Nature and ecology of east

Nature and ecology of the East:-

There are two schools of thought about history of east and its ecology called 1.Golden Ageists and subalternists & 2.statistical/empiricists .Though their ideology and methods of study differ, somewhere I find these two views having a convergent point. The integration of the third method known as Oxford tradition gives a better understanding of the entire state of affairs.
I had been a practicing Pathologist throughout my life. I had done some research on children with Leukemia in 1977 onwards and on many other types of cancers and on role of environment and food on cancer epidemiology and when there was an environmental pollution in Chaliar near Medical college Hospital where I was practicing ,I went into details of environmental pollution ,food insufficiency and disease relationships.

The fact remains that the doctors of East India Company Medical service in 19th century made the first revolutionary change in the consciousness of ecology of Europe cannot be forgotten. The fact that the cyclical action and reaction of deforestation, lack of rain, lack of food grain,famine,disease and nutritional deficiency that lead them to this .In Oxford dictionary the environment is “That which environs;especially those conditions or influences under which any person or thing lives or is developed”.Southern Karnataka and Kerala had human inhabitations on granite hills in Neolithic times before BC 3000(pp 48 Nature and Orient)and they did Punam krishi and protected cattle(Bos indicas)and mined goal, and exported gold, cattle ,timber and other forest produce. From 6000 BC to 300 BC they continued this activity but not much destruction of races or environment happened .
In 326 BC when Alexander came Punjab was dense forests (Spate &Learmonth ch 2 .George Erdosy.Nature and orient pp 51).In AD 11th century when Gazani Mohammad came,Yamuna and her banks were full of trees .Til 19th century entire Ganga banks were forests. The first tree for railway was cut from bank of Ganga.
Indian Ecology in Foreigners eyes:-
Heradotus heard of India from Persians and wrote that India has giant ants that do mining of gold and giant foxes etc.(Was the Persian accounts about ancient Dinosaurs?)In Mahabharata (2.48.4)it is said that tax of gold upto an ant(pipeelika)to be given. Probably this saying had traveled to Persia and to Greece.Heradotus says that the earth’s end is blessed by nature and is fertile. He wrote:_”In India ,which, as I observed lately ,is the furthest region of the inhabited world towards the east ,all the four-footed beasts and the birds are very much bigger than those found elsewhere, except only the horses”. He said Indians respect beasts and plants and will not destroy their life. This protection of nature and ecology was the hallmark of India. In 509 BC the Captain of Darius Skylax of Karianda came to Indus river and wrote about the plants there: But what he wrote is not available now. One sentence quoted as his is:-On either side of Sindhu is high mountains In them there are evergreen forests. And several thorny Kunara(Wild roses called Kunosbatos according to Theophrastus .)After 80 yrs of death of Socrates ,Aristoxanes speaks of an Indian sanyasin who saw Socrates and talked with him. What they talked is unknown. Since Socrates was not interested in ecology it must be philosophy. In 416 BC in the durbar of Darius 2nd under Artacserxus was the vaidya Tessias of Nidos.He hadn’t come to India but had written “Indica”from whatever was heard from Persia. This book also is lost but Aristotle quotes from it several times. For a vaidya the plants as medicines in India was a subject interesting .The Indian spices being famous in the west as medicines the physician was justified in writing such a book. One cannot say that Indica is a scientific text with misunderstandings like the carnivorous man-eating tigers as having three rows of teeth, and a tail like that of a scorpion etc.
In the group that accompanied Alexander, disciple of Aristotle ,were Ptolemy,Aristobulus,Niarkkes ,Kalisthenes.But we do not have any of their books .Yet the books of those who studied them and wrote of them is available. They are Deoderous,Strabo,Plutarch ,Curtius,Arrean etc.They had given something about India’s plant and animal life (only upto Sindhu river).
Deoderous wrote that India is a beautiful landscape with mountains on which different varieties of trees and plants grow and fertile expanses of fields are abundant and several rivers are present. Since water scarcity is not there majority of the areas have two harvests a year (Iruppoo in our language) and all sorts of fauna exist.The rain comes in a wonderful cycle which never fails. Therefore farming activities are according to that. Even in hot seasons from the hot atmosphere they get rain. By the heat ,the tall grass in marshes have good roots and grow well so that cattle get good feed.
