6

PRE-PORTUGUESE MARITIME CRAFTS OF INDIA: THE ETHNOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

Lotika Varadarajan

There is ample evidence of cultural and trade contacts between South Asia and the Roman Empire. Both the overland and maritime channels played a role in the patterns of communication and distribution. Although Roman trade fuelled bullion into South Asia, it was in no way a unique intervention in the trans-Afro-Asian sphere of trade. Trade links with them had existed since circa 518 BC when the Achaemenid emperor Darius had established his borders in Northwest India. By the eleventh century AD, Arab trade replaced the earlier linkages, which had intermingled with Buddhist pilgrim routes. Beneath the religious façade of Buddhism and Islam, there existed a continuous flow of secular trade in goods and commodities. Apart from the land routes, maritime channels were also in existence (Varadarajan 1983: 343–356; Varadarajan 1987: 90–108). India’s role in the overland trade does not pose any major problem but whether India was an active or passive participant in patterns of exchange by sea is a question that continues to be raised. Ethnological evidence clearly points to the existence of a vibrant maritime tradition in this country.

An important facet of South Asian boat-building tradition emanated from the attitudes toward the law of the sea. In fact, there was an absence of any stake in exclusive maritime spheres. Pennant and banner did not extend any challenge at sea. Piracy posed a hazard yet no boat was developed to specifically engage in bellicose activity at sea. The ram, developed in Mediterranean shipping, was noticeably absent in the South Asian sphere. Jean Deloche shows the depiction of a ram in a Maratha vessel of the gurab category. In this connection, it is important to remember that the gurab was an Arab battleship, which made a major entry into the Maratha navy raised by Shivaji.¹

The ethnological data is itself a subtle layering of diverse sources drawn from ethno-botany, hydrographic attainments, and the understanding of climatic factors coupled with the play of human ingenuity backed by the harnessing of animal power. Not to be forgotten is the cultural mould, which defined the parameters of transmission of technical skill, allowing the play of creativity in the absence of which tradition would stultify. Apart from šā (Shorea robusta Gaertn) and teak (Tectona grandis L.), there were several other varieties of wood, which satisfied the needs of the boat maker (Eyde 1835: 2). The use of different varieties of wood in different sections of the boat and the diversity in watercraft found plying along the Indian coastlines necessitated multiple sourcing of wood.

Hydrological conditions of the Arabian Sea along the western Indian coast were quite distinct from those in the Bay of Bengal. Fair-weather sailing was practised in both areas. However, the gradient of the western continental shelf is approximately 1:30, while on the east coast, the equivalence is 1:15. These disadvantageous circumstances on the east coast are further aggravated by the prevailing climatic conditions. During winter, the fair weather sailing period, the Northeastern trades (trade winds) are activated in the sub-tropical belt extending between 40° and 50° North. The feature of interest to India is the wind pattern flowing outwards from the Gobi desert belt. Whereas in the west, the Himalayan range serves to break the force of these winds, which then flow with reduced velocity into the Arabian Sea, in eastern India the strength of the winds is untempered because of the lower height of the mountain ranges in this region. These winds gather further force as they move over the Bay of Bengal and culminate in seasonal cyclones between October and December, and April and May. During this period of cyclonic turbulence, the swelling seas can attain a height of five metres. The sea can be equally high during the period of the southwest monsoon between June and September. In fact, the fair season can be said to prevail only during the months of January, February and March. Hence, long distance sailing is feasible in the Arabian Sea during the winter months, but the sea is less sympathetic on the east coast. Nonetheless, coastal sailing during the day is a feasible proposition.

The Indian subcontinent is notable for its ecological and climatic diversity. This is reflected in all spheres including that of the range and diversity of its traditional coastal-sailing craft. These can be categorised as:

1. Rabbeted, planked, sewn boats and variations thereof
2. Pegged or tree-nailed
3. Outriggers and other balance-board crafts
4. Catamarans
5. Crafts of Orissa
6. Coastal sailing crafts of West Bengal

Dugouts have received incidental, rather than specific, mention in this article. It is also important to remember that seagoing traditional vessels in India could broadly fall into three categories: coasting or long distance boats, fishing crafts and vessels that cater to ship-to-shore activities. F E. Paris had noted circa 1843 that the Madras masula was not used for fishing. Its exclusive sphere of activity was the servicing of ship-to-shore requirements (Paris 1843: 37).

