Foreign Travellers and Ancient Indian Trade Notes for UPSC

Our knowledge of ancient India comes from many types of sources: archaeological finds, inscriptions, coins, literature and the accounts of foreign visitors. The foreign travellers and ancient traders are especially useful because they give an outsider's view of Indian politics, society, religion and economy. For the UPSC Prelims, the questions are usually of the type "Which traveller visited during which ruler?" or "Which port is linked with Roman trade?". In the Mains, trade and cultural contact are used in questions on ancient economy and India's links with the world. This note explains the major foreign travellers, the trade routes, ports, goods, coins and guilds in simple language with tables for quick revision.

Why Foreign Accounts Are Important

Indian texts are often religious or poetic, and they give limited details of daily administration. Foreign writers, who came as ambassadors, pilgrims or merchants, described what they saw: the capital city, the army, the farmers, the position of women and the working of monasteries. Their accounts must be used carefully, since they may contain mistakes, exaggeration and the bias of an outsider who did not know the language. Historians therefore compare them with Indian sources and archaeology to find the truth.

Greek and Roman Writers

• Megasthenes: The ambassador of the Seleucid ruler Seleucus Nicator at the court of Chandragupta Maurya at Pataliputra. His book Indica is lost, but parts are preserved in the writings of later Greek authors. He described the administration of Pataliputra, the seven-fold division of society, and the absence of slavery as he saw it.
• Pliny the Elder: The Roman author of Natural History, who complained that Roman gold was flowing to India to buy luxury goods like spices, pearls and silk.
• Ptolemy: An Alexandrian geographer of the 2nd century CE, who wrote the Geography and gave the names of Indian ports and places.
• The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: An anonymous Greek sailor's guide of the 1st century CE, which describes the ports, goods and winds of the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea and the Indian coasts. It is the best source for Indo-Roman trade.
• Arrian and Plutarch: Wrote about the campaign of Alexander in north-west India (326 BCE).

Chinese Pilgrims

These Chinese monks came to India to study Buddhism, collect manuscripts and visit holy places like Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kushinagar. Their records are the main source for the Buddhist centres, universities and the daily life during the Gupta and post-Gupta age.

Trade Routes of Ancient India

India has been connected to the world through land and sea routes for thousands of years. The Indus Valley people traded with Mesopotamia (called Meluhha in their texts). In the Mauryan age, the Uttarapatha was the great northern road, running from Taxila through Pataliputra to Tamralipti on the Bengal coast, and the Dakshinapatha linked the Gangetic plain to the Deccan and the south through places like Ujjain and Pratishthana. The Silk Route, a network of paths through Central Asia, linked China with the Mediterranean, and India was a major link on it; the Kushan empire, which controlled a large part of the route, earned wealth from the trade and promoted the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and China. The discovery of the monsoon winds' pattern by sailors (attributed in the Periplus to Hippalus) made direct sea voyages between the Red Sea and the Indian coast easier from the 1st century BCE.

Important Ports and Trade Centres

Goods of Trade

India exported spices (especially black pepper, which was so valued in Rome that it was called "black gold"), cotton textiles and muslin, precious stones, pearls, ivory, sandalwood, indigo and iron goods. India imported gold and silver coins, wine, glassware, coral, copper, tin and horses from Central Asia and Arabia. The trade with Rome was so favourable to India that Roman gold coins were found in many hoards in South India. The Pandya king is said to have sent an embassy to the Roman emperor Augustus. The balance of trade helped the rise of coastal towns and a rich merchant class.

Guilds and Coins

Merchants and artisans were organised in guilds (shrenis), which worked as banks, gave loans, trained craftsmen and sometimes issued their own seals, and even funded Buddhist monasteries and cave temples. The coins of the age show the growth of trade: the punch-marked silver coins (karshapanas) of the Mahajanapada and Mauryan age; the gold coins (dinaras) of the Kushans and the Guptas; and the coins with the images of rulers and gods. The Kushan gold coins, based on Roman models, show the Indo-Roman link, while the Gupta gold coins show high artistic quality.

