India, Jan. 13 -- In late December, INSV Kaundinya left Porbandar, in Gujarat, on a 15-day journey to Muscat, in Oman, "symbolically retracing historical maritime routes" that once connected India with the wider Indian Ocean world.

Named for a semi-legendary mariner, Kaundinya is a "stitched ship", a term referring to vessels built by stitching wooden planks together using coir rope, that formed part of Indian Ocean traffic in and around the first millennium of the Common Era. The vessel's sails carry the Gandaberunda, the royal emblem of the Kadambas, who once ruled over the Konkan, while its prow features the Simha Yali, a mythical creature often depicted in south Indian temple architecture.

Built in Goa, the vessel is part of a gover...