Expedition of INSV Kaundinya in Arabian sea – Revival of Indian Ancient Maritime Heritage

India’s recent INSV stitched-sail expeditions in the Indian Ocean, especially INSV Kaundinya, function as a living re-enactment of ancient Indian seafaring and directly project the revival of India’s maritime heritage into the 21st century. These voyages symbolically reconnect ancient trade routes, technologies, and cultural linkages that once made India a leading oceanic civilisation. Kaundinya is more than a voyage; it is a reconstruction of a “lost science.” By retracing the path of the legendary Brahmin mariner to Southeast Asia, the Indian Navy is validating a 2,000-year-old engineering philosophy that allowed ancient Indians to dominate the “Monsoon

What INSV expeditions are

• INSV Kaundinya is an Indian Naval Sailing Vessel reconstructed as a 5th‑century style stitched wooden ship, using planks sewn with coir rope and sealed with natural resins, without metal nails.
• It is inspired by ship depictions in Ajanta Cave paintings and by textual/iconographic evidence of ancient Indian merchant ships, making the vessel itself a floating laboratory of maritime archaeology.

The Engineering Secret: Why “Stitched” is Stronger

Modern naval engineers often struggle to understand how a ship held together by “string” survives the crushing force of the Indian Ocean. The Tankai (stitched) method offers unique advantages over modern rigid steel:

• Flexibility over Rigidity: Steel hulls are rigid and under extreme wave pressure, they can snap or crack. A stitched hull is flexible. As the ship hits a massive wave, the coir (coconut fiber) rope allows the wooden planks to shift slightly, “absorbing” and dissipating the kinetic energy of the water rather than resisting it.
• The Power of Coir: Coconut fiber is naturally resistant to saltwater and rot. When wound tightly through holes in the hull and soaked in seawater, the fibers swell, creating a tension so high that it acts as a distributed clamping force. Unlike metal nails, which concentrate stress at a single point, stitching distributes the load across the entire seam.

The “Natural” Seal: The gaps are packed with a mixture of kundroos (tree sap), oils, and cotton. This creates a living, breathing seal that remains watertight even as the ship twists and rolls in heavy seas (sometimes up to 50 degrees, as reported by the current crew)

Voyage on ancient Indian Ocean routes

• In December 2025, INSV Kaundinya began its maiden overseas voyage from Porbandar (Gujarat) to Muscat (Oman), following historic monsoon-driven sea lanes across the Arabian Sea.
• This route once linked western India with Oman, West Asia, Africa and the wider Indian Ocean world for trade in spices, textiles, ivory and other goods, turning the Arabian Sea into a dense commercial and cultural network.

Current Status of the Voyage (January 2026)

• After a “choppy” start with winds pushing the vessel toward the Gulf of Kutch, the crew reported on January 4, 2026, that the Northeast monsoon winds have finally set them on a steady course toward Muscat. They are currently covering approximately 100 nautical miles a day, living in a dark hold, and cooking on a fire-retardant outdoor stove

Revival of ancient maritime heritage

• The stitched-ship technique (Tankai), long practiced along the Indian coasts, underpinned ancient Indian Ocean navigation and allowed long-distance voyages to West Asia, East Africa and Southeast Asia. ​
• By rebuilding and sailing such a vessel in ocean conditions using wind, stars and traditional seamanship, the expedition tests the seaworthiness of indigenous designs and reasserts India’s pre-steel, pre-colonial naval capabilities.

Civilisational and diplomatic significance

• These expeditions are framed as “living ocean” or heritage voyages that showcase India’s identity as a historic maritime civilisation, countering colonial-era narratives that underplayed Indian naval history.
• The Chola dynasty, particularly under Rajendra Chola I (r. 1014–1044 CE), conducted extensive maritime expeditions that established them as a dominant naval power in the Indian Ocean.
• Rajendra Chola, I launched a major naval campaign in 1025 CE against the Srivijaya Empire, targeting fourteen ports across Southeast Asia, including Kadaram (Kedah), Pannai, and Sri Vijaya in Sumatra. These raids captured key trade hubs like those in the Malay Peninsula, Andaman-Nicobar Islands, and even reached as far as Burma, though lasting control was limited to plunder and weakened Srivijaya’s monopoly. Earlier, under Rajaraja I, the Cholas conquered northern Sri Lanka and the Maldives, securing maritime routes.
• Chola ships featured advanced hull designs for ocean voyages, supported by ports like Nagapattinam and monsoon navigation expertise. The navy transported troops via merchant vessels, turning the Bay of Bengal into a “Chola Lake” for trade protection to China
• Expeditions boosted trade with guilds like Ayya vole, spread Tamil culture and Hinduism to Southeast Asia, and marked India’s first blue-water navy. Inscriptions at Gangaikonda Cholapuram commemorate these feats, highlighting economic prosperity from controlled routes
• Sailing to Oman on an ancient-style ship largely used by cholas and ancient traders of west coast, also highlights centuries-old Gujarat–Oman maritime links, functioning as cultural diplomacy that deepens people-to-people ties across the Indian Ocean Region.

The Legacy of Kaundinya: Founder of Funan

The ship’s namesake, Kaundinya I, is a figure of immense civilisational importance. His journey represents the first documented instance of Indian cultural “soft power” in Southeast Asia.

The Epic Voyage (1st Century CE)

• The Departure: Departing from the ancient port of Kalinga (modern-day Odisha) or the Coromandel Coast, Kaundinya sailed across the Bay of Bengal.
• The Encounter: According to Chinese annals (Liangshu), Kaundinya merchant ship was attacked by the “Naga” people of the Mekong Delta, led by Queen Soma.
• The Result: Kaundinya’s crew used superior archery (some legends say he had a “divine bow”) to repel the attack. However, instead of conquest, the encounter ended in a marriage between Kaundinya and Queen Soma, founding the Funan Kingdom (the precursor to the Khmer Empire and Angkor Wat).

Ancient Navigation: Sailing Without a Rudder

The current crew of INSV Kaundinya is experiencing exactly what the ancient mariners did—a complete reliance on nature.