S. Johnson Samuel
Research Scholar
Department of Rare Paper Manuscripts Tamil University
Thanjavur
VANKAM
(A Sea going vessel of Cankam period)
Maritime activity of India in general, and Tamil Nadu in particular is one of the oldest in the world. Maritime contact of the people of this land with the ancient civilizations has been proved by a number of excavations and numismatics. Anthropological evidences and ethnography of crafts' designs belong to various countries, confirm the same. Further, ancient, medieval, and modern literature contain illustrious information about the maritime activity of the region. Yet, the details that are found in the above mentioned sources do not have reference to any type of craft's shape, structure, measurement, and materials used. The various authors, historians, the geographers, and the foreign visitors to India ignored the importance of these details that a student of this field is left in darkness, while he attempts to identify the crafts of Cankam period.
Variety of ancient crafts thimil, otam, kalam, näväy, ampi, niranimatam, cōnku, and vankam, and their usage recorded in the Cankam literature do not provide the details of the structure or the components of the crafts. Yet, Periplus informs us of two types of Indian crafts, the Cankara and the Kolandiphonta, with little details about the structure. The first one was a double canoe - coast line carrier, made by joining two dug-outs, while the second one is a large sea-going vessel, the kolandia, built with 'prows at each end', as observed by Pliny.
Cankara is supposed to be, the Tamil cankatam, the Malayalam canikatam and the Kanarese jangala. Cańkatam or the double canoe (shoe dhono) of the River Gotavari is the existing specimen of cankara.
Vankam is a large vessel finds, its place in Cankam Literature. Vankam means, waves, sea and large sea-going vessel. The Bay of Bengal, காகிதச்சுவடி ஆய்வுகள்
276
