Thread by @pvaal2

@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’

https://twitter.com/pvaal2/status/1092514530603732993

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!

https://twitter.com/pvaal2/status/1092514530603732993

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

https://twitter.com/pvaal2/status/1152221751063064578

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!