Goan shipyard awarded project to revive India’s maritime heritage

Union minister of state for culture and Navy Chief attend “keel laying” ceremony on Tuesday.

Goa Khabar: Hodi Innovations (OPC) private limited, a Divar island based ship building company has been awarded a project by the ministry of culture, government of India and the Indian Navy to construct an “ancient stitched sailing ship” in a bid to revive India’s ancient, maritime heritage.

This project costing INR 9 crores is expected to take 22 months to complete. The ship when ready is expected to sail with a 13-member Indian Navy crew from India to Indonesia possibly in November 2025.

The crucial, “keel laying” ceremony of this sailing ship got underway at the Hodi Innovations shipyard on Divar island on Tuesday morning in the presence of several high profile dignitaries which included Meenakshi Lekhi, union minister for state for culture and Admiral Hari Kumar, Chief of Naval Staff among others.

The media release issued in Goa on Tuesday stated that the unique project of the “ancient stitched ship” is the brainchild of renowned writer, economist, and historian Sanjeev Sanyal, who serves on the government of India’s economic advisory panel.

Referring to India’s ancient maritime tradition, Sanyal said, “Indian traders were known to have sailed as far away as China and Korea in the 4th and 5th century BC. Even the Pandian and Chola kings of South India sailed extensively 1000 years ago. We are trying to recreate this history by building an ancient ship”

Referring to the ancient Mauryan and Gupta dynasties, Meenakshi Lekhi, the union minister of state for culture said, “The Mauryan and Gupta dynasties had officers in their kingdom designated as “superintendents of shipping.”

This shows that shipping was a major occupation of ancient Indians.”

Lekhi also referred to a historic document which stated how Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese sailor had actually followed a Gujarati ship trader from Zanzibar to Kerala when he first came to India.

Admiral Hari Kumar, chief of naval staff stated how the Indian Navy was also reclaiming its own naval military history by adding Maratha King, Chhatrapati Shivaji’s royal crest ( Raja mudra) on its official insignia.

Explaining the project in detail, Prathamesh Dandekar, managing director, Hodi Innovations said, “The project’s primary goal is to revive and honour India’s rich maritime tradition by meticulously constructing the ship using ancient techniques such as stitching planks with coconut fibers and treating the wood with natural resins and oils.”