The Indian Navy formally inducted a stitched sail ship, based on a 5th century CE ship depicted in the paintings of Ajanta Caves.
The Navy named the ancient Stitched ship as INSV Kaundinya at a ceremonial event recently held at Naval Base, Karwar. The Minister of Culture Mr Gajendra Singh Shekhawat presided over the event as the Chief Guest, marking the culmination of an extraordinary project that celebrates India’s rich shipbuilding heritage.
The project was initiated through a tripartite agreement signed in July 2023 between the Ministry of Culture, the Indian Navy, and M/s Hodi Innovations, with funding from the Ministry of Culture.
Following the keel laying in September 2023, the vessel’s construction was undertaken using a traditional method of stitching by a team of skilled artisans from Kerala, led by master shipwright Mr Babu Sankaran.
Over several months, the team painstakingly stitched wooden planks on the ship’s hull using coir rope, coconut fibre and natural resin.
The Indian Navy played a central role in the project, overseeing the design, technical validation, and construction process. With no surviving blueprints of such vessels, the design had to be inferred from iconographic sources.
The Navy collaborated with the shipbuilder to recreate the hull form and traditional rigging, and ensured that the design was validated through hydrodynamic model testing at the Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras, and internal technical assessment.
The newly inducted vessel incorporates several culturally significant features. Named after Kaundinya, the legendary Indian mariner who sailed across the Indian Ocean to Southeast Asia, the ship serves as a tangible symbol of India’s long-standing traditions of maritime exploration, trade, and cultural exchange.
Inducted as an Indian Naval Sailing Vessel, Kaundinya will be based at Karwar. The ship will now embark on her next historic phase, involving preparations for a transoceanic voyage along the ancient trade route from Gujarat to Oman, scheduled for later this year.
