Indian Shipping/Book 1/Part 1/Chapter 1
BOOK I. HINDU PERIOD.
PART I.
Indications of Maritime Activity in Indian Literature and Art.
BOOK I—PART I.
CHAPTER I.
Direct Evidences from Sanskrit and Pali Literature.
It has been already pointed out that though Sanskrit and Pali literature abounds in references to the trading voyages of Indians, they unfortunately furnish but few references having a direct bearing on the ships and shipbuilding of India which enabled her to keep up her international connections. I have, however, been able to find one Sanskrit work,[1] which is something like a treatise on the art of shipbuilding in ancient India, setting forth many interesting details about the various sizes and kinds of ships, the materials out of which they were built, and the like; and it sums Up in a condensed form all the available information and knowledge about that truly ancient industry of India. The book requires a full notice, and its contents have to be explained.
The ancient shipbuilders had a good knowledge of the materials as well as the varieties and properties of wood which went to the making of ships. According to the Vṛiksha-Āyurveda, or the Science of Plant Life (Botany), four different kinds of wood[2] are to be distinguished: the first or the Brahman class comprises wood that is light and soft and can be easily joined to any other kind of wood; the second or the Kshatriya class of wood is light and hard but cannot be joined on to other classes; the wood that is soft and heavy belongs to the third or Vaisya class; while the fourth or the Sudra class of wood is characterized by both hardness and heaviness. There may also be distinguished wood of the mixed (Dvijāti) class, in which are blended properties of two separate classes.
According to Bhoja, an earlier authority on shipbuilding, a ship built of the Kshatriya class of wood brings wealth and happiness.[3] It is these ships that are to be used as means of communication where the communication is difficult owing to vast water.[4] Ships, on the other hand, which are made of timbers of different classes possessing contrary properties are of no good and not at all comfortable. They do not last for a long time, they soon rot in water, and they are liable to split at the slightest shock and to sink down.[5]
Besides pointing out the class of wood which is best for ships, Bhoja also lays down a very important direction for shipbuilders in the nature of a warning which is worth carefully noting.[6] He says that care should be taken that no iron is used in holding or joining together the planks of bottoms intended to be sea-going vessels, for the iron will inevitably expose them to the influence of magnetic rocks in the sea, or bring them within a magnetic field and so lead them to risks. Hence the planks of bottoms are to be fitted together or mortised by means of substances other than iron. This rather quaint direction was perhaps necessary in an age when Indian ships plied in deep waters on the main.
Besides Bhoja's classification of the kinds of wood used in making ships and boats, the Yuktikalpataru gives an elaborate classification of the ships themselves, based on their size. The primary division[7] is into two classes: (a) Ordinary (Sāmānya): ships that are used in ordinary river traffic or waterways fall under this class; (b) Special (Viśesa), comprising only sea-going vessels. There are again enumerated ten different kinds of vessels under the Ordinary class which all differ in their lengths, breadths, and depths or heights. Below are given their names and the measurements of the three dimensions[8]:—
(a) Ordinary.
| Names. | Length in cubits. |
Breadth in cubits. |
Height in cubits. | |
| (1) | Kshudrā | 16 | 4 | 4 |
| (2) | Madhyamā | 24 | 12 | 8 |
| (3) | Bhīmā | 40 | 20 | 20 |
| (4) | Chapalā | 48 | 24 | 24 |
| (5) | Patalā | 64 | 32 | 32 |
| (6) | Bhayā | 72 | 36 | 36 |
| (7) | Dīrghā | 88 | 44 | 44 |
| (8) | Patraputā | 96 | 48 | 48 |
| (9) | Garbharā | 112 | 56 | 56 |
| (10) | Mantharā | 120 | 60 | 60 |
Of the above ten different kinds of Ordinary ships the Bhīmā, Bhayā and Garbharā are liable to bring ill-luck, perhaps because their dimensions do not make them steady and well-balanced on the water.
Ships that fall under the class Special are all sea-going.[9] They are in the first instance divided into two sub-classes[10]: (1) Dīrghā (दीर्घा), including ships which are probably noted for their length, and (2) Unnatā (उन्नता), comprising ships noted more for their height than their length or breadth. There are again distinguished ten varieties of ships of the Dīrghā (दीर्घा) class and five of the Unnatā (उन्नता) class. Below are given their names and the measurements[11] of their respective lengths, breadths, and heights:—
(b) Special.
