1. There were merchants dealing with specific products like food grains, cloth, gold and jewellery in the markets of the big Cities.
2. Merchants were also involved in overseas trade, as well as overland trade.
3. Thus, the circuits of trade became more specialised with institutionalised arrangements to support the expanding commercial activities.

From Rome, the main imports were coin, topaz, antimony, coral, crude glass, copper, tin and lead and wine.

1. The Indo-Greek kingdom was ousted by the Sakas followed by the Parthians and the Kushanas.
2. The Sakas appointed kshatrapsor provincial governors to administer the territories.

1. Menander successfully attacked Pataliputra, but retreated without consolidating his conquest.
2. Interestingly, in his coins, he is described as "king" and "soter" or saviour, and not as a great conqueror.

In India,the term yavana was used to denote all person of Greek origin, including those of mixed race and even the Phoenicians.

1. Seleucus surrendered the land he had conquered up to the Indus and
2. Received 500 war elephants in return.
3. A marriage agreement between theem.
4. The treaty also led to the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Greeks and the Mauryan emperor.

1. The cultural influence of the Greeks is evident from the capitals of monuments at Pataliputra.
2. Many historians argue that the elaborate administrative institutions of the Mauryan Empire drew inspiration from the administrative systems of the Persians and Greeks.
3. The eventual rise of Indo-Greek kingdoms in western India strengthened these cross-cultural influences and gave rise to a distinct school of art.

1. Tamil region is more than probable that they exchanged their salt for other goods and necessities, rather than selling the salt for money.
2. However, the extent of the overland and overseas trade, as well as the descriptions of the city markets in the literature would imply that money was the main medium of exchange.

1. Boats came in from the interior carrying rice and took back fish, which indicates a kind of barter trade in the primary consumption goods.
2. At the same time, sacks of pepper were brought to the market and were exchanged for gold, which came in the ships, which in turn, was transported on barges to the shore.

1. Roman ships did not venture past the western coast of India around Cape Comorin.
2. So the ports on the west coast were the main ports involved in trade with Rome.
3. From the west coast, the Roman traders travelled overland through the Palghat pass to production centres further east.
4. Kodumanal and Padiyur in Erode.Vaniyampadi near Salem ,Chennimalai near karur.
5. The Roman coins of the earlier period are concentrated in Coimbatore, Erode, Salem and Karur districts.

1. Menander (c. 165/145-130 BCE) was the best known of the Indo-Greek kings.
2. He is said to have ruled a large kingdom in the at Pataliputra.
3. Many historians argue that the elaborate administrative institutions of the Mauryan Empire drew inspiration from the administrative systems of the Persians and Greeks.

He issued bi-lingual square coins with Greek on the obverse and Kharoshti (the local language of north-western Pakistan) on the reverse.

During the reign of Kushanas, there was great creative energy when art and literature flourished.
1. The Greek influence led to an Indo-Greek style of sculpture and art commonly referred to as Gandhara art. Statues of Buddha, sculpted particularly in Taxila
2. The north-western regions, show him in graceful garments, surrounded by cherubs and leaves inspired by the Greek tradition.
3. The red sandstone sculpture with intricate carving produced near Mathura.
4. The Buddhists began to carve out rock caves in the hills of western India, which served as religious centres with chaityas and viharas, stretching from the Ajanta caves to the Kanheri caves in Mumbai.
5. Large statues of Buddha were sculpted in these caves as apart of the Mahayana tradition, and in later centuries, they were further-embellished with murals of extraordinary beauty, as seen in the Ajanta caves.
6. Kanishka was the patron of Buddhist philosophers such as Asvaghosha, Parsva and Vasumitra, as well as the great Buddhist teacher Nagarjuna.
7. Asvaghosha is known for his Buddhacharita and is celebrated as the author of the first Sanskrit play, Sariputraprakarana, in nine acts.
8. The great dramatist Bhasa, whose plays werere-discovered only about a hundred years ago in South India.

1. This regular interchange of ambassadors and correspondence, as well as the extension of the Mauryan Empire till Afghanistan, facilitated regular trade from India to the West as far as Egypt
2. Trade was carried on by the overland route via north-west Afghanistan (Bactria) and also partly by the coastal route along the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.
3. A variety of luxury goods, including ivory, tortoise shell, pearls, indigo and other dyes.
4. aromatic substances like spikenard or nard (a fragrant oil from the Gangetic region) and malabathrum (leaf of cinnamon, used as an aromatic) and rare woods were exported from India.
5. Thus, The rise of Indo-Greek kings in Western India strengthened trade and cultural contacts.