Sailing through history: Swarup Bhattacharya and his love for boats - GetBengal Story
The boat was the very first connection, the first bridge, between water and human beings. Nevertheless, despite three-quarters of the earth being covered by water, human beings chose to build societies and cultures on land. Accordingly, the story of boats is a very ancient one. Once upon a time, Bengal’s rivers were alive with countless boats—Sultani, Donga, Dingi, Mayurpankhi, Pansi, Khero, Bajra—each with its own unique purpose and design. Across the world too, boats have shaped cultures and histories from village to village, nation to nation. One man has devoted his life to exploring this legacy: Swarup Bhattacharya, lovingly called the “Boat Man.”
By profession, Swarup is an anthropologist. His career has taken him to many prestigious institutions across India and abroad. But his true identity lies elsewhere—he is known as the man of boats, a researcher who has spent 26 years studying the history, craft, and culture of boats. For him, boats are not just an academic pursuit; they are his passion, his life’s journey.
How did this bond with boats begin? Swarup was born into an artistic family in North Kolkata’s Bagbazar. Surrounded by art from childhood, he naturally gravitated toward anthropology. In 1995, after completing his Master’s, he was assigned a project. That project, back in 1997, became the seed of his lifelong love for boats. Through it, he met Bengal’s traditional boat-makers and at the same time explored the maritime histories of the world. His work has carried him far beyond Bengal—to Denmark, England, Sweden, Germany—seeking the story of boats and their cultural evolution.
In Bengal, boats are inseparable from culture. Once upon a time, Bengal thrived on riverine trade. Today, however, their use is fading. Can boats disappear altogether? In an interview with Bangadarshan.com, Swarup says, “Boat usage is definitely declining. Compared to 50 years ago, their numbers are far fewer and will continue to shrink. But as long as there is water, as long as people fish, boats will survive.”
So how many kinds of boats are there? Swarup explains: “We don’t really know. No serious attempt was made to document them. The National Museum in Dhaka has 179 models of boats that the British once preserved. That means those boats existed a century ago. But I believe there were many more. In West Bengal, my research found around 30 different types. Many of them no longer exist and are no longer built. Who knows—maybe a hundred years ago, the number wasn’t 30, but a hundred or more.”
Boat racing, or Nouka Baich, too has an ancient tradition across Southeast Asia—Vietnam, Cambodia, China, India. In Bengal, references to boat races appear in old literature. In folk culture, especially around Manasa Puja, boat races were common in both Bengals. Over time, the sport flourished in Bangladesh, but in West Bengal too, some traces remain. Swarup recalls: “In places like the Sundarbans, Nadia, and Murshidabad, boat races used to be popular. Today, they’re almost gone. These racing boats require special designs, and hardly anyone makes them anymore. Right now, there are barely five racing boats left in the Sundarbans. Malancha, Kochukhali, Najat, and Suryaberiya still host the occasional race, keeping the tradition alive.”
Swarup’s journey has taken him to the Viking Ship Museum in Denmark, the Heritage Boats of Bengal gallery at Kakurgachi, and the centuries-old boat-building hub of Balagarh in Hooghly, where craftsmen have been building boats for 200 years. He notes with pride, “Balagarh is as well known for its boat construction as Banaras is known for its silk, Kashmir for its pashmina, or Lucknow for its chickankari embroidery. There are approximately 20 workshops in Balagarh that operate year–round, but at peak demand this may grow to 30-35 workshops. After building, boats are kept at the craftsmen’s homes until buyers arrive. Then they are delivered either on rickshaw vans or floated down the river.”
In folklore too, boats hold a place of honor. In the Mangal Kavya, it is said that Vishwakarma himself built a seven-masted ship fit for the sea. Swarup has seen these master craftsmen up close. But outside Balagarh, the situation is grim. He says, “Boat builders were always few. Today, with rivers losing their navigability, and bridges replacing ferry crossings, demand has collapsed. Many boat-builders have turned to work in brick kilns or as daily laborers. Now, they only build boats when there’s an order. A skilled profession like this is disappearing before our eyes.”
Once, ferries charged in cowries or small coins. Royal treasuries depended on river trade. All that is gone. Bengal’s boat fleets, river trade, and boat-making traditions have all but dried up.
The narrative of 70-year-old master craftsman Panchanan Mondal reflects it all.“In his lifetime, he built more than 100 boats. Yet in the last 30 years, he’s repaired just one or two. He hasn’t built anything new. That means all of his real work was done in the first 40 years. Now, both the skill and the habit are fading fast.”
Nonetheless, when you hear Swarup discuss boats and the myriad of task accomplishment, you can almost sense yourself immersed in the riverscapes of old Bengal. His reference to boats gives you a sense of nostalgia of Bengal’s riverine culture, where boatmen were singing Bhatiali, Sari, and racing songs on their boats, and the Goalondo steamer was transporting curry spices across the flowing Padma. The boats he builds are not only made of wood and are crafted, but they too are intertwined in the folklore and imagination of Bengal. Their sails alone draw for the memory of mythic boats once journeying far beyond “seven seas and thirteen rivers” in the Bengal of a distant past—perhaps of Pansi, Mayurpankhi, or Bajra.
Note:
Translated by Krishnendu Mitra
To read the original Bengali article, click here.
