Samudra Sampada: Vedic Wisdom and The Sustainable Roots of India's Blue Economy

Abstract

Abstract The Blue Economy paradigm, which emphasizes the sustainable use of ocean and marine resources for economic growth while preserving ecological health, is often framed as a contemporary policy innovation. This paper argues that India’s Blue Economy vision finds deep resonance in its ancient Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), particularly the maritime traditions of the Vedic period. Drawing on references from the Rig Veda, Atharva Veda, and other Vedic literature, the study traces how ancient Indian communities engaged with the sea through navigation, ship building and coastal trade while embedding this engagement within a cosmological worldview that treated the ocean (Samudra) as sacred and its resources as finite. The paper draws on the symbolism of Samudra Manthan, the mythological churning of the ocean, as a metaphor for extracting value from marine resources through effort, patience and balance rather than extraction alone. Using a historical interpretive approach, the study connects archaeological evidence of ancient port infrastructure e.g. Lothal and textual references to maritime deities such as Varuna with the three pillars of the modern Blue Economy framework ie. economic growth, environmental sustainability and social equity. The paper concludes that reviving IKS based principles of restraint, reverence and reciprocity toward marine ecosystems can meaningfully inform India’s contemporary Blue Economy policy, offering an indigenous, culturally rooted complement to global sustainability frameworks.