Textiles: The textile manufacture was perhaps the most important major industry. The Malavas presented a vast quantity of cotton cloth, among other things, to Alexander. The Pali books speak very highly of Benares cloth, as well as cloth from the Sibi country.

Kautilya mentions Madhura, the Pandyan capital, Aparanta (on the west coast), Kasi, Vanga, Vatsa and Mahisha (either Mahish- mati on the Narmada, or the Mysore country) as the sources of the finest cotton fabrics.

He refers to the varieties of dukula (a fabric of uncertain nature) produced respectively in Vanga (East Bengal), Pundra (West Bengal) and Suvar- nakudya (in Assam). Kasi and Pundra were noted for linen fabrics (kshauma), and textiles from fabrics of trees patroma were made in Magadha, Pundra and Suvarnakudya.

Among costlier textiles silk cloth is frequently referred to in Pali Buddhist books. Kautilya men­tions kauseya from the Chinhumi which seems to mean not China but the land of the Shin tribe. Silk may have come from China as well, the latter being called China-patta. Woolen manufacture of dif­ferent kinds, including varieties of blankets and rain proof cloth, came chiefly from Nepal. Gold embroidered cloth was used for turbans and worn on festive occasions by the well-to-do.

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A wide variety of skins, particularly from the Himalayan regions, is listed by Kautilya. Arrian alludes to the skill of Indian leather-workers by saying that the Indians “wear shoes made of white leather and these are elaborately trimmed, while the soles arc variegated, and of great thickness to make the wearer seem taller’.

Forest produce included fragrant woods of various kinds which entered largely into interna­tional trade. Kautilya speaks of chandana, agaru, taila-parnika, bhadrari and kaleyaka, and distin­guishes them according to their places of origin, colour and other qualities.

Wood-work and ivory- carving had reached a high level of efficiency. The building of boats and ships and making of carts and chariots, and the manufacture of machines are all mentioned besides house-building.

Stone-cutting was another highly developed art in which Mauryan craftsmen reached a height never surpassed since.