Trade and Trade Routes in Ancient India c2.46

c2.46

This book also acquaints us with the terms used in the construction and building of ships. The bow is termed as *galahī*, *māthā* and *mukha*. The decoration of the bow with animal heads is termed *gilāsa* by the boatmen of Varanasi. The word could be derived from *grāsa* which in Sanskrit architectural terminology is synonymous with *simhamukha* (lion-head). The Jain literature uses the word *purao* for the bow. The other words in current use are *mathākāṭha* (outrigger), *lahartoḍa* (washtrake), *ghoḍī* (portside), *pāla kī teḍhī lakḍī* (boom), *jālī* (grate), *pichhhāḍī* (stern), *puliā* (derrick), *mattavāraṇa* (deck house), *agramandira* (cabin), *chhallī* (coupling block), *gunarakhā* (S. *guṇavṛikshaka*), *naukūpadaṇḍa*, *mastūla* (mast), *karṇadhāra*, *patvārīā* (helmsman) etc. Many technical terms used by boatmen sailing in the rivers and seas could be usefully gathered. Maiku, a boatman plying his boat on the Triveni Saṅgam of Allahabad, informed me that at one time a thousand boats such as *paṭailā*, *maheliā*, *ḍakelā*, *ulākī*, *dogī*, *bajarā*, *malhanī*, *bhaulīā*, *panasuiyā*, *kaṭar*, *bhaḍariā* etc., plied on rivers. I am indebted to him for the following terms: *bandheja* (two poles on top of the boat), *battī* (parallel wooden sticks between the two poles), *humās* (vertical poles from the bottom to *bandheja*), *battā* (horizontal wooden strips between the *humāses*), *galahī* (the bow, from where the boatman plies his oars), *baghauḍī* (the iron rings for the oars), *bāhā* (the string loops in which the oars are inserted), *pattā* (the terminating point of the oar), *sikkā* or *ginnī* (the decorative rosette on the bow), *gūna* (the long thin rope used for dragging the boat against the current), *jaṅghā* (the string tied round the ropedrawer), *phoḍī* (the box in which rolls of the rope are kept), *ghiranī* (pulley), *bhāṭī* (flow), *ujāna* (against the current), *gilāsapaṭṭī* (S. *grāsapaṭṭī*), *ukerī* (the wooden piece of the bow), etc. The terminology of the sailors on the western sea coast is even more interesting, for example Guj. *pāṭan*, Mar. *malakā* (peel), *gabhāḍā* (leak), *oṭa* (lee), Mar. *dāmanvāḍā* (leeward), Guj. *vamaṇī*, Mar. *vahaṇī* (jettison), *dhūra* (hold, hatchway; Mar. *palaṭa*), Mar. *kāṭhapāḍā* (hull), Guj. *khokū*, *chabūtaro* (bunk), *pāṭyū* (board), *talayū* (bottom), *phāradā* (break water), *bharatī* (burden), *kalphat* (caulking), *galbat* (craft), Guj. *galari* (derrick, crane), Mar. *goḍī* (dockyard), *phanna* (forward deck, forecastle), *nūra* (freight), *nūra chiṭṭhī* (bill of lading), *sukanū* (helm), Mar. *hoka yantra* (compass), *kabalā* (charter party), *pāthar* (dunnage), *chhalakā* (pier) etc.