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Traditional boat-building and navigational techniques of southern Orissa

DRS at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography

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Title Traditional boat-building and navigational techniques of southern Orissa
 
Creator Tripati, S.
 
Subject archaeology
underwater exploration
fishing vessels
fishery industry
equipment
navigation
ship handling
 
Description The Ganjam district of southen Orissa is known for its ports (since early historical period to recent times) such as Ganjam, Gopalpur, Palur and Sunapur. Archaeological findings corroborate literary references to its overseas trade and commerce of the region. No written records on ancient boatbuilding and navigational aids of the region are available for the reconstruction of the technique of boat-building. Boats of this area have been classified into two categories, namely planked and log boats. The construction pattern, size and material differed from those of other regions in India. The navigational proficiency of the sailors and boat-building is also referred to. The current boat-building techniques studied by the authors is dealt with in this paper. Besides dealing with boat-building technology, the navigational pattern and the technical terms used and how the boatbuilding centre is different from other parts of Ganjam district of Orissa and India are also discussed here. Orissa has a 529 km long coastline extending from Subarnarekha river in the north to Sunapur in the south. The existing small-scale boat-building industry of coastal Orissa has been inherited. The people of the littoral districts have been building boats for coastal transportation and fishing. The country crafts of the southern region of Orissa are different from those of the northern region due to different geomorphological features of the coast. The main crafts of southern Orissa are raft-type Kattumaram called Teppa,, plank built boats called Padhua and Nava. Kattumaram is common all along the southern Orissa and south India. Padhuna and Nava are found in some pockets of Puri and Ganjam districts of Orissa. The Oriya fisherfolk of southern Orissa are known as Keotas or Kaibartas. They use Padhua and live in Sunapur, a minor port in the 18th century under the Dutch rule in India. Sunapur served as a harbour for anchorage and its is also a traditional Padhua building centre. An attempt is made here to analyse the construction pattern of Padhua, the navigational techniques and the terms used by the builders
 
Date 2009-01-12T09:25:40Z
2009-01-12T09:25:40Z
1997
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Sri Lanka, Vol.42; 15-27p.
http://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/2069
 
Language en
 
Rights Copyright [1997]. All efforts have been made to respect the copyright to the best of our knowledge. Inadvertent omissions, if brought to our notice, stand for correction and withdrawal of document from this repository.
 
Publisher Royal Asiatic Society, Sri Lanka