INSV Kaundinya's Historic Voyage Celebrates 5,000 Years of Indian Maritime Heritage

On this occasion, Tavishi Behal, Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at the Embassy of India, Muscat, stated that INSV Kaundinya is a symbol of India's 5,000-year history.

She told ANI, "Yesterday I saw Kaundinya live for the first time... it literally gave me goosebumps... it is the symbol of 5,000 years of history, and today this event shows that it was not only in the government, political, and diplomatic quarters that there was enthusiasm, but even the Indian community, which participated in large numbers yesterday for the arrival reception ceremony, and today it is their way of presenting a very warm welcome to the valiant crew. I think they are all inspired and enthusiastic about the journey that the crew has taken... it has been a wonderful experience and a wonderful learning experience as well."

Member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (EAC-PM), Sanjeev Sanyal, while speaking at the event, recounted the early days of the ambitious project.

He said, "The aim of the project was to reconstruct an ocean-going ship using the ancient Indian stitching technique and to revive cultural memories of ancient Indian maritime heritage... The first thing we did was draw a line drawing of what the Ajanta painting looked like, then see if we could correlate it with whatever serving-board building traditions existed," he said.

Sanyal also said that they looked into Omani ways of reconstruction, recounting that this project began in 2022.

"We also looked into Omani reconstruction... There was an Omani reconstruction called the Jewel of Muscat about 15 years ago. We also looked at that, and we got very helpful input from Captain Saleh, who had saved it... The project's conceptualisation took place in 2021-22.... By chance, I met Commander Hemant, who is a naval architect, and he is here with part of the crew... with his help, we got this line drawing made... We removed the three-mast model to a two-mast one because that would be much more practical. And we arrived at what would be a reasonable set of dimensions for the ship. The length is 21 meters, breadth 6.5 meters, depth 3.3 meters, approximately 50 tons, and a crew of about 18... This is all the detailing we started in 2022," he added.

The Indian community in Oman, under the aegis of the Indian Embassy in the Sultanate, organised a grand programme in Muscat to celebrate the successful and historic voyage of INSV KAUNDINYA - The Stitched Ship of India, which sailed from Porbandar in Gujarat on December 29, 2025, and reached Muscat on January 14, 2026.

INSV KAUNDINYA, a carefully reconstructed ancient stitched vessel inspired by India's early maritime traditions, completed the trans-oceanic voyage with a crew of 18 Indian Navy personnel. The expedition also included Sanjeev Sanyal, Member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, who was part of the historic sailing team. The journey is widely seen as a tribute to India's nearly 5,000-year-old seafaring legacy and its pivotal role in early trade and cultural exchanges across the Indian Ocean region.

- ANI