Indigenous knowledge and the significance of South- West India for Portuguese and Dutch constructions of tropical nature

Modern Asian Studies

Volumn 30, Issue 1, 1996, Pages 121-143

  Grove, Richard ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0042148844     PISSN: 0026749X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s0026749x00014104     Document Type: Article

References (85)

1. See P. E. Russell, 'Prince Henry the Navigator', Diamante, XI, 4 May 1960, pp. 1-30. Portuguese sailors actually entered 'unknown' waters when a vessel under Gil Eannes succeeded in rounding Cape Bojador, just S. of lat. 27 degrees N. in what is now the Saharan territory of Rio d'Oro. The Madeira archipelago was occupied in 1418-1420 and the Azores in 1439.
2. R. N. Kapil and A. K. Bhatnagar, 'Portuguese contributions to Indian botany', Isis, 67 (1976), pp. 449-52; and K. L. Mehra, 'Portuguese introductions of fruit plants into India', Indian Horticulture, 10 (1965) (1), pp. 8-12; (3), pp. 9-12; (4), pp. 23-5.
3. R. N. Kapil and A. K. Bhatnagar, 'Portuguese contributions to Indian botany', Isis, 67 (1976), pp. 449-52; and K. L. Mehra, 'Portuguese introductions of fruit plants into India', Indian Horticulture, 10 (1965) (1), pp. 8-12; (3), pp. 9-12; (4), pp. 23-5.
4. R. N. Kapil and A. K. Bhatnagar, 'Portuguese contributions to Indian botany', Isis, 67 (1976), pp. 449-52; and K. L. Mehra, 'Portuguese introductions of fruit plants into India', Indian Horticulture, 10 (1965) (1), pp. 8-12; (3), pp. 9-12; (4), pp. 23-5.
5. R. N. Kapil and A. K. Bhatnagar, 'Portuguese contributions to Indian botany', Isis, 67 (1976), pp. 449-52; and K. L. Mehra, 'Portuguese introductions of fruit plants into India', Indian Horticulture, 10 (1965) (1), pp. 8-12; (3), pp. 9-12; (4), pp. 23-5.
6. P. Maheshwari and R. N. Kapil, 'A short history of botany in India', Journal of the University of Gauhati, Vol. 9 (1958), pp. 3-32; G. King, 'The early history of Indian botany', Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1899), pp. 904-19.
7. P. Maheshwari and R. N. Kapil, 'A short history of botany in India', Journal of the University of Gauhati, Vol. 9 (1958), pp. 3-32; G. King, 'The early history of Indian botany', Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1899), pp. 904-19.
8. Although it should be said that Asian food plants probably reached West Africa via the old Sahelian trade routes; see Thurstan Shaw, Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 6 (1972), pp. 143-92.
9. Garcia da Orta, for example, knew of Indian plants, including Cassia fistula, that were grown in the garden of the convent of San Francisco de la Viega in San Domingo in the West Indies; da Orta, Coloquios, p. 115 [in the Markham translation, see fn. 12].
10. See John Brookes, Gardens of Paradise; the history and design of the great Islamic gardens (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1987), 240 pp.
11. George H. M. Lawrence, 'Herbals; their history and significance', in History of botany; two papers presented at a symposium at the Clark Memorial Library, UCLA, Los Angeles, 1965.
12. John Prest, The Garden of Eden (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1981). The titles of some popular English late seventeenth-century books on botany indicate that this purpose could also be fulfilled in a less elaborate way by the domestic garden, which developed rapidly in popularity between 1600 and 1700. Thus at least one book marketed in England in the 1650s was entitled 'The Garden of Eden', while many other garden or herbal instruction books stressed similar themes. See Plat, The Garden of Eden (Bellingham, London, 1654), and the account of the rise in popularity of seventeenth-century gardens in Keith Thomas, Man and the Natural World (Oxford University Press, 1983).
13. John Prest, The Garden of Eden (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1981). The titles of some popular English late seventeenth-century books on botany indicate that this purpose could also be fulfilled in a less elaborate way by the domestic garden, which developed rapidly in popularity between 1600 and 1700. Thus at least one book marketed in England in the 1650s was entitled 'The Garden of Eden', while many other garden or herbal instruction books stressed similar themes. See Plat, The Garden of Eden (Bellingham, London, 1654), and the account of the rise in popularity of seventeenth-century gardens in Keith Thomas, Man and the Natural World (Oxford University Press, 1983).
