INDIAN SHIPPING.* PROFESSOR MOOKERJI has rewritten in this book some
for- gotten pages of Indian history. Most people can scarcely believe that once ships maimed by native Indians plied the deep seas and spread their commerce all over the known world. Even as late as the early part of the nineteenth century one of the most capable and original shipbuilders in the world was Parsi at Bombay. If Indians (apart from their com- paratively small coasting trade) had not abandoned navigation, as though it were something impious, they might hold a place in the development of naval architecture comparable with that of the Dutch and the British. As it is, no one thinks of connecting Indians with shipping, except perhaps when Lascars are present in ships' companies, to remind us of the -long seaboard of the great peninsula. The nautical interests of India have been almost completely handed over into the safe keeping of the British conqueror.
Mr. Mookerji believes, no doubt correctly, that the history of Indian maritime activity has never been treated syl3tem- atically. The field is almost unexplored, and much of the evidence and the fascinating illustrations placed before us in this work will be absolutely new to most readers. Sanskrit, Pali, Pore ian, and Old Tam itliterature have been ransacked, and the author has illuminated these researches by examining ancient pictures, coins, and monuments which illustrate Indian naval enterprise. In an introductory note Principal Brajendranath Seal says :—
" A multitude of facts of special significance also come out vividly, and, in several cases, for the first time, in the author's presentation, e.g., the teeming ports and harbours of India, the harbour and other maritime regulations of the Mituryan epoch, the indigenous shipbuilding craft, the Indian classification of vessels and their build,. the paramount part played by indigenous Indian shipping in the expansion of Indian commerce and colo- nization from the shores of Africa and Madagascar to the farthest reaches of Malaysia and the Eastern Archipelago ; the auxiliary character of the foreign intermediaries, whether Greek, Arabian, 4)r Chinese ; the sources of India's manufacturing supremacy for a thousand years in her advances in applied chemistry, &c."
It may be that both Mr. Mookerji and Mr. Seal exaggerate in their enthusiasm, but a glance at India on the map is in itself a kind of evidence of former naval enterprise. For one feels that the ancient civilizations which found ingress and egress through the mighty chain of mountains across the north Of India must also have come into contact freely with the rest of the world by traversing the ocean. India is isolated by mountains and sea, but of the two the sea was always by far the more necessary to bridge. Indian colonies were gradually planted in Pegu, Cambodia, Java, Sumatra,
Borneo, and even in Japan.
Perhaps the most interesting evidence on Indian naval architecture which the author quotes is that of the " Yuk- tikalpataru," a MS. in the Calcutta Sanskrit College library. This MS. gives an elaborate classification of ships, the main distinction being between vessels for river work and sea- going ships. It also gives directions for the choice of material in building and for methods of decoration. In the Buddhist cave-temples of Ajanta there are numerous paintings of 'vessels pointed at both ends and resembling huge canoes.
The author reproduces the very curious picture found at Ajanta of Vijaya landing in Ceylon, about 543 B.C. The ships were large enough to carry elephants. But of all the illustrations the most interesting are the reproductions of the sculptures at the Indian colony of Borobudur in Java. The
Indian Slappingt; apiatory. of tha Seabarna Trade and Marittaie Act nitij 0, f Indiana /ram ha, ;arliest, Ti ) By Radhalcumud Mookerji. with an Introductory Nolo by Brajondranatli SoaL London Longinana and Co.
L7. ed. neti
ships crowded with the adventurous seamen. who founded the colony in the seventh century A.D. are, all of the same character. Stability is given by an outrigger like that of the ordinary catamaran. The spars holding the sails, which are of the lateen type, extend considerably forward of the masts, and the tacks are hauled down by tackle. Mr. Mookerji does not discuss the technicalities of the rig ; yet these are, of course, more important than any literary testimony in determining the influence which caused the acquisition • or evolution of Indian sail designs. The ships which colonized Java (if the sculptures were about contemporary with the events recorded) were evidently able to sail on a wind, though not anything like so close-hauled as a modern ship. They were in theory and principles of management just like the lateen sailing craft which were evolved on the Nile and spread from one end of the Mediterranean to the other. Judging from the illus- trations we should say that the Borobudur sculptures are extraordinarily beautiful. As for the ship-coins, belonging to the second century A.D., of which illustrations are reproduced, not one of them shows a vessel with sails. But as there are signs of yards and rigging it is almost certain that these vessels also were able to do something more than merely run before the wind. Indian navigation no doubt developed pari paean with that of the Phreniciams, Greeks, Assyrians, and Egyptians. India exported chiefly wool, precious stones, gum. furs, musk, carpets, silk, cotton, and spices. Bengalis are not generally credited with maritime adventure, but Mr. Mookerji believes that Bengali Buddhistic missions sailed far and wide in their own ships. A recent discovery. in Japan was that some of the scriptures of the Japanese priests are written. in Bengali oharacters of the eleventh century A.D. Possibly the reader will feel that the romantic and entertaining Marco Polo has been justified once more, and that his statement is, after all, true that some Indian ships he saw were so large that they had crews of 300 men.
When we come to the modern period we recognize that ships such as the Mahrattas fought against the British were the products of a science which was deep-rooted in experience. There is nothing rudimentary about the " grabs " and " gallivats " which are shown attacking an English ship. They are fine, clean, capable-looking ships worthy of their enemy. Such sea-going experience as native Indians already had accounted a good deal for the wonderful success of the Navy supported for nearly two centuries and a half by British India. Colonel Stanhope wrote in 1827: "Never was there an instance of any ship of the Bombay Marine (as it was then called) having lowered her flag to an enemy of equal force." The docks at Bombay were equal in efficiency of design to any in the world, and the Parsi shipbuilders were actually com- missioned to build for the Royal Navy as well as for the Indian Navy. After 1840 no more large ships were built in India, and in I863—about four years after the East India Company's rule had been replaced by that of the Crown—the Indian Navy was abolished. We have often expressed the opinion that this navy could be end ought to be revived. We hold most strongly that it would be a valuable addition to the naval strength of the Empire; that it would make use of material which is now utterly wasted ; and that it could be most easily and cheaply manned front a seaboard of more than four thousand miles.
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