A beam of Indian cedar found in the place of Nebuchadnezzar (604-562 B.C.), the teak logs found in the temple of the Moon God at Ur at levels belonging to about the same age or a little later, and the Baveru Jataka which relates the adventures of certain Indian merchants who took the ﬁrst peacock by sea to Babylon, all conﬁrm the existence of active maritime intercourse between South India and its western neighbours.