The practice of rabbeted, planked and sewn-boat carpentry technique, the so-called vadhera procedure associated with Gujarat, extends between Lamu on the East African coast to coastal Orissa. The literature on this category is extensive.² There were several variations in the technique of sewing. In Gujarat, the sewing was discontinuous and tension was maintained by the introduction of a wooden wedge in each sewn set (Varadarajan 1995: 174). Ribs were nailed and clenched. A similar joinery, of larger dimensions, was to be found in the Kerala pattemar. Professor S. Q. Fatimi has pointed out that Arab ships sailing to the China Seas were necessarily nailed. However, it is not clear if this form of nailing is to be identified with the vadhera technique (Fatimi 1974: 149–156). In Lakshadweep, with the exception of Minicoy, planks were meticulously planed and flush-laid without recourse to rabbeting. The procedure of continuous sewing was duplicated in the masula tradition of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. However, a feature of masulas in the region of Madras (now Chennai) was the presence of the same sequence in sewing the inboard and outboard in all sections where there was a junction between the central plank and garboard, and other hull strakes. In view of the variations to be found in sewn boats scattered along the coast of peninsular and western India, and taking into cognisance the easy availability of the essential building material and other sailing necessities, a strong case can be made for a South Asian origin of the coir-sewn dhow of the Arabian Sea.

While pegging and sewing need not necessarily be mutually exclusive, the carpentry tradition found in Minicoy and the Maldives have an overlap with the lashed-lugjong tradition of Indonesia.³ Minicoy, enjoying the same culture and language as the Maldives, was brought under the authority of Cannanore (now Kannur) in the early sixteenth century. In the lashed-lug tradition, the planks of the hull are pegged together across the width of the individual planks. Luting, rather than padding across the seams, makes the boat watertight. Earlier, the planks were further trussed together by a rope passed through cleats giving rise to the term, ‘lashed-lug’. Until the first decade of the twentieth century, the pegged Maldivian oti was a recognised local cargo and passenger sailing ship.

In view of the wide dispersion of the outrigger, the presence of which can be noted in the Blue Nile apart from the evidence on the Madagascar coast,⁴ the question about there being more than one centre of diffusion for such craft can be raised. The focal point has generally been associated with Indonesia. As a preliminary step, categorisation could be made on the basis of the method of joinery followed when additional timber is added to the dugout, as also the joinery effected at the union between the boom and the float. Hornell has pioneered the study of a number of joineries used to attach the boom and the float.⁵ These need to be taken further. While several of the crafts studied by Hornell are no longer in existence, analogous samples may still be traced. Among these, the outriggers of Sri Lanka merit further study (Gunawardana 1987: 81–88).

J. Neyrit remarks circa 1931 that there were two types of outriggers in Sri Lanka (both now extinct)—the fishing craft, oruwa, and the small cargo vessel, the yatra dhoni. The first was noted for its swiftness, and the second for the fact that it could attain as much as 50 tons (Neyrit 1974: 255–257). Along the Indian coast, the single outrigger with a joinery reminiscent of the Gujarat vadhera may be seen near Goa. This appears to be a variant of the Ratnagiri and Raspur category briefly described by Neyrit (Neyrit 1974: 247–248). These outriggers are used only during the season of the northeast monsoon (Paris 1843: 22). The Konkan name for the Ratnagiri outrigger was akāda hōdi. Circa 1937 these ranged from 16 feet to 20 feet in length. A shallow dugout, with its sides rising to a height of about 3 inches, could form the base unit of the hull. Alternatively, three planks could be used, the upward rising side planks being rabbeted to the central one. Gunwales, also rabbeted, were added to this structure to provide increased freeboard. In Indonesia, the booms—locally called bowkār—were made of bamboo. The bowkār are directly attached to the ūldī, the float, made of the timber, Erythrina indica. The Spanish windlass, tāngrī, is used to attach the booms to the gunwales and also to the float. A double grommet in coir is used for the first attachment and a single for the second. The grommets are twisted and tightened by a rod, which also functions as a lever.⁶

