🗺 Maratha Navy: A symbol of India's rich maritime heritage

👀 Take a look at India's coastline.

Massive, right? At nearly 7,600 kms long and 11th longest in the world, we are ahead of the USA and just behind China.

Not surprising then that India's naval traditions have been continuous right from the time of Chandragupta Maurya, 300 BC. In fact, the Chola dynasty from southern India actually went as far as Malay Archipelago - which explains the heavy influence of Indian art and religions over most of South-east Asia.

Among naval empires, the Maratha Navy's role and impact of India's defence strategies is arguably the most profound. Most of the western writing about Maratha Navy termed them as pirates, but they were a legitimate resistance to British dominance.

Chhatrapati Shivaji and his unique maritime vision

🚩 When the Portuguese and the British started playing out their European ambitions in the Indian sub-continent off the western coast, Shivaji, a son of the soil, a born soldier and visionary emerged and forged a naval defence empire out of the political mess of his times.

The key facets of Chatrapati Shivaji’s maritime efforts were encouraging indigenous ship building, manufacture of naval weaponry, ordnance, coastal and island fortifications, and a modern approach to Naval recruitment, training and administration.

Shivaji’s military genius was far ahead of the tactics understood in those days. Shivaji was unquestionably the first ruler in India to have realised the need for protecting the coast.

The Maratha Navy had different types of fighting ships - Gurabs, Galbats, Pals and Manjhuas. Maratha vessels were simple, light, of shallow draught, fast, maneuverable, potent and highly effective. While this restricted their role to coastal engagements, they satisfied his overall maritime vision which precluded high seas fleet engagements with the vastly superior Portuguese and British fleets.

Kanhoji Angre, the Grand Admiral

Kanhoji Angre occupies a unique position in the history of India. A daredevil warrior and a master tactician, he led his sailors from victory to victory and raised the naval prestige of Maharashtra to unprecedented heights.

He realised Chhatrapati Shivaji's vision of Swarajya by taking on the might of the seafaring colonial powers that were trying to find their foothold in India in the early 18th century. Such was his might that he became the undisputed master of the sea on the western coast of India, right from Surat up till Vengurla.

He is addressed as ‘Subedar da Armada do Sivaji’ in Portuguese records. By 1700, Kanhoji is mentioned in foreign records (in typical colonial fashion) as one of the ‘most daring pirates’ that infested the Malabar coast and made commerce hazardous.

As a tribute to this hero of India, the shore-based logistics and administrative support establishment of the Western Naval Command, in Mumbai was named INS Angre, on September 15, 1951.