III-Contributions of Bengal to Hindu

By

Civilization.

Mahamahopadhyaya Haraprasad Shastri,
M.A., C.I.E.

Sixth Contribution.

Ships and Boats.

Bengal abounds in large rivers, and so there can be little doubt that the people in very ancient times knew how to build boats. The boats built were of various kinds Dona, Duni, Dingi, Bhelā, Naukā, Bālām, Chip, Mayurpankhi, etc. All these however were small boats and could be found everywhere. What contributed to Bengal's special glory was the fact that she built her ships too.

There was a king in Vanganagara, according to the Buddhist tradition, in Bengal even before Lord Buddha's time. He married the daughter of the king of Kalinga and had a beautiful daughter by her. She was a naughty girl. She fled from her home and joined a party of merchants who were going to Magadha. near the frontier of Bengal they were attacked by a lion. The merchants fled for their lives, but the princess followed the 'lion,' and pleased him so much that he married her. In course of time she had a son and a daughter. The arms of the son resembled those of the lion, and for this reason he was named

When they arrived

Sinhabahu. Sinhabahu, when he grew up, fled with his mother

and sister from the lion's cave. When they reached the frontier of Bengal, the king's brother, who was the Simārakṣaka or frontier officer, sent the princess with her son and daughter to Vanganagara. The lion returning to the cave missed his son and daughter and was very unhappy. He began a diligent search everywhere and at last came into Bengal. His appearance scared the villagers who ran to the king to apprise him of the danger. The king announced by beat of drum the offer

of a large reward for the capture of the lion. He said to Sinhabahu "If you can capture the animal I will make you king." Sinhabahu killed the beast, became king and married his own sister. He had a large number of children by the marriage, the eldest being named Vijaya. Vijaya was very wicked. He oppressed the people very much. The latter, thus provoked, came to the king and asked him to kill Vijaya. The king sent him in a boat to the sea with seven hundred followers. His children and those of his followers were sent in another boat, while their wives in a third. The males landed in one island, called Nagnadvipa, and the females in another, named Nārīdvipa. Sailing thence Vijaya reached Suparākā situated near modern Bombay-now called Supārā. Here, too, he began to oppress the people. The latter chased him and he fled in a boat to Lankadvipa. On the day he landed here, Lord Buddha laid himself down between two sal trees in the city of Kushi and was attempting to obtain Nirvāņa. Addressing Indra he said "To-day Vijaya has landed in Lañkādvīpa; kindly protect him ; he will preach my religion there."

The three boats in which Sinhabahu sent Vijaya, his sons and their wives, were very large. They were ships, for each of them could accommodate seven hundred persons. Two thousand five hundred years ago boats of this description used to be built in Bengal. There is engraved on the Ajanta cave, a picture of the ship in which Vijaya sailed to Lañkādvipa. It appears from this that the ship had its mast and sail and everything which a ship required before the successful application of steam power for the purposes of navigation. There are many, however, who are sceptical about the ship. But the picture in the Ajanta cave is still there and the evidence it furnishes cannot be disbelieved. The picture is fourteen hundred years old. When it was engraved nobody thought it had been overdrawn.

Even before Lord Buddha's time there were large boats in other parts of India. There was a big port near Bombay, called Bharukaccha or Baroach, from which ships sailed to Baberu or Babylon. From Supara, too, ships sailed to different parts of

the world. We hear of ships capable of carrying seven hundred passengers.

But we have not heard of such ships sailing from Tāmralipti or Bengal before or after Lord Buddha's time. Nevertheless it is supposed by European scholars that Tāmralipti was a busy port in Buddha's time. This conjecture is strongly corroborated by the Artha-Sastra in which Caṇakya says that the officer in charge of ships supervised navigation in the sea. Hence there can be little doubt that in that age ships sailed from Bengal and Magadha. But with the exception of Tāmralipti, Bengal and Magadha had no port.

The Daśakumāra Carita is an ancient work. Professor Wilson says it was composed in the seventh century A.D. Other scholars, equally competent to form an opinion, however, think that its date preceded the birth of Christ. This book gives an account of Tamralipti. We are told that many ships sailed from this port across the Bay of Bengal. One of the ten Kumāras embarked from here for a distant voyage. His ship was sunk by that of a Yavana, named Rāmeşu.

"Rāmesu" in the Daśakumara Carita reminds us of Ramases of Egypt. It would seem that the memory of Ramases existed at the time the work was written.

We learn that ships sailed from Tamralipti to Japan and China even after this date. Four hundred years after Christ Fa-hien sailed from Tamluk. There were men of all nationalities in the ship. It met with a storm in the boisterous Chinese sea. The ship was on the point of sinking, but Fa-hien prayed to Buddha and the storm abated. At a still later time, Indians emigrated to Sumatra, Java, Bali and other islands, and spread in each of those countries Saiva, Vaiṣṇava or Buddhist religion. But they probably embarked from Bharukaccha, although there is nothing to preclude the supposition that they sailed from Tamralipti. There is however no evidence available on the point.

We learn from the ancient accounts of Burma that the people of Magadha conquered the country many times and

spread Indian civilization there. It appears from the Burma Archæological Report that in very ancient times the Magadhis entered Pagan and preached there the religion of India.

Kālidāsa says that the king of Bengal had navies fully equipped. There can be little doubt that the Pala Kings fought naval battles. It is distinctly written in a copper-plate belonging to Dharmapāla (which has been discovered at Khalimpore) that the said king had many ships always ready for naval fight. It is written in Rāmacarita that Rāmapāla crosssed the Ganges in a bridge of boats. It also appears in a stone engraving in the city of Kalyāṇī that in A.D. 1276 some Buddhist Bhiksus embarked from Tāmralipti and on arriving at Pagan reformed the Buddhist religion there.

It is from Bengali works on Manasã and Mañgalacaṇdī however that we derive glowing and perhaps somewhat exaggerated accounts of sea voyages in times gone by. We are told that a certain merchant in Bengal used to undertake perilous voyages. On one occasion he equipped fourteen to sixteen vessels, put them under the charge of a single Mājhi, and passing through the Ganges, entered the sea. Crossing the sea he proceeded to Ceylon, and sailing thence, reached various islands in the ocean after a voyage of fourteen or fifteen days. The principal ship of Cánd Saudagar was called Madhukara. In Manasar Bhásán, composed by Dvija Vansīdāsa, it is stated that starting from Ceylon and after a voyage of thirteen days, Cand Sadagar encountered a severe storm. Volumes of froth and foam rushed on board his ship. He wept through fear and being unable to trace the whereabouts of his other vessels cried out in blank dispair : "Those vessels contain my all. I do not see any one of them. My life too is in danger." He entreated the pilot to devise some means of safety. The latter tried to quiet his fears, and failing to do so dragged out a number of oil casks from the ship and threw them into the sea. In an instant the onrush of waves ceased and the sea became tranquil. The other ships were discovered at a distance and Cand Sadagar was now full of joy.

Even after the date of these books, we find that when Kedar