INDIAN SHIP SIZES

Vasco da Gama’s Ratification

The ratification for this comes from Vasco da Gama’s logs.
Vasco da Gama reached India sailing around Africa in 1497 and is credited with having found the sea route to India.

But Vasco da Gama, had written in his logs, how, he had travelled down in the Atlantic Ocean from Cape Verde to Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

Then, when faced with the daunting challenge of having to travel in Indian Ocean towards India, he saw large Indian ships travelling back to India from East Coast of Africa. It was in the midst of these Indian ships that Vasco da Gama found the courage to travel mid seas to India

He was guided by these ships to the Malabar coast of India & landed in Kozhikode, later called Calicut by the colonial writers.
There, he paid his respects to the local king referred to as Samuthirai, meaning one who is king of the seas. Samudra is seas and Rai or Raja is king.

This word Samuthirai was corrupted by the Portuguese to Zamorin and is still used in the history books of the land. The same history books which credit Vasco da Gama with having discovered the sea route to India.

What is missed out is that, Vasco da Gama had indeed found the sea route to India, but for the Europeans.
Indians had been plying these seas much earlier, to be able to guide him to India.

Back home, the Indian texts Nav Shastra, which go back by few thousand years, describe the ships of India by name, size and features.
This confirms that what Vasco da Gama had observed and logged was not untrue. Indians had really been sailing the seas with large ships.

Brand Bharat - Vol 1 - Made in India

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