Proceedings and papers of National Seminar on Jainology

Author(s): Yugalkishor Mishra
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 62

Trade in the Samaraichchakaha : Text and Context
33
of countries which, according to the Sung Annals, were trading with Canton in A.D. 971.36 By the end of the 8th century A.D., China seized to play any meaningful role in India's external trade network. The references to the two major ports in the Samarā ichchakahā, Tāmralipti and Baijayanti, do not help us much. While the first had decayed by the beginning of the 8th century A.D., the second is yet to be identified with any known port of the times. Obviously one is forced to conclude that these stories of the Samarā ichchakahā cannot be taken as portraying the true picture of contemporary foreign trade; they are heavily burdened with the traditional perception of such contacts. The references to South-East Asia, however, seem to be more realistic. The text refers to the list of imports from this region, an information that is not forthcoming in the context of China. The items include camphor, areca-nuts, betel plants, sandal trees, lavanga lavati, coconut plantain, panasa, pindakharjūra, rajatali, tamala and mandara” besides blocks of gold marked with the names of the merchants carrying them. * The exports included pots of gold and jewels." This 'becomes incomprehensible in the light of universal references to South-East Asia, not India, as the land of gold. That the Indian merchants brought gold and precious gems form this region and transhipped them back to earn greater profits seems to be the only explanation, though admittedly not very plausible.
The weakened nature of Indian foreign trade is also apparent from the weak technology of Indian shipping vis-a-vis that of the Arabs and the Chinese. The Samarāichchakahā illustrates this situation by recording that the ship sailing from Tāmralipti reached Suvarṇabhūmi in two months. *' Lallanji Gopal, basing his deduction on this evidence, rightly points out the speed limitations of the Indian ships and the fact that they lagged behind the Arab and the Chinese ships in this regard. In comparison to the two months' taken by the Indian ship, the Chinese ship, as he suggests, took a month's time to reach Ku-lin (Quilon) from Lāna-li (extreme northwest coast of Sumātrā),42 and an Arab ship also took the same time in reaching Kalah bāra (Kedah) from Kulam Māli (Quilon).43 This suggestion has been rejected by V. K. Jain on purely hypothetical grounds, 44 though he himself admits the dominance of these non-Indian groups in the field.*)
The medium of exchange, as occasionally hinted at in the Samarāichchakahā, also points to the limited nature of the contemporary urban economy. The dünāra has been mentioned in the text, 40 but these references do not relate to either any actual purchase or sale nor to a