Page:Indian Shipping, a history of the sea-borne trade and maritime activity of the Indians from the earliest times.djvu/109

 red sea. In the Ayodhyā Kāndam there is even a passage which hints at preparations for a naval fight, thus indirectly indicating a thorough knowledge and a universal use of waterway. The Rāmāyaṇa also mentions merchants who trafficked beyond the sea and were in the habit of bringing presents to the king.

In the Mahābhārata the accounts of the Rājasūya sacrifice and the Digvijaya of Arjuna and Nakula mention various countries outside India with which she had intercourse. There is a passage in its Sabhā Parva which states how Sahadeva, the youngest brother of the five Pāṇdavas, went to the several islands in the sea and conquered the Mlechchha inhabitants thereof. The well-known