Navy inducts traditionally-built stitched ship ‘INSV Kaundinya’

• The Indian Navy inducted a traditionally-built stitched ship INSV Kaundinya at a ceremony held at the strategically located Karwar naval base in Karnataka on May 21.

• It is a recreation of a fifth-century vessel and is named after Kaundinya, inspired by a painting from the Ajanta Caves.

• Named after Kaundinya, the legendary Indian mariner who sailed across the Indian Ocean to Southeast Asia, the ship serves as a tangible symbol of India’s long-standing traditions of maritime exploration, trade, and cultural exchange.

Highlights of the project:

• The project was initiated through a tripartite agreement signed in July 2023 between the Ministry of Culture, the Indian Navy, and Hodi Innovations, with funding from the Ministry of Culture. 

• The keel laying of the ship took place in September 2023.

• The ship’s construction was carried out entirely using traditional methods and with raw materials by artisans from Kerala, led by master shipwright Babu Sankaran, who executed thousands of hand-stitched joints.

• Over several months, the team painstakingly stitched wooden planks on the ship’s hull using coir rope, coconut fibre and natural resin.

• The ship was launched in February 2025 at Hodi Shipyard, Goa.

• The Navy has overseen the entire spectrum of implementation of this project, including concept development, design, technical validation and construction.

• The Indian Navy played a central role in the project, 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 assessment.

• The ship serves as a tangible symbol of India’s long-standing traditions of maritime exploration, trade, and cultural exchange, and its induction and naming marks a culmination of a project that celebrates India’s rich shipbuilding heritage.

• Indian Naval Sailing Vessel (INSV) Kaundinya will be based at Karwar. 

• The ship will now embark on her next historic phase, involving preparations for a trans-oceanic voyage along the ancient trade route from Gujarat to Oman, scheduled for later this year.

• Unlike any modern vessel, the stitched ship is equipped with square sails and steering oars, which are entirely alien to modern-day ships. The hull geometry, rigging, and sails had to be reimagined and tested from first principles.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)