Barygaza was especially treacherous: in one place shoals and eddies reached
beyond the sight of land; in another, rough seas with whirlpools thrashed
unwary ships. The entry to Barygaza was so narrow, the current so swift, and
the shoals so dangerous the king had to send out pilot boats to escort mer-
chant ships to safe anchorage.
Barbaricum and Barygaza handled much the same merchandise. Leading
their exports were spices, aromatics, and resins; long pepper, said to be
plentiful but not cheap, nard, costus, and bdellium. Gems from India and
nearby countries included turquoise, lapis lazuli, onyx, agate, and carnelian,
and India was a major exporter of ivory. Among textiles and related products
were locally made cottons and indigo, silk from China, and furs from the
Siberian forest. In return, Roman ships brought Italian, Laodicean, and
Arabian wines; linen textiles from Egypt, particularly“multicolored girdles
eighteen inches wide”; storax, Arabian frankincense, and an unspecified type
of“choice”unguent; copper, tin, lead, coral, realgar, sulfide of antimony,
peridot, glass, and glassware; at Barygaza certain luxuries for the king such
as silverware and high-quality slaves, including musicians and beautiful
girls; and last, but perhaps most important, gold and silver coins to com-
pensate for whatever shortfall the barter did not cover. Indian rulers used
Roman silver tofinance their frequent wars against each other.
Barbaricum, Barygaza, and other ports served as entryways to the sub-
continent of India and beyond into the commercial systems of greater Asia.
Cargoes offloaded at Barbaricum were forwarded up the Indus River to
Purushapura, capital of the Kushan Empire. Barygaza was the major port of
another state, the Kingdom of the Shakas, but its commercial hinterland
stretched from the Ganges Valley to the Deccan peninsula. Unlike
Barbaricum, Barygaza was a manufacturing center noted for its cotton
weaving. And whereas foreign trade was in the hands of the royal govern-
ment at Barbaricum, at Barygaza private enterprise seems to have been the
rule.
For the states of India prosperity and power came to depend on control
over inland trade routes that brought goods out of the interior to west coast
ports. Ox and donkey carts organized into vast wagon trains, pack animals in
caravans, and boat traffic running along the Narmada and Ganges rivers
connected to arteries running north to south. Some towns that began as
administrative centers or pilgrimage sites became important commercial
centers if they happened to be located on trade routes while others that
started as local markets for the exchange of basic goods extended their wares
to include imported prestige items. Local authorities encouraged this as a
source of customs revenue. Buddhist monasteries often provided accom-
modations for travelers, including merchants, and bazaars grew up around
them, some of which became established commercial centers.
Roman merchants who wanted to trade with southern India did not gen-
erally start at Barbaricum and Barygaza and sail down the coast. Traders
106 Following thePeriplus