India's Oversea Trade as known from the Buddhist Canon

Madan Mohan Singh

India's Oversea Trade as known from the Buddhist Canon

Vol. 37 · No. 2 & 3June & Sept. 1961pp. 177–182English

Summary

Drawing on Buddhist canonical literature, this article reconstructs aspects of ancient India’s maritime trade. Jataka tales and sutta passages describe merchants embarking on lengthy sea voyages carrying rice, textiles, gems and elephants. Ports such as Bharukaccha, Tamralipti and Supparaka emerge as major hubs linking India with Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. The narratives mention guild leaders who sponsor monasteries, reflecting the close ties between commerce and religion. The article argues that while didactic, these texts mirror historical realities of extensive seafaring and corroborate archaeological evidence. Maritime metaphors used by the Buddha to teach ethical lessons further underscore the cultural integration of trade and spirituality.

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Conclusion

The Buddhist canon offers valuable glimpses into ancient Indian overseas commerce. Its references to ships, ports and merchants complement archaeological findings, highlighting the scale of trade and its integration into religious discourse.

Key passages

Chosen by AI from the article's text. Each one is checked word for word against the text before it is shown.

“There are some references in the Buddhist literature to show that people of Northern India, specially of the ecastern region were interested 10 maritime activities and that they sailed to foreign lands for transacting business.”
““The Arthasastra of Kautilya makes 1૬ quite clear that during દડ days of Candragupta Maurya, Indian navigacion was 100 an advanced stage.”
“we find that from the sea-ports on the Ganga, traders of the castern regions of India went to घट castern lands across the”

Works cited in this article

SN, 111, 155
Theragitha, 530
Jataka, 17, 127-29
Dipavamsa, IX. 10-28
Panini, IV, 4. 118

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In this issue

Vol. 37 · No. 2 & 3

93–104Kashmir's Contribution to the Expansion of Buddhism in the Far EastJan Yun Hua 101–126Astronomical Evidence on the Age of the Rgveda 105–110Place of Rajagrha in the History of Early JainismSanti Mukhopadhyay 111–125The Democratic Attitude of the BuddhaNand Kishore Prasad 126–134Yama and Chinese EschatologySukumari Bhattacharji 135–140Coins of the Dark AgeAdris Banerji 141–152Some Aspects of Vowel Contraction in PrakritS. N. Ghosal 153–159The Place of Tulu in the Dravidian Family of LanguagesU. Venkatakrishna Rao 160–164An Unpublished Copper Plate Grant of V.S. 1165 from RajasthanRatna Chandra Agrawala 165–176The GarudasSadashiv A. Dange 177–182India's Oversea Trade as known from the Buddhist CanonMadan Mohan SinghCurrent article 183–188History of Khandela 189–191Two Prakrit Verses on Weighing ScalesMoreshwar G. Dikshit 192–196Parsoji BhonslaJohn A. Ramalingam 197–202Samvatsaras in the Parivrajaka InscriptionsParmeshwari Lal Gupta 203–205Kotera Copper Plate Inscription of Malugideva: Saka Year 1106Bal Chandra Jain 206–206On a Verse of the Pila InscriptionsDasharatha Sharma 207–209KalapriyanathaShiva Shankar Awasthi 210–214On the Interpretation of a passage of HarsacaritaAshok Chatterjee 215–216A Newly Discovered Inscription of Samanta Singh of MewarRam Chandra Rai

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