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410
स्वर्ण-जयन्ती गौरव-ग्रन्थ
he informed about the calamity to Sundar, the king of Svarnabhūmī through a letter, which was tied with a string into a leg of parrot.
The Samarāiccakahā of Haribhadrasūri draws our attention to obstacles of sea-voyage. Dhana, the son of a Sārthavāha starts his sea-voyage from Susammanagar. His wife Dhanaśrī manages to make him drunk the poison. He then hand over his all belongings to Nanda. The shop reached to Mahākațāha where he sold of his goods. He could not make a profit out of it. He then purchased Paratīrabhanda (the goods to be sent to other countries) and reached to Kațāhadvīpa where he earned a lot by way of disposing and purchasing the goods (Caturtha Bhava).
In Pancama Bhava of the Samarāiccakahā, Sanatkumar and Vasubhuti Sārthabāhas went to Tāmralipti with Samudradatta. The ship reached to Svarnabhūmī in two months. From Svarnabhumi he went to Srilanka (Sinhal) where his ship was sunk on the way just after thirteen days of his departure.
According to another story, Dharan Sārthavāha starts his sea-voyage from Vaijayanti seaport in Karnataka and reached to Svarnadvīpa where he heaped of hundred bricks of gold and went to Ratnadvīpa.
Here the Tāmralipti seaport (Samarāiccakahā, p. 241) may be identified with Tamalik or Damalipta in Midnapur district of West Bengal wherefrom the cargoes were used to travel to Sinhal, China, Java etc. The Mahābhārata (Sabhāparva, 2.24-25) refers to Tāmralipti and Sumha separately. Daśakumāracarita mentions the Kālimandir of Tāmralipti. According to the Vişnupurāņa (4.24.64) it was ruled over by Devarakṣita in pre-Gupta period. The Mahāvansa (11-12th Chapter) also refers to Tāmralipti. It was a great centre for learning.
The Avasyakacūrnī (p. 709) presents a vivid picture of seavoyage. It says that the ships were used to ply from Madurai to Saurastra. Two sisteers Mati and Sumati started their journey by ship and wee caught by a cyclone.
The Jñātādharmakathā (8.75) says that there were some sea
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