MARITIME HISTORY IN INDIA

Maritime history is the study of human activity at sea As an academic subject, it often crosses
the boundaries of standard disciplines, focusing on understanding humankind's various
relationships to the oceans, seas, and major waterways of the globe. Nautical history records and
interprets past events involving ships, shipping, navigation, and seafarers. Maritime history is the
broad overarching subject that includes fishing, whaling, international maritime law, naval
history, the history of ships, ship design, shipbuilding, the history of navigation, the history of
the various maritime-related sciences (oceanography, cartography, hydrography, etc.), sea
exploration, maritime economics and trade, shipping, yachting, seaside resorts, the history of
lighthouses and aids to navigation, maritime themes in literature, maritime themes in art, the
social history of sailors and passengers and sea-related communities.

Indian maritime history begins during the 3rd millennium BCE when inhabitants of the Indus
Valley initiated maritime trading contact with Mesopotamia. The Roman historian Strabo
mentions an increase in Roman trade with India following the Roman annexation of Egypt. By
the time of Augustus up to 120 ships were setting sail every year from Myos Hormos to India. As
trade between India and the Greco-Roman world increased spices became the main import from
India to the Western world, bypassing silk and other commodities. Indians were present in
Alexandria while Christian and Jew settlers from Rome continued to live in India long after the
fall of the Roman empire, which resulted in Rome's loss of the Red Sea ports, previously used to
secure trade with India by the Greco-Roman world since the Ptolemaic dynasty. The Indian
commercial connection with South East Asia proved vital to the merchants of Arabia and Persia
during the 7th8th century. On orders of Manuel I of Portugal, four vessels under the command
of navigator Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope, continuing to the eastern coast of
Africa to Malindi to sail across the Indian Ocean to Calicut. The wealth of the Indies was now
open for the Europeans to explore. The Portuguese Empire was one of the early European
empires to grow from spice trade.

NATIONAL MARITIME DAY AND & SCINDIA

5 April 1964 marks the National Maritime Day of India. On this day in 1919 navigation history
was created when SS Loyalty, the first ship of The Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd.,
journeyed to the United Kingdom, a crucial step for India shipping history when sea routes were
controlled by the British.

A significant role in Indian independence. It was the first large scale Indian owned shipping
company and started an India - Europe service with the Loyalty (ex-RMS Empress of India), but
was forced to sign a 10 year agreement with British companies and its shipping route was
restricted to the Indian coastal shipping trade for this period. In 1932, the company purchased the
Bengal Burma S.N. Co. The company entered the pilgrim trade to Saudi Arabia in 1937 and in
the same year took over the Indian Co-operative Navigation & Trading Co. and the Ratnagar
S.N. Co. 1939 Bombay S.N. Co. acquired and 1941 Eastern S.N. Co. also taken over. Services
between India and the U.S.A began in 1947 and regular passenger and cargo services between
Calcutta and the U.K./ Continent started in 1948. In 1950, a cargo and passenger service opened
between India and Singapore and in 1954 an India to East Africa route was inaugurated. An India
to West Africa service commenced in 1956 and in 1964 a Calcutta - Great Lakes service started.
In 1968 a service to the Persian Gulf was started. Scindia also operated services to Australia and
New Zealand.

Following the global shipping slump of the 1980s, Scindia S.N. Co. gradually sold off its fleet
and ceased trading.

National Maritime Day of India

April 5 marks the National Maritime Day of India. On this day in 1919 navigation history was
made when SS Loyalty, the first ship solely owned by Indian people, who owned them The
Scindia Steam Navigation Company, Ltd., journeyed to the United Kingdom. This was a crucial
step for Indian shipping history as sea routes were controlled by the British. The National
Maritime Day was first celebrated on April 5, 1964 remembering this historic day and event,
saluting the indefatigable spirit of Indian entrepreneurs, who with-stood monopolistic policy of
British government to launch a Ship, wholly owned by Indian management.

PREHISTORY

Lothal and Indus Valley Civilization

The region around the Indus river began to show visible increase in both the length and the
frequency of maritime voyages by 3000 BCE. Optimum conditions for viable long-distance
voyages existed in this region by 2900 BCE. Mesopotamian inscriptions indicate that Indian
traders from the Indus valleycarrying copper, hardwoods, ivory, pearls, carnelian, and gold
were active in Mesopotamia during the reign of Sargon of Akkad (c. 2300 BCE). Gosch &
Stearns write on the Indus Valley's pre-modern maritime travel: Evidence exists that Harrappans
were bulk shipping timber and special woods to Sumeria on ships and luxury items such as lapis
lazuli. The trade in lapis lazuli was carried out from northern Afghanistan over eastern Iran to
Sumeria but during the Mature Harrappan period an Indus colony was established at Shortugai in
Central Asia near the Badakshan mines and the lapis stones were brought overland to Lothal in
Gujarat and shipped to Oman, Bahrain and Mesopotamia.

