Jain Journal 1977 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 23

OCTOBER, 1977
trees) and Central America. Voyages from the Orient such as that of Hwui Shin or earlier ones may account for the marked 'dragon' influence in ancient Mexican art as well as representations of the lotus, the svastika (which the Chinese called 'Heart of Buddha'...) and other Oriental motifs.” (pp. 141-42).
Here it may be noted that, Kautilya's Arthasāstra (Book II, Ch.XI) tells about aguru (aloe)of Suvarnabhumi. This aloe obviously refers to the aloes wood which is different from the Mexican aloe well-known for its juice and fibre. The fragrant alocs wood on the other hand was in antiquity more precious than gold as told by Herodotus. This is supposed to be mentioned as aloes or lignaloes in the Bible. Though native to the "tropical parts of Eastern Asia and the Malay Archipelago" (The New Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopaedia, vol.1) its fame once traversed continents. The Buddhist text Milindapañho states as follows:
“As a ship-owner, who has become wealthy by constantly levying freight in some sea-port town, will be able to traverse the high seas and go to Takkola or Cina...or Suvarnabhumi or any other place where ships do congregate.”
The reference of Suvarnabhumi along with Cina i.e. China in the passage also suggests of a long sea-route. R.C. Majumdar has drawn our attention to the Mahākarma-Vibhanga which “illustrates dešāntaravipāka (calamities of foreign travel) by reference to merchants who sailed to Suvarnabhumi from Mahakosali and Tamralipti."
Since in the past the Indian mariners were familiar with the eastern Pacific covering routes to China, the Philippines, Borneo and other islands it is possible that there were more courageous adventures. In this connection as a perspective of the aspect may be recalled the wellknown resemblance between the ancient scripts of the Easter Island and the Indus valley. As opined by Charles Berlitz,
"The existence of a script isolated on an island thousands of miles from any land in the world's largest ocean, halfway around the world from a similar script of protohistoric West India implies not only a common origin, but a diffusion of culture, and is a fairly concrete indication of unrecorded early sea-voyages of a range and scope previously considered impossible.” (Ibid, p.130). It will be interesting to mention here the fortified citadels at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa which have been compared with the Sumerian Ziggurats by K.N. Shastri. (New Light on the Indus Civilization). With these may be remembered the kāyotsarga form