I. Dīrghā, 42 (length), 514 (breadth), 415 (height):
| Names. | Length. | Breadth. | Height. | |
| (1) | Dīrghikā | 32 | 4 | 315 |
| (2) | Taraṇī | 48 | 6 | 445 |
| (3) | Lolā | 64 | 8 | 625 |
| (4) | Gatvarā | 80 | 10 | 8 |
| (5) | Gāminī | 96 | 12 | 925 |
| (6) | Tarī | 112 | 14 | 1115 |
| (7) | Jaṅghālā | 128 | 16 | 1245 |
| (8) | Plābinī | 144 | 18 | 1425 |
| (9) | Dhāriṇī | 160 | 20 | 16 |
| (10) | Beginī | 176 | 22 | 1735 |
Of these ten varieties of Dīrghā (दीर्घा) ships, those that bring ill-luck[12] are Lolā (लोला), Gāminī (गामिनी), and Plābinī (प्लाविनी), and also all ships that fall between these three classes and their next respective classes.
II. Unnatā[13] (उन्नता):
I. Dīrghā, 42 (length), 514 (breadth), 415 (height):
| Names. | Length. | Breadth. | Height. | |
| (1) | Ūrddhvā | 32 | 16 | 16 |
| (2) | Anūrddhvā | 48 | 24 | 24 |
| (3) | Svarṇamukhī | 64 | 32 | 32 |
| (4) | Garbhiṇī | 80 | 40 | 40 |
| (5) | Mantharā | 96 | 48 | 48 |
Of these five varieties, Anūrddhvā (अनूर्द्ध्वा), Garbhiṇī (गर्भिणी), and Mantharā (मन्थरा) bring on misfortune, and Ūrddhvā much gain or profit to kings.
The Yuktikalpataru also gives elaborate directions for decorating and furnishing ships so as to make them quite comfortable to passengers. Four kinds of metal are recommended for decorative purposes, viz. gold, silver, copper, and the compound of all three. Four kinds of colours are recommended respectively for four kinds of vessels: a vessel with four masts is to be painted white, that with three masts to be painted red, that with two masts is to be a yellow ship, and the one-masted ship must be painted blue. The prows of ships admit of a great variety of fanciful shapes or forms: these comprise the heads of lion, buffalo, serpent, elephant, tiger, birds such as the duck, peahen or parrot, the frog, and man, thus arguing a great development of the art of the carpenter or the sculptor. Other elements of decoration are pearls and garlands of gold to be attached to and hung from the beautifully shaped prows.[14]
There are also given interesting details about the cabins of ships. Three classes[15] of ships are distinguished according to the length and position of their cabins. There are firstly the Sarbamandirā (सर्ब्बमन्दिरा) vessels, which have the largest cabins extending from one end of the ship to the other.[16] These ships are used for the transport of royal treasure, horses, and women.[17] Secondly, there are the Madhyamandirā (मध्यमन्दिरा) vessels,[18] which have their cabins just in the middle part. These vessels are used in pleasure trips by kings, and they are also suited for the rainy season. Thirdly, ships may have their cabins towards their prows, in which case they will be called Agramandirā[19] (अग्रमन्दिरा). These ships are used in the dry season after the rains have ceased. They are eminently suited for long voyages and also to be used in naval warfare.[20] It was probably in these vessels that the first naval fight recorded in Indian literature was fought, the vessel in which Tugra the Ṛishi king sent his son Bhujyu against some of his enemies in the distant island, who, being afterwards shipwrecked with all his followers on the ocean, "where there is nothing to give support, nothing to rest upon or cling to," was rescued from a watery grave by the two Asvins in their hundred-oared galley.[21] It was in a similar ship that the righteous Paṇdava brothers escaped from the destruction planned for them, following the friendly advice of kind-hearted Vidura, who kept a ship ready and constructed for the purpose, provided with all necessary machinery and weapons of war, able to defy hurricanes.[22] Of the same description were also the five hundred ships mentioned in the Rāmāyaṇa,[23] in which hundreds of Kaivarta young men are asked to lie in wait and obstruct the enemy's passage. And, further, it was in these ships that the Bengalis once made a stand against the invincible prowess of Raghu as described in Kālidāsa's Raghuvańsa, who retired after planting the pillars of his victory on the isles of the holy Ganges.[24]
