A stitch in time
VARIOUS boat-building technologies abound in the Indian Ocean area: single-log boats and those made of planks glued together. The most striking, however, is the "sewn boat", in which planks of wood are actually sewn together. The most commonly used materials for stitching the planks, both in the past and now, are coir and grass fibre.
Sewn boats are made in all sizes and shapes to suit various functions. Says Arunachalam, "Even today, thousands of traditional boats ply the coastal waters. These technologies are more suited to the local habitat."
Sewn boats have been used all over the world, from Finland, Denmark and Britain in the north to Chile in the south and from California in the west to India, China and the South Pacific in the east. The earliest known sewn boat in the world was the Egyptian Cheops boat of the 3rd millennium BC.
In India, apart from a 1 BC artistic representation of a canoe at the Sanchi stupa near Bhopal -- which experts believe represents a sewn boat -- there is little evidence of these boats till the 16th century. Portuguese traveller Duarte Barbosa noted the annual voyages of sewn boats from the Malabar coast to the Red Sea region. Mention has also been made of similar boats across the peninsula on the Coromandel coast.
The masula was first mentioned by name in the 17th century (See box Wonder boat of the East). From the 18th century onwards, scholars have documented a wide range of sewn boats in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka.
Often, planks with holes drilled in them are sewn from the middle of the ship. The boats are painted with coal tar and often lime, red ochre and sometimes white varnish to preserve them from marine borers. Although teak is preferred, most Indian Ocean mariners cannot afford it nowadays and show remarkable ingenuity in substituting teak with mango, sal, jamun, Nilgiri and even tamarind wood.
Because of its location, India has played an important role as an entrepot between Mediterranean Europe, East Africa and the Gulf region on the one hand, and Southeast Asia and China on the other. Consequently, a wide assortment of technologies is found along the shores of the subcontinent.
But, says historian Lotika Varadarajan, these traditions are not mutually exclusive. In their bid to master the wind and the currents, and their struggle to overcome natural adversities, technologies were borrowed and adapted freely by the maritime communities.
Locational and cultural factors also led to variations. The northern and central islands of Lakshadweep had no tradition of commercial fishing, whereas the southern Lakshadweep island of Minicoy and the Maldives developed the specificities of tuna fishing craft, known as oti. The boats of the Maldives, like those of Minicoy, evolved from the peg-fastened, lashed lug of southeast Asia. Although there are various kinds of otis, which are essentially belly-shaped, the methods of plank fastening are the same.
Several experts oppose attempts to modernise traditional boats. Jain argues, "If modernisation means adding a fuel-guzzling motor, then it is a post-modern technique. The traditional seafarers use energy sources like the wind and the tides, something that every socially-concerned scientist is today looking out for." McGrail adds, "These boats are environment-friendly, non-polluting, sustainable technologies."