14. John Prest, The Garden of Eden (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1981). The titles of some popular English late seventeenth-century books on botany indicate that this purpose could also be fulfilled in a less elaborate way by the domestic garden, which developed rapidly in popularity between 1600 and 1700. Thus at least one book marketed in England in the 1650s was entitled 'The Garden of Eden', while many other garden or herbal instruction books stressed similar themes. See Plat, The Garden of Eden (Bellingham, London, 1654), and the account of the rise in popularity of seventeenth-century gardens in Keith Thomas, Man and the Natural World (Oxford University Press, 1983).
15. Joan Thirsk, Economic Policy and Projects (Oxford University Press, 1978); the main major exceptions to this rule are the works on the spice trade by Madeleine Ly-Tio-Fane, especially Mauritius and the Spice Trade (Port Louis, 1958).
16. Joan Thirsk, Economic Policy and Projects (Oxford University Press, 1978); the main major exceptions to this rule are the works on the spice trade by Madeleine Ly-Tio-Fane, especially Mauritius and the Spice Trade (Port Louis, 1958).
17. A. G. Morton, History of Botanical Science (Academic Press, London, 1981), p. 121. A fuller account of the early history of botanic gardens in Europe can be found in I. H. Burkill, Chapters in the History of Indian Botany (Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, 1965), pp. 3-4.
18. A. G. Morton, History of Botanical Science (Academic Press, London, 1981), p. 121. A fuller account of the early history of botanic gardens in Europe can be found in I. H. Burkill, Chapters in the History of Indian Botany (Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, 1965), pp. 3-4.
19. See Richard Patterson, 'The Hortus Palatinus at Heidelberg and the reformation of the world', The Journal of Garden History, 1 (1981), pp. 67-164.
20. Garcia da Orta, Coloquios dos simples e drogas he causas medicinais da India comportos pello Doutor Garcia da Orta, published at Goa April roth 1563 . This was the third book printed by the Portuguese in India; it was first published in English as Colloquies on the simples and drugs of India by Garcia da Orta, transi, by Sir Clements Markham FRS (London, Henry Southern, 1913). I quote page references from the 1913 translation.
21. Garcia da Orta, Coloquios dos simples e drogas he causas medicinais da India comportos pello Doutor Garcia da Orta, published at Goa April roth 1563 . This was the third book printed by the Portuguese in India; it was first published in English as Colloquies on the simples and drugs of India by Garcia da Orta, transi, by Sir Clements Markham FRS (London, Henry Southern, 1913). I quote page references from the 1913 translation.
22. Clusius, Historia . . . medicinal . . . India occidentales (Seville, 1567, 1569, 1571). The Coloquios was also a text included in his book on exotics entitled Exoticanm libre decem, Antwerp.
23. H. A. van Reede tot Drakenstein (1636-1691) [referred to here as 'Van Reede'], Hortus Indicus Malabaricus, Continent Regioni Malabarici apud Indos celeberrimi omnis generis Plantas rariores, 12 Vols (Amsterdam, 1678-1693 [Subsequently referred to as HM]).
24. The work of Alfred Crosby on 'ecological imperialism' (Ecological Imperialism, C.U.P., Cambridge, 1986), represents one especially useful approach to the studies of interactions between botany, ecology and colonizing societies, but concentrating mainly on the colonization of the 'white' New World by 'European' food plants.
25. E.g. Mark Elvin and Marika Vicziany, 'Ecology and the economic history of Asia', Asian Studies Review (1990), pp. 39-72; J. Kathiramby-Wells, 'Socio-political structures and the south-east Asian ecosystem; a historical perspective up to the mid-nineteenth century', in Ole Bruun and Arne Kalland (eds), Asian Perceptions of Nature (Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen, 1992); J. Baird Callicott and Roger T. Ames, Nature in Asian Traditions of Thought; essays in environmental philosophy (State University of New York Press, Albany, 1989).
