Muscat [Oman], January 14 : INSV Kaundinya crew member and vessel architect, Commander Hemant Kumar on Wednesday highlighted the challenges of recreating and sailing India's traditional stitched ship, describing the voyage as an "exhilarating and adventurous" experience.
"We have now designed ancient ships to aircraft carriers," Commander Hemant Kumar said.
Explaining the scale of the task behind INSV Kaundinya, he recalled how the vessel had to be recreated using only visual historical references. "The brief we were given was that we had to recreate from a 5th-century painting. To be able to turn that painting into a design, do model testing and take it to sea on an actual voyage was a challenge," he said.
Sharing details of the voyage itself, Commander Hemant Kumar spoke about the physical demands of sailing an ancient stitched ship compared to modern vessels.
"It is so nice to be on land finally. It has been an exhilarating and adventurous 17-day voyage. There are a lot of differences between this ancient stitch ship and modern ships. The modern yachts have a deep keel. This ship, as it dates back to the 5th century, has no concept of a deep keel. As a result, there is a lot of rolling on the ship, a lot of windward drift. To be able to sail on this ship with that kind of rolling and manage seasickness is a tough challenge," he said.
Alongside the technical challenges, he also highlighted the hardship of daily life on board during the expedition. "The living conditions on the ship are challenging. There is no AC on the ship, and one has to sleep on deck," he added.
Elaborating on the ship's traditional build and operating requirements, Commander Hemant Kumar noted the materials used and the effort needed to handle the rigging. "The sails are cotton canvas, and the ropes are made of coconut coir. It takes a considerable effort to raise and lower sails," he said.
The successful completion of the voyage was marked with celebrations as the crew of INSV Kaundinya welcomed the ship's docking in Muscat after its maiden overseas journey from Porbandar in Gujarat.
Marking the achievement, the Indian Navy's indigenously built traditional stitched sailing vessel, INSV Kaundinya, was given a water salute on Wednesday.
As the vessel completed its voyage, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal hailed the mission, calling the ship "a shining example" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's effort to revive India's maritime legacy.
Speaking on the significance of the expedition, Sonowal said, "INSV Kaundinya is a shining example of PM Modi's visionary leadership. It was his resolve to revive India's ancient shipbuilding genius and present it proudly before the world."
Emphasising what the vessel represents beyond the voyage, the Union Minister added, "This ship represents the timeless strength of our maritime heritage marked by skill and enduring innovation."
Highlighting the historical inspiration behind the ship's identity, Sonowal said, "The ship draws inspiration from a 5th-century vessel depicted in the Ajanta cave, and it is named after legendary sailor Kaundinya."
The ship had departed from Gujarat's Porbandar on December 29, 2025.
The voyage was undertaken by a crew comprising four officers and 13 naval sailors, with the expedition skippered by Commander Vikas Sheoran and Commander Y Hemant Kumar serving as the Officer-in-Charge. Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council member Sanjeev Sanyal, who was part of the crew, shared daily updates about the ship on social media.
INSV Kaundinya is a stitched sail ship, based on a 5th-century CE ship depicted in the paintings of the Ajanta Caves, reviving a traditional form of shipbuilding associated with India's ancient maritime history.
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 Babu Sankaran. Over several months, the team stitched wooden planks on the ship's hull using coir rope, coconut fibre, and natural resin.
The ship was launched in February 2025 in Goa, after which the Indian Navy played a central role in 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 assessments.
The newly inducted vessel incorporates several culturally significant features. Its sails display motifs of the Gandabherunda and the Sun, its bow bears a sculpted Simha Yali, and a symbolic Harappan-style stone anchor adorns its deck, with each element reflecting ancient Indian maritime traditions.
Named after Kaundinya, the legendary Indian mariner who sailed across the Indian Ocean to Southeast Asia, the ship serves as a symbol of India's long-standing traditions of maritime exploration, trade and cultural exchange.
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