The conclusions as to ancient Indian ships and shipping suggested by these evidences from Sanskrit literature directly bearing on them are also confirmed by similar evidences culled from the Pali literature. The Pali literature, like the Sanskrit, also abounds with allusions to sea voyages and sea-borne trade, and it would appear that the ships employed for these purposes were of quite a large size. Though indeed the Pali texts do not usually give the actual measurements of the different dimensions of ships such as the Sanskrit texts furnish, still they make definite mention of the number of passengers which the ships carried, and thus enable us in another very conclusive way to have a precise idea of their size. Thus, according to the Rājavalliya, the ship in which Prince Vijaya and his followers were sent away by King Sińhaba (Sińhavāhu) of Bengal was so large as to accommodate full seven hundred passengers, all Vijaya's followers.[25] Their wives and children, making up more than seven hundred, were also cast adrift in similar ships.[26] The ship in which the lion-prince, Sińhala, sailed from some unknown part of Jambudvīpa to Ceylon contained five hundred merchants besides himself.[27] The ship in which Vijaya's Pandyan bride was brought over to Ceylon was also of a very large size, for she is said to have carried no less than 800 passengers on board.[28] The Janaka-Jātaka mentions a ship that was wrecked with all its crew and passengers to the favourite number of seven hundred, in addition to Buddha himself in an earlier incarnation.[29] So also the ship in which Buddha in the Supparaka-Bodhisat incarnation made his voyages from Bharukaccha (Broach) to "the Sea of the Seven Gems"[30] carried seven hundred merchants besides himself. The wrecked ship of the Vālahassa-Jātaka carried five hundred merchants.[31] The ship which is mentioned in the Samudda-Vanija-Jātaka was so large as to accommodate also a whole village of absconding carpenters numbering a thousand who failed to deliver the goods (furniture, etc.) for which they had been paid in advance.[32] The ship in which the Punna brothers, merchants of Supparaka, sailed to the region of the red-sanders was so big that besides accommodating three hundred merchants, there was room left for the large cargo of that timber which they carried home.[33] The two Burmese merchant-brothers Tapoosa and Palekat crossed the Bay of Bengal in a ship that conveyed full five hundred cartloads of their own goods, besides whatever other cargo there may have been in it.[34] The ship in which was rescued from a watery grave the philanthropic Brahman of the Sāṅkha-Jātaka was 800 cubics in length, 600 cubits in width, and 20 fathoms in depth, and had three masts. The ship in which the prince of the Mahājanaka-Jātaka sailed with other traders from Chāmpā (modern Bhagalpur) for Suvarṇabhūmi (probably either Burma or the Golden Chersonese, or the whole Farther-Indian coast) had on board seven caravans with their beasts. Lastly, the Dāthā dhātu wanso, in relating the story of the conveyance of the Tooth-relic from Dantapura to Ceylon, gives an interesting description of a ship. The royal pair (Dantakumaro and his wife) reached the port of Tamralipta, and found there "a vessel bound for Ceylon, firmly constructed with planks sewed together with ropes, having a well-rigged, lofty mast, with a spacious sail, and commanded by a skilful navigator, on the point of departure. Thereupon the two illustrious Brahmans (in disguise), in their anxiety to reach Sińhala, expeditiously made off to the vessel (in a canoe) and explained their wishes to the commander."
- ↑ It is not a printed book but a MS., to be found in the Calcutta Sanskrit College Library, called the Yuktikalpataru. Professor Aufrecht has noticed it in his Catalogue of Sanskrit MSS. Dr. Rajendralal Mitra has the following comment on it (Notices of Sanskrit MSS., vol. i., no. {{sc|cclxxi]].): "Yuktikalpataru is a compilation by Bhoja Narapati. It treats of jewels, swords, horses, elephants, ornaments, flags, umbrellas, seats, ministers, ships, etc., and frequently quotes from an author of the name of Bhoja, meaning probably Bhoja Rājā of Dhara."
