From Indus Valley to IFR 2016

India's Incredible History Across Oceans

(Authors' Note: This article was originally written in 2016 for the official coffee table book released to mark the International Fleet Review 2016. Authored by Cmde Srikant Kesnur and Meera Bhadre, it was conceived as a reflective piece that placed the modern Indian Navy within the much longer arc of India’s maritime history.

As India prepares to host another International Fleet Review, we republish this article to revisit the enduring continuity of India’s engagement with the seas — from ancient dockyards and trading routes to contemporary naval diplomacy. The themes explored in this piece remain as relevant today as they were in 2016, underscoring the oceans as both conduits of connection and arenas of responsibility.)

The seas and oceans have, from time immemorial, shaped the way we see and understand history. They have played an instrumental role in expanding the reach of India. The world realised the wonder that was India through its immense advances in all fields of knowledge in ancient and medieval times. What is often left unsaid is that this spread of awareness was also an outcome of the voyages made by Indian sailors. Much of our knowledge of India's ancient past comes from the accounts of Indian scholars and foreigners who as pilgrims, travellers and traders traversed difficult land and sea routes to make contact with diverse peoples. Several of these travellers found it worthwhile to write about India, changing the way the world looked at this country. The global commons and their journeymen acted - often unwittingly-as agents of contact and exchange for their civilisations, taking with them ideas, skills and technologies, and returning armed with new knowledge as the harbingers of cultural and intellectual change. Though the connotations of "salad bowl' and "melting pot' have been introduced into our language only in the recent past, heterogeneity and multi-cultural exchanges have never been alien to the Indian subcontinent.

Mohenjo-daro was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation (2500 BCE) and one of the world's earliest major urban settlements, contemporaneous with the civilisations of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia

The oceanic domain, in particular, has been a great theatre of rich socio-cultural diversity. It has served as a conduit for the exchange of goods, and also for the arts and sciences. It can be said with certainty that seas and oceans have been the 'inanimate' patrons of knowledge and cultural interaction from the very beginning of civilisation. India's maritime history dates back to the 3rd century BCE when inhabitants of the Indus Valley initiated trading contact With Mesopotamia. The Indus Valley Civilisation at Lothal had a 'dry dock' around 2300 BCE, testifying to the fact that Indian maritime history is 5,000 years old. The Rig Veda, one of our oldest texts, mentions water-borne trade routes. The word 'navigation' itself has roots in the Sanskrit word 'navagathi, and the great strategist Kautilya, in his manual of statecraft, the Arthashashtra, writes of the development of waterways.

The Fra Mauro map, 'considered the greatest memorial of medieval cartography, showing seaborne routes to Asia and India, made around 1450 CE by the renowned Italian cartographer Fra Mauro

An artist's impression of Lothal dock in present-day Gujarat. Discovered in 1954, Lothal was a well-planned town and a sea-port of the Indus. The world's earliest known dock connected the town to the Sabarmati river on the trade route between the Harappan cities ofSindh and the peninsula of Saurashtra. The engineers accorded high priority to the creation of a dockyard and a warehouse to serve the purpose of mercantile trade.

There is enough evidence to suggest that modern philosophy and science have derived much from ancient Indian knowledge. Sanskrit, one of the oldest and richest modes of expression known to mankind, travelled from India to Europe, where it gained the attention of many thinkers. India gave to the world its first university, Takshashila, aiding students not only from this country, but also from far-off lands such as Greece, Syria and China. Nalanda was another famed centre of learning in ancient India, compelling students from distant lands to make difficult journeys, sometimes across vast oceans and seas, to reach India. These students later influenced ideologies and enabled cultural exchanges. In the 7th century CE, Huien Tsang, a famed Chinese scholar and traveller, recorded the number of teachers at Nalanda as being around 150. These universities produced great personalities including the famed Indian statesman Kautilya, the Ayurvedic healer Charaka, and the ancient grammarian Panini, who codified the rules that would define classical Sanskrit.

