Maritime heritage of Bharat: Indian Ocean Community

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Srinivasan Kalyanaraman <kalyan97@g...> wrote:

Recent tsunami has brought out the stark fact of the unity of the

indian ocean rim. Hindumahasagar has also been a cultural unity for

many millennia, exemplified by the hinduized states of southeast asia.

(pace George Coedes). In the wake of the tsunami, the constitution of

a Hindumahasagar Parivar (Indian Ocean Community) on the lines of

European Community should gain momentum.

 

Did Vasco da Gama discover the sea-route to Bharat? No. There were

ships bigger than Vasco da Gama's which were plying between Bharat and

Africa well before the days of Vasco da Gama -- ships of sea-faring

merchants from Gujarat. Yes, the same Gujarat which has revealed the

creation of the Gulf of Khambat about 10,000 years before present and

over 400 sarasvati civilization sites including Lothal, Dholavira,

Surkotada, Prabhas Patan and Bet Dwaraka. How come Gujarat textiles

are found in Indonesia in the batik tradition? The search will take us

into maritime heritage of Bharat.

 

"...an Indian naval pilot, named Kanha, was hired by Vasco da Gama to

take him to India. Contrary to European portrayals that Indians knew

only coastal navigation, deep-sea shipping had existed in India.

Indian ships had been sailing to islands such as the Andamans,

Lakshdweep and Maldives, around 2,000 years ago. Kautiliya's shastras

describe the times that are good and bad for seafaring. In the

medieval period, Arab sailors purchased their boats in India. The

Portuguese also continued to get their boats from India, and not from

Europe. Shipbuilding and exporting was a major Indian industry, until

the British banned it. There is extensive archival material on the

Indian Ocean trade in Greek, Roman, and Southeast Asian sources."

 

http://www.indianscience.org/scope.shtml

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