It was many months ago, while trawling the internet that I came across the mention (in a search result) of a young drummer from my hometown of Pallavur. The Chenda drummer’s name is Pallavur Sreedharan. I saw his name mentioned together with a popular IMAX movie and an audio CD. Later I met him at the temple the other day and mentioned it in passing, only to see him flummoxed. He recalled the visit of an American Sayip to Trichur and talked about the two days spent getting a lot of drumming filmed, but had not heard from him ever since. After I mentioned about the movie and the CD, he tried again to contact the producer, but has not succeeded to date. I tried to help him, but the tracks had faded out by then. But naturally, I thought, this is typically what happens to the humble enthusiastic toiler from a village.
This fortunately did not happen to Itty Achutan. Not only did this Ezhava Vaidhyer (doctor) collaborate with higher caste Brahmins in the two year effort, he rose to become the lead doctor and certifier in the team led by Van Rheeede when he set out to compile the legendary Hortus Malabaricus during the 17th century. Nevertheless, one must add, without the sponsorship of Van Rheede, and his formal certification and acknowledgement of Itty Achutan’s efforts, we would never have known about this master Vaidyar. Even after all this, the results of these stupendous efforts were unknown to India for many hundreds of years after Van Rheede left, and it was only a few years back that Dr Manilal completed the English and Malayalam translations of the magnum opus after a 35 year effort, working at the Calicut university.
This blog had been pending for a long time, and though I had been communicating with Dr Manilal on other matters, I had no access to numerous articles on this specific subject and related papers authored by him. I was also not aware that Dr Manilal had written a book about Itty Achutan’s role in creating much of the text and inputs for the Hortus Malabaricus, but alas that is also not available here for reference. Anyway, I had some time today and got into the research mode, trying to dredge out at least sufficient information for a blog post. The additional stimulus came while talking to my brother in India who is suffering from Kidney stones and who complained of the resulting renal colic. I recalled my own affliction some years back and my introduction to a popular capsule that not only reduced the possibility of infection, but also aided in the flushing out of the stone. It was made entirely of herbal oils, camphor & stuff like that, in Germany and the concoction must have been prepared ages ago. I recommended it to my brother and after I hung up, got thinking about the history of spices and their introduction in Europe, which as you may recall was primarily for medicinal purposes & preservation of meat. And all this reminded me once again of Itty Acuthan, the person behind the Hortus Malabaricus.
First let us read the chastising reminder from Al Beruni many years ago – The Hindus believe that there is no country but theirs, no nation like theirs, no kings like theirs, no religion like theirs, and no science like theirs. They are haughty, foolishly vain, self-conceited, and stolid. They are by nature niggardly in communicating that which they know, and they take the greatest possible care to withhold it from men of another caste among their own people, still much more, of course, from any foreigner.
But then, looking at the relationship between Rheede, Achutan and their team, it was not so, they formed a group of like minded individuals who were compelled to document their knowledge for posterity. Yes, one could debate if the Dutch planned to steal the knowledge for themselves in pursuit of profit, but at least from the Indian part it was a very co-operative effort. Or if you think back to those days when the caste system rigors were at their extreme, it could have been an act of rebellion, the Ezhava Vaidyer working with the foreigner who trusted him more than the upper castes who kept him and his clan apart, never respecting his knowledge. But it must also be remembered that the Cochin king was in full support of the project and must have goaded Itty Achutan into joining the team. Van Rheede’s acknowledgment and thanks to the king (I think it was in Vol3) is testament to this.
It also resulted in another first –Malayalam text was printed (note here that a facsimile was produced on copper plates and not printed as is done today using movable type) on paper for the first time. Incidentally, Itty Achutan not only spoke Malayalam, but also a bit of Portuguese, which he used to converse with the Dutch team (and an Italian missionary Fr Matthew) while preparing the book.
So what is Hortus Malabaricus?
