Khalasi

Khalasis are skilled natives engaged in constructing handmade seagoing Uru boats at Beypore port town of Kerala, India.

The services of Khalasis were utilized by the Railways for retrieving the bodies from the water in the Peruman Rail Accident (July 1988).

Eventually a naval vessel building industry developed in Beypore, their main job was constructing Arab trading dhows.

From conception to completion, the designed is in the mind of the master carpenter or maistri of a yard, who assigns work to his assistants.

In present-day, urus are built on order for Arabs and royalty in Middle East as luxury yachts and floating restaurants.

The early Arab traders arrived in the Malabar Coast for export of spices taught the local natives their craft so that they could build dhows at Beypore and transfer it to their land.

Availability of superior quality teak from Nilambur could have been another reason why Arabs chose Beypore for construction of dhows, as there was a port and Chaliyar has deep waters.

[5] As the Khalasis exert pressure on the handles with the accompaniment of their traditional work songs that fill the entire atmosphere with vigour and vitality the huge mass.