a paper on boats of Bengal by Jean Deloche (1991)

"Boats and Ships in Bengal Terracotta Art" in Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient

go through: http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/befeo_0336-1519_1991_num_78_1_1766

Ole Crumlin-Pedersen is no more with us

Founder of Viking Ship Museum, Roskilde, Denmark died on October 14, 2011.
He is the person who introduced me to the experts on boats. I lost my teacher....
- Swarup

http://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk//en/about-us/ole-crumlin-pedersen/

Museum on Boats of Bangladesh

http://rolexawards.com/en/the-laureates/runakhanmarre-laureates-in-paris.jsp

http://www.friendship-bd.org/news/view/exhibition-on-traditional-boats-of-bangladesh-32#

Bengal 1418

 

creator of this card: Shivaditya Sen (shivaditya@gmail.com)

Nada (iron sheeted large container used in juggery preparation) as boat at Masanjore Dam, Mayurakshi river (a tributary of Ganga)

year 2011

এসো, এসো, এসো হে বৈশাখ।
তাপসনিশ্বাসবায়ে মুমূর্ষুরে দাও উড়ায়ে,
বৎসরের আবর্জনা দূর হয়ে যাক।।
যাক পুরাতন স্মৃতি, যাক ভুলে-যাওয়া গীতি,
অশ্রুবাষ্প সুদূরে মিলাক।।
মুছে যাক গ্লানি, ঘুচে যাক জরা,
অগ্নিস্নানে শুচি হোক ধরা।
রসের আবেশরাশি শুষ্ক করি দাও আসি,
আনো আনো আনো তব প্রলয়ের শাঁখ।
মায়ার কুজ্ঝটিজাল যাক দূরে যাক।।

-রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর

an Amazing Museum on Boat

Viking Ship Museum of Roskilde, Danmark is a museum of traditional boats.

please go through: http://vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/index.php?id=1246&L=1 

Boat Makers of Balagarh - a report_xvid.avi

need suggestion

We need a Noukoghar  

(Boat Museum)

 
Open Air 

Living 

Eco-Museum

 ***

মুক্তাঙ্গনে

জীবন্ত

প্রাকৃতিক জাদুঘর 

হউক

'নৌকোঘর' 

মতামত প্রত্যাশী  

Bengal Rafts (Bhaela)

Makeshift raft is quite common in rural Bengal.
Lets look into the type/variety-
Plantain raft / Kalar Bhaela: widely used in rural areas. Lifespan: few days. Mainly used at the time of flood.
Sholar Bhaela (Pith Raft): Sholar Bahela is not so common but used in Jhargram area of West Medinipur district. Used mainly in fishing. Longevity is two to four years. Shola (scientific name: Aeschymene aspera)
Kharer Bhaela: Temporary raft last for only few hours made of bundle of straw. Mainly used in fishing.
Gharar Bhaela: Widely used in East Medinipur and Howrah district to collect Lotus flower and water chestnut (Panifal)
Dhap: Layers of Kachuripana (hyacinth), a kind of aquatic flora, keeping one above other formed a kind of raft termed as Dhap.

Bengal Boats in a period between 1760 and 1824 through Etchings by François Balthazar Solvyns

Please visit Plate No 229 to 264 (either Click here or in the photograph to visit the site)

Name of Boat in Bengal

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I have seen these boats in Bengal and I have gone through its detail and documented these over a period of 10 years. So these are the ‘real boat’ (not mentioned in epic, novel… or not taken from epic, novel...)

In Bengali boats are popularly termed as Nouko/Nouka.

Smaller variety of Nouka/Nouko is Dingi.

So Dingi is the daughter (not son. because boat is always a feminine) of Nouka/Nouko used in household purposes. Where as Nouko generally used to carry passenger, goods (i.e. who has muscle power).

Fishing boats are sometimes fall into Dingi category and sometimes under Nouko/Nouka.

Now lets look into some name. 
These are not the personal name. 
These are the names of a typological variety.
So with these names boat makers and boat users can easily visualize their structural speciality.

