HISTORY

Navigation in Ancient India

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Indian civilization has been without a break for the last few millennia. This means there has been external connections and indigenous
maritime assets. Among the remains, the maritime assets archaeology are much prized and cited, a dock being the most prized. It also
precludes the requirement of knowledge of the seas i.e. a compass.

The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Navgatih’ . The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit ‘Nou’.

There were Sanskrit terms for many parts of a ship. The ship’s anchor was known as Nava-Bandhan-Kilaha which literally means ‘a nail
to tie up a ship’. The sail was called Vata Vastra, which means ‘wind-cloth’. The hull was termed Stula Bhaga i.e. an ’expanded area’.
The rudder was called Keni-Pata, Pata means blade; the rudder was also known as Karna which literally means an ‘ear’ and was so
called because it used to be a hollow curved blade, as is found today in exhaust fans. The ship’s keel was called Nava-Tala which
means ‘bottom of a ship’. The mast was known as Kupadanda, in which danda means a pole.

Even a sextant was used for navigation and was called Vruttashanga-Bhaga. But what is more surprising is that even a contrived
mariner’s compass was used by Indian navigators nearly 1500 to 2000 years ago. This claim is not being made in an overzealous
nationalistic spirit. This has in fact been the suggestion of a European expert, Mr. J.L. Reid, who was a member of the Institute of Naval
Architects and Shipbuilders in England at around the beginning of the present century. This is what Mr. Reid has said in the Bombay
Gazetteer, vol. xiii., Part ii., Appendix A:

“The early Hindu astrologers are said to have used the magnet, in xing the North and East, in laying foundations, and other religious
ceremonies. The Hindu compass was an iron sh that oated in a vessel of oil and pointed to the North. The fact of this older Hindu
compass seems placed beyond doubt by the Sanskrit word Maccha Yantra, or sh machine, which Molesworth gives as a name for
the mariner’s compass”.

It is signi cant to note that these are the words of a foreign Naval Architect and Shipbuilding Expert. It is thus quite possible that the
Maccha Yantra ( sh machine) was transmitted to the west by the Arabs to give us the mariner’s compass of today.

Yukti Kalpa Taru, a treatise compiled by Bhoja Narapati has been translated and published by Prof. Aufrecht in his ‘Catalogue of
Sanskrit Manuscripts.’ Study of this treatise had been undertaken by Dr. Radha Kumud Mookerji entitled ‘Indian Shipping’ and was
published by Orient Longman, Bombay in 1912.

The treatise gives a technocratic exposition on the techniques of shipbuilding, providing minute details on various types of ships, their
sizes along with materials from which they were built. The Yukti Kalpa Taru sums up in a condensed form all the available information. 
Apart from describing the qualities of the di erent types of wood and their suitability in shipbuilding, the Yukti Kalpa Taru also gives an
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elaborate classi cation of ships based on their sizes.
 The primary division is into 2 classes:

Samanya (ordinary) and Vishesha (Special).

The ordinary type was for sea voyages. Ships that undertook sea voyages were classi ed
into dirgha type of ships which had a long and narrow hull and the Unnata type of ships
which had a higher hull.

The treatise also gives elaborate directions for decorating and furnishing the ships with a
view of making them comfortable for passengers. Also mentioned are details on internal
seating and accommodation to be provided on the ships.

Three classes of ships are distinguished according to their length and the position of
cabins:

Ships with cabins extending from one end of the deck to the other were called Sarvamandira vessels. These ships were
recommended for the transport of royal treasure and horses.

Madhyamarnandira vessels had cabins in the middle part of their deck and were recommended for pleasure trips.

Agramandira ships were used mainly in warfare.

Indian shipping has thus had a long and brilliant history covering a period of about ve millennia from the very dawn of India’s
civilization in the Indus Valley. Both Hindu and Buddhist texts are thus replete with references to the sea-borne trade of India that
directly and indirectly demonstrate the existence of a national shipping and shipbuilding. It was one of the great national key industry
of India.

Indeed, all the evidence available clearly shows that for full thirty centuries India stood at the very heart of the commercial world,
cultivating trade relations successively with the Phoenicians, Jews, Assyrians, Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans in ancient times, and
Turks, Venetians, Portuguese, Dutch and English in modern times.

There is enough evidence to prove that Indians maintained their maritime activity throughout the ancient and mediaeval periods,
naturally with variations in its extent and excellence, over such a long period of time. Both Basham and Marxist historians of India have
presented untruth, and half truth as truth.

George Coedes French historian and author of Indianized State of South East Asia has said:

“I am convinced that such research will reveal numerous facts which will indicate a much deeper Indianization of the mass of the
population than the sociologists will at present admit.”

Sylvain Levi French art Historian has shown how references in the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Mahaniddesa and Brihat-Katha that the
products of Burma and Malaya Peninsula were known to Indian merchants and sailors and also some of its ports such as Suvarnakudya,
Suvarnabhumi, Takkolam, Tamlin and Javam from at least rst century A.D. (Ancient India – By V. D. Mahajan p. 752-753).

That Indian traders and settlers repeatedly undertook journeys to Southeast Asia, despite the hazards and perils involved, speaks well
for their physical prowess, courage, and determination, even if allowance for the pull of pro t is made.

~ Sudheer

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Gopalakrishnan
at 5:02 pm

Reading all this makes me proud as an Indian, but at the same time also feel very sad that India is not getting any credit for the
ancient utilities that we invented. Infact, I am very sure that these ancient inventions from India formed the foundation for what
the Europeans invented after 1600s. I am even sure that technological ideas would have owed to Europe from the point of rst
European contact and the Europeans then would have projected things as their inventions, and at the same time putting our
inventing capacity on a decline and improving their inventive momentum. It will be really great if we could nd any evidence for
this. Everyone knows that the so called ‘Arabic number system’ that everybody uses globally was in fact invented by our
ancestors, before it spread to Arabia and then on to Europe. The Indian government should pressurize the international
community or maybe the UNESCO to change the name of the number system to the Indian number system. We need to get our
due credit. No more Arabic numerals even for a joke. It has to be INDIAN NUMBERS.
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Ananth U R
at 6:20 pm

Sir we have such admirable things in thousands. The irony is that unless it is reinvented by a foreigner and shown to. Us the
present generation does not want to believe. All the channels in all the languages, the stategovernment and the so called highly
intellectuals are engaged in systematically killing Sanskrit language. Still some where some hopes are there who h are sincerely
trying their best to keep this alive. Let us hope for the best
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vijaykumar
at 7:42 am

History text in our school taught us that Vasco da gama found sea route to India, he reached Calicut, he met king Zamorin
(SAMUDRI). The irony of fact is that His ship was too inferior for long voyage so he had to take the help of King of Gujarat who
spared his most advanced ship. We had the best of technology for ship building which could sail for a long duration meant for
long voyage. For details please listen to the lecture of ” Indian Genius” by Sraddalu Ranade available in You Tube.
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