Lt Cdr Hemanth Kumar - Kaundinya a Stitched Ship

I know Lt Cdr Hemant Kumar as an avid cricketer, a dedicated student who wrote a book about his beloved Coach Baig sir and a wonderful human being full of curiosity and humility. As a naval architect Hemant, who enjoys academia and research, took up one of the most exciting projects I have heard of, executed it and actually sailed it. Let me begin at the beginning. 

Kaundinya at sea (pic courtesy Hemant)

Sometimes in the past Sanjeev Sanyal, economist and member of the Prime Ministers Economic Advisory Council, thought of the concept of a Stitched Ship, the kind that ancient mariners sailed in the 1st century. Based on the painting of a 5th century CE ship depicted in cave 17 of the Ajanta caves, Lt Cdr Hemant and team got down to actually designing and building a Stitched Ship made of stitched wooden planking on the ships hull using coir rope, coconut fibre and natural resin - a 2000 year old technique. The ship would have no engine, no rudder , no deep keel - just sails and steering. 

Hemant manning the ship

The Indian Navy entered into a tripartite agreement with the Ministry of Culture and Hodi Innovations, a private so builder with the Ministry funding the project. After the keel laying the construction of the ship was made by a team of skilled artisans from Kerala led by master shipwright Babu Sankaran and builder Prathamesh Dandekar. The ship building started in 2023 and the vessel (19.6 mtrs long, 6.5 mtr beam, 3.3 mtr draught) was validated by IIT, Madras for hydrodynamics and behaviour at sea. Once completed the 15 member crew was trained at the Karwar Naval base on rigging and carpentry. A lot of work is manual. Spare sails and steering oars were provided. 

At work, at sea - open to the elements

Launched in February 2025, the ship was named after Kaundinya the legendary first century mariner who sailed across the Indian Ocean to the Mekong Delta where his tale had a fairy tale ending - surrounded by enemy led by Queen Soma of Funan - he found the Queen falling in love with him and marrying him making him the second king of Cambodia. Anyway the ship also has motifs of Gandabherunda, the two headed eagle which is a form of Vishnu, a symbol of the Sun, the bow has a sculpted Simha Yali and a symbolic Harappan style stone anchor on deck.

In February 2025 the ship was launched. Led by Cdr Vivek Sheoran, the 15 member crew sailed to Porbandar from where they set off to Oman using the ancient martime route. Hemant is the Officer In Charge.

Lovely pic (all pics courtesy Hemant)

The fantastic voyage took off on December 29, 2025 from Porbandar. After the initial hiccups of bad weather, wines pushing the ship back to Gujarat, facing continuous rolling which results in severe sea sickness, it finally hit good weather and as on date is 50 NM short of Oman. Prime Minister Modi tweeted about it. Apparently he is doing a video conference with the crew. Sanjeev Sanyal tweets from the boat.

Reading Amish on this fantastic journey

I have been following the progress of this fantastic project from the time Hemant first mentioned it. It looked too fantastic to come true but it happened and they are almost at the finish line. It's just incredible and could not have happened to a nicer guy than Hemant. Well done Hemant and I am looking forward to your next book on how you made this dream come true.

Many congratulations in advance to all the stakeholders, the crew members and all concerned. Great work.