I Read a Book! The Rise and Fall of a Brown Water Navy

I recently happened to read The Rise and Fall of a Brown Water Navy: Sarkhel Kanhoji Angre and Maratha Seapower on the Arabian Sea in the 17th and 18th Centuries, written by Anirudh Deshpande and Muphid Mujawar. Admittedly I was particularly drawn to the idea of reading about the brown water navy, but the book focuses more on the Angres and their navy¹.

That said, it’s still an illuminating case study on the interactions between a regional Indian authority and competing powers (Indian and colonial). One phenomenon familiar to the 21st-century reader is that of a regional force holding its own against a technologically superior foe using “home turf” advantages. In this case this takes the form of colonial powers fielding bigger and more heavily armed ships, and thus outgunning Indian ones. Indian powers tended to rely on a combination of land forces and brown water navies, as opposed to blue water ones (on the high seas)². Knowledge of the coasts and their topography could be used to set ambushes and leverage experience with land combat into naval successes.

Another is the nature of the competition between local Indian powers. Indeed, the Angres were often challenged by a coalition of a colonial power and an Indian one, the former attacking by sea and the latter overland. On the flip side, the Angres would themselves exercise autonomy (even issuing their own trade licenses), despite nominally owing fealty to the Maratha head.

Power struggles around Maratha ascension in the Mughal wake are an integral part of the Angre story, with Kanhoji himself drawing legitimacy through the saranjam system that Rajaram was compelled to resort to.

All in all, a solid read. It isn’t very long, making it quick work particularly if one is familiar with the players around the Konkan at the time. Would recommend.