Hortus Malabaricus

"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 30 years and published from Amsterdam during 1678-1703.cite book|last=Reede tot Drakestein |first=Hendrik van |title=Hortus Indicus Malabaricus :continens regni Malabarici apud Indos cereberrimi onmis generis plantas rariores, Latinas, Malabaricis, Arabicis, Brachmanum charactareibus hominibusque expressas ... |publisher=Amstelaedami :sumptibus Johannis van Someren, et Joannis van Dyck |year=1678-1703 |url=http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/707 |accessdate=2008-09-09 |language=Latin] The book was conceived by Hendrik van Rheede, who was the Governor of the Dutch administration in Kochi (formerly Cochin) at the time. The book has since been translated by Dr. K. S. Manilal into English and Malayalam.cite web
publisher=The Hindu
url=http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/08/stories/2006120801800200.htm
title=The University of Kerala brings out a Malayalam version of Hortus Malabaricus
accessdate=2006-12-23] cite web
publisher=The Hindu
work=Campus Jottings
url=http://www.hindu.com/2004/02/19/stories/2004021911630300.htm
title=English reprinting of Hortus Malabaricus
accessdate=2006-12-23]

Van Rheede is said to have taken a keen personal interest in the compilation of the "Hortus Malabaricus". The work was edited by a team of nearly a hundred including physicians, professors of medicine and botany, amateur botanists (such as Arnold Seyn, Theodore Jansson of Almeloveen, Paul Herman, Johannes Munnicks, Joannes Commelinus, Abraham a Poot), Indian scholars and "vaidyans" (physicians) of Malabar and adjacent regions, and technicians, illustrators and engravers, together with the collaboration of company officials, clergymen (D. John Caesarius and Carmelite Mathaeus of St. Joseph). Van Rheede was also assisted by the King of Cochin and the ruling Zamorin of Calicut. Prominent among the Indian contributors were Itty Achudan and three Gouda Saraswat Brahmins named Ranga Bhat, Vinayank Bhat and Appu Bhat.cite book
author =A. Sreedhara Menon.
year = 1999
title =Kerala History and its makers
publisher = S Vishwanathan Pvt. Ltd.

] The ethnomedical information presented in the work was extracted from palm leaf manuscripts by a famous practitioner of herbal medicine named Itty Achudan.The comprehensive nature of the book is noted by Whitehouse in his "Historical Notices of Cochin":

The "Hortus Malabaricus" comprises 12 volumes of about 500 pages each, with 794 copper plate engravings. The first of the 12 volumes that comprise the book was published in 1678, and the last in 1703. It is believed to be the earliest comprehensive printed work on the flora of Asia and the tropics.cite web
publisher=Vedamsbooks.com
work=Review
url=https://www.vedamsbooks.com/no30523.htm
title=Hortus Malabaricus/Hendrik A. Van Rheede tot Draakestein
accessdate=2006-12-23] Mentioned in these volumes are plants of the Malabar region which in his time referred to the stretch along the Western Ghats from Goa to Kanyakumari. The book gives a detailed account of the flora of Kerala, along with sketches and detailed descriptions. Over 742 different plants and their indigenous science are considered in the book. The book also employs a system of classification based on the traditions adopted by the pre-ayurvedic practitioners of that era. Apart from Latin, the plant names have been recorded in other languages viz. Sanskrit, Arabic and Malayalam.

ee also

* K. S. Manilal
* Itty Achudan
* History of Kerala
* Geography of Kerala
* Dutch East India Company

References

External links

* [http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/b11939795 Download an open-access version of "Hortus Malabaricus"] from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
* [http://www.archive.org/details/reviewofreferen00dillrich Review of reference to Hortus Malabaricus]
* [http://www.indiasocial.org/cgi/news.asp?id=2890&sel=4 325-year-old Dutch work on Kerala's plant wealth revived]
* [http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/08/stories/2006120801800200.htm Malayalam version of Hortus Malabaricus]
* [http://www.hindu.com/2004/02/19/stories/2004021911630300.htm `Hortus Malabaricus' - a feather in the varsity's cap]