HINDU PERIOD
In the vast Sanskrit literature of fables and fairy tales also there are many allusions to merchants and sea-borne trade. Thus the Kathāsarit Sāgara of the Kashmirian poet Somadeva bristles with references to sea voyages and intercourse with foreign countries. In the 9th book or Lambaka, 1st chapter or Taraṅga, there is the story of Prithvi Rāj going with an artist in a ship to the island of Muktipura; the 2nd chapter relates the voyages of a merchant and his wife to an island, and their separation after a shipwreck by storm; the 4th chapter describes the voyage of Samudrasura and another merchant to the Suvarṇa Island for commerce, and their shipwreck; the 6th chapter recounts the quest of his son by Chandrasvāmī, who goes to Ceylon and other islands in many a merchant's vessel for the purpose; and so on. The Hitopadēśa also mentions the story of Kandarpaketu, a merchant. In the Hitopadēśa a ship is described as a necessary requisite for a man to traverse the ocean, and a story is given of a certain merchant who, after having been twelve years on his voyage, at last returned home with a cargo of precious stones. In the Nītiśataka of Vartṛihari[1] there is a passage
- ↑
पोतो दुस्तर-वारिराशितरणे दीपोऽन्धकारागमे
निर्व्वाते व्यजनं मदान्धकरिणां दर्पोपशान्त्यै शृणिः।
इत्थं तद् भुवि नास्ति यस्य विधिना नोपाय-चिन्ता कृता
मन्ये दुर्ज्जन-चित्तवृत्तिहरणे धातापि भग्नोद्यमः॥
67
