Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c8.s3.12

v1.c8.s3.12

But the inscription which gives us positive evidence of an intimate acquaintance of the people with the art of shipbuilding, prior to the advent of the Portuguese, carries us to the year A.D. 1413, when the following was written about the Jaina sages: "May they dwell in my heart—the Tīrthaṅkaras, who taking on board the ship of sacred lore,—possessed of all brilliant jewels, freed from bilge-water (otherwise saving the ignorant), containing cabins of various modes of argument, painted with the lime (or nectar) of the syāt-kāra, and furnished with the high mast of compassion for living creatures—others (found) in the middle of the ocean, of worldly existence—carry them over to the land of immortality".¹ According to Barbosa, however, southern India got its ships built also in the Maldio (Maldive) Islands, where many great ships were made of palm trunks sewn together with threads, having keels and being of great burden. "They also build smaller boats for rowing, like bargantins or fustas; these are the most graceful in the world, right well-built and extremely light".²