Used in Bangladesh/India region as a beamy cargo vessel, and today still used in the lower Ganges River basin.
Lengths between 12 and 20 meter, shallow draft
Crew 10 to 12.
At times reported to have transported soldiers, and in the mid-17th century, engaged in naval operations.
One type has a flat bottom, planked longitudinally, with athwartships planking over it, the two layers bolted together.
The sides clinker-built above hard chines; square stern; floor forced up at the bow and stern to produce a pronounced rocker.
Another type reported to be smooth-skinned with stapled strakes; these are double-ended and beamier. Crossbeams extended through hull just below top strake. A thatched deckhouse protects the cargo for most of the vessel’s length, as seen on the stamp. Above it is a platform from which the boatmen work. Uses a triangle, balanced rudder. Rowed, poled, or tracked from shore. Sometimes sets a rectangular sail.
Maldives Islands 1978 2l sg747 scott? (given by Gibbons as BATTELA)
Mostly copied from: the Dictionary of World watercraft, Aak to Zumbra.