PANAJI
Union Minister of State for Culture Meenakshi Lekhi laid the keel for a “stitched ship”, reminiscent of vessels that sailed on India’s ancient maritime trade routes, at Divar on Tuesday.
A Goan shipbuilding company ‘Hodi’ has been handpicked by the Centre and the Indian Navy to construct this ancient stitched ship to revive India’s ancient maritime heritage.
The Rs 9 crore project is scheduled to be completed in 22 months and expected to sail with a 13-member crew of Indian Navy from India to Indonesia ‘Bali Yatra’ on the auspicious occasion of ‘Kartik Poornima’ in November 2025.
Speaking at the keel laying ceremony, Lekhi urged the government to get the facsimile of Vasco da Gama's diary, which is in a museum abroad as documented by archaeologist late Dr Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar.
“India cannot get the original diary back because Vasco da Gama was not our citizen. But we can get a facsimile of the diary so that we can trace the country's rich maritime history. The aim is to get correct facts based on the narrations by Dr Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar,” she said.
The unveiling of the ship model was held in presence of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Hari Kumar and Economic advisor to PM Sanjeev Sanyal at Hodi Innovations (OPC) Private Limited, Divar.
Referring to the ancient Mauryan and Gupta dynasties, Lekhi said, “these dynasties had officers in their kingdom designated as ‘superintendents of shipping’ which shows that shipping was a major occupation of ancient Indians.”
Speaking on his long standing dream project of the ‘ancient stitched ship’ writer, historian and economist Sanyal stated that India is named after an ocean and that we have a history of maritime trade and military exposures.
“The Pallavas and Chola dynasties were sailing regularly and had unique designs. Indian traders were known to have sailed as far as China and Korea in the 4th and 5th century BC. Even the Pandian and Chola kings of South India sailed extensively 1000 years ago. We are trying to recreate this history by building an ancient ship,” said Sanyal.
Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Hari Kumar spoke on the legacy of Indian ship sailing and ship building art. “The Indian Navy is also reclaiming its own naval military history by adding Maratha King, Chhatrapati Shivaji's royal crest (Raja Mudra) on its official insignia,” said the Admiral.
Announcing that it is the birth of a vessel and we have to celebrate the moment, Managing Director at Hodi Innovations (OPC) Private Ltd Prathamesh Dandekar briefed on the time-tested techniques of Indian ship building and explained the project in detail.
The project's primary goal is to revive and honour India's rich maritime tradition by meticulously constructing the ship using ancient techniques such as stitching planks with coconut fibre and treating the wood with natural resins and oils.
“One has to honour the ancient techniques and also embrace the innovative technology as there lies a promise of future knowledge in the legacy of the past,” Dandekar said.
