Rawlinson, H. G. Intercourse between India and the western world from the earliest times to the fall of Rome

(Cambridge :  University Press,  1916.)

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India and the Roman Empire      117

and wells in the Broach district were relics of
Alexander's invasion. He also says that Alexander
" penetrated to the Ganges^." The fertile coast-
country between Broach and the Indus, the
writer calls Syrastrene, obviously Surashtra, the
name still surviving in Surat. The trade, export
and import, of the district, was immense^. The
exports included the various Indian condiments
and spices, muslins, and stones: the imports,
specie, unguents, singing boys, and " choice girls
for the Royal harem." These, doubtless, were
the Yavams of the king's bodyguard, already
referred to. The capital of the district was
a second " Minnagara," or Saka city, probably
Madhyamika, but which of the numerous Saka
dynasties was reigning there at the time, it is
impossible to say. The old capital had been
the historic city of Ozene or Ujjain, the chief
town of Malwa, and the seat of the Viceroy of
Western India in the days of the Mauryas. It was
now temporarily abandoned. A few years later, it
became again the capital under the Saka satrap
Chastana, the Tiastanes of Ptolemy. Ships from
the Red Sea began to arrive about July, as soon
as the south-west monsoon had set in, and they
were met by Government pilot-boats, and moored
in regular basins, where the bore of the Narmada
was least dangerous.    In this statement we have

^ Is the true reading Menander for Alexander in these
two passages ?

2 A detailed list is given in §§ 48-50.
  Page 117