INDIAN SHIPPING
freely allowed to cross rivers at any time and place:—
(1) Fishermen, whose business would be seriously hampered by the above regulations.
(2) Carriers of firewood, grass, flowers and fruits; gardeners and vegetable dealers who had to go far and wide to find the things they dealt in.
(3) Persons pursuing suspected criminals.
(4) Messengers following other messengers going in advance.
(5) Servants engaged to carry things (provisions and orders) to the army.
(6) Persons using their own ferries; and
(7) Dealers supplying villages of marshy districts with seeds, necessaries of life, commodities, and other accessory things. Again, Brahmans, ascetics, children, the aged and afflicted, royal messengers, and pregnant women had all to be provided by the Superintendent with free passes to cross rivers.[1] There was also another regulation permitting foreign merchants who had often been visiting the country, as also those who were well known to local merchants, to land freely in port towns.[2]
Lastly, the Superintendent of Ships was also entrusted with the duty of punishing all violations
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