Bharat – Ek Khoj : Ancient Vigyan
Portraying ancient science of shipbuilding…
Ships
When Portuguese sailor, Vasco de Gama’s ship was about to collapse when it reached India, it was the Indian marine engineers who repaired that ship and made it worthy again for sea travel. The skill of the Indians in ship-building has been seen from centuries. The timber used by the Indians was so strong that it would not ‘crack’ even by the force of a bullet.
The Rig Veda mentions ships with 100 oars. Such ships sailed over seven oceans and returned to India. Visitors to India from Greece and Rome during the pre-Christian times wrote that the Brahmins of India knew that the earth is in the form of a globe and one can reach the same place after sailing through the seven oceans. The Buddhist Jataka stories wrote about large Indian ships carrying seven hundred people. The second item exported by the erst while British East India Company was Indian ship. A few of these ships are still in service, and are used for training cadets of the British Navy. During World War II, Maharajas of India have lent some hundreds of their ships to the British for use as hospital ships!
-Dr Shobha Tawade
Team ScienceNow Digital