Hornell takes note of a dugout circa 1945 at Kilakkarai in which a single curved boom is directly attached to a very small short float.⁷ The contrivance could be changed from one side to the other. In 1993, this author photographed a vattā with a single kanna kattai, outrigger, at Naina & Co., OJM Estate, Kilakkarai. The canoe, described by Hornell, had been transformed into a frame first, planked and double-ended boat but the outrigger has remained basically the same (cf. Blue et al 1998: 47). The present day Kilakarai vattā has a leeboard, a feature of which Hornell took special note (Hornell 1923: 155). Neyrit has remarked that in the region between Mangalore and Cape Comorin the outrigger could be utilised or dismantled depending on the conditions faced at sea (Neyrit, 1974: 247–248).

Apart from single outriggers, there are several examples of seagoing crafts, which utilise balance boards in South India (Hornell, 1945b: 222–227; Hornell, 1945a, 12–16). Hornell has noted how these vessels were used in the pearl fisheries off the southern tip of peninsular India. He has noted that in the balance-board craft, found between Rameswaram and Ammapattinam, the hull could either be a dugout or be planked.⁸ A northern variant was found in Adirampattinam and Muttupet. These hulls were narrower and longer, and the majority had a three-masted lug sail. Such planked boats, called vallam,⁹ may be found to this day at Adirampattinam. Insofar as carpentry usages are concerned, it is to be noted that despite the diversity in boat typology, the shell-first method is the universal technique practised in traditional boat carpentry in India. The use of the scrieve board and construction based on the frame-first principle appears to have been an innovation introduced either during the colonial regime or by members of an Indo-Norwegian Project, sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations.¹⁰

The catamaran is to be found in the region extending between Quilon/Kollam in Kerala and Puri, Orissa. Rajamanickam has remarked that in districts of Trivandrum (now Thiruvananthapuram) and Kollam—the only regions in Kerala where the catamaran, locally called ca: Latta D, are to be found—the users are the local Latin (Catholic) Christian fisherfolk (Rajamanickam Arul Raj 1991(II): 70). These fisherfolk are the descendants of the Parava community, who had been converted to Roman Catholicism by the Portuguese between 1535 and 1537. The Paravas had been active on the pearl fisheries coasts of the subcontinent and were culturally Tamil, rather than Malayali.¹¹ While the presence of the dugout along the coasts of Karnataka and Malabar is undoubtedly ubiquitous, the same could be said in relation to the catamaran on the southeast coast.¹²

The introduction of the catamaran to Kerala thus appears to have been through the agency of the Parava community in earlier times. The Kerala catamaran was not flat. The two garboard strakes tilt upwards to form a rim along the two outer edges. The oar also functions as a steering oar.¹³ Hornell traces the different kinds of catamarans found along the coast of Tamil Nadu, linking the form with local hydrographic conditions (Hornell 1946: 62–63). Circa 1932, six types of catamarans are noticed along the coast of erstwhile Nellore, Chingleput (also called Chengalpattu) and South Arcot districts. These comprised:

1. Thundimaram made from four logs with the length ranging from 10 feet and 6 inches to 13 feet and 6 inches, and breadth ranging from 2 feet and 3 inches to 4 feet and 6 inches. It was used in hook and line fishing with a short line.
2. Melamaram made from five to six logs, with the length varying between 13 and 21 feet, and the breadth between 3 feet and 4 feet and 6 inches. It was used for short and long line fishing.¹⁴
3. Sirumaran or kuthidi made from four logs had a length ranging from 13 and a half feet to 16 and a half feet, and breadth between 2 feet 4 inches and 3 feet. Small nets are used in fishing.
4. Mengamaram was made from four logs. The length ranged from 16 and a half feet to 19 and a half feet, while the breadth varied between 3 feet and 3 feet 9 inches. The net used in fishing is the kola velai (Hornell 1924: Part 1, 70).
5. Periamaram made of five logs has a length ranging from 16 and a half feet to 19 feet, and the breadth between 3 feet and 3 feet 9 inches. When fishermen undertake fishing with the mada valai net, they embark on three mengamaram and one periamaram.¹⁵
6. Kolamaram is made from six to seven logs, the length varying between 24 feet and 28 feet 6 inches, and the breadth between 4 feet and 6 inches, and 6 feet. These are fitted with two leeboards and are used to catch flying fish, Cypsilurus sp.¹⁶ Hornell categorised these as the most highly specialised among the Coromandel range of catamarans (Hornell 1946: 65).

