@jhakjhorvaa महोदयेन मार्जितं कूजनम्।
Think its important to review the complaint in detail
१ भारतीयाः wallow in the past
२ All useless talk. No action
३ Feelgoodism
Basically, we need a new avatar to help us with research, show us the way & lead us ‘out of the wilderness’
This is the tweet topic
Hortus Malabaricus was 40 years ahead of Linnean classification & was basically compiled by vaidyas/botanists in S. India
The cognitive dissonance & embarrassment many भारतीयाः feel when reading a perfectly valid statement is an interesting phenomenon!
To answer @jhakjhorvaa महोदयः let us actually look at Hortus and what it says - and see whether the embarrassment is appropriate!
See the notes section
Please note the INDICI for the region and the year 1673
Post Modern historians - ‘India was never a cohesive unit’ 😂🤣
Now let us look at the authors, respected ‘native doctors’
itti achudem (Itti Achuthan from Cochin) & who is a ‘chego’ (Chekavan/Ezhava/Thiyya)
&
The ‘Brahmins/gymnosophists’ Ranga Botto, Vinaique Pandito & Apu Botto {Bhatt}
There goes caste/knowledge equation for a toss 🤣😂
Now let us look at the actual text
The first entry is Thengu/Coconut, a fitting topic given the Kerala origin of the ‘doctors’😂
Am sure Mal., Tam & coastal Kar. folks can translate the ‘scientific’ terminology used in Hortus
Thenga । Caricu । Bellaca । Cotta Tenga । Elani(r)
Let us look at a few other entries
Areca । Adakka । Cavunga । Carimpana
See terminology used. Check out the structured descriptions
Kadali । Bala ।Vazha ।Papaya ।
Nendra
Kadali Vazha
Scheru Kadal
Puam (😂)
Southern folks still eat all these ‘balas’ calling them the same names !
Also Papaya 👇🏼
Looking at flowering plants
The familiar Champaca, with a Samskritam name also
And Karnikaram!
Conna ।
The same beautiful flower (Cassia Fistula) which Monier Williams famously botched up! (next tweet)
Hortus gets it right - because the folks who ‘wrote’ it knew their stuff
Here is the MW Karnikaram discussion
So to close out this discussion
१ We were a knowledge super-power. No shame in that
२ We got colonized. No shame in acknowledging that also
३ Need to start re-building. The epistemological foundation exists even today
४ Can’t rely on ‘others’ to save us- Need to do our work!
Finally, instead of relying on hearsay & becoming victims of motivated gaslighting, we have resources to directly check out sources & evaluate information by ourselves
archive.org/details/Hortus…
For that, we need to invest in learning संस्कृतम्।
पठतु संस्कृतम्। जयतु भारतम्।
🙏🏼
Adding a few additional tweets on traditional knowledge systems, classification & sources of epistemic frameworks
Van Rheede talks about the highly evolved information matrix & the skills of the malabar medical practitioners (Vaidyas)
In addition, the tradition of “Ezhava Vaidyas” highlight how knowledge was developed & deployed among various practitioners & communities
Collatt Vaidyas are specifically highlighted & Itty Achuthan mentions how knowledge was categorized & transmitted through family sources
The book was seen as a significant / revolutionary work
Carl Linnaeus specifically mentions it and uses it as a reference to establish 250 new species
Unlike many other sudden flowerings of European ‘sciences’, the Indian source & influence is readily acknowledged here
Padma Shri (2020) K S Manilal has translated the work to Malayalam & English
He specifically mentions how Itty Achuthan dictated the material in Malayalam sourced from ‘palm leaf’ manuscripts
This Malayalam material was translated to Latin
We must internalize the following
१ Indian knowledge systems were very advanced
२ Colonization has had a severe adverse impact
३ Need to build a new knowledge model integrating current /cutting edge global scientific info within a revitalized भारतीय epistemic foundation
🙏🏼
Post script:
In order to signal the veracity of their statement, Vinayak Pandit, Apu & Ranga Bhatt writes their Konkani note specifically in Nagari!
स्वस्ति श्री शालिवाहन शाक १५९७…
The critical role of संस्कृतम् & देवनागरीलिपिः।
Konkani speakers can check the statements!
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