Ancient Trade Routes: The Journey of INS Kaundinya.
The Permanent Missions of India and Oman are pleased to welcome sailors of INSV Kaundinya as well as experts, scholars from Oman and practitioners engaged in the maritime domain. INSV Kaundinya, a stitched-plank sailing vessel inspired by ancient Indian shipbuilding traditions, was proposed to retrace India's early maritime trade routes across the Indian Ocean. These routes connected the Indian subcontinent with Southeast Asia, East Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and East Africa as early as the 1st millennium BCE. By sailing these routes, INSV Kaundinya symbolically highlighted the long-standing role of India and Oman as responsible maritime civilisations, comfortable operating far beyond coastal waters and engaging with what we now term areas beyond national jurisdiction. In 2010, the Jewel of Muscat—a sewn ship based on 9th-century engineering and constructed without the use of nails—successfully sailed from Oman through India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and onward to Singapore. Togeth...