Post No. 13,905
Date uploaded in London – 19 November 2024
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Hindus are the first one to give a place to DOGS. We see dog Sarameyas in the oldest book in the world, The Rigveda. Then we see the dog that accompanied Yuthisthira upto heaven in the Mahabharata. Before that we see dogs in the Ramayana, where Kekaya was praised for its dogs. And this goes upto Tamil Nadu whee a dog got a place in he tamil inscription.
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Rajapalayam in Tamil Nadu is also famous for its special kind of dogs.
Indian hounds were much valued by foreigners. According to Herodotus , the Persians of his time had four villages around Babylon to raise and feed the Indian hounds.
Ctesias also noticed the Indian hounds of the Persians , and similar dogs were shown in the procession of Ptolemy Philadelphus. We have also a papyrus of third century BCE on which are two separate epitaph poems written for Tauron, which had given is life in saving the master in a fight with a wild boar.
I am reminded of a Tamil Hero Stone in Tamil Nadu, where a dog by name Kovithan is praised. It saved the villagers from robbers attacks.
South Indian hunting dogs are well known for their ferocity. Sangam Tamil poets also gave apt epithets to such dogs. Natrinai and Purananuru poems described the hunter keeping such dogs in the forest. They run very fast to chase the deer, the poets say.
Apart from dogs, India exported all sorts of birds and big animals such as tigers, lions and elephants. The 2300-year-old Baveru Jataka, one of the Jataka tales, describe how the Hindus thrilled the Babylonian people and kings with dancing peacocks. They used to play the drums in such a way to emit the sound of thundering clouds, and then the peacocks danced. Babylonians were excited to see a strange bird with big, long feathers. Indians took with them parrots as well and showed them how they repeat what they say.
Strabo , Greek historian and geographer says, that he saw a nine foot long Indian cobra in Egypt.
From the days of Augustus India had direct contact with the Roman empire. He conquered Egypt in the first century BCE. Chera, Choza, Pandyan kings sent ambassadors to him. He got excited to see Indian elephants, tigers and snakes.
Unfortunately, Indian animals were used in the shows of gladiators. They set the ferocious animals in the open ground against slave and prisoners. Most of the times tigers and lions tore the victims and the huge crowd and the rulers welcomed it with big uproar. If the men win the fight they were released from slavery.
A lot of references to Indian exports are in the Roman and Greek books.
Indian elephants were first introduced into Europe by Hannibal who took the mighty elephants across the Alps. Before that the Greeks knew about elephants after the invasion of Alexander.
Indian cotton and silk also went up to Rome. Dye from Indigo plant and sea shells were used to colour the silk garments of the rulers and lords in Rome. Indian cotton was used in embalming Egyptian kings as mummies after their death. Teak wood was found in Ur in Babylonia. All this evidence show India had very fruitful relation with the Middle East and Europe for thousands of years. Mc Grindle, Warmington and several others have given a long list of Indian products found in Europe. Prof K A Neelakanta Shastri and Dr R Nagaswamy have written about these contacts.
World famous Tamil archaeologist Dr R Nagaswamy has given a long list of Roman coins found in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. We got several thousand gold and Copper coins from the banks of river in Karur (ancient Vanchi) and many other places. After third century CE, all the contacts stopped suddenly due to political turmoil.
Tamil Sangam literature referred to Yavanas (Romans) in six places.
–subham—
Tags- Roman contacts, Tamil Hindus, hounds, pomes, elephants, Gladiators, Cobra, Strabo, Herodotus, Augustus.
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