26. E.g. Mark Elvin and Marika Vicziany, 'Ecology and the economic history of Asia', Asian Studies Review (1990), pp. 39-72; J. Kathiramby-Wells, 'Socio-political structures and the south-east Asian ecosystem; a historical perspective up to the mid-nineteenth century', in Ole Bruun and Arne Kalland (eds), Asian Perceptions of Nature (Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen, 1992); J. Baird Callicott and Roger T. Ames, Nature in Asian Traditions of Thought; essays in environmental philosophy (State University of New York Press, Albany, 1989).
27. E.g. Mark Elvin and Marika Vicziany, 'Ecology and the economic history of Asia', Asian Studies Review (1990), pp. 39-72; J. Kathiramby-Wells, 'Socio-political structures and the south-east Asian ecosystem; a historical perspective up to the mid-nineteenth century', in Ole Bruun and Arne Kalland (eds), Asian Perceptions of Nature (Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen, 1992); J. Baird Callicott and Roger T. Ames, Nature in Asian Traditions of Thought; essays in environmental philosophy (State University of New York Press, Albany, 1989).
28. J. Heniger, Hendrik Adriaan van Reede tot Drakenstein and Hortus Malabaricus; a contribution to the study of Dutch colonial botany (A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam/Boston, 1986); Bruno Latour, Science in Action (Open University Press, Milton Keynes, 1987).
29. J. Heniger, Hendrik Adriaan van Reede tot Drakenstein and Hortus Malabaricus; a contribution to the study of Dutch colonial botany (A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam/Boston, 1986); Bruno Latour, Science in Action (Open University Press, Milton Keynes, 1987).
30. E.g. see Rosalind O'Hanlon, 'Cultures of rule, communities of resistance; gender, discourse and tradition in S. Asian historiographies', in Social Analysis, No. 35 (September 1989).
31. C. R. Boxer et al., Exotic Printing and the Expansion of Europe 1492-1840 (Bloomington, Indiana, 1972).
32. See Burkill, Chapters in the History of Indian Botany, pp. 2-28.
33. Clusius's personal annotated copy of the Coloquios is held in the Cambridge University Library.
34. C. R. Boxer, 'Two pioneers of tropical medicine: Garcia d'Orta and Nicolas Monardes', Diamante, XIV (1963). pp. 1-33.
35. There is a further element respecting gender which should not be ignored. Some of the collecting and most of the cataloguing of Orta's specimens were carried out by Antonia, a local Konkani 'slave-girl'; Orta, Coloquios, p. xiii.
36. Orta, Coloquios, p. 7.
37. Ibid., p. 10.
38. Ibid., pp. 86-7.
39. Although he adds (p. 97), that 'we stick to the Malayali names, because this was the first land we knew'.
40. Ibid., p. 306.
41. Ibid., p. 483.
42. O. M. Jaggi, Ayurveda: Indian system of medicine (Atma Ram, Delhi, 1981), 256 pp.
43. Orta, Coloquios, p. 474.
44. See R. M. Grove, Green Imperialism (C.U.P., Cambridge, 1995), chap. 8.
45. Burkill, Chapters, p. 32.
46. See An account of the diseases, natural history and medicine of the East Indies, translated from the Latin of James Bontius, Physician to the Dutch settlement at Batavia, to which are added annotations by a physician (T. Noteman, London, 1769). Pages 165-231 of this book constitute an 'animadversion on Garcia da Orta'. For impact of Orta on Bontius see D. Schoute, De Geneeskunde in den dienst de Oost-Indische Compagnie in Nedertandisch-Indie (Amsterdam, 1929), pp. 119-30.
47. See An account of the diseases, natural history and medicine of the East Indies, translated from the Latin of James Bontius, Physician to the Dutch settlement at Batavia, to which are added annotations by a physician (T. Noteman, London, 1769). Pages 165-231 of this book constitute an 'animadversion on Garcia da Orta'. For impact of Orta on Bontius see D. Schoute, De Geneeskunde in den dienst de Oost-Indische Compagnie in Nedertandisch-Indie (Amsterdam, 1929), pp. 119-30.
48. Heniger, Van Reede; K. S. Manual, C. R. Suresh and V. V. Sivarajan, 'A reinvestigation of the plants described in Rheede's Hortus Malabaricus; an introductory report', Taxon, 26 (1977), pp. 549-50; K. S. Manilal (ed.), Botany and History of Hortus Malabaricus (New Delhi, 1989); K. S. Manilal, 'The epigraphy of the Malayalam certificates in Hortus Malabaricus', in Manual, Botany and History, pp. 113-20; M. Fournier, 'Hendrik van Reede tot Drakenstein en de Hortus Malabaricus', Spiegel Historiael, 13 (1978), pp. 577-8; M. Fournier, 'The Hortus Malabaricus of Hendrik van Reede tot Drakenstein', in Manilal, Botany and History.
