Indian Navy’s stitched ship INSV Kaundinya to sail overseas, retracing historic India-Oman maritime route
New Delhi, December 23. The Indian Navy’s unique stitched sailing vessel INSV Kaundinya, a revival of India’s ancient shipbuilding and seafaring traditions, is set to undertake her maiden overseas voyage on December 29, sailing from Porbandar in Gujarat to Muscat in Oman. The voyage symbolically retraces the historic maritime routes that once connected India with West Asia and the wider Indian Ocean world.
Inspired by depictions of 5th century CE ships seen in the Ajanta cave paintings, Kaundinya has been constructed entirely using traditional stitched-plank techniques. Unlike modern ships, her wooden planks are stitched together with coconut coir rope and sealed with natural resins, a technology that enabled Indian mariners to undertake long-distance oceanic voyages to West Asia, Africa and Southeast Asia centuries before the advent of modern navigation and metallurgy.
The vessel is the outcome of a tripartite project involving the Ministry of Culture, the Indian Navy and M/s Hodi Innovations, aimed at rediscovering and reviving India’s indigenous knowledge systems. Built by skilled traditional artisans from Kerala under the leadership of master shipwright Babu Sankaran, the ship’s construction followed the keel laying in September 2023 and culminated in her launch at Goa in February 2025.
With no surviving blueprints of such vessels, the Indian Navy played a central role in recreating the ship’s design by drawing on iconographic sources and historical research. The Navy oversaw technical validation, collaborated on hull form and traditional rigging, and ensured seaworthiness through hydrodynamic model testing at IIT Madras and internal assessments, certifying the vessel for ocean-going navigation.
Formally inducted into the Navy as an Indian Naval Sailing Vessel (INSV) in May this year at a ceremony at Naval Base Karwar, Kaundinya incorporates several culturally significant features. Her sails carry motifs of the Gandabherunda and the Sun, the bow features a sculpted Simha Yali, and a symbolic Harappan-style stone anchor adorns the deck, reflecting India’s rich maritime heritage.
Named after the legendary Indian mariner Kaundinya, believed to have sailed from India to Southeast Asia in ancient times, the ship stands as a tangible reminder of India’s historic role as a maritime nation. Now based at Karwar, INSV Kaundinya is entering her next historic phase with the upcoming transoceanic voyage to Oman, marking a living reenactment of India’s ancient maritime links across the Indian Ocean.