Quoting excerpts from Wikipedia with some corrections, Hortus Malabaricus (meaning Garden of Malabar) is a comprehensive treatise that deals with the medicinal properties of the flora in the Indian state of Kerala. Originally written in Latin, it was compiled over a period of nearly 15 years and published from Amsterdam during 1678-1693. The book was conceived by Hendrik van Rheede, who was the Governor of the Dutch administration in Cochin at the time. The book has since been translated by Dr. K. S. Manilal into English and Malayalam. Prominent among the Indian contributors were the Ezhava Itty Achudan and three Gouda Saraswat Brahmins named Ranga Bhat, Vinayank Pundit and Appu Bhat. The ethno medical information presented in the work was extracted from palm leaf manuscripts in the possession of Itty Achudan. The entire effort was managed, promoted and financed thanks to the Dutch governor Hendrik Adriaan van Reede tot Drakenstein. The Hortus Malabaricus comprises 12 volumes of about 500 pages each, with 794 copper plate engravings. Over 742 different plants and their indigenous sciences are considered in the book. As part of the project, all the country around was diligently searched and fresh specimens brought to Cochin by Achutan and his team, where the Carmelite Fr Matthews and others sketched them, with striking accuracy. A description of each plant was written in Malayalam and thence translated into Portuguese, by a resident at Cochin, named Emmanuel Carneiro. The Secretary to the Government, Herman Van Douep, translated it into Latin. The whole seems then to have passed under the supervision of another learned individual named Casearius, a personal friend of Van Rheede.
I must also add here that the book was actually a collective effort of a number of Viadyar’s of the area, North & South Malabar and some Dutch, Portuguese and Italians. To get to the work itself and how van Rheede came about planning it, please check out an earlier blog.
Van Rheede now looked for a man who could provide information on and help make precise drawings of these plants, describe them, including their medicinal use, since this could reduce the medical expenses of the Company. Thus he found the local expert Itty Achutan and then went on to form a team for the task.
Karappuram Kadakkarappally Kollattu Veettil Itty Achuthan
The Hortus Indicus Malabaricus speaks in its preface about Vaidyar (doctor) Itty Achuthan, a reputed vaidyar of the Ezhava Chekavar community as the main force behind the book.
Richard Grove introduces Itty Achutan aptly - among them were families of Vaidyar traditional doctors, highly esteemed Ayurvedic medical practitioners, whose occupation was passed down in a lineage from father to son, along with bulky collections of books and papers (in palm leaf format) containing hundreds of years of accumulated medico-botanical knowledge. Itti Achuden was probably the best known of these low-caste Vaidyar physicians.
After having selected his field staff led by Itty Achutan, Rheede split the team (varying widely according to historians as constituting 25-100 in all) into many groups of three who were sent into the forests. Three or four illustrators (not Fr Matthews as I originally thought) stationed with Rheede made a sketch of the plant as soon as the specimen was brought to them and Van Rheede personally certified the accuracy of each of them.
Now we come to the interesting part of the team effort carried out in the two tumultuous years between 1674-1676. Rheede was under pressure to leave and Van Goens and team were ramping up the political pressure from Ceylon. The work moved at a rapid pace, as the inputs were tabulated, sketched and collated, editorial analysis was done by a board of 15 scholars, physicians and botanists. Donep who translated to Latin was also a product of the Kottayam school of 1674 that I mentioned in a previous blog (Hasencamp’s school in Kottayam where Dutch, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Latin were taught). Carnerio incidentally was a Parangi Tupas of mixed race. Rheede was very happy with his motley group which collaborated with a single purpose, Brahmins (Ranga Bhatt, Vinayaka Pandit & Apu Bhatt) and non Brahmins, each were trying to win favor with their results. They did their best to ensure that they did not disgrace themselves and the competition between them was fierce. The debates were vehement, with the Brahmins referring to old texts and quoting sages and medical works, but with the team eventually arriving at acceptable conclusions.
Mohan Ram in his paper provides the following additional information about Itty Achuden as he understood from Dr Manilal.
