Horticulture during the medieval times occupied a pride of place in society. Because the practitioners as a rule were without alphabetism not much was committed to paper. Transfer of knowledge being primarily oral, and mode of training being in service, commitment to paper did not cover much operational detail vital for replication. Such limitations drastically limit the availability of manuscript material on horticulture. Translated manuscript in hand seems to be the primary source written in 16th century from where where all others have derived their information. Based on floral content, it is obvious that the manuscript is Indian and not a copy of some central Asian source. Most interesting aspect of the text deals with the grafting methods where the author also discusses the advantages that it offers for fruit improvement. The text poses some serious conceptual problems in the section where it deals with grafting transcending even the boundaries of Taxonomical Families. If replicated, such grafts open up new visions not only in fruit improvement but also in our understanding of plant physiology and cellular levels operation of genetic process. From the text it comes out that until 19th century Indian horticulturist was in no way lagging behind his European counterpart. Indian lag emerged because of British policy during the 19th century and was due to official interventions. It seems the translation in hand is the first translation from Persian into English of a complete and standard source. In order to avoid confusion in fruit name in the end we have given a dictionary where correspondence could be established between Persian. Hindustani, English and Latin names. Text provides corresponding botanical napes of all plants discussed.
Medieval Indian Horticulture: English Translation of the Text from Ganj Badaward of Khanzaman Amanullah Khan Firuzjang
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Title
Medieval Indian Horticulture: English Translation of the Text from Ganj Badaward of Khanzaman Amanullah Khan Firuzjang
Author
Edition
1st ed.
Publisher
ISBN
8189441035
Length
xxvi+128p., Illustrations; Bibliography; Index; 22cm.
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