Page 193 - DILMUN NO 20

Historical Links between lndia and the Gu٤‫ﺇ‬

‫ ﺍ‬٨٠

One of the three ancient trade routes between lndia and Europe went
through the strait of Hormuz across the Gulf, Mesopotamia, and Alepo. 2

Because of their central location on this route, in addition to their agricultural
resources which enabled them to provide the transit traders and sailors with
food and water, Magan country (Oman and its supplement) and Dilmun
Kingdom (Bahrain and the neighbouring lands) became favourable middle­
points for the trans-shipment of lndian merchandise to Mesopotamia nad
further. This led gradually to a greater involvement on the part of the Guf
inhabitants in trade with lndia.

Historical records show that the early sailors and traders from the Gulf
succeeded in reaching the lndian coasts and monopolizing much of the trade
going to or coming from lndia as a result of their know0edge of coena
navigaiton and their familiarity with the geography of the region. 3

According to ‫ﻝ‬.P. Joshi of the Archaeological Sur‫ق‬ey of lndia, "as many as 42
items of trade have been identified which include copper, silver, carnelian,
ivory, tin, tortoise shell, pearls, precious stones, and cloth". 4

From the above lines one can conclude that relations bewteen lndian and
Gulf civiliations existed as early as the middle of the third millennium B.C.,
and that these relations were mainly, if not entirely, of a commercial nature.
What support such a conclusion, and additionally prove the stationing of
some lndians in the Gulf for the purposes of conducting trade in those ancient
days, are the many seals discovered in Bahrain. These seals bear typiacl
lndus valley designs and characters and some of them are prism-shaped like
the ones of the ancient Harappas. 5 The excavations which took place in
Bahrain indicate that the "God An2ac temple in Dilmun was built by hte
lndians from Saurashtra who had settled down there for generations". 6
Excavations conducted in the lsland of Umm A0nar(Abu Dhabi) resulted in
the discovery of some bronze daggers similar to those of the lndus valley. 7
Other evidence of lndo-Gulf links in ancient ages can be derived from hte
Buddhist 'Baveru Jataka' which includes "A story of lndian merchants arriv‫ا‬ng
at a port of the Persian Gulf and selling a crow, the bird which indicates
directi٠on, at 100 pi٠eces of silver and a peacock for 100 pi•eces of gold١‫ﻡﻴ‬.8 ١t IS