THE RAMAYANA

Trade and Contacts between Peoples in the Ramayana ' by R . K . Narayan

The Ramayana is an outstanding epic story , created by the Indian people which rightfully stands in the line of supreme achievements of world literature . Ramayana tells us a story of Lord Rama and his 14 years long travels in exile together with his wife Sita and his younger brother Lakshman . During their encounters , the characters meet with spirits warriors , priests and remarkably with merchants and trade caravans . So Ramayana provides us with some facts about trade in ancient India about

1500 B .C . In this I will try to examine those facts . I will use a shortened literary translation of the Ramayana , performed by an outstanding Indian culturologist R . K . Narayan

In the ancient world , traders often acted as pioneers , discovering new lands and establishing contacts to far-away locations . Interests of commerce walked shoulder to shoulder with the interests of war and diplomacy , however , these were the traders , who first explored the terra incognita . Therefore , study about trade appears to be study about foreign contacts of distant civilizations

Historically , trade in India has been conducted by caravans . The industrial and trade centers inside India were connected by a system of good roads with quite tense traffic . Ramayana tells us of a road , which started in Ayodhya , the capital of King Dasharatha , which is now known as Oudh , to Rajagriha the capital of Kekayas in the vicinity of the Himalaya mountains situated on the River Bias , the ancient Vipasa known to the Greeks as the Hypasis passed through Hasdnapur (Delhi ) the capital of the Kurus . The caravan track further ran to Persia , Middle East and Lesser Asia

Except for communications by land , the translation of Ramayana by Narayan includes passages , which indicate intercourses between India and distant lands by sea . Sugriva , the Lord of the Monkeys , s his subjects to look for Sita in the mountains and on the islands in the sea . Koshakarsa , which is mentioned as the most possible place of Sita 's concealment is very much similar to China , because the land is described as a place , where silk is produced . Another passage refers to the islands of Yava and Dvipa , which are usually identified as Java and Sumatra and the following passage appears to be an allusion to the Red sea

It can be concluded from the Ramayana , that even in the early times of it 's history , Ancient India has not been isolated from the rest of the world . Caravan tracks connected Indian cities with the ancient empires of the Middle East . Sea roots lead to China and Indochina . Indian rulers did pay attention to development of trade by construction of roads and establishing commercial relationships . From the Ramayana we can clearly identify at least one item of import into India , which is silk from China . Another possible item were luxuries , both imported and exported to and from India

The Ramayana : A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic translated and edited...