Gujarat and the Sea

Vice President Releases the Book ‘Gujarat and the Sea’ at Ahmedabad

The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari has said that any study of Indian history cannot be separated from the context of the three large water bodies that surround the Indian sub-continent.India was the lynchpin of the sea-based trade and commerce for at least four millennia. Addressing after releasing the book entitled “Gujrat and the Sea” edited by Dr. Lotika Varadharajan and brought out by Darshak Itihas Nidhi at a function in Ahmedabad (Gujrat) today, he has said that the world`s first tidal dock is believed to have been built at Lothal around 2300 BC during the Harappan civilisation, on the Gujarat coast. The Vedas speak of knowledge of the ocean routes commonly used by ships, describe naval expeditions, and refer to well constructed and comfortable ships. Shri Ansari has said that each of our coastal zones - the Gujarat Coast, the Malabar Coast, the Coromandel Coast and the Bengal Coast -had their commercial sectors of specialization, their commercial interlocutors and geographies of affinity. Their trade was as much directed inwards, towards regional, coastal and riverine trade, as it was to long-distance oceanic trade.