Cultural Contact with Southeast Asia

Indian merchants and priests carried religion, art and language to Southeast Asia. Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms rose in Java, Sumatra, Cambodia and Vietnam. Angkor Wat in Cambodia was built by the Khmer king Suryavarman II as a Vishnu temple, and Borobudur in Java is a great Buddhist monument built under the Shailendra dynasty. The Cholas sent a naval expedition against the Srivijaya empire under Rajendra I around 1025 CE to protect their trade interest. Indian epics like the Ramayana became part of local culture in many countries.

Impact of the Trade

• Growth of towns, ports and a wealthy merchant class.
• Spread of Buddhism, Hinduism and Indian art abroad, and of foreign ideas into India.
• Increase in the use of money and the development of banking through guilds.
• Specialised crafts such as textiles, beads, ivory and metalwork.

For the connected topics, read our notes on the Gupta Empire and Mauryan Empire.

Mains Angle: Importance of Trade in Ancient India

A Mains question may ask you to discuss how trade shaped ancient Indian society. A good answer has four points. First, trade created wealth and urban centres, and the rise of port towns, such as Muziris and Arikamedu, shows the effect of maritime contact. Second, it gave a new social group, the merchants and guild members, who became patrons of religion; Buddhism and Jainism, which were friendly to traders, spread along the trade routes. Third, it linked India culturally with Central Asia, West Asia, the Roman world and Southeast Asia, so that ideas in art, science and religion moved in both directions. Fourth, the trade influenced politics, because rulers like the Mauryas, Kushans, Satavahanas and Cholas tried to protect the routes and the ports. Conclude that India was not isolated in ancient times; it was part of a connected world.

Practice Questions

• Q1. Which Chinese pilgrim wrote the Si-Yu-Ki? Answer: Xuanzang.
• Q2. Who was the author of the Indica? Answer: Megasthenes.
• Q3. Which Roman writer complained of the drain of gold to India? Answer: Pliny the Elder.
• Q4. Which port in Kerala was famous for the pepper trade with Rome? Answer: Muziris.

Limitations of Foreign Accounts

Remember that the accounts have limits. Megasthenes' work survives only in quotations; Faxian and Xuanzang saw mainly Buddhist places and described them from a religious viewpoint; and the Periplus gives details of the coast but little of the interior. So, a careful student always confirms the foreign record with inscriptions, coins and archaeology.

Memory Tip

Learn the travellers in a time order: Megasthenes (Mauryan), Faxian (Gupta), Xuanzang (Harsha), Yijing (after Harsha). Add one line of the name of the book and one monument or place with each, and revise the list every week.

Quick Revision

• Megasthenes - Indica - Chandragupta Maurya; Faxian - Chandragupta II; Xuanzang - Harsha; Yijing - Nalanda.
• Periplus of the Erythraean Sea is the best source for Indo-Roman trade.
• Ports: Barygaza, Muziris, Arikamedu, Poompuhar, Tamralipti.
• Exports: spices, textiles, gems; imports: gold, wine, horses.
• Angkor Wat (Suryavarman II) and Borobudur show Indian cultural spread.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Who was Megasthenes?

Megasthenes was the Greek ambassador of Seleucus Nicator at the court of Chandragupta Maurya, and he wrote the Indica.

Which Chinese traveller visited India during the Gupta period?

Faxian (Fa-Hien) visited India during the reign of Chandragupta II.

Which Chinese pilgrim visited Harshavardhana?

Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) visited India during Harsha's rule and studied at Nalanda.

What is the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea?

It is a Greek sailor's guide of the 1st century CE that describes the ports and trade of the Red Sea and Indian coasts.

Which port was the most important for Roman trade on the west coast?

Barygaza (Bharuch) in Gujarat was the major port, and Muziris in Kerala was also very important.

Where is Arikamedu?

Arikamedu is near Puducherry on the east coast and is known as a Roman trading post.

What did India export to Rome?

India exported spices, especially pepper, cotton textiles, gems, pearls and ivory.

What were the shrenis?

The shrenis were guilds of merchants and artisans that worked as banks, trained craftsmen and managed trade.

What are punch-marked coins?

They are the early Indian silver coins marked with punched symbols, used from the Mahajanapada and Mauryan period.

Which king built Angkor Wat?

The Khmer king Suryavarman II built Angkor Wat as a Vishnu temple.

What was the Uttarapatha?

It was the great northern trade route from Taxila through Pataliputra to Tamralipti.

Why are foreign accounts important for history?

They give an outsider's description of politics, society and economy, and help to cross-check Indian sources.