In an unexpected find, 7th-century palm-leaf fragments written in Proto-Grantha were recovered from a coral cave in the Comoros Islands. AI-assisted decipherment by the Maritime Archaeology Group has revealed the text to be a lost Sanskrit treatise on nautical hydrodynamics, specifically focusing on the design of ship hulls to minimize drag in turbulent Indian Ocean currents.
The treatise, titled 'Vahini-Sutra', details the use of parabolic curves in vessel construction and the application of organic resins to reduce surface friction. This discovery confirms that ancient Indian mariners not only traded across the 'Monsoon Seas' but also possessed a theoretical framework for fluid mechanics. The presence of these manuscripts in the Comoros suggests that Indian naval science was disseminated much further west into the Mozambique Channel than previously recorded.