Traditional Mediaeval Indian Sea-Charts
Marco Polo in his return voyage from China to Venice
through the North Indian Ocean towards the end of 13th century
is reported to have seen the use of sea-charts by Indian sea-men.
Two centuries later, Vasco da Gama, for his passage from East
African shore to Indian coast took the aid of a Gujarat seamen
after satisfying himself of the latter's sea-wisdom and seeing
in his possession a. map of 'the whole coast of India. The use
of sea-charts as an aid to practical navlon was in vogue much
before the advent of the European colonial traders in the North
Indian Ccean is almost an accepted fact. Yet, such sea-charts
do not appear to have survived on the Indian, Arab or African
Apart from being an aid to navigation, traditional sea-charts
were the way to wealth,and ence were prized treasures, guarded
in secrecy form rivals and competitors. Totally removed from
an academic realm sea-chart is practical and functional in
approach, with littje room for theory. They were spare of details,
ncluding what was relevant and essentiaJ to the sailor for a
safe voyage in a short time; they ignored the rest of the
details.
The history of evolution of sea-charts on the Arabian sea
coast is difficult to trace, because of the limited availability
of records and that too in local seamen's language dialects.
These records of sea-wisdom, sea-lore and navigational aids reflect
immense cumulative wisdom of sea, borne art of continuous
interaction with other seamen. practical experience, field observa-
ions of the skies and stars, the weather and winds, in short
anything of direct utility and relevance for safe sailing.
The present paper examines and evaluates the nature of
such knowledge of sea-charting that could be gathered from sec-
tions of west coast of India, especially Kutch, Saurashtra, Guja-
rat, Malabar and Lakshadweep from seamen of traditional sailing
vessels through oral testimony and inherited records 200 to 400
years old. Primary field data have been gathered over a period
of a decade.
Different phases in the evolution of these sea-charts can
be traced: development of azimuthal stellar roses and wind
roses as compass cards; individual port/harbour oriented charts;
charts of ' limited coastal stretches and large area charts. Al1
these phases are demonstrated through illustrative examples.
The varied techniques of nautical cartography employed
in such chartin and dead reckoning are explained, with a brief
allusion to the hand tools employed. In conclusion, a comparison
is made of the contemporary European traditions.
