The seven outlets of the Indus River expelled a vast quantity of fresh water into the Indian Ocean. The Periplus called the Indus ‘the mightiest of all the rivers along the Indian Ocean’ and reports that Roman pilots could recognise signs of the river water while still far out to sea. The pilots knew they were on the correct course when the sea around their vessel became pale in colour and the ship’s lookouts sighted ‘‘‘eels emerging from the depths’’ to swim around the hull’. The first stop for Roman merchants was a port called Barbaricon which lay on the central mouth of the Indus River and served an inland capital called Minnagar that lay just upstream.8
During the first century AD, the Indus Region was ruled by Indo-Parthian warlords who controlled the main cities in the Sindh. The apocryphal Acts of Thomas describes how the apostle sailed to this region sometime before AD 40. Thomas was taken to an Indian city known as Andrapolis and was assigned work overseeing the construction of a regional palace for an Indo-Parthian King named Gondophares.9 The Acts describe the encounter when the king questioned ‘what craftsmanship do you know in wood and stone?’ The apostle replied: ‘in wood: ploughs, yokes, goads, pulleys, boats, oars and masts; and in stone: pillars, temples, and courthouses for kings. And the king said: Can you build me a palace? And Thomas answered: Yes, I can build it and Ornish it too’.10
Evidence from ancient coins and inscriptions indicate that Gondophares was in power between AD 20 and AD 45, but his death caused serious instability in the region.11 Consequently, when the Periplus describes the kingdom in AD 52 the territory was ‘under the control of Parthians, who are constantly ousting each other from the throne’.12
Although Roman ships moored at Barbaricon, trade exchanges were conducted at the royal city of Minnagar. Minnagar was the district capital of southern Indo-Parthia and the Periplus reports that ‘all cargoes are taken up the river to the king at the metropolis.’13 This was a royal directive and made it easier for government agents to tax and control international trade. Indian policies towards foreign commerce are outlined in an ancient Sanskrit guide to statesmanship called the Arthasastra.14 The Arthasastra contains a section offering advice to the Superintendent of Commerce who fixed market prices for state-owned goods sold in the capital.15 Another royal official called the Superintendent of Tolls was responsible for taxing trade goods entering the main city.
Roman cargo offloaded at Barbaricon was assessed by a customs officer known as the Antapala (Officer in Charge of Boundaries). According to the Arthasastra, the Antapala examined the quality of the incoming cargo and stamped delivery batches with his distinctive seal. He also collected road and ferry tolls on merchants heading to the main city with their bonded goods. The Antapala kept customs records and maintained a network of ‘spies in the guise of traders’ who he could send ‘to the king with information about the quantity and quality of incoming merchandise’. The king would forward this information to the Superintendent of Tolls so that agents in the main city knew exactly what goods foreign merchants were bringing into the capital. The Arthasastra recommends that the superintendent confronts merchants with this knowledge so that they understand ‘that nothing can be kept secret and all information is known through the omniscient power of the king’.16
The Arthasastra advises Indian kings to impose different toll rates on the trade goods brought into their main cities and suggests that customs taxes on foreign goods arriving through seaborne commerce be set at one-fifth value. Taxes set up to one-tenth value were to be collected on ‘fibrous garments, cotton cloths, silk, mail armour, sulphate of arsenic, red arsenic, vermilion, metals, colouring ingredients, sandalwood, pungents, ferments, clothing, wine, ivory, skins, raw materials for fibrous or cotton garments, carpets, curtains, insect products and wool’. Other items were subject to specially assessed higher tolls and this category included diamonds, precious stones, pearls and corals.17
The Arthasastra describes how the Superintendent of Tolls would have operated a customs station at the main gates of Minnagar, where a flag or banner signalled his presence. His toll booths would be manned by a team of four or five staff who stopped and questioned incoming merchants. They examined the state-seal on bonded merchandise to ensure that no goods had been removed on-route to the city. The Arthasastra instructs the agents to record ‘who the merchants are, where they come from, how much merchandise they bring and where they received their first customs seal’.18 The details taken at Minnagar could be compared with custom records from Barbaricon to ensure that no-one was evading taxes.
The Arthasastra suggests that goods without a seal mark should be subject to double-rate tax and merchants who used a counterfeit seal were to be charged eight times what they would usually pay. For Roman traders who transgressed, this meant their entire consignment of goods might be confiscated. Foreign merchants were also forbidden to sell weapons and armour to Indian subjects and if these goods were found, they were forfeited. The Arthasastra advises, ‘whatever causes harm, or is useless to the country, shall be shut out; and whatever is of immense good, as well as seeds not easily available, shall be let in free of toll’.19
Once through the gate, incoming goods were placed under the banner of the toll-house and merchants were required to cry out the quantity and price of their goods three times. Merchants were forced to give a realistic market price because anyone watching the proceedings was permitted to buy the goods at the declared price. If the merchant cried out an unrealistically low price, then nearby competitors could immediately begin bidding for his stock. But if he cried out a high enough price, then this would deter bidders and he could keep his merchandise for sale in the city. If there were no challenges, then the supervising customs agents would collect tax at the stated value. If there was a bidding contest, then the percentage tax was due from the winning bidder.20 Indian rulers sometimes made their own subjects exempt from import tax so that local merchants could thrive and this enabled them to expand their foreign business. The Arthasastra advises rulers that ‘subject mariners and merchants who import foreign merchandise shall be favoured with remission of the trade-taxes, so that they may gain profit’.21
The Indian system responded to market prices, so visiting merchants needed good knowledge of local conditions in order to secure the best deals. This situation encouraged Roman merchants to settle in Indian cities where they could act as brokers, or stockpile sought-after produce. They could advise those arriving at Barbaricon about market conditions in Minnagar and suggest what goods were worth taking ashore.
World History
