![Sur-Dhow (7)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Sur-Dhow_%287%29.JPG)
A ghanjah or ganja ( ar, غنجه), also known as kotiya in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, is a large wooden trading
dhow
Dhow ( ar, داو, translit=dāwa; mr, script=Latn, dāw) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Typically spo ...
, a traditional Arabic sailing vessel.
Description
The ghanjah dhows had a curved
prow
The bow () is the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is usually most forward when the vessel is underway. The aft end of the boat is the stern.
Prow may be used as a synonym for bow or it may mean the forward-most part ...
with a characteristic trefoil ornament carved on top of the stem-head. They also had an ornately carved
stern and
quarter galleries. Their average length was with a keel-length and an average weight of 215 tons.
Usually they had two masts, the main mast having a pronounced inclination towards the prow. They used two to three
lateen sails
A lateen (from French ''latine'', meaning "Latin") or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction. The settee can be considered to be an associated type of the same ...
; supplementary sails were often added on the
bowsprit
The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay
A bobstay is a part of the rigging of a sailing boat or ship. Its purpose is to counteract the upward tensio ...
and on a
topmast
The masts of traditional sailing ships were not single spars, but were constructed of separate sections or masts, each with its own rigging. The topmast is one of these.
The topmast is semi-permanently attached to the upper front of the lower ...
atop the main
mast.
The ghanjah is often difficult to distinguish from the
baghlah, a similar type of dhow. Besides the trefoil-shaped carving on top of the stem-head, ghanjahs had usually a more slender shape.
History
Ghanjahs were widely used in the past centuries as merchant ships in the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
between the western coast of the
Indian Subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
and the
Arabian Peninsula.
[Gardiner, Robert (2001 ]998
Year 998 ( CMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Spring – Otto III retakes Rome and restores power in the papal city. Crescenti ...
. ''The Victory of Seapower''. Caxton Editions. . p. 89 Many ghanjahs were built at traditional shipyards in
Sur,
Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...
,
The Traditional Dhow
as well as in Beypore
Beypore or Beypur (formerly Beypoor) is an ancient port town and a locality town in Kozhikode district in the state of Kerala, India. It is located opposite to Chaliyam, the estuary where the river Chaliyar empties into Arabian Sea. Beypore is ...
, Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
, India.
Ghanjahs were largely replaced by the newer-designed and easier to maneuver booms in the 20th century.
See also
*Dhow
Dhow ( ar, داو, translit=dāwa; mr, script=Latn, dāw) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Typically spo ...
* Baghlah
* Shu'ai
References
External links
*
Ghanjah and baghlah
Hikoichi Yajima, ''The Arab dhow trade in the Indian Ocean : preliminary report''
Dhows
The Historic Dhow
{{ship-type-stub
Dhow types
Arabic words and phrases
Sailing ships
Arab inventions
Tall ships