Rigs and Sails

The mast pole of a boat becomes an essential accessory, once sails became a vital medium to harness wind energy. While early boats, plank built or otherwise had to be propelled by oars, with a large crew of rowers and oarsmen, continuously striving to steer the boat in the desired direction, use of sails released substantially the requirement of many oarsmen, and human energy could be largely conserved. It is difficult to estimate when sails came to be used for the first time in the Indian coastal waters. It is an accepted surmise that sail boats were in use by the first millennium B.C., if not earlier. Fair weather sailing finds reference in the early works like the Milindapanha and the Buddhist jatakas . Sails are known in Indian terminology as ‘ pai ’ and ‘ sheed ’.