The world's first dock at Lothal (2400 BCE) was located away from the main current to avoid
deposition of silt. Modern oceanographers have observed that the Harappans must have
possessed great knowledge relating to tides in order to build such a dock on the ever-shifting
course of the Sabarmati, as well as exemplary hydrography and maritime engineering. This was
the earliest known dock found in the world, equipped to berth and service ships. It is speculated
that Lothal engineers studied tidal movements, and their effects on brick-built structures, since
the walls are of kiln-burnt bricks. This knowledge also enabled them to select Lothal's location in
the first place, as the Gulf of Khambhat has the highest tidal amplitude and ships can be sluiced
through flow tides in the river estuary. The engineers built a trapezoidal structure, with north-
south arms of average 21.8 metres (71.5 ft), and east-west arms of 37 metres (121 ft).
Roman trade with India and spice trade:

Indian cartography locates the Pole star, and other constellations of use in navigational charts.
These charts may have been in use by the beginning of the Common Era for purposes of
navigation. Detailed maps of considerable length describing the locations of settlements, sea
shores, rivers, and mountains were also made. It should be mentioned here that Tamil Pandya
embassies were received by Augustus Caesar and Roman historians mention a total of four
embassies from the Tamil country. Pliny famously mentions the expenditure of one million
sestertii (ancient roman coin) every year on goods such pepper, fine cloth and gems from the
southern coasts of India. He also mentions 10,000 horses shipped to this region each year. Tamil
and southern Sanskrit name inscriptions have been found in Luxor in Egypt. In turn Tamil
literature from the Classical period mentions foreign ships arriving for trade and paying in gold
for products. The first clear mention of a navy occurs in the mythological epic Mahabharata.
Historically, however, the first attested attempt to organize a navy in India, as described by
Megasthenes (c. 350290 BCE), is attributed to Chandragupta Maurya (reign 322298 BCE).
The Mauryan empire (322185 BCE) navy continued till the times of emperor Ashoka (reign
27332 BCE), who used it to send massive diplomatic missions to Greece, Syria, Egypt,
Cyrene, Macedonia and Epirus. Following nomadic interference in Siberiaone of the sources
for India's bullionIndia diverted its attention to the Malay peninsula, which became its new
source for gold and was soon exposed to the world via a series of maritime trade routes. The
period under the Mauryan Empire also witnessed various other regions of the world engage
increasingly in the Indian Ocean maritime voyages.

The Chola dynasty (2001279) was at the peak of its influence and power during the medieval
period. Emperors Rajaraja Chola I and Rajendra Chola I extended the Chola kingdom beyond the
traditional limits. At its peak, the Chola Empire stretched from the island of Sri Lanka in the
south to the Godavari basin in the north. The kingdoms along the east coast of India up to the
river Ganges acknowledged Chola suzerainty. Chola navies invaded and conquered Srivijaya in
Asia. The Indian commercial connection with Southeast Asia proved vital to the merchants of
Arabia and Persia between the 7th and 8th centuries CE.

The Cholas excelled in foreign trade and maritime activity, extending their influence overseas to
China and Southeast Asia. Towards the end of the 9th century, southern India had developed
extensive maritime and commercial activity. The Cholas, being in possession of parts of both the
west and the east coasts of peninsular India, were at the forefront of these ventures. The Tang
dynasty (618907) of China, the Srivijaya empire in Maritime Southeast Asia under the
Sailendras, and the Abbasid Kalifat at Baghdad were the main trading partners.

ANCIENT INDIAN MARITIME LINKAGES WITH SOUTH-EAST ASIAN NATIONS

1. Navigation in the seas of the North Indian Ocean is as old as the river valley civilizations in
the adjacent coastal areas of Asia. India located centrally in North Indian Ocean had a lions
share of early maritime relations. Buddhist Jataka tales and Kathasarit Sagara talk of coastal sea
links between Gujarat and Srilanka on one hand and across the sea voyages in the Bay of Bengal
and beyond.
2. The Mauryas and later the Guptas are believed to have built a navy. The Kalingas, after the
invasion of Ashoka, had set on an emigration voyage across the Bay of Bengal to Bali Island, of
a sizeable number of their people. The Mauryan voyage from the Bengal port of Tamralipti to
Srilanka in the Ashokan days is a historically recorded fact. No less than six cultural and trade
emissaries reached the Chinese coasts across the seas from the South of India.

