An experienced boatman at Dihimondal Ghat in Howrah small The boat which he built as a part of an international programme. small producer of West Bengal Project: Documenting the vanishing craft knowledge of a unique boat-building tradition, , Photo Credit: Debashish Bhaduri
On the banks of the Rupnarayan River, overlooking Tamluk (the ancient port city of Tamralipta), a boat has been tied to a mooring for the past six months. The 37-foot-long and 9.5-foot-wide V-shaped wooden structure stands apart from other boats at Dihimandal Ghat in Howrah Shyampur block. The wooden structure with graceful arches is not painted and stands unused in a simple rural village of West Bengal. Nevertheless, it has inspired an international project – The Smallbuilders of West Bengal Project: Documenting the Vanishing Craft Knowledge of a Unique Boat-Building Tradition.
Boat builders near Dihimandal Ghat were entrusted with the task of building the boat last year, as part of a collaborative project between the University of Exeter, United Kingdom, and the Central University of Haryana, India.
Panchanan Mandal (72) sometimes comes to see the Ghat small he built. On an April afternoon, when the temperature was soaring above 40°C and a high tide carried the boat just a short distance from shore, Mr Mondal made his way to the structure in knee-deep water, holding the water with his palms on it Sprayed and boarded the boat to inspect the damage done to it.
“This small We made it after 30 years. Not any more small Boats all around. The knowledge of boat-making was given to us by our forefathers,” said the expert boatman. Words small It means ‘to run’ in Bengali and Mr Mondal explains how the boat is completely different and better than the L-shaped boats and canoes in use now.
Veteran boatman Panchanan Mandal with his son Amal Mandal on a boat at Dihimandal Ghat in Howrah small The boat that he built as part of an international program ‘The Smallbuilders of West Bengal Project: Documenting the Vanishing Craft Knowledge of a Unique Boat-Building Tradition’. , Photo Credit: Debashish Bhaduri
Mr Mondal and his four sons – Amal, Manimohan, Dilip and Deepak – built the boat from different types of wood over several months as researchers and academics from the University of Exeter documented the entire process. The Mondal family said that the venue was filled with media persons who had come to watch the construction of the boat. Two academics involved with the project – John P. Cooper of the University of Exeter and Zeeshan Alli Shaikh, a researcher in England – also camped in the village for about a month last October to document the process of making the boats, which were once the lifelines of the people. Used to be They lived in the coastal areas of South Bengal, who used boats extensively to navigate the rivers and estuaries of the region.
However, after the boat capsized, the Mondal family was probably left alone with the last small Once built on the serene banks of Rupnarayan. “I have told everyone that the boat needs to be preserved. But nothing worked. It pains me that the boat is left unattended and out in the open. Soon, the structure will be damaged,” said the veteran boat builder.
Anthropologist Swaroop Bhattacharya, who played a key role in the entire initiative, said that the particular model of boat and the artisans at Dihimandal Ghat were chosen after considering some other lost traditions of indigenous boat making. He explained that the exercise was part of the Endangered Materials Knowledge Program and that the entire digitized material would be preserved with the British Museum Archive.
no one to take
The concept note of the initiative says that the structure cannot be used for commercial purposes. Like Mr. Mondal, the anthropologist agreed that there are anthropogenic and geological reasons that silt has accumulated in the river bed and a V-shaped boat could get stuck in it and tilt, throwing people and goods into the river Is.
Mr. Bhattacharya, a fellow of the Anthropological Survey of India and a long-term researcher on wooden boats from West Bengal, explained that when the boat was being built, it was agreed that it would be housed in the upcoming Maritime Museum at Lothal. , being developed by the Ministry of Shipping. Yet, nearly six months after it was ready, there are no takers for the boat. emphasizing that small There is a unique boat which, like many types of boats built for special purposes, has gone extinct, Shri Bhattacharya expressed the urgent need to conserve the last specimen of the extinct boat species.
Noted archaeologist and former founding director of the National Maritime Heritage Centre, Lothal, Professor Vasant Shinde said the maritime museum developed by the Ministry of Shipping at Lothal was “still a long way off” and for the time being, the boat was built by the Anthropological Survey of India. can be protected. “Later, it can be acquired for the museum as well. The idea is to protect it,” he said.
He said boat making is part of our culture and indigenous knowledge and it goes back to the Harappan period, from which period archaeologists have found remains of actual boats. “The knowledge of boat making was created long ago, going back to the Harappan period. This knowledge has to be preserved for our future generations.’