The shape and structure of the catamaran changes as we proceed northwards from the one found in the teppa of erstwhile district Vizagapatam (now Vishakhapatanam) and that existing in district Ganjam. The two halves of the teppa of district Vizagapatam are lashed together and above these a washboard is sewn.¹⁷ The teppa of district Ganjam is analogous to that found in Puri in present times. The transition from raft to a rudimentary pegged boat is much more clearly articulated here.¹⁸

The crafts of Orissa mark the transition between the crafts of the southern coasts and those of Bengal. While there is some commonality between the boats of Bengal and those of Orissa, there is little overlap between the Bengal craft and those of the southern coasts. The basic method of plank joinery in Bengal is that of stapling with iron cramps while plank joinery through sewing is the predominant form in the south. The southern crafts’ variants, which may be found in Orissa, comprise the teppa, podhua and nava (Tietze 1985: 34–36). The teppa has already received notice earlier. The model is the same but the size is different—the smaller Oriya teppa comprising three or four logs, while the largest being the two-logged kind (Tietze 1985: 34–35). The podhua falls into the masula category despite small degrees of variation within this group (Kentley 1999: 188–195; Rajamanikam, Thivakaran, 1991: 90–93). The nava is a flat-bottomed, planked and nailed boat. It awaits detailed analysis to date as far as carpentry aspects are concerned (Rajamanikam, Thivakaran, 1991: 89–90).

The overlap with Bengal is to be noted in keeled crafts such as the choat, dinghy, salti and sabado (Tietze 1985: 32–34, 194–199). The two boats types, which can be categorised as bearing an Oriya benchmark, are the keeled, reverse-clinker pātiā, and the clinker-based danga.¹⁹ The feature to be noted in relation to these crafts of Orissa is that all have a keel and are sea-going vessels.

Unlike the boats of coastal Orissa, boats of Bengal are essentially riverine. However, boats which ply in the estuary region such as the Sundarbans fall into a separate category. These include the keeled chot, the pātiā and the sultani. The chot is a double-pointed keeled boat. It is to be found in the Rupnarayan, Rasalpur and Haldi rivers, and functions as a fishing cargo and tug boat. Plank joinery follows the traditional Bengali method of rabbet jointing and stapling. The keeled pātiā has three methods of horizontal plank joinery—reverse clinker, carvel and clinker. It is to be found in the Digha area adjoining the Subarnarekha River in West Bengal. The keeled sultani, a cargo boat, enjoys wide dispersion. In the south, it is to be found at Nurpur, Phalta and Diamond Harbour in South Twenty-Four Parganas, in the Kakdwip region and in Sagar Island. The method of construction appears to be intermediary between shell and frame, and planks are nailed rather than stapled.²⁰

The conclusions, which may be drawn from this brief survey, are that the maritime crafts of coastal India had evolved in response to specific requirements, and were in close consonance with prevailing hydrographical conditions. Sailing people are quick to absorb tested innovation and, in this context, it is important to remember that the Portuguese had themselves absorbed features of middle eastern, if not Arab, sailing crafts before they had embarked on the discoveries.²¹ The diverse methods of boat joinery practised by the traditional South Asian builders also bears out this statement. Notwithstanding whether a boat is frame-first, shell or an intermediary stage between the two, the core area dealing with methods of measurement and procedures adopted for shaping, is indigenous. This is borne out by the methods evolved for fashioning the Kakdwip Trawler, which made its entry into the West Bengal maritime scene as late as circa 1979 or 1980. This element of tradition and innovation has to be borne in mind when dealing with the transfers, which had taken place when the Portuguese appeared on the scene during the sixteenth century.

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