Itty Achudem was born in the Collada family, famous for hereditary physicians in a place called Codakkarapalli of Carappuram, situated about 25 km south of Cochin. He belonged to the Ezhava caste, who were then treated as untouchables by the Malabar Hindu community. The head of the family who practiced medicine was known as Collatt Vaidyan. When a Collatt Vaidyan died, his practice and title went to his (eldest) son. The Collatt Vaidyans maintained a family book consisting of several volumes of palm leaf manuscripts in Kolezhuthu Malayalam, in which were recorded names of medicinal plants, methods of preparation and application of drugs and the illnesses for which they were used. The family book not only served as a guide, but was in turn constantly enriched by recording the experiences of the individual physician of a new generation.
Looking at the published certifications, one may wonder …Why did Itty Achutan write in Vattezhuthu while Carneiro used the Ariezhuthu script during the same period? It appears that the Ezhava caste used traditional old script as they were not formally lettered (in those cruel days only upper castes had traditional schooling) whereas the Tupas Carneiro used the formally taught and modern Ariezhuthu. Emmanuel Carneiro, the interpreter of the VOC, was born, married and residing at Cochin, educated at the Kottayam School. The Carneiro certificate in the original book also states that the original text was dictated in both Portuguese and Malayalam by the team.
The plants were arranged at the University of Leiden garden exactly as prescribed by Achuden and his fellow Ezhavas in the Hortus (This recreation of the arrangement lends some credence to the rumor that Achutan went to Amsterdam). Linnaeus subsequently adopted the same Ehzava method of classification in 1740, as did many other scientists who followed.
The Itty Certificate can be translated as follows
As intended by the hereditary Malayalam physician born in Kollada house in Kodakarapalli village of Karappurma and residing therein. Having come to Cochin fort on the orders of Coomodore Van Rheede and having examined the trees and seed varieties described in this book, the descriptions of and the treatment with each of them known from our books and classified as in the illustrations and notes and explained in detail to Manuel Carnerio, the interpreter of the Hon company, clearing doubts thus supplied the information as accepted without any doubt by this gentlemen of Malabar (attested 20th April 1675)
Carneiro states in his certification as follows
Note: many translations provide the date of 20th for Carnerio's certificate but it is actually the 19th as confirmed by Dr Manilal.
However a detailed analysis of the Malayalam names from the book by Dr Manilal and Govindan Kutty actually reveal that the names came from various parts of Malabar and various Malayalam dialects, not just the understanding of Itti Achutan from the Chertalai region. Note here that a third certificate by the Bhat’s can also be found in the book.
Another famous Botanist of the past who acknowledges Achutan’s contributions is Johan Jacob Scheuchzer who lists in his book Bibliotheca Natural history an entry which starts thus - Dr Itty Achudem who in 1670 put in efforts to produce the Hortus Malabaricus.............
And as it turned out, Rheede who had also planned a Hortus Africus died in 1691 without starting this next project. The last volume of Hortus Malabaricus was published in 1693.
A few words about the illustrators - Many articles mention Fr Matthews as the illustrator or as a member of the team.While the first draft of the HM had a few pen sketches provided by Fr Mathews, they were found to be innacurate and substandard by Van Rheede and others. As Rheede himself explained, the old father provided much input and association to the work, but the pen sketches provided were woefully inadequate. The final illustrations were made by a team of artists most notably Antoni Jacobs Goedkint and Marciles Splintjer.
But whatever happened to Achutan?
Mohan Ram states in his paper – Nothing is known about the date or year of Itty Achuden’s birth or about his descendants. All efforts by Manilal to trace Itty Achuden’s life after the compilation of Hortus Malabaricus have failed. It is said that Itty Achuden put the family book in a cane (rattan) basket and passed it on to a Konkani Brahmin neighbor for safe keeping, as he was leaving his home for a long time. There is a story in his village that he was taken to the Netherlands by the Dutch. This has yet to be verified, as the Dutch kept accurate records of all passengers arriving or leaving their ports by boat. It is also believed that the Konkani family returned the cane basket and its contents to the head of the Collatt family. There were no more physicians left in the family and the priceless treasure of the documentary record of medicinal knowledge (Some say the book is titled Keralaramam) got destroyed some time in 1963 or thereabouts. Curiously the basket still survives! Manilal informs me that members of Itty Achuden’s family had maintained a small thatched hut called Vilakku Maadam for several generations, to worship their ancestors by lighting an oil lamp every evening. As Itty Achuden was probably the last of the ancestral vaidyans, a lamp continues to be lit even today in his memory.