Philostratus wrote:-When Appolonius the philosopher went to visit Sindhudesa from Theana,he saw a big elephant called Ayya’s which was taken from king Porus by Alexander. Among the scientists and philosophers who accompanied Alexander ,Kallesthenes ,nephew of Aristotle died before he reached India and could not see the dream country of his uncle. Others collected as many plants ,animals, information about them, and as many granthas as possible and records on history and science etc.About this we have an account of Pliny,the elder. He wrote that Alexander had a desire to know about nature and animals. Aristotle his Guru was the reason behind this. Everyone in Asia and Greece who were living on agriculture,hunting,fishing etc were asked to give as many information possible to the men who accompanied the conqueror. From their information, and collected samples Aristotle wrote his 50 volume treatise. In the “Lycium”which is the Aristotelian school ,specimens(both dead and alive)and grantha and manuscripts reached from India .The philosophers and scientists who made use of these and became scholars are known as Peripatetic philosophers. Greece knew about cotton,banyan,grains and bamboo etc from these wandering philosophers who accompanied Alexander.Elephant,snakes,monkeys of different varieties ,lion,tiger,parrots,crocodile,strong ferocious dogs of India were wonderful articles for them.Nearcus said we wanted to see the big ants which do gold mining and a clever businessman showed us the skin of a leopard and told us this is the skin of that ant. Alexander himself asked a sage which is the cleverest animal in the world and he replied that “That animal which man has not yet seen is the cleverest animal” and this is written by Plutarch. The wandering scientist/philosophers /army of Alexander wrote in 4th century BC that it is the forests which give homes,fuel,vehicles,forest goods for daily and export use,defence and hiding places and their ships are strong because of these forest trees.They wrote we have seen only the coastal fringes and beyond and far off are the real tall trees and the peaks of the mountains with dark shades.Deoderus said the wood for Alexander’s ships were brought from those far of forests which they had not seen.Strabo thought this may be in the Himalayan areas. To send Nearchus to Gulf of Persia from Sindhu river, a timber town near Sindhu(Xylinepolis)gave timber for ship making and it was from there the journey began. The army cut trees from banks of rivers for fuel and for campfires at night. Before the battle with Porus,Alexander rested in a island in Hydaspes river which was full of tall trees.
About warfare of Indians Arrian wrote:-They will never destroy the fertile nature or forest or fields of even the enemy.He expresses wonder that they never kill the agriculturists and farming community either.His words were:-“If there is internal war among the Indians ,it is not lawful for them to touch these landworkers ,nor even to devastate the land itself” The same opinion is expressed by the Jesuits about the warfare of the Koraga in South India (and of Pazhassiraja’s troup)in 15th and 16th century.So,the unity and continuity of a people is not a fleeting one. For 2000 years both kings and peasants alike knowing the dharma of protecting civilians and nature, the ecological balance of the nation by themselves ,without any pressurization from outside law ,is commendable. Such a dharmic,scientific,administrative and statecraft ,based on ecology and ethics and on a centralized and decentralized Republican way is not seen for such a continuous period without coercion in any other part of the world .

Nysa and the Meru:-
When the Macedonian army crossed Hindukush they saw a land with lot of plants. They saw Ivy which resembles the plant in Greece,grapevines,Berrys,Laurels,Myrtles,Box etc there. In the Mediterranean the ivy and grapevine is related to worship of Dionysius cult. So they thought they had reached the earthly heaven which their mythical God is said to have visited. In one place the people told them that this is called Nysa.The word meaning of Dionysius is God of Nysa and they thought the name of their God is originated form this land. The locals said ,this is a small part of Mount sumeru and is supposed to be the Devabhoomi.Immeadiately they thought that the word Meru has a similarity to the word for Thigh in Greek language and since Dionysius is born from the thigh of Zeus (as Vaisya from that of Vishnu)the cult must have originated in India ,in this place. Thus happy with finding out their origin the Greeks drank wine and wore laurels of ivy and danced on the mountain top. This had been repeated in several independent sources and seems correct according to J.Donald Hughes(pp 76 ch 3 .Nature and Orient).Thus from India ,the biology,ecology,agricultural science etc were transported from India to Greece through disciples of Aristotle who accompanied Alexander. India gave answers to Aristotle on specific questions like 1.How a life form originate.2.How does it grow.3.How does it function.4.How in a specific locality many forms of life live together without any race being destroyed.4.What is the relationship between life forms and nonliving forms of dravya in nature. Aristotle wrote that in ”Metaphysics” as follows:-“All things are ordered together somehow ,but not all alike, including fishes and fowls, and plants. And the world is not such that one thing has nothing to do with another but they are connected”. Thus oneness of nature and ecology reached Greece from India.