- ↑ लघु यत् कोमलं काष्ठं सुघटं ब्रह्मजाति तत्।
दृढ़ाङ्गं लघु यत् काष्ठमघटं क्षत्रजाति तत्॥
कोमलं गुरु यत् काष्ठं वैश्यजाति तदुच्यते।
दृढ़ाङ्गं गुरु यत् काष्ठं शूद्रजाति तदुच्यते॥
लक्षणद्वय योगेन द्विजातिः काष्ठ संग्रहः॥ - ↑ क्षत्रियकाष्ठैर्घटिता भोजमते सुखसम्पदं नौका।
- ↑ अन्ये लघुभिः सुदृढ़ैर्विदधति जलदुष्पदे नौकाम्।
- ↑ विभिन्नजातिद्वयकाष्ठजाता न श्रेयसे नापि सुखाय नौका।
नैषा चिरं तिष्ठति पच्यते च विभिद्यते सरिति मज्जते च॥ - ↑ न सिन्धुगाद्यार्हति लौहबन्धं तल्लोहकान्तैर्ह्रियते हि लौहम्।
विपद्यते तेन जलेषु नौका गुणेन बन्धं निजगाद भोजः॥ - ↑ सामान्यञ्च विशेषश्च नौकाया लक्षणद्वयम्।
- ↑ राजहस्तमितायामा तत्पादपरिणाहिनी।
तावदेवोन्नता नौका क्षुद्रेति गदिता बुधैः॥
अतः सार्द्धमितायामा तदर्द्धपरिणाहिनी।
त्रिभागेणोत्थिता नौका मध्यमेति प्रचक्ष्यते॥
क्षुद्राथ मध्यमा भीमा चपला पटला भया।
दीर्घा पत्रपुटाचैव गर्भरा मन्थरा तथा॥
नौकादशकमित्युक्तं राजहस्तैरनुक्रमम्।
एकैकवृद्धैः सार्द्धैश्च विजानीयाद् द्वयं द्बयम्।
उन्नतिश्च प्रवीणा च हस्तादर्द्धांशलक्षिता॥
अत्र भीमा भया चैव गर्भरा चाशुभप्रदा। - ↑ मन्थरापरतोयास्तु तासामेवाम्बुधौ गतिः।
- ↑ दीर्घा चैवोन्नता चेति विशेषे द्विविधा भिदा।
- ↑ राजहस्तद्वयायामा अष्टांशपरिणाहिनी।
नौकेयं दीर्घिका नाम दशाङ्गेनोन्नतापि च॥
दीर्घिका तरणिर्लोला गत्वरा गामिनी तरिः।
जङ्घाला प्लाविनी चैव धारिणी वेगिनी तथा॥
राजहस्तैकैकवृद्ध्या—नौकानामानि वै दश।
उन्नतिः परिणाहश्च दशाष्टांशमितौ क्रमात्॥ - ↑ अत्र लोला गामिनी च प्लाविनी दुःखदा भवेत्।
लोलाया मानमारभ्य यावद्भवति गत्वरा।
लोलायाः फलमाधत्ते एवं सर्व्वासु निर्णयः॥ - ↑ राजहस्तद्वयमिता तावत् प्रसरणोन्नता।
इयमूर्द्ध्वाभिधा नौका क्षेमाय पृथिवीभुजाम्॥
ऊर्द्ध्वानूर्द्ध्वा स्वर्णमुखी गर्भिणी मन्थरा तथा।
राजहस्तैकैकवृद्ध्या नाम पञ्चत्रयं भवेत्॥
अत्रानूर्द्ध्वा गर्भिणी च निन्दितं नामयुग्मकम्।
मन्थरायाः परा यास्तु ताः शुभाय यथोद्भवम्॥Opinions of Sanskrit scholars whom I have consulted differ as to the exact meaning of the passages above quoted from the MS. Yuktikalpataru. According to some the word राजा means चन्द्र = 1, and हस्त = 2, so that राजहस्त stands for the number 21. But according to others, with whom I agree, राजा = 16, for in the works on Astronomy or ज्योतिष्, 'महीभृत' or 'राजा' is often used to indicate that number. I have made the calculations given above on the basis of the second interpretation.