3. The Vedas, Buddhist Jatakas, Sanskrit, Pali and Persian literature, Indian folklore and
mythology and even the Old Testament bear testimony to the fact that as far back as the days of
Mohen-jo-Daro, Lothal and Harappa (3000 to 2000 B.C), i.e., the Indus Valley Civilisation, there
was considerable maritime activity between India and countries in Africa, Southern Europe,
Western Asia and the Far East. Seals and Potsherd portraying anchors and tools and kitchen
implements made of coral and mussel shell have been found at these places and Java, Sumatra,
Indo-China, Sri Lanka and Egypt.

4. This fact is further borne out by the writings of foreign travelers and historians-Chinese,
Arabic and Persian which contain observations on Indian subjects and Indian and foreign art
and literature- English, Greek, Portuguese, French, Dutch, Persian, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic,
Malay, Thai, Burmese and Sinhalese. Some of the little known facts about the extent of
commercial and cultural influence of India and sea-borne trade using ships built in India during
the Hindu period (pre-Christian era to the middle of the 15th century) are :

The Matsya Yantra (the fish machine), an iron fish floating on oil pointing to the north
serving as a primitive compass was used by Indian sea-farers for several millennia
(Matsya was the first incarnation of Lord Vishnu).
The names of some of the places in Southern and Southeast Asia such as Socotra which is
a derivative of Sukhadhara and Sri Lanka which originally was Swarna Alankara.
The similarity between the Thai and Oriya scripts due to the long Kalinga influence on
Thailand.
The scriptures in a Buddhist temple in Japan which are recited by the monks every
morning even today being in the 6th century A.D Bengali script.
The transfer by sea of the weary, tired and demoralized army of Alexander the Great from
the mouth of the Indus to the shores of the Persian Gulf in 323 B.C in about 800 Indian
built sailing vessels.

5. During this period, while the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean were used mainly for purposes
of maritime trade, the Bay of Bengal provided a high-way for the countries on the Eastern sea-
board to embark on proselytising, cultural and colonising missions to Sri Lanka and countries as
far as the East Indies and Japan.

6. During this period, considerable maritime activity took place in the waters around India. As
described by Megasthenes, the royal shipyards of the Mauryas built seagoing ships of various
classes. The War office of Emperor Chandragupta had, as one of his six boards, a Nav Parishad
(Board of Admiralty) which controlled national shipbuilding. During the days of Emperor
Ashoka in the 3rd century B.C., his sister, Princess Sanghamitra sailed from Tamralipta in
Bengal to Srilanka on her historic mission of spreading Buddhism there. Between 200 B.C and
A.D 250, the Andhras carried out maritime trade with Western Asia, Greece, Rome, Egypt, China
and some other Eastern countries and had even set up embassies in some of these countries.
Larger sailing vessels built by the Cholas, Pandyas and the Keralas of South India and the
Kalingas of Orissa were used for trade, passenger traffic and naval warfare. It is a fact of history
that during the first decade of the seventh century, a ruler of Gujarat who was faced with defeat
at the hands of his enemy, sent his son with thousands of followers comprising cultivators,
artisans, warriors, physicians and writers in over 100 vessels to Java where they laid the
foundation of a new civilisation whose contribution to the world is the temple and sculptures of
Borobudur.

7. That oceanic navigation was well advanced during the earlier centuries of the Christian era is
further borne out by the writings of the celebrated Chinese monk, Fa Hien who came to India
overland to study Biddhism at Bodhgaya, Sarnath and Varanasi in A.D. 413. On his way back to
his home land he sailed from Tamralipta in Bengal and 14 days later reached Sri Lanka where he
embarked for Java and called at the Nicobars before passing through the Straits of Malacca to
reach the Pacific.

8. In April A.D 800, as described in the 199th Chapter of the Japanese document Ruijukokushi,
an Indian was cast up on the shores of Japan and some seeds of the cotton-plant, so far unknown
to that country, were found on his ship and sown in the province of Kii, Awaji, Jyo, Tosa and
Kyushu. Thus cotton was introduced into Japan.

