HINDU PERIOD
Among the Pitakas, the Vinaya mentions a Hindu merchant named Poorna who made six sea voyages, and in the seventh voyage he was in the company of some Buddhist citizens of Sravasti and was converted by them to Buddhism. The Sutta Pitaka contains also several allusions to voyages in distant seas far remote from land. In the Sańyutta Nikaya (3, p. 115, 5. 51) and in the Aṅguttara (4. 127) there are interesting passages which mention voyages, lasting for six months, made in ships (nāva, which means boats) which could be drawn up on shore in the winter. Very interesting and conclusive evidence is supplied by a passage in the Digha Nikaya (1. 222) which distinctly mentions sea voyages out of sight of land. It describes how merchants carrying on sea-borne trade would take with them in their sea-going vessels certain birds of strong wing which, when the vessels were out of sight of land, would be let loose and used to indicate in which direction the land lay. If the shore were not near or within easy reach, the birds would return to the ships after flying in all directions to get to land, but if there were land within a few miles the birds would not return.
Some very definite and convincing allusions to sea voyages and sea-borne trade are also contained in the vast body of Buddhist literature known as the Jātakas, which are generally taken to relate them-
73
