Ghanjah

A ghanjah at Bombay harbor in 1909

A ghanjah on dry dock showing the trefoil ornament on the prow

A ghanjah or ganja^[1] (Arabic: غنجه‎‎), also known as kotiya in India, is a large wooden trading dhow, a traditional Arabic sailing vessel.^[2]

Description

The ghanjah dhows had a curved prow 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 97 ft (30 m) with a 15 m (49 ft) 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; supplementary sails were often added on the bowsprit and on a topmast atop the main mast.^[3]

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.^[4]

History

Ghanjahs were widely used in the past centuries as merchant ships in the Indian Ocean between the western coast of the Indian Subcontinent and the Arabian Peninsula.^[5] Many ghanjahs were built at traditional shipyards in Sur, Oman,^[6] as well as in Beypore, Kerala, India.

Ghanjahs were largely replaced by the newer-designed and easier to maneuver booms in the 20th century.

See also

• Dhow
• Baghlah

References

1. Thabit A. J. Abdullah, The Political Economy of Trade in Eighteenth-Century Basra, SUNY series in the Social and Economic History of the Middle East , 2000, ISBN 978-0-7914-4808-3
2. Clifford W. Hawkins, The dhow: an illustrated history of the dhow and its world
3. Too Late to Document Dhows?
4. The Traditional Dhow
5. Gardiner, Robert (2001 [1998]). The Victory of Seapower. Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-359-1. p. 89
6. The Traditional Dhow

External links

• Ghanjah and baghlah
• Hikoichi Yajima, The Arab dhow trade in the Indian Ocean : preliminary report
• Dhows
• The Historic Dhow
• The Dhow of Racing