Annamma Spudich
2009 Conference,
NCBS, Bangalore
The recent publication of Prof. K.S. Manilal's English translation of the 17th century Hortus Indicus Malabaricus (1) has renewed scholarly interest in other contemporary writings on Indian botanical medicines by European authors (2). Most of these books, with information drawn from age-old folk and classical medical traditions of India, are not widely known. They present traditional Indian knowledge classified according to European medicine, and are therefore complementary to that available from contemporary Indian sources. Also, as in the case of the Hortus Malabaricus, these and other similar works record regional folk medical knowledge often unavailable in their original localities.
Two European authors of 16th century books entirely devoted to Indian knowledge, Garcia da Orta and Christobal Acosta (3,4), were physicians who lived and worked in the west coast of India. They compiled their books from knowledge collected from local physicians and folk healers, substantiated by their own experimentations, for use in India and in Europe. These are important sources of early tropical medical knowledge of India. John Gerard, an apothecary and horticulturist working in London, reported on medicinal uses of plants of the ‘Indies’ used in Europe at the end of the 16th century (5). The remarkable accuracy of the woodcut illustrations in the book suggests that such knowledge was highly sought after and collected. Charles E'Cluse, professor and director of the Leiden Botanical Garden, combined and annotated earlier texts. He extended earlier writings by addition of commentaries and illustrations and created two volumes widely used in 17th century Europe as definitive texts on Indian botanical medicines (6). Correspondence between Samuel Brown, a surgeon based in Madras, and James Petiver, apothecary and Fellow of the Royal Society based in London, was published in eight issues of The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society at the end of the 17th century (7). Their correspondence record the folk medical knowledge of yet another Indian locality. These and other European botanical publications also afford fascinating glimpses into the culture of Indian scholars-physicians and traditional Indian knowledge during that period.
Manilal, K.S., van Rheede’s Hortus Malabaricus (Malabar Garden), English Edition, with annotations and modern botanical nomenclature, Vol 1-12., University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, 2003.
Spudich, A. “Such Treasure and Rich Merchandize: Indian Botanical Knowledge in 16th and 17th century European Books”, exhibition catalog, NCBS/TIFR, Bangalore, 2008
da Orta, Garcia, “Colloquies on the Simples, Drugs and materia medica of India and some of the fruits found there, and wherein matters are dealt with concerning practical medicine and other goodly things to know.” Goa 1563, English Translation by Clement Markham (Ed. and Translator) Hakluyt Society, London, 1913.
Acosta, Cristobel, “Tracto de las Drogas, y Medicinas de las Indias Orientalis,” Burgos, Spain, 1578.
Caroli Clusii (Charles E’Cluse), "Exoticorum libri decem: quibus animalium, plantarum, aromatum, aliorumque peregrinorum fructuum historiae describuntur: Item Petri Bellonis Observationibus,” Plantin, Antwerp, 1605.
Gerard, J., The Greate Herball or General Historie of Plants, Iohn Norton, London, 1597.
Petiver, J., An Account of Indian Plants etc., with their names Descriptions and Virtues; Communicated in a letter from Mr. James Petiver, Apothecary and Fellow of the Royal Society; to Mr. Samuel Brown, Surgeon at Fort St. George. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Vol. 20, 1698, pp313-335.