiyar Library, Madras, and in the possession of some old Indian artists at Kumbakonam. I have also derived from local tradition and old folk-lore some very valuable materials for the history of the once famous port of Gaur, the old capital of Bengal.
Of the MSS. used, those specially noticeable are the Yuktikalpataru, and the Arthaśāstra of Kautilya which has been recently published. These two important and interesting, but hitherto unknown and unutilized, Sanskrit works have great value as sources of economic history. The former gives an account of ancient Indian shipbuilding, the like of which cannot perhaps be found elsewhere in the entire range of Sanskrit literature, while the latter throws some new light on the economic condition of Maurya India which will, I trust, materially advance our knowledge of that brilliant period of Indian history. I may also refer in this connection to the Sanskrit work Bodhisattvāvadāna Kalpalatā of Kshemendra, which is being published under the auspices of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. This work also throws light on some aspects of economic life in the Maurya epoch.
I have also tried to discover and gather all the evidence derivable from archaeology. The many representations of ships and boats, and of scenes of naval activity, that are furnished by old Indian art have been brought together and adduced as evidence indicating Indian maritime enterprise. Some of these representations I have myself discovered in the course of my travels, and these have not, I think, been previously published. To the kindness of some of my artist friends I owe the sketches of several representations of ships and boats that occur in old Indian sculpture and painting, such as those of Ajantā, and also on old Indian coins.
My thanks are due to Messrs. Bejoy Kumar Sarkar and Narendranath Sen Gupta, my old pupils at the Bengal National College, Calcutta, and now students of the Harvard University, U.S.A., for their kind assistance; and also to Mr. Ramananda Chatterji, M.A., editor of the Modern Review, for the courtesy of his permission to reprint those portions of my work which appeared in his Review. Nor must I omit to express my obligation to my friend Mr. Benoy Kumar Sarkar, M.A., Lecturer, Bengal National College, Calcutta, whose constant help in manifold ways it is alike my pleasure and duty to gratefully acknowledge.
I have also to express my gratitude to the Hon'ble Maharaja Manindrachandra Nandy Bahadur of Cossimbazar, and Dr. Rashbehary Ghose, M.A., D.L, C.S.I, CLE., for the generous help they have accorded me in preparing and publishing this work.
Berhampore, Murshedabad,
June, 1910.