49. Heniger, Van Reede; K. S. Manual, C. R. Suresh and V. V. Sivarajan, 'A reinvestigation of the plants described in Rheede's Hortus Malabaricus; an introductory report', Taxon, 26 (1977), pp. 549-50; K. S. Manilal (ed.), Botany and History of Hortus Malabaricus (New Delhi, 1989); K. S. Manilal, 'The epigraphy of the Malayalam certificates in Hortus Malabaricus', in Manual, Botany and History, pp. 113-20; M. Fournier, 'Hendrik van Reede tot Drakenstein en de Hortus Malabaricus', Spiegel Historiael, 13 (1978), pp. 577-8; M. Fournier, 'The Hortus Malabaricus of Hendrik van Reede tot Drakenstein', in Manilal, Botany and History.
50. Heniger, Van Reede; K. S. Manual, C. R. Suresh and V. V. Sivarajan, 'A reinvestigation of the plants described in Rheede's Hortus Malabaricus; an introductory report', Taxon, 26 (1977), pp. 549-50; K. S. Manilal (ed.), Botany and History of Hortus Malabaricus (New Delhi, 1989); K. S. Manilal, 'The epigraphy of the Malayalam certificates in Hortus Malabaricus', in Manual, Botany and History, pp. 113-20; M. Fournier, 'Hendrik van Reede tot Drakenstein en de Hortus Malabaricus', Spiegel Historiael, 13 (1978), pp. 577-8; M. Fournier, 'The Hortus Malabaricus of Hendrik van Reede tot Drakenstein', in Manilal, Botany and History.
51. Heniger, Van Reede; K. S. Manual, C. R. Suresh and V. V. Sivarajan, 'A reinvestigation of the plants described in Rheede's Hortus Malabaricus; an introductory report', Taxon, 26 (1977), pp. 549-50; K. S. Manilal (ed.), Botany and History of Hortus Malabaricus (New Delhi, 1989); K. S. Manilal, 'The epigraphy of the Malayalam certificates in Hortus Malabaricus', in Manual, Botany and History, pp. 113-20; M. Fournier, 'Hendrik van Reede tot Drakenstein en de Hortus Malabaricus', Spiegel Historiael, 13 (1978), pp. 577-8; M. Fournier, 'The Hortus Malabaricus of Hendrik van Reede tot Drakenstein', in Manilal, Botany and History.
52. Heniger, Van Reede; K. S. Manual, C. R. Suresh and V. V. Sivarajan, 'A reinvestigation of the plants described in Rheede's Hortus Malabaricus; an introductory report', Taxon, 26 (1977), pp. 549-50; K. S. Manilal (ed.), Botany and History of Hortus Malabaricus (New Delhi, 1989); K. S. Manilal, 'The epigraphy of the Malayalam certificates in Hortus Malabaricus', in Manual, Botany and History, pp. 113-20; M. Fournier, 'Hendrik van Reede tot Drakenstein en de Hortus Malabaricus', Spiegel Historiael, 13 (1978), pp. 577-8; M. Fournier, 'The Hortus Malabaricus of Hendrik van Reede tot Drakenstein', in Manilal, Botany and History.
53. Heniger, Van Reede; K. S. Manual, C. R. Suresh and V. V. Sivarajan, 'A reinvestigation of the plants described in Rheede's Hortus Malabaricus; an introductory report', Taxon, 26 (1977), pp. 549-50; K. S. Manilal (ed.), Botany and History of Hortus Malabaricus (New Delhi, 1989); K. S. Manilal, 'The epigraphy of the Malayalam certificates in Hortus Malabaricus', in Manual, Botany and History, pp. 113-20; M. Fournier, 'Hendrik van Reede tot Drakenstein en de Hortus Malabaricus', Spiegel Historiael, 13 (1978), pp. 577-8; M. Fournier, 'The Hortus Malabaricus of Hendrik van Reede tot Drakenstein', in Manilal, Botany and History.
