India once built ships so impressive that Chinese Admiral Zheng He sent his own chronicler to document them. Today, for the first time in generations, a stitched ship is being built again.
This is the keel-laying ceremony of the Ancient Stitched Ship project at Hody Innovations, Goa — a landmark moment in the revival of India’s 5,000-year maritime heritage. Sanjeev Sanyal delivers the same compressed maritime history lesson connecting Harappan Dholavira to the Chola empire’s Southeast Asian cultural networks, now as the guest of honour who conceptually seeded the project. Master shipwright Babur Shankaran leads the construction team — the last living practitioner of the stitched vessel tradition, who previously helped Oman rebuild an Arab dhow.
Speakers at the ceremony also honour Rani Abbakka of Ullal — the 16th-century coastal queen who resisted Portuguese domination — as a symbol that maritime courage has never been a gendered heritage. The closing vision: India should not merely reclaim its maritime history but return to being so excellent that other nations send delegations to document it. The ship is both artifact and argument — proof that what was built before can be built again.

About the Speakers:
Shri Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Advisor to the Government of India, is also a noted urban theorist and author of bestsellers like Land of the Seven Rivers and The Ocean of Churn.

Admiral R Hari Kumar, the 25th Chief of Naval Staff, is a National Defence Academy alumnus with 38+ years of service, having commanded INS Viraat and other key vessels.

Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi, Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture, is a Supreme Court lawyer, MP from New Delhi, and active in women’s empowerment and cultural initiatives.