Takshashila twas a noted centre of learning for several centuries, and continued to attract students from around the old world until the destruction of the city in the 5th century BCE by nomadic Huns

The ruins of Nalanda Mahavihara, a large Buddhist monastery in the ancient kingdom of Magadha (modern-day Bihar) that was a centre of learning from the 8th century CE to 1200 CE. There is archaeological evidence of contact with the Shailendra dynasty of Indonesia, one of whose kings built a monastery in the complex

Ancient India was also the birthplace of other brilliant personalities and ideas: Aryabhatta (476-550 CE) is known to have made many contributions to science, such as the place value system, trigonometry, algebra and astronomy. Then there is India's greatest contribution to the field of mathematics, the concept of zero, first described by the great Indian mathematician and astronomer Brahmagupta. Exemplary achievements of these kinds travelled to foreign lands via mariners, travellers, monks and merchants. The Persian scholar and mathematician Muhammad ibn Músa al-Khwärizmí used the numeric system devised in India in his treatises: he himself referred to these as Hindu numerals'. Somewhat paradoxically, they were later introduced to the Western world as Arabic numerals'. India was no stranger to the field of medicine either. The sage Sušruta was known to have practiced a form of plastic surgery in this country over 2,000 years ago. Indian astronomers were even able to calculate the time taken for the Earth to orbit the Sun, and that too, 1,500 years ago. We know that ancient India was at the forefront of seafaring technology. Mechanics and production, civil engineering and architecture were also well developed fields of knowledge. The famed Damascus sword owes part of its glory to ancient India, where metal smiths, perhaps as early as 300 BCE, developed a new technique to refine iron ore that produced a steel of unusually high strength. This allowed the forging of some of the sharpest, strongest and yet most flexible swords used in the medieval world. These remarkable advancements in technology travelled the world with merchants and warriors, who used the steel to make weapons and equipment of various kinds. Modern research indicates that this steel, called woot, gained its strength from the formation of carbon nanotubes during smelting. Ancient Indian metallurgists were thus the inadvertent pioneers of the use of carbon nanotubes. The Venetian geographer Ramusio regarded these weapons as of surpassing value and excellence, and even the Greek historian Herodotus, popularly remembered as the father of History, wrote about the technological sophistication of this steel.

Sushruta, an ancient Indian physician, known as the main author of the treatise Sushruta Samhita, loosely translated as 'The Compendium of Sushruta' in 600 BCE. The picture depicts Sushruta performing surgery.

Another interesting fact relates to the spread of Hinduism and Buddhism. There exist writings from 200 BCE that tell of Hindu kingdoms in South East Asia. India's oldest spic. the Ramayana, even mentions Java by name (as Yawadwipa), as one of the places that Sugriva, the chief of Rama's army, sent his men to, in search of Sita. Traders from both cast and south India are known to have journeyed to these lands: much of their travel must have taken place via sea-routes. Buddhism too took advantage of these maritime links. Though it originated in the hinterland of India, it spread across Asia by moving along the trade routes. The site of the Buddha's enlightenment. Bodh Gaya in India, was like a magnet for pilgrims, and many travelled here by both sea and river. Trading ships and caravans from India transported Buddhist missionaries, monks and teachers. while pilgrims made perilous voyages to and from India. promoting Buddhism far and wide. The Buddha's sister, Theri Sanghamitra. is reported to have arrived at the Jambukola port (Pattana in present-day Jafina. Sri Lanka) by sea. bearing with her a sprig of the original Bodhi tree at Gava. From Western sources, we know that in the 3rd century BCE, a large Indian community flourished in Alexandria. in Egypt. complete with Vedic sanyasins and Buddhist bhikshukas. Indian traders also dominated the sea-trade until the rise of Islam. During this period. Indian religions, philosophies and science travelled to the West. shining the light of knowledge upon different parts of the globe.

Boah Gaya in Bihar was a primary destination for Buddhists from all over the world. Since the Sth century BCE, pilgrims have arrived here from the far reaches of China and Indonesia, by sea

The many accounts by foreign travellers transformed the idea of India from that of a mystical and magical land to one of boundless knowledge. One such account by Megasthenes (350-290 BCE), a notable Greek traveller, is held to be invaluable for our understanding of early Indian history. Chinese merchants, travellers and pilgrims navigating the maritime belt and the Silk Route played a key role in the exchanges between ancient India and China. They introduced new texts and doctrines to the Chinese clergy: carried Buddhist paraphernalia for the performance of rituals and ceremonies from India, and provided detailed accounts of their spiritual journeys to India.

Fa-Hien (399-413 CE), or Faxian, was the first Chinese monk to travel to India in search of Buddhist scriptures. In his travelogue. he offers an excellent account of his journey along the Silk Route, as well as the first comprehensive eyewitness account of the customs of Central Asia and India. This includes a description of local Buddhist monasteries, the teachings, the rituals they practiced, and the Buddhist legends associated with some of these sites. Importantly, Fa-Hien's journey home - without which his travelogue may not have survived the ages - was made via the sea.

