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Standing at a sea seaside and attempting to take a look at the opposite aspect so far as attainable by means of the rising and falling gigantic tides of the ocean, a placing query that does come up in a single’s thoughts is – what and the way would Man have felt on the thought of endeavor His first-ever sea voyage! “Is there any implies that might make attainable such a brave and harmful voyage?” he would have thought. What sort of individuals had been those that not solely did undertake such voyages, but in addition excelled in maritime commerce and warfare?!
Vedic information stand proof of the truth that Indian or Bharatiya maritime commerce and its historical past date again to third or 4th millennium BCE, when Indian Maritme commerce prolonged to to this point lands as Mesopotamia, Far East and to the land that we now name as Arabia. LOTHAL, an Indus Valley web site, is understood to be the oldest synthetic dock on the earth; these individuals had completely studied the results of tidal waves on kiln-burnt bricks — the trapezoid construction of LOTHAL bears proof of this reality. The Indus Valley individuals had developed vital expertise and experience in associated fields, resembling examine of tidal waves, Hydrography, Maritime Engineering and many others. The Rig Veda mentions about ships with 100 oars, ships with side-wings (then referred to as PLAVA) and ships with MATSYA YANTRA. The PLAVA stabilised the vessel when there was sea-storm, whereas the MATSYA YANTRA was used as a sort of mariner’s compass; the MATSYA YANTRA was the precursor of recent mariner’s compass! Within the MAHABHARATA, we discover point out of a MATSYA YANTRA through which the attention of the fish at all times pointed in direction of the North! Alexander’s military returned to Mesopotamia on ships constructed at Sindh. Aside from these, obtainable information additionally present that Chandragupta Maurya, the founding father of the Maurya Empire, had a separate Admiralty Division underneath the superintendent of Ships.
The outline of the high-profile Indian Maritime historical past would stay incomplete with out the point out of the achievements of the KALINGAS, the CHOLAS and later the MARATHAS underneath Shivaji. The KALINGA’S (5 –10 AD) expedition included victories over Western JAVA, SUMATRA AND MALAYA. Ships and vessels of the KALINGA kings had been used to commerce with these and in addition with China — day by day common commerce amounted to 200 mounds/8 tonnes of gold!
Within the South, the CHOLA kings of the good CHOLA Dynasty (904 — 1042 AD) had received over by means of maritime warfare lands like Burma, Sumatra, Sri Lanka, and Malaya. The technical excellence of the Indian/BHARATIYA warships of this era might simply be ascertained by the truth that not solely did the ships have a number of compartments, but in addition they did not drown even when any of the compartments obtained broken — a expertise that the Europeans had been utterly unaware of at the moment!
Within the seventeenth century in the course of the Maratha reign, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj created his personal fleet, commanded by nice admirals like Kanhoji Angre. Underneath the admiralty of kanhoji Angre, the Maratha fleet was a significant power to reckon with; he stored away the Portuguese and different alien fleet successfully and in addition stored the pirates from their shores.
Aside from these, the SATAWAHANAS, the kings of the GUPTA AGE, the VIJAYANAAGR EMPIRE and many others developed a number of ports throughout their reign and expanded their commerce with varied nations. The VIJAYANAAGR EMPIRE established hyperlinks with Southeast Asia, the CHERAS with the ports of Arab, and the PANDYAS with Rome and Egypt within the West to China within the East. The PANDYAS produced among the best pearls in these occasions.
One would possibly marvel what the aim of presenting these info and figures right here is? I’ve indicated this within the first paragraph itself. Nonetheless, the next factors are value contemplating on this regard —
1. The glory and excellence that the Indus Valley and Vedic individuals achieved did not come about rapidly. It should have taken a whole bunch and hundreds of years to realize that. So let’s ask ourselves (Indians/Bhartiyas) when, why and the way did we neglect our data, knowledge and true nature?
2. Let’s additionally ponder what, how and when did these circumstances and conditions develop that led to our gradual decline!
3. Final however not least, what we as Indians can do to take or elevate our glory again to its zenith?
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Source by Arvind Kumar Pandey