Page:Origin and spread of the Tamils.djvu/90



NOTES TO LECTURE II 79 the whole development indicates a decline of trade helped by the disastrous fire of A.D. 64, by the extinction of the Claudian line of emperors, by the frugal example of Vespasian, by the cruelty of Domitian, and by the moderation shown by succeeding emperors in their expenditures." Sewell's conclusion that the trade with India in spices, perfumes and precious stones, almost ceased with Nero's death is not quite true, As is shown by Warmington, really speaking. There was a double development as the finds of coins after Nero indicate ; first, a development of commerce of the east side of the Peninsula, indicating frequent voyages made round Cape Comorin and up the east coast of India, by Roman merchants as testified to us by the Geography of Ptolemy. They also penetrated into the inland districts of the Tamil and other kingdoms, as can be seen from the finds at Fort Vinukonda and at Athiral in the Cuddapah district ; secondly, the absence of silver coins in the country to the north-west of the Ceras can be explained by the fact that perhaps what was brought down was melted and reissued by the Andhras and the Slakas who coined no gold. Thus Warminton concludes: "This and cessation of coins in the Tamil States seem to reflect a tendency which we may trace or deduce from other material. In the latter half of the first century and the second century there was an undiminished demand for spices, perfumes, precious stones, and so on among the Romans, and perhaps an increase in the demand for cotton, but there seems to have been a tendency to shift some of the trade from the Tamil Kingdoms to north-western districts of India, causing the rise of such towns as Simylla, as Ptolemy shews, while at the same time exchange of Indian and Roman wares in Tamil land continued unabated and voyages of Romans beyond the Tamils to the East increased largely; but the Tamils