SHIPS, BOATS, RAFTS OF THE
ASIA PACIFIC REGION
A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST HISTORY
OF
VOYAGING
INTRODUCTION
Thousands of years ago almost every community that had access to water in the form of lakes rivers or the vast sea learnt almost by instinct to travel on water using a variety of floating objects fashioned into what we now term as rafts. the raft above called rakit in Malay is found in numerous other countries especially plying people and goods and produce on rivers. This is a raft was photographed in Savu Savu on the island of Venua Levu in Fiji. On the island of Viti Levu is a town called Raki Raki that is near a large river that has numerous such rafts. Made of dried bamboo lashed together many have a raised bamboo platform to keep people and goods dry and more sophisticated rafts have a thatched hut
which can be used as houseboat and indeed is in many Asia Pacific countries.
From Suva Museum, Fiji
While the bamboo or wooden raft cobbled together by nail later or still very light and still lashed by rope was easy to build and replaced easily its drawback was its instability on seas especially in inclement weather which was often. This required a tougher boat made of heavier and more stable wood particularly hard woods available in jungles of tropical Asia. And thus evolved the raft no doubt but fashioned to ride the waves and yet not requiring heavy manufacture and suitable to harvest the bounties of the sea so very necessary for coastal communities. Thus was born the lashed up timber logs fashioned into a raft/boat mostly used for fishing in coastal waters. Stable enough and with a strong wind fairly fast it later had sails and due to its heavy structure was fairly stable and large enough to carry nets and fishing equipment and several crew.
Home made Kattu Maram (Tamil for lashed trees)
in Point Pedro, north east Sri Lanka
But unfortunately in the 15th century sailors and visitors to southern India from the far west heard the name Kattu Maram and by word of mouth confused the other fascinating variety of even faster sea craft with double hulls, sails and even outriggers from further east and called those Catamaran. The name stuck ! And so the simple fishing raft of south India has lent its name to the fast, larger multi mast and much more sophisticated vessel that is actually called in many places as far east as Rapa Nui and Hawaii as the Vaka.
A Cook Island Vaka built by the Cook Island Voyaging Society on a 2011 tour of the Pacific with sister Vaka from other Pacific island countries at University of the South Pacific harbour.
This is but a small introduction to the many aspects of voyaging across the Asia Pacific that started at least 3000 years ago from south east Asia and the Indian subcontinent using sophisticated craft built in their own countries using indigenous or near by technology and navigating thousands of kilometers using expertise they still use till today without modern sextants or compasses. Along the way they visited many lands, traded with numerous peoples and introduced produce and products totally unknown to people far far west.
When indeed the people from far far west did come in the late 15th century to the Indian subcontinent and south east Asia their wish it appeared was less to trade and more to usurp what they thought ignorantly was an empty land awaiting to be taken. Indeed they used of the Pacific expertise to explore this vast ocean and its lands before by force usurping their lands in the name of a far far away ruler.
In the coming two hundred years they created numerous myths about discovering this land and that and first introducing this produce and that and fill pages of tons of books of their so called discoveries that most if not all the natives believe!
Thus this ring or seal is a rare but oft repeated example of a long lost lost Boita or Odisha (Orissa, India) ship that may have plied the trade route from eastern Indian ports past Melaka (Malaysia) at a place called till today as Tanjung Kling (Cape of the Kalingas- the old name for people of Orissa) and reached the island of Bali. They exchanged Indian goods, spread Hindu religion and returned to their waiting families not less than 2000 years loaded with Balinese goods, spices from the eastern islands.
another drawing of a Pleasure Boita
This series of Voyages went on for hundreds if not a thousand years. It is fortunately celebrated in both Orissa and Bali to this day with small lighted toy boats set sail to commemorate what they call in Odisha as Bali Yatra (Bali Voyage of over 2000 tears ago) during the month of kartik purnima in November each year (Google for details of Bali Yatra)
The Odisha did not come to Bali to land grab. the voyages have long stopped except for the tiny lighted boats festival but the descendants still build the Boita - and escape from abuse by rulers.
Float on Bali Yatra festival in Odisha
BUT THAT WAS NOT ALL !
Around 800 to 850 CE an Indonesian kingdom built the largest religious monument in the world today a Buddhist temple based on what they learnt from India where Bhuddhist pilgrims went to learn the work of Gautama the Buddha. They travelled in single hulled multi sailed double ocean going outrigger ships out of Java as seen above in the bas relief on Borobodur near the city of Jogjakarta. These ships had already been in existence for some time pre dating ships of the far far west at the time. Using ship building expertise unavailable in the rest of the world
And yet an explorer Thor Hyerdahl from the far far west theorised in the late 1940s that the vast Pacific was peopled by people from South America based on the massive Mayan and other monuments he saw, using balsa wood or reed rafts (not ships) He set out on the Kon Tiki to prove it. He reached Tahiti from South American in 100 plus days triumphantly.
Kon Tiki Raft in Oslo Museum
For over 3000 years people have been sailing east from Asia and the Pacific and have many stories of the way they sailed and STILL use similar boats and in fact practice similar customs and speak similar languages The coat of Arms of Fiji proudly displays a vaka or drau on which their ancestors sailed to discover Fiji.
Thank You
More to come
devamp37@gmail.com
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