Page:Indian Shipping, a history of the sea-borne trade and maritime activity of the Indians from the earliest times.djvu/156

 amphora being regarded as weighing about a fortieth of a ton.

The development of this national shipping made possible and necessary the creation and organization of a Board of Admiralty as one of the six Boards which made up the War Office of Emperor Chandra Gupta (321 to 297 ), "one of the greatest and most successful kings known to history." Fortunately, for information regarding this Board of Admiralty and the Naval Department we can depend not only on foreign notices like those of Megasthenes and Strabo, but also on the much more elaborate and reliable account given in the invaluable Sanskrit work of the period, the Arthaśāstra of Kautilya, which is undoubtedly one of the most important landmarks not only in the literary history of India but also in the history of Indian civilization itself. The book requires to be thoroughly studied,