- ↑
धात्वादीनामतो वक्ष्ये निर्णयं तरिसंश्रयम्।
कनकं रजतं ताम्रं त्रितयं वा यथाक्रमम्॥
ब्रह्मादिभिः परिन्यस्य नौका चित्रणकर्मणि।
चतुःशृृङ्गा त्रिशृङ्गाभा द्विशृङ्गा चैकशृङ्गिणी॥
सितरक्तापीतनीलवर्णान् दद्याद् यथाक्रमम्॥
केशरी महिषो नागो द्विरदो व्याघ्र एव च।
पक्षी भेको मनुष्यश्च एतेषां वदनाष्टकम्॥
नावां मुखे परिन्यस्य आदित्यादिदशाभुवाम्॥
••••••नौकासु मणिविन्यासो विज्ञेयो नवदन्दवत्।
मुक्तास्तवकैर्युक्ता नौका स्यात् सर्व्वतो भद्रा॥ - ↑ सगृहा त्रिविधा प्रोक्ता सर्ब्बमध्याग्रमन्दिरा।
- ↑ सर्ब्बतो मन्दिरं यत्र सा ज्ञेया सर्ब्बमन्दिरा।
- ↑ ाज्ञां कोशाश्वनारीणां यानमत्र प्रशस्यते।
- ↑ मध्यतो मन्दिरं यत्र सा ज्ञेया मध्यमन्दिरा।
राज्ञां विलासयात्रादि वर्षासु च प्रशस्यते। - ↑ अग्रतो मन्दिरं यत्र सा ज्ञेया त्वग्रमन्दिरा।
- ↑ िरप्रवासयात्रायां रणे काले घनात्यये।
- ↑
तुग्रोह भुज्युनश्विनोदमेघे रयिं न कश्चिन्ममृवां अवाहाः।
तमूहथु नौभिरात्मन्वतीभिरंतरिक्ष प्रुद्भिरपोदकाभिः॥
तिस्रः क्षपस्त्रिरहातिब्रजद्भिर्नासत्या भुज्युमूहथुः पतंगैः।
समुद्रस्य धन्वन्नार्द्रस्य पारे त्रिभी रथैः शतपद्भिः पलश्वैः॥
अनारंभणे तदवीरयेथामनास्थाने अग्रभणे समुद्रे।
यदश्विना ऊहथुर्भुज्युमस्तं शतारित्रां नावमानस्थिवांसं॥The Rig Veda/Mandala 1/Hymn 116, śloka 3-5. (Wikisource contributor note)
- ↑
ततः प्रवासितो विद्वान् विदुरेण नरस्तदा।
पार्थानां दर्शयामास मनोमारुतगामिनीम्॥
सर्व्ववातसहां नावं यन्त्रयुक्तां पताकिनीम्।
शिवे भागीरथीतीरे नरैर्विश्रम्भिभिः कृताम्॥Mahābhārata, आदिपर्व्व।
- ↑
नावां शतानां पञ्चानां कैवर्त्तानां शतं शतम।
सन्नद्धानां तथा यूनान्तिष्ठन्त्वित्यभ्यचोदयत्॥Ayodhyā Kāndam.
- ↑
वङ्गानुत्खाय तरसा नेता नौसाधनोद्यतान्।
निचखान जयस्तम्भं गङ्गा स्रोतोऽन्तरेषु च॥ - ↑ Upham's Sacred Books of Ceylon, ii. 28, 168. Turnour's Mahāwańso, 46, 47.
- ↑ Turnour's Mahāwańso, 46.
- ↑ Si-yu-ki, ii. 241.
- ↑ Turnour's Mahāwańso, 51.
- ↑ Bishop Bigandet's Life of Godama, 415.
- ↑ Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, 13.
- ↑ "Now it happened that five hundred shipwrecked traders were cast ashore near the city of these sea-goblins."
- ↑ "There stood near Benares a great town of carpenters containing a thousand families." (Cambridge translation of Jātakas.)
- ↑ Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, 57, 260.
- ↑ Bishop Bigandet's Life of Godama, 101.