Shanmugam Ias Academy

BEYPORE URU

Why in News?

Recently, the District Tourism Promotion Council, Kozhikode has applied for a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for the famous Beypore Uru (boat).

It is a wooden dhow (ship / sailing boat / sailing vessel) handcrafted by skilled artisans and carpenters in Beypore, Kerala.
The Beypore Urus are purely made of premium wood, without using any modern techniques.
The wood used to build the Uru is still sawed the traditional way which requires immense expertise.
It takes anywhere between 1-4 years to build each Uru and the entire process is done manually.
This traditional handicraft has been in existence for 2000 years.
Communities Involved in Uru-making:
The prominent people associated with Uru-making are Odayis and Khalasis.

Odayis:

They manage the technical matters of ship building.
Their family name comes from Odam (a type of small ship previously used in interactions/trade between the Malabar coast and Lakshadweep).

Khalasis:

They are also referred to as Mappila Khalasis as majority of them are Mappila Muslims.
They are world-famous for their skill and expertise in launching the completed Urus into the water by using only traditional methods.
The Khalasis are considered as pioneers in the ship-building industry and the Arab traders were especially enamoured of them, and were among the first major patrons of these vessels.

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