Today Linnaeus and Burman are extolled as fathers of modern botany whereas the man behind much of it, the Vaidyer Itty Achutan has passed into oblivion. Or, maybe not since Karl Ludwig Blume, a botanist of renown decided that Achuthan should be honored and thus named an entire plant family in his name during the 19th century. The Achudemia family is named after Itty, and seems native to China and Japan, though found worldwide.
In Kerala, not many know of Achutan or his inputs, though the practice of Ayurveda continues with increasing awareness. There are many Ayurvedic institutions and colleges formed to pass on the knowledge to the future generations. Even so, you can find Ayurvedic herbal medicines like Dashamoolarishtam promoted by contemporary medicine houses like Dabur and advertised with popular film actresses.
So when you see Juhi Chawala chirp on TV about this medicine or when some global drug company patent a ‘kashayam’, give forgotten stalwarts like Itty Achutan a thought…..
References
Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens and the Origins - Richard H. Grove
Hendrik Adriaan van Reede tot Drakenstein (1636-1691) and Hortus Malabaricus -J. Heniger
Asia in the making of Europe, Volume 3 - Donald F. Lach ((), Edwin J.Van Levy
The Dutch power in Kerala, 1729-1758 - M. O. Koshy
Asia in the making of Europe, Volume 3, Book 2 - Donald F. Lach
Indigenous Knowledge and the Significance of South-West India for Portuguese and Dutch Constructions of Tropical Nature: Richard Grove
On the English edition of Van Rheede’s Hortus Malabaricus by K. S. Manilal (2003) - H. Y. Mohan Ram
Pics
Dhatura pic – tribune
Wikipedia
Hub pages
Miscellany
And of course there is the Malabar botanical garden in Calicut- The garden has a herbal garden, Hortus Malabaricus garden and `star forest’ apart from water plants. It has a total area of 40 acres and has been dedicated to the memory of Itty Achuthan Vaidyar, who helped in the compilation of Hortus Malabaricus.
Interestingly, the first volume of HM bears an engraving of a large garden and a summerhouse bearing a tablet reading `HORTUS INDICUS MALABARICUS', so much so that, the area in Fort Kochi where the garden was cultivated is still referred to as `Odatha' (Malayalam version for the word Hortha) and vestiges of the wall still remain
20 comments:
"appears that the Ezhava caste used traditional old script as they were not formally lettered (in those cruel days only upper castes had traditional schooling)"
This is not true unless conditions drastically changed by mid 18th century.
Please check Dharampal's Beautiful Tree which quotes only from results of surveys carried out by the British about traditional pathashala-s (and thus cannot be excused as something cooked up by upper castes). The majority of teachers in them were those referred to as shUdra-s.
A sample summary:
No. of Native schools and Colleges in Madras Collectorate: 305
No. of brahmin male scholars: 358
No. of brahmin female scholars: 1
No. of vaishya male scholars: 789
No. of vaishya female scholars: 9
No. of shudra male scholars: 3506
No. of shudra female scholars: 113
No. of Harijan and avarNa male scholars: 313
No. of Harijan and avarNa female scholars: 4
No. of Muslim male scholars: 143
No. of Muslim female scholars: 0
1. Congratulations for the studious blog. In these hectic days there is no time to read completly. Hence a few opinions based on previous studies of the Hortus English translation.
2. The photo of Itti Achudan is not of any person, living or dead.
Because, it is a pure conceptual drawing done by my friend, artist Babu kandanad. There is no portrait painting of Itti Achutan, included in the original or recent English version of Hortus Malabaricus. And, in that period people were not posed as in this portrait.Eg: Van Reede's painting.