Artistic depiction of Fa-Hien, the visiting Chinese scholar, at the ruins of Emperor Ashoka's palace. Fa-Hien visited India in the early 8th century CE. He is said to have walked all the way from China and returned by sea, passing through Sri Lanka, Andamans and Sumatra.

Another traveller, Al Biruni (973-1048 CE), accompanied Mahmud of Ghazni to India and stayed here for 13 years, observing, questioning and studying the people of this land In his monumental commentary on Indian philosophy and culture, he mentions major Indian religious and astronomical texts, and writes of the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Gita, the Puranas and the scientific texts by Nagarjuna and Aryabhatta as influencing the scholars and philosophers of both East and West. Another famed scholar from the past, Ibn Battuta (1304-1368 CE), set out on the Hajj (a pilgrimage to Mecca) at the age of 25, but wound up touring almost the entire Muslim world. In Battuta's accounts of his sea voyages reveal that the Indians were a force to be reckoned with in the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. Other Islamic travellers like Abdur Razzag visited Vijayanagar in south India and were overawed by the size and grandeur of the city. Abdur Razzag's narrative supplies valuable information on the topography, administration and social life of Vijayanagar at the time.

Marco Polo, on his way from China to Persia, arrived on the Coromandel Coast of India in 1292 CE in a typical merchant ship: 60 cabins and up to 300 crew. He entered the kingdom of the Pandyas, near modern-day Thanjavur, and marvelled at the moral sophistication he found; he observed that even the king was not above the law and took pride in this fact. Marco Polo, in his famous book, The Travels, paints a rich social portrait of India. He described it as 'the richest and most splendid province in the world, one that, together with Ceylon (Sri Lanka), produces "most of the pearls and gems that are to be found in the world. Vasco Da Gama (1460-1524 CE), the Portuguese explorer who found an ocean route from Portugal to the East, arrived in Calicut on the west coast of India in May 1498 and was dazzled by the opulence of the marketplace and the orderliness of the administration of trade. Afanasii Nikitin (1466-1472 CE), a merchant from Tver in Russia, travelled through Persia to India and spent more than 18 months in the country. He left behind a detailed account of his stay in India and his experiences on the famed Silk Road.

India's history abounds with colourful stories and personalities. For example, Malik Ambar, born in Ethiopia, began his adult life as a slave and was brought to India along with many others from Africa Ambar rose to become a powerful military commander and regent in Bijapur, one of the south Indian Sultanates, and proved to be a thorn in the flesh for the mighty Mughals. Another example is the thriving dhow trade in the western Indian Ocean, between India, West Asia and the east coast of Africa, which enabled active commercial and cultural exchanges between these regions, made possible due to our maritime outlook and

awareness.

An Ethiopian slave brought from Africa to India by sea, Malik Ambar rose to become a powerful military commander

The seas and oceans, therefore, have been the stage upon and across which interaction berween cultures and peoples took place. It is necessary to celebrate the enormous contribution of this physical entity in spreading and nurturing knowledge. The travellers on these waters were not only instrumental in the trade of goods and technologies, bur also disseminated ideas. knowledge, culture and philosophy - perhaps the most enduring legacies to have travelled the seaways. The craftsmen and scholars who accompanied the travellers from India have played a great role in promoting Indian consciousness overseas as well. It is along the routes of these seafarers that intangible links were forged berween India and countries far and near; and it is these routes that made us a part of the cultural continuum that is the Indo-Pacific region. IFR-16, with its theme of "United through Oceans', is in a way an acknowledgment of the global commons for their immense contribution in promoting peace, goodwill and knowledge since time immemorial.

In this age of globalisation, we are universal citizens, a point asserted by the great thinker and philosopher Swami Vivekananda, who foresaw the future of the world so clearly, centuries ago. Duting IFR-16. several nations met, mingled and interacted based on their common maritime interests despite their varied national identities. The event was designed to celebrate the glory of the maritime domain and, of course, the gifts it has showered upon the world in the form of cultural and intellectual exchanges. We were 'United through Oceans' in the past and we strive to be 'United through Oceans' in the future.

Cmde Srikant Kesnur and Ms. Meera Bhadre