For general awareness I am sighting some names (many more keeping undisclosed):

1. Patia- At present it is exclusively a fishing boat. But in 12th century it might be used a cargo ship. 
2. Bachhari- A long and narrow Boat. It has various variation and termed differently like Kaile Bachhari, Kolige bachhari, Chhande Bachhari, Malo a fishing community used a kind of Bachhari for fishing. General folk used to coin their boat as Malo Bachhari or Jele Bachhari.
3. Pansi- Confusing name mainly cargo carrier.
4. Chhip- Long and narrow boat used for swift movement.
5. Bhanr- Very few still exist but lost their job. Used to carry salt.
6. Khorio Kisti- a huge cargo carry straw.
7. Sultani- A boat which can go against the wind and can carry all most all things. But not used in fishing.
8. Pauka- a flat bottomed boat both used as cargo and fishing.
9. Dholai- A cargo carrier.
10. Merhli- A Cargo.
11. Ghasi- A cargo.
12. Chhot- A fishing as well as cargo.
13. Salti- A cargo
14. Chhot Salti- A fishing boat.
15. Bhedi- Cargo carrier
16. Goluiya- A cargo carrier
17. Salonga/Saronga- Fishing boat 
18. Kosha- A flat bottomed boat used both in fishing as well as transportation.

Boat of Bangladesh

On Padma

দাঁড়িয়ে আছ তুমি আমার গানের ও পারে–
আমার সুরগুলি পায় চরণ, আমি পাই নে তোমারে।।
বাতাস বহে মরি মরি, আর বেঁধে রেখো না তরী–
এসো এসো পার হয়ে মোর হৃদয়মাঝারে।।
তোমার সাথে গানের খেলা দূরের খেলা যে,
বেদনাতে বাঁশি বাজায় সকল বেলা যে।
কবে নিয়ে আমার বাঁশি বাজাবে গো আপনি আসি
আনন্দময় নীরব রাতের নিবিড় আঁধারে।।

-রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর

পূজা পর্যায়

----------------------------------------

খেলার ছলে সাজিয়ে আমার গানের বাণী
দিনে দিনে ভাসাই দিনের তরীখানি।।
স্রোতের লীলায় ভেসে ভেসে সুদূরে কোন্‌ অচিন দেশে
কোনো ঘাটে ঠেকবে কিনা নাহি জানি।।
নাহয় ডুবে গেলই, নাহয় গেলই বা।
নাহয় তুলে লও গো, নাহয় ফেলোই বা।
হে অজানা, মরি মরি, উদ্দেশে এই খেলা করি,
এই খেলাতেই আপন-মনে ধন্য মানি।।

-রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর

পূজা পর্যায়

---------------------------------- 

আমি   মারের সাগর পাড়ি দেব বিষম ঝড়ের বায়ে
আমার  ভয়ভাঙা এই নায়ে।।
মাভৈঃবাণীর ভরসা নিয়ে  ছেঁড়া পালে বুক ফুলিয়ে
তোমার  ওই পারেতেই যাবে তরী ছায়াবটের ছায়ে।।
পথ আমারে সেই দেখাবে যে আমারে চায়–
আমি   অভয় মনে ছাড়ব তরী, এই শুধু মোর দায়।
দিন ফুরালে, জানি জানি,  পৌঁছে ঘাটে দেব আনি
আমার  দু:খদিনের রক্তকমল তোমার করুণ পায়।। 

-রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর
পূজা পর্যায়
 

Appeal to all

Noukoghar appeals to you to collect information (from book, newspaper, internet or oral or from any other source) on boat (stick to the traditional boat- not metal or fibreglass or plastic or rubber boat). Collect photographs. Gather songs, poems or novels on boat. 

These information can be an asset to our Noukoghar. 

Send photographs of boat and boat related activities taken by you or others. Please do not forget to mention the name of the photographer time and place. Noukoghar will portray your findings with utmost care and proper acknowledgment.

Communicate:

noukoghar@gmail.com

+91 9433900712

Boat Model of Kosha

Boat model made of Board and paper. 

Longevity: at least 50 years (you and your next generation can see it as it is)

Size: vary from 3 inches to 30 inches (as per your own requirements).

Boatlovers can keep a boat model on their desk and can use it as an invaluable item of gift. 

For procuring contact noukoghar@gmail.com or call at +91 9433900712 

 

"Chokh" oculus of Boat: Boat as a living entity.