1.The food habits of different people
2.The food chain
3.How in the competition for life Jeevo jeevasya jeevana happens
4.The role of Veeryadharana for progeny and its strength
5.Reproductive capacity
6.When the race of prey ends the race of predator also ends
7.Local,regional peculiarities of ecology due to Geography and climate
8. The way of Paraada or parasitism
9.The importance of Symbiosis as a co-operative society
10.How the races and species of each locality adapt themselves to that particular environment
11.How are some aquatic and others terrestrial
These questions and classifications and explanations and lifestyles have influenced Aristotle from Indian medical texts and the shaddarsana.
He asked. Why elephant though it can swim in water is not an aquatic animal? Why the small variety of fish in South India though they jump and live on land are not terrestrial life?(About Psedapocrytus ,Anabas )
How mans interference in nature has affected it?(agriculture, domestication including)
He understood from India that the wild (growing on its on in forests, mountains )and tame(domesticated and living in village and towns)are present in plants,animals,birds and in men alike. The wild survive if left alone.
Indians gave him an explanation for the ferociousness and strength of their dogs used for hunting. They said it is a crossbred of Kurunari(jackal/wolf)and dog. Greeks thought that kurunari was a tiger. And they debated over this for years. Then Aristotle came up with a solution. He wrote:-“Indian dogs spring from the union of a dog with some wild dog-like animal”. In Ramayana it is said that the dogs of Kekaya ,of Prince Bharatha ,has dogs with strength of a tiger. This also was one reason for the confusion of the Greek.(The real reason was that they did not know how to crossbreed or principles of domestication and creating a strong progeny ).When discussing Indian species Aristotle was more careful about their structure and Taxonomy like the Medical texts of ancient India. About ecology and crossbreeds he wrote from second hand reports.
Theophratus of Eryssus:-He was disciple of Aristotle who continued the study .Aristotle was mainly concerned with animals while Theophratus was concerned with plants. He studied plant life mainly in the context of environment. His theory of ecology was:-“Mutation according to the place ,adaptation to the environment ,competition,symbiosis,role of environment in plant diseases ,effects of cultivation and acclimatization ,anthropogenic changes in climate” and was more scientific. Each plant should have its specific land and environment (Oikeios topos,oikeia chora).This is what the modern ecologists call a niche .Oikos means a home, a habitat, or a domicile. From this word originated Ecology .In Sanskrit an Oka is the Habitat or home .oikos from Oka,and Ecology from Oikos is the literary ,etymological derivation of the word.