54. Heniger, Van Reede, p. 3.
55. Van Reede, in his 'Preface' to volume 3 of Hortus Malabaricus, p. v.
56. Ibid.
57. Ibid.
58. Ibid.
59. Ibid. Van Reede refers to a trip he made from Tuticorin to Travancore, through high mountain areas [Netherlands Colonial Archives, Ref; Inv no 1142, pp. 702-831, quoted in Heniger, 'Preface', p. 43.]
60. Ibid., p. v.
61. Ibid.
62. Ibid., pp. iv-v.
63. Heniger, Van Reede, pp. 42-3.
64. Ibid., p. 41.
65. Ibid., p. 40.
66. Ibid., 43.
67. Ibid., p. 147.
68. Van Reede, in Preface to HM, volume 3 (1682): transi, in p. viii, Heniger, 'Preface', p. 47.
69. Van Reede, in Preface to HM, volume 3 (1682): transi, in p. viii, Heniger, 'Preface', p. 47.
70. See the discussion of the 12 volume herbarium, Plantae Malabaricae, at Gottingen, by Johnston, 'Still no herbarium records for Hortus Malabaricus', Taxon, 19 (1970), p. 665.
71. The Ezhavas were a Sudra caste whose traditional occupation was toddy-tapping. Many of them had an extensive knowledge of the medicinal value of plants and like Itti Achuden were Ayurvedic physicians who were very highly regarded by the community. Known as Vaidyars, these physicians based their knowledge on the works of their ancestors who were also physicians and the knowledge was thus handed down from generation to generation. Itti Achuden's texts were written in the Kolezuthu script that lower castes used, for they were prevented from learning the more sanskritized Aryazuthu script which was the preserve of the upper-castes of Nairs and Nambudris; for details of the Malayalam of the period see, A. Govindakutty, 'Some observations on seventeenth-century Malayalam', Indo-Iranian Journal, 25 (1983), pp. 241-73.
72. See Van Reede, Hortus Malabaricus, vol. 1 (Amsterdam, 1678).
73. Van Reede, Hortus Malabaricus, vol. 4, Plates 47-9.
74. Source; K. K. Sumitra, Vachaly Koroth House, Tellicherry.
75. Arnold Syen (1640-78) and Jan Commelin (1624-92), collaborated closely in Leiden in assembling materials for the Hortus Malabaricus, adding their own extensive commentaries.
76. C. Linnaeus, Flora Zeylanica Sistens Plantus Indicus Zeylonicae Insulae (Stockholm, 1747); A. W. Dennstedt, Schlussel zum Hortus Malabaricus, oder dreifaches Register zu diesem werk (Weimar, 1818).
77. C. Linnaeus, Flora Zeylanica Sistens Plantus Indicus Zeylonicae Insulae (Stockholm, 1747); A. W. Dennstedt, Schlussel zum Hortus Malabaricus, oder dreifaches Register zu diesem werk (Weimar, 1818).
78. Nicolson, Manilal and Suresh state (1988) that the papers at Collada House, in Allepey district, were alleged to have been lost 'seven years ago'.
79. See E. M. Beckman (ed.), The Poison Tree; selected writings of Rumphius on the Natural History of the Indies (University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, Mass., 1981).
80. Before this the gardens at Kaap Stad, Mauritius and Peredeniya were the only realizations of the kind of Hortus that van Reede seems to have had in mind. Their networking, however, was vastly inferior to that later set up by the French.
81. W. T. Stearn, The Influence of Leyden on Botany in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Leidse Voordrachten 37, Leiden, 1961).
82. Harvey's discovery of the mechanism of the circulation of the blood in 1616 is a case in point. Both Stephen Hales and François Quesnay (who were key eighteenth-century figures in the development plant physiology and economics respectively) were much interested in the circulation of the blood.
83. A. Du Quesne, A new voyage to the East Indies (Dring, London, 1696), p. 23.
84. P. J. Marshall and G. Williams, The Great Map of Mankind (Dent, London, 1982), pp. 45-7; J. Woodward, Brief instructions for making observations in all parts of the world (London, 1696).
85. P. J. Marshall and G. Williams, The Great Map of Mankind (Dent, London, 1982), pp. 45-7; J. Woodward, Brief instructions for making observations in all parts of the world (London, 1696).