Hence it is not wise to include a cenceptual portrait as of a famous personality.
3. Everybody gives a translation of Itti Achutan's certificate. Who has decifered the ancient script ie.Kolezhuthu. Give the exact pronounciation of the wordings so that others can consider their credibility. This is said because the certificate of Konkani Brahmins is translated by a person who does not know the Konkani language. For example, in the said certificate ending it is said that they have worked for two years. But the actual word is Dani, which means 'more than ten' years, while the translator considered it as Doni, which means two (years).
4. A studious person prepared to spend time will find many other mistakes and anomalies. I have pointed out only a few ones. Balance later. Good Reading.
thanks julian for your comment.
while there were some ezhavas who were very well educated, there were a good majority from the tradesmen category who did not have the same opportunities that were evenly available to the higher classes.
Thanks VK Shenoy..
thanks for the clarification on the Itty Achutan picture.Perhaps you must suggest a correction to the Wikipedia guys too.
In a way all paintings, especially portraits are likenesses only and have in the old times been grossly exaggerated to get the subject looking better. So even paintings of kings and queens may not have represented the original!!
But point taken, this one is entirely imaginary..
van Rheede's portrait is indeed his..
regarding the translation, I will check and revert. recently I received copy of KS Manilal's book on Itty Achtan and will check to see if it has an exact translation..
In this short article, I endeavored to introduce the characters of the period and the subject briefly, and thus did not really get into the specifics like checking the translation of the certificates etc in greater detail. for me seeing something in Malyalam in the Hortus malbaricus itself was a revelation..
lastly I am very thankful for your valuable comments. Now you have given me a project to work on..
Many thanks, Mr Maddy, for your post of 19th. February, 2012.
First of all, why don't you give your real name in such a descriptive research work.
Regarding Hortus Malabaricus there ate so many anomalies. There is a big tug of war going on in Mathrubhumi Weekly, Dtd.1st.Jan. 2012. onwards. It is like in the old tale of six blind men describing an elephant, by touching its various body parts.
For the time being just one misconception of all concerned:-
Everyone, including Manilal and Iqbal consider Malabar as Kerala. This is utterly wrong. In Volume 3 of Hortus, VanReede clearly says on page XII (bottom) in his Preface To The Benevolent Readers, that "The Malabar region ... extends from the City of Goa to the promontory of Comorin... etc." Please read this, & decipher the consequences. For the time being this is enough. After your opinion I will proceed further. Till then good reading and perusal.
Thanks Mr Shenoy.
My pen name is Maddy, real name being Ullattil Manmadhan.
Regretfully I am not aware of the Mathrubhumi issues.
I will try to find it and check it out. Regarding the definition of malabar, it is a little difficult as different writers have written it differently. While convention established between Mt Deli & Comari, the Portuguese extenbded it to Goa which the dutch followed. Then again earlier Arab seamen used it upto Thana at times.
I have since got the kolezhuthu transcript that you asked and will post it soon.
perhaps this related article might interest you
http://historicalleys.blogspot.com/2009/04/rani-of-cochin-van-reede-and-hortus.html
I forgot to add. see the map on the right bottom of the blog, meant to show the malabar coastline. I believe it was from the Dutch period.
Thanks for your prompt response. Regarding the Malabar region, we have to take into consideration Van Reede's specification, given in his Preface in Vol.3.
By the way have gone through any of the volumes of Hortus? If not there is no meaning in proceeding further. Because that is the only record of that period we have access to refer to. So much for the time being.
thanks VKS..
Botany does not interest me, so I have not spent hours studying the Latin HM..
It is only the period, people & history that interest me.
To: Maddy.
In April 2012, we were visiting Michigan in United States for the graduation of our nephew from University of Michigan. We stayed at Sheraton in Novi. Two “paintings” prominently displayed in our room were those of some plants. But the paintings had no signatures nor anything in English. But I was pleasantly surprised to see the captions in 3 languages: Latin, Mal (for Malayalam) and Arabic!
