Barygaza
Barygaza is the Roman name for the port of Bharuch (or Broach), which is situated on the Gulf of Cambay in Gujurat in northwestern India. It is situated near the mouth of the Narmada River and because of its position developed as a trading port over several centuries BCE.
It is, in fact, the second oldest continuously inhabited city in India, after Varanasi. Barygaza and the approach from the sea is described in detail in the Periplus, with obstacles from the narrow gulf, which was difficult to navigate, shoals at the mouth of the river and large tidal range with associated strong currents. The dangers have been illustrated by the discovery of Roman amphorae fragments and the remains of lead anchors on the seabed near the island of Bet Dwarka.75 Local rowing boats were used to guide the ships through the sandbanks, which can be clearly seen on modern satellite images.Barygaza may have developed as a Roman trading partner following envoys received by the Emperor Augustus from the ruling Sakas (Indo-Scythians) first in 26 BCE, seeking friendship with the Roman people (Suetonius), and then in 22 BCE. The trade is described thus in the Periplus (§49):
There are imported into this market-town, wine, Italian preferred, also Laodicean and Arabian; copper, tin, and lead; coral and topaz; thin clothing and inferior sorts of all kinds; bright-colored girdles a cubit wide; storax, sweet clover, flint glass, realgar [to make paints], antimony, gold and silver coin, on which there is a profit when exchanged for the money of the country; and ointment, but not very costly and not much. And for the King there are brought into those places very costly vessels of silver, singing boys, beautiful maidens for the harem, fine wines, thin clothing of the finest weaves, and the choicest ointments. There are exported from these places spikenard, costus, bdellium, ivory, agate and carnelian, lycium, cotton cloth of all kinds, silk cloth, mallow cloth, yarn, long pepper and such other things as are brought here from the various market-towns.
Costus (Indian Costus or ‘putchuk’, Dolomiaea costus) is a herb related to thistles and the roots were in demand for use in medicines, while bdellium is a resin, also used in medicines. Lycium is a boxthorn shrub whose berries are used as a food, medicine and supplement. Spikenard was a product of Himalayan northern India and Nepal.
Barygaza was a major trading hub, receiving ships from Arabia, East Africa and the Persian Gulf.76 The port served the inner city of Minnagara (different to the city near Barbarikon), which was located further upstream on the Narmada.