and without a rudder.
Schoff and Hornell (1920) record a similar type of crafts with two masts. having pointed prows, planks strengthened with battens and equipped with a stout outrigger. i. e. the kullä or kullan of the Coromandel coast. As a practice, the Tamil mariners unlash the outrigger frame when the vessel is beached or anchored. It can be inferred that the vankam of Cankam period, kolandiophonta, the craft recorded by Periplus, the kolandia of Pliny, and the kulla or kullan or kalla-tani observed by Hornell, could have been one and the same type of Indian native craft that is extinct.
It can be undoubtedly inferred that the sewn, plank-first and frame built, two or three masted Indian craft rigged by sails and paddles, with sharp bow and stern without rudder was, the celebrated vessel of Cankam literature 'the varikam'.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
James Hornell. The Origins and Ethnological Significance of Indian Boat Designs. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, The Asiatic Society, Calcutta, 1920.
Raghavan, V.S.V., Periplus (A.D. 50-80), Manivacakar Nulakam, Chennai, 1977.
Schoff, W.H.. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (Translation), London, 1912.
Victor Rajamanickam, G. and Arulraj, V.S., Canka Ilakkiyatthil Kalankal, Arul Printers. Thanjavur, 1994.
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