Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. The Origins and Ethnological Significance of Indian Boat Designs

Thus the baggala and gunjo are the Arab forms of the Indian kotia the Arab boom or dhangi the counterpart of the Indian nauri while the Indian batel represents the Arab sambuk. [...] The simplest of these is performed each time the boat leaves shore ; when the nets have all been taken aboard and the boat is moving off from the landing place one of the crew empties a chatty of water over the prow.' Far more elaborate are the special rites performed usually once a season to the local deity of the locality where the fishing operations are carried on. [...] As might be inferred from the geographical range the battela forms a link between the baggala and kotia on the one hand and the more southern pattmar on the other the stern part of the hull being closely related to the former whereas the rig particularly in the greater rake of the masts the cut of the sails and the presence of a jibboom approximates to that of the pattamar. [...] No greater contrast can be found in boat designing than that between the types used on the opposite sides of the Gulf of Mannar south of latitude 9° N. On the Tamil or Indian side the catamaran and boat canoe alone are used ; on the Sinhalese side the outrigger canoe is the national and dominant design the catamaran being used only in the northern or non-Sinhalese part of the island and by immi [...] In the present instance the loop end of a ring of rope or grommet is passed through a hole either in the gunwale or in the outrigger float the boom pole is laid over this and the looped ends of the grommet are brought up at each side and over the pole ; the end of a short rod or stake is passed through the two loops and then by the simple device of twisting the two loops round one another by mean