So I wrote to the hotel manager as to know something about the paintings. They did not have any details except that “… the artwork is 17th century hand-colored botanical engravings that were photo mechanically reproduced into the art lithographs.”
Upon further search by myself, I found out that they were from Hortus Malabaricus. It was the Wikipedia and your blog on Itty Achuthan that steered me in the right direction. Thank you very much for such an excellent article. It was clear, succinct, and basic enough for a novice like myself to understand.
I have enjoyed reading your other blogs. They are all excellent.
Thank you very much.
K.Ramachandran
(krchandran@hotmail.com)
thanks mr Chnadran..
glad it was illuminating..
and we must all thank Mr Manilal for his tireless work on this subject
I read what is given about Hortus Malabaricus. It is heard that this book has ancient house names of Kerala. Do you have any idea of it? I do not have a copy of to check and I do not know the Dutch version in internet.
Could you please help?
I shall be thankful to you, if you do so.
Sincerely,
Aji Matthew
nazarethindia@gmail.com
Thanks Aji..
Hortus malabaricus is available in malayalam & english as well, thanks to Dr Manilal. Check around in Kerala, it is a 12 volume book
The making of Hortus had two stages.One where Br. Mathew,Ranga Bhat,Vinayak Pandit and Appu Bhat were involved.But the Dutch Botanist Paul Herman pointed out this to Van Rheed and asked him to get better pictures of parts of plant and seek the person who knew local language.So Itty Achuthan was brought in .But the Ranga Bhat and others continued.Since they were present in both the stages their contributions cannot be ignored.The 5th certificate appearing in the Vol.1. of Hortus is given by them in Konkani.Since it was in Konkani no body could understand about their contributions.The 6th certificate given by Vinayak Pandit for self and others in Portuhuese has been wrongly translated.This has been pointed out by Sri.Purushotham Mallya and Balakrishna Mallaya in their books.Ranga Bhat and other two belonged to GSB community who were migrated from Goa.They have neither political or financial backing and hence their contributions are ignored.Last year in February there was a seminar in Goa organised by Konkani Akademi and Dept. of Archives &Archaeology ,Goa.Since Govt. have ignored their contributions Local People are planning a Memorial for the Trio In Kochi.
Thanks Mr pai
for the inputs, appreciated..
Hello
I'm interested in the K. S. Manilal translation of the book Hortus Malabaricus. I can't find it on the internet.
thanks.
if you would please post a link to it, or atleast tell me if you can send it in a email.
MArcus
No - I do not believe you can find this on the internet. Perhaps you can find the original on the net if you look around, not the English translation.
https://archive.org/details/HortusMalabaricus
check this link if you want to buy the english book
http://www.hindu.com/2004/02/19/stories/2004021911630300.htm
Hi---I can't find another way to contact you, so I hope it's ok if I ask whether I might quote some of this article to accompany an illustration from the Hortus Malabaricus, in a post on my blog https://secretgardening.wordpress.com/,
with all attributions & a link, of course.
I'm a little confused by what-all is contained in this site, but what I've read of yours is fascinating. I have to read more carefully & try to sort it all out.
Thank you
Cassandra Silver
Cassandra,
Thanks and you are welcome, please go ahead..
BTW all the articles in the three blogsites - historic alleys, maddys ramblings and musical avenues are written by me...Do let me know which one was confusing, i would be pleased to clarify/elebaorate
Dear Maddy,
I saw the word Ezhava Chekavar Chekavar in below paragraph
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Karappuram Kadakkarappally Kollattu Veettil Itty Achuthan
The Hortus Indicus Malabaricus speaks in its preface about Vaidyar (doctor) Itty Achuthan, a reputed vaidyar of the Ezhava Chekavar community as the main force behind the book.
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Chekavar is not caste or race identification name but that was a honor for martial arts experts after an Ankham fight. this term can see only in akkan pattukal(northern Ballads-north kerala) and some Tamil scripts
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