9. The Cholas (985-1054 A.D) maintained a strong naval fleet on the Coromandel Coast. In 1007
A.D., the Cholas launched an expedition against the Sri Vijayas, who at that time ruled the
Malayan Peninsula, Java, Sumatra and some neighbouring islands and the sea areas contiguous
to them, and defeated them to establish Chola power in the Malayan Peninsula.

10. Indian supremacy over the Eastern waters reached its zenith during the period of 5th to 12th
centuries when the Sri Vijaya Empire ruled the entire sea area between Indias eastern seaboard
and the Far East. The Sri Vijayas cultural and colonising expedition took them to such far-flung
areas as Sumatra, Burma, the Malayan Peninsula, Java, Thailand and Indo-China. Sri Vijaya put
down piracy, attracted Indian, Arab and Chinese merchants to its ports where excellent harbour
facilities were available. Every ship passing the Straits of Sunda and Malacca was obliged to pay
a toll. Besides spreading Hindu culture, they maintained regular political and commercial
intercourse with the Cholas, Pandyas and Keralas. As a result of jealousy between the Cholas, the
Tamil kings and the Sri Vijayas, a series of sea battles were fought between their navies towards
the end of the 10th century A.D resulting in the weakening of these empires and opening the way
for Arab supremacy in the region. These Arabs, however, became great intermediaries of
maritime commercial intercourse between India and the West (Europe & West Asia).

INDIANISED KINGDOMS OF THE FAR EAST

11. In the early centuries of the Christian era South Indian kingdoms of Chre, Pandya and Chola
were known for their maritime enterprises in the Eastern direction. The Tamil kings became
prosperous and encouraged seaborne trade by developing harbours and providing quarters and
warehouses for foreign traders and sailors. There was competition among the South Indian kings
for the gains by this trade, Sri Lanka being another rival. Among the South Indian ports which
traded actively with South East Asia were Muzuris (Cranganore), Poduca (Pondicherry), and
Sopatma (Markanam). In the North Tamralipta (Tamluk) at the mouth of the Ganges and
Barygaza (Gujarat) were ports from which Indian influence reached out to the far-east. The
Ramayana and Mahabharata, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, Sanskrit language and Hindu
mythology, temple architecture and the Indian way of life became part of Far-Eastern culture.

12. Successive waves of Indian emigrants brought about major political and cultural changes in
South East Asia. In the first century AD, Indians, attracted by trade and gains, traveled to these
regions by land and sea. After setting up trading posts, they took advantage of the mutual
conflicts of local rulers to established Indianised kingdoms. Between the first and fourth century
AD the first wave of emigration set up Indian kingdoms in Malaya, Champa and Funan. The
second wave (4th to 7th century) spread Indian culture and religion (both Hinduism and
Buddhism) over a wider area. The first Indian ruler of Funan in Indo-China, according to
Chinese accounts was Kaundinya, which is a Hindu Brahmin Gotra name and not the real
name of the king. He introduced a modern irrigation system, drained the marshes, encouraged
agriculture and trade and created a strong Army and Navy. Sanskrit was the language of culture.
Hinduism and Buddhism co-existed peacefully. Under Indian kings Funan grew into an
important commercial centre visited by merchants from China, India and Arabia.

13. These Indian immigrants consisted of traders, soldiers, Hindu and Buddhist priests, scholars,
artisans and craftsmen. Starting with Indianised kingdoms in Malaya peninsula they pushed
forward farther to Thailand, Champa and Funan in the following centuries.

14. The Indianised kingdoms of the Far East disintegrated and declined in the middle of the 14th
century and went on till the seizure of Malacca by the Portuguese in 1511. Angkor was
abandoned in the middle of the 15th century. The final abandonment of Sri Vijaya came in 1471
and Java ceased to exist as a separate kingdom, around 1350, Sumatra followed suit. With the
increased navigation of the Arabs, Islam became a strong influence. The near total absence of
Indian political relations with these regions and the weakening of Indian maritime contacts left
the native population to recover their national and racial identity. They retained some of the
acceptable elements of Indian culture. The original immigrant Indian population, necessarily a
small number, merged with the large mass of local population and lost their separate identity, if
ever they had maintained one. The fact to remember is that these Indian kingdoms were not
Indian colonies politically subordinate or linked to the mother country, but independent local
kingdoms. When our links with these regions were cut, base forgot our former connections and
lost even the memory of our grand overseas ventures.