Setting sail with history

The first book in the series explores India`s maritime history by touching upon the Kalinga merchants and the role of the Indian Navy in World War 2. Pics courtesy/Amar Chitra Katha

Even when living in a city that has deep ties with the sea, how much do we know of our great waters and its caretakers? The Indian Navy certainly deserves the spotlight, and a new series of comic books called The Naval Journey of India by Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) in collaboration with The Indian Navy - specifically The Naval History Project and the Maritime History Society - promises to give youngsters an insight into their work.

Although the series was launched on Navy Day (December 4), only the first book titled Millennia of Sea Travels has been released. The next two are expected between February and March this year. "Book 1 is aimed at understanding India's relationship with the shores and establishing the requirement for a navy. We don't realise how much of our history is shaped by naval history. The next two books will talk more about the role of the navy as it stands today," shares Neel Paul, commissioning editor, ACK.

The tale, told through the eyes of Sagar, a commodore who is tasked with giving a history lesson about the navy to his curious grandson Bharat, begins with the story of our planet. After a brief introduction to the formation of continents and thereby our country, which is the only one to have an ocean named after it, the narrative traverses key time periods in Indian history such as the Harappan civilisation. Here, the activities in Lothal, a port town in present-day Gujarat, are addressed; did you know it was home to one of the world's first tidal docks, which was so well constructed that it maintained water levels in the midst of changing tides?

Then, we also get a peek into dynasties and their sea trade - like the Kalingans. Seafaring played a key role in their culture, so much so that the ritual of Boita Bandana, where miniature boats are ignited with lamps into the sea, is still celebrated in Odisha in memory of their ancestors. The comic also goes on to show how maritime history is deeply enmeshed in even our ancient texts like The Mahabharata. "Each frame in this book can be a thesis or an entire branch of study," Paul quips.

The title also explores the interconnectedness of our economic activities such as the link between seafaring and spice trade, and doesn't shy away from diving into how economic power or more specifically, colonialism was established through the seas. At the end, Commodore Sagar has a short quiz for readers to test their knowledge based on the book. And although answers to it are shared below, this is very well a series that could leave the young ones asking more pertinent questions.

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