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SOOTAL LIFE AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS (185
the Jātakas testify to the existence of trade-' relations between Benares and Ujjain,1 Videha and Kasmira-Gandhāra,? Benares and SẼvatthi, Rajagaha and Sāvatthi, Magadha and Sovira. The Satthavāhas had to carry arms as protection against highway robbers and other contingencies. The merchandise was transported by means of country boats that plied along the rivers of Jambudīpa, upwards along the Ganges as far west as Sahajāti, along the Yamunā as far as Kosambī; downwarchs along the Ganges as far as Campā and Tāmalitti.
Foreign trade was carried on by sea, and in some instances, partly by sea and partly by land, The Bäveru-Jätaka speaks of India's maritime intercourse with Babylonia, described as a birdless country. The Suppāraka-Jātaka relates the voyage of a merchant ship carrying six hundred passengers for four months across the six seas, the destination not given. The Sankha-Jätaka offers us an account of the wreck of a merchant ship on its way to Suvannabhūmi, the ship being 800 cubits in length, 600
1 Jataka, u, p 248.
2 Ibrd, w, p 365 8 Ibrd., 11, p 294f 4 Sutta-mpāta, vv, 1012-3; Buddhrst Indra, p 103. 6 Jumänavalthu-atthakatha, p. 336. & Buddhist Indra, p. 108. 7 Jätaka, No. 339. & Iord., No. 463.