Some need dry climate ,others need lot of water, some need more sunlight ,some need shade ,some need mountains and others marshes. In this way ,if all these diversities of nature exists in a country, naturally the country will have more biodiversity. All species of plants, animals and men are possible in such a landmass. The local people of Nysa had told the Greek that Ivy grow only there in India. In Ramayana it is said the four plants Suvarnakarani,Visalyakarani,Santhanakarani and Mrithasanjeevani grow only in Himalaya, in Sumeru peak. As an explanation for this Theophratus wrote:- India shows differences ,in that part of it bears certain things which another part does not. Thus the mountainous country has the vine and olive and the other parts the fruit trees.”.Theophratus describes the Mangrove forests of India which was given by people who accompanied Alexander. He mentions this ecological society of plant life, the tides, periodical salinity by floods, and its relationship, and the special type of growth of roots of mangrove forests etc.he understood the ecology of it but could not differentiate the different species in it. The first scientist(Botanist)in European language to write on mangrove forest is Theophratus.He wrote about salinity by tidal waves from Greece where it is never experienced ,by collecting material from the Indian-returned people .He tried to point out the environment needed for each plant that he got from India ,though he could not name each. he described 25 Indian plants in this way. Greeks call bamboo as the Indian reed and Theophrastus wrote that it grows in banks of river Acesines(Asikni).Just like the other Greeks before him ,he too express wonder “How does a grass grow so big?”. His generalization of the smallness of the fruit of Indian banyan(fig tree)was not scientific. He thought that all big trees produce small fruits and there is a ratio between size of tree and its fruit. Bunyan which is spreading in acres of land, giving shade for big assemblies to sit under it ,produce roots from branches was a wonder for the foreigners. In old Indian literature a saying that the Vizhuthu(branch)growing and destroying thaythadi(main stem)is seen. This is the epiphytic nature of the Vizhuthu and the symbiotic existence of the stem and branches .Aristotle and Theophratus understood this. They understood that this nature is only for Indian species and not for the Mediterranean species. After Theophratus ,all the Greek writers quoted him and never had been such an ecological enquirer with originality in Greek literature before or after him. No one continued that tradition of research.

Megasthenes:- (BC 300)Was an Ionian who visited as ambassador in ChandraGuptha’s court places which Alexander had not visited. His writings are known as “Indica”.Parts of it is quoted by Arrian.The importance is given not to science but for the things of wonder, and myths etc.Chandraguptha had given hundreds of elephants to Seleucus and they had participated in the wars of kings and successors of Alexander in Greece. The embassy of Asoka transferred wealth, knowledge and civilization and science and arts to Seleukid,Ptolemy dynasties .In 279 BC we find the procession of Ptolemy 2 of Philadelphius ,participated by several Indians .These Indians were people who were given by Chandraguptha as Angarakshaka and they had stayed back in Alexandria as faithful bodyguards .They with their 26 varieties of cattle,100 elephants with gold bedecked decorations, and buffaloes, horned deer, lions ,hunting dogs,parrots,peacocks,pheasants participated in this procession to commemorate the annual memory of Ptolemy 1 ,who had brought them from India. Ptolemy 1 and 2 created and nurtured the Alexandrian museum which was a research institute for study of Aristotle and Theophratus and his disciples Demetrius of Phalerath and Starto of Lampsackus taught there. Just as in Lycium here also a garden with Indian plants, animals and birds was kept for study .Eudoxus of Cyzicus traveled along coast of India in 120BC in a ship. After 20 years ,(100BC) we find that Hippalaus ,officer of Ptolemy wrote that to cross ocean and reach India one has to depend upon Monsoon winds.Hippos in Greek means the horse. The Aswins in India are the first to control winds and cross the sea in a ship. This Hippalous is the name of the winds of the Indian ocean as Aswins.And Hippalos and Aswa being horse ,this is nothing but a heresay and no such person as Hippalous was there .In 21 BC Augustus Caesar was welcomed by a procession which included Indians with their tigers and tortoises and a python. In South Asia after this period we find Roman coins. Not before that. The coming of St Thomas to Kerala coincide with the period.
Then the voyages of the west to east must have increased after Hippalas if ,such a person has identified the monsoons and known the method to cross the sea. But we find none of it till Vas co da Gamas time .So that ,simply means the Greek and Romans had no knowledge of sea travel or of the secrets of it. The knowledge of Indian plants,animals,Indian astronomy (scientific)by which the sea travel is possible is not seen in Greece of that period. They were trying to know it but often fell short of the real knowledge and went on quoting others instead of doing original work out of experience. For it the west had to wait till Vas co da gama’s arrival. But ,the quotations of the wonder trips and exotic news of India helped to preserve the nature of the west and the east to seekers like us o know the truth .
