Sailing On A Dhow From Gujarat to the Persian Gulf 

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Lajwanti Shahani

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Maritime trade has flourished on the Arabian Sea - Persian Gulf for four
thousand five hundred years, beginning with the Mesopotamian- Harappan
seatrade. Through the millennia, changes are evident in the shipbuilding and
navigation technologies. However the trading entities remain the same. New
data emerging from the Oman Peninsula have added another exciting angle to
the Bronze age, seatrade- the author has hypothesized Oman as the third
major partner in this trade network. 

Another important stage in the south-west Asian maritime trade came with the
emergence of Islam. Lateen sailed Arab dhows now dominated the waters of the
Arabian Sea until challenged more than seven hundred years later by
sophisticated European navies and merchantmen. Thus relegated to the status
of 'country-craft' the engine-powered wooded dhow today thugs sluggishly
alongside metal-hulled cargo ships and container vessels. 

This paper contributes a comprehensive ethnographic documentation on the
traditional maritime activities of ethnic Gujarati sailors and merchants; a
tradition which is now being threatened by adaptations in the trade and
transport mechanisms as well as internal changes within the sailing
communities and might be completely lost to future research. 

This study is therefore concerned with all aspects of the maritime cultures
of this region, including social, economical, technological, political and
religious interrelations. A very significant impact recently has been the
environmental stress, which might even bring an end to this chapter of the
millennia-old maritime activity in this region.