COMING OUT OF CHOPPY WATERS

After centuries of stagnation, India’s shipbuilding industry is making a comeback with the Indian Navy leading the way. While warship production is proceeding at a brisk pace, it is the merchant shipbuilding sector that has the greatest promise and needs to be revived, argues RAKESH KRISHNAN SIMHA

- Rakesh Krishnan Simha

The earliest reference to maritime activities in India occurs in the Rig Veda, the oldest book in human history. Our Vedic ancestors wrote: “Do thou, whose countenance is turned to all sides, send off our adversaries, as if in a ship to the opposite shore; do thou convey us in a ship across the sea for our welfare.” From ancient times to the medieval era, for an unbroken period of at least 5,000 years, there are numerous mentions of the size, superior build quality and the comfort of Indian ships. When the Portuguese Vasco da Gama entered Indian waters in 1498, he saw that some of the Indian vessels were thrice the size of his own ship.

The French traveller Waltzer Salvins writes in his book Le Hindu, in 1811, "Hindus were in the forefront of shipbuilding and even today they can teach a lesson or two to the Europeans. The British, who were very apt at learning the arts, learnt a lot of things about shipbuilding from the Hindus. There is a very good blend of beauty and utility in Indian ships and they are examples of Indian handicrafts and their patience."

However, with the European invasions the dark age of shipbuilding in India started. Suresh Soni, in his book India’s Glorious Scientific Tradition, explains how India was deprived of its marine industry: "The shipping magnates of Britain could not tolerate the Indian art of ship manufacturing and they started compelling the East India Company not to use Indian ships.”

On one occasion when Indian ships laden with Indian goods reached the port of London, “it created such a panic amongst the British traders as would not have been created, had they seen the enemy fleet of ships on the River Thames, ready for attack”. These port workers were among the first to make a hue and cry and said that “all our work will be ruined and families will starve to death”.