Even though boat is nothing but a mere product of man’s handicraft which may always be connected in his collection of inanimate possessions, but in reality SHE means much more to her owner/boatmaker/boatman. Almost in all over the world a vessel is personified, which is very much understandable when it is seen that a Portuguese boat along with the boats and vessels cruising along the Indian Ocean have oculi i.e. the symbolic representation of eye. These types of symbols are usually used to give living characters to a nonliving material as these are very much allied to human (any animal) morphology. Considering the example of West Bengal nothing absolutely reverse, in the basic concept, is seen as the boat here is considered to be either a mother or a daughter that ultimately represents the feminine personality. Therefore most often, it is seen that boats are given names and are treated as human personalities. This curious relation is becoming less apparent day by day, but it is still there, even if it no longer exists on the surface of seaman’s mind. To understand the origin and development of this concept it is necessary to go into the past and probe deed down into the minds of the ancient boatmen.

Kobir er kathamato. "JALOJATRA"

Journey to 2010

Khoro Kisti

Specially meant for carrying straw from Sundarbans to Kolkata propelled by sail and oar.

The Khorokisti, a meticulously constructed straw-carrying vessel native to Bengal, measures fifty haat (with one haat equivalent to 1.5 feet) in length and fifteen haat in width. This shallow-draft boat was traditionally used to traverse the waters from Geonkhali in the Medinipur district to Sundarban. Its primary function was to load between three hundred and fifty to four hundred kahon (a local unit for measuring straw) and unload it in various regions of Kolkata. The boat's construction is entirely reliant on nailing and is propelled by a lug sail, featuring a rectangular stern post rudder. When fully loaded, the Khorokisti couldn't move on its own, hence a smaller boat named Chhot would tow it. Over time, the Chhot was replaced by a motorized launch. Unfortunately, these distinctive boats are no longer found in Bengal.

Dingi

Dingi of Balagarh, Hugli. Balagarh- the commercial boat building centre. 

Salti (Khoro Salti)

Carry straw in creeks of South Twenty Four Parganas.

Jale Dingi

Jele Dingi: Fishing boat of the Ganges.

Sultani

Sultani: Popularly this boat is known as medinipuri bot (boat of Medinipur). It is used mainly to carry cargo of wide range like sand, brick, tiles, watermelon etc. Sultani built following the skeleton first technique. Its concentration is mainly found in the regions of tidal rivers. It has double ends with both stem and stern posts. In West Bengal it is the only boat with both stem and stern posts. Though it has oarsmen to row but it mainly depends on wind and sail (lug sail). This Medinipuri boat traverses the entire region of Sundarbans.

Dungi of Subarnarekha

In Subarnarekha river of Bengal this type of boat is common for fishing. Boat users termed it as Dunga.

Boat Race of Bengal

Baich: Boat race of Bengal is a popular festival in Bengal. Murshidabad, Nadia, North Twenty Four Parganas and South Twenty Four Parganas are the four districts of West Bengal where Boat race festival takes place. These are the bordering districts, adjacent to Bangladesh. And if we consider the boat race people then it will portray that after partition, minority Hindu people migrated to Indian territory and settled in those districts. They were uprooted but introduced their deep-rooted water sport in their new land.

Plantain raft

-->Kalar Bhaela, the plantain raft: three to four plantain trunks are used to construct such type of watercraft, found mainly in Kochbihar, Jalpaiguri, North and South Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Nodia, North and South 24 Parganas.Utilities: these watercraft widely use in rural Bengal in flood.

Malo Bachhari

Malo Bachhari, a fishing boat of Sundarbans. Length 28 to 32 haat. Bachhari is the typological variation used by the Malo fishing community

Tabure on a Sprit Sail

Glimpse of Bengal

Rivers, canals, streams, lakes, bills and other waterbodies form an important source of cheap transportation. This is specially so in West Bengal, where there are numerous waterbodies. There are about 3000 km. of navigable waterways in the state, of which 300 kms. are canals (Bose 1964). Besides during the rainy season many more stretches of rivers become navigable by watercraft. At many places in West Bengal the river transport system is considered to be more important than the bullock carts, like in the Sundarbans, the former has totally replaced the latter due to topographical demand of the land.

The Sankosh, The Raidak, The Kalindi, The Torsa, The Jaldhaka, The Tista, The Mahananda, The Tangan, The Purnabhaba, The Atrai, The Gomor, The Ganga, The Bhagirathi/Hugli, The Mayurakshi, The Bramhani, The Dwaraka, The Bakreswar, The Kopai, The Ajay, The Damodar, The Sraswati, The Rupnarayan, The Kangasabati/Kasai, The Rasulpur, The Subarnorekha, The Jalogi, The Mathabhanga, The Bhairab, The Ichhamati, The Matla, The Muriganga/Buriganga, The Raimongal and so on, are the major rivers of West Bengal.