Page:Indian Shipping, a history of the sea-borne trade and maritime activity of the Indians from the earliest times.djvu/42

 speak. The real historical narrative of the naval activity of India will be built up of materials supplied by such foreign and also Indian works as labour under no chronological difficulties.

The passages from ancient Indian works will be presented, as far as possible, in the order determined by tradition. In the opinion of the late Professor Bühler, the far-famed German orientalist, "there are passages in ancient Indian works which prove the early existence of a navigation of the Indian Ocean and the somewhat later occurrence of trading voyages undertaken by Hindu merchants to the shores of the Persian Gulf and its rivers." These proofs, however, will be found mostly to supply an indirect kind of evidence; they contain no direct information regarding the existence and development of a national shipping which is certainly implied in the existence, development, and continuance of that maritime trade to which they so conclusively refer. For it is a commonplace of history, and quite stands to reason, that no commerce can spring up, and much less thrive, especially in early times, unless it is fostered by a national shipping. Accordingly, the direct proofs that are available regarding Indian shipping and naval activity will have precedence over the indirect ones, and they will include illustrations of the typical ships and boats that are represented in old Indian art, in sculpture and painting, and on coins.