Strabo’s book on geography of world has a long chapter on India. He viewed environment as Deoderus did.Eratosthenes in Alexandrian museum was studying the botanical geography,climatology and observational methods of metereology of India. He and Aristobulus who accompanied Alexander were sources for Strabo and Deoderous.Strabo describes Indian monsoon and geographical features in a general way. By the water content of atmosphere and the nutrients ,the plants grow luxuriously in India and the reason for big size of animals in India is this as well as the nature of the rainwater India gets.
Pliny’s natural history also speaks of Indian fauna and flora. He quotes from Theophratus but discarding portions on ecology. Whatever Theophratus said of banyan,jackfruits,mango,Ebony(Veetti),pistachio nuts,Cotton,barley ,wheat ,olive Mangrove ,bamboo he quotes.
Claudius Aelinius commonly called Aelian wrote about animals of India codifying all that was said about them before him(On animals).It is a codified stories of animals of India, with lac insect that makes a precious dye,Kartazonos(Kandamriga or rhino).python that can bind an elephant, the giant monkeys in Himalaya which Alexander saw (The first mention of Yeti) are in this book. The upavana grown by chieftains, and the vana or natural forests, and nature of human ecology are spoken of. He says the upavana are garden forests looked after carefully by the state and the people and they excel even the so-called heavens of Persian kings.Animals,birds and plants grow in natural surroundings and protectors or special guards are there. Among the forests one can see beautifully placed wooden architecture ,the skill of the carpenters. They grow trees of India. If at all a species from a foreign land is brought, they bring it after careful study and analysis only (means they knew the dangers of such imbalance of ecology).Both domesticated and wild birds and animals freely grow and nest there. Several nests are on treetops. Lakes are abundant among vegetations. In them large and small varieties of fish grow. No one kills or hunts these animals, birds or destroy the forests. The only time when hunting is allowed is for the princes during their training period to learn hunting. At no other period ,and by no other person hunting is allowed. Donald Hughes writes(Dept of history .Uty of Denver,Colorado):-“Data from India stimulated the Greek thinkers to ponder ecological questions more thoroughly and to develop biological analysis “.
Till 18th century Malabar and East Indonesia were the only regions where Grampoo was grown.In 1700 BC remains of Terqua in Mediterranean the remnants of imported grampoo was excavated. Rome ,Greece and Persia imported it from India as medicine. Nutmeg and gramboo as cash crops became important in Indonesia only after 15th century(Tom Pires)but in India it was not so .The sappan tree,agaru,chandan,cinnamon,karpora or camphor,benzoin,frankincense ,ommar ,gums and resins from forest trees,lac from lac insects ,horns of Rhino and elephant,birds and bird nests ,tortoise shell, pearls and corals, conches were exported but without destroying the species and without affecting the ecology (because it was done by ADIVASI who knew the forest should last for their existence and their chieftains equally conscious of the symbiosis).Food grains from India reached all other places .Pepper was a cash crop in India from ancient times. The first instance of it being mentioned as a cash crop in South East Asia is that of Chou Jukwa in 13th century. Till 15th century all global markets including China got pepper from Malabar alone. Before 15th century cotton and pepper as cash crops did not exist in South East Asia. In 1400 the sea trade of nutmeg and pepper increased to Mediterranean ports of Europe.(Yearly 30 Town Grampoo and 10 Tonne nutmeg).It is after that the South East Asian markets became prominent.
Traditional pepper farming is done in land which is sloping so that water does not remain there. Sand and clay should be there and tree for climbing should be at hand. The land is usually near the port from where it is exported. The method is to burn the adikkad in the first year and sow dry rice.Bamboo or betel nut for the vine to climb up will be there. The vine will start giving fruit from 3rd year and in 7th to 10th year maximum fruits are given. The lifespan is 20 years. Therefore by the 10th year itself the new plants will be grown. The old garden is not used for that. Allow the old garden to grow grass or a new forest .According to the export of one year, the farmers plan their area of cultivation. In South East Asia for cash crop cultivation of pepper from 17th to 19th centuries lot of forests were destroyed.
Here we shall compare the agriculture of Sathinghpra in South East Asia from 4th to 13th century with Indians.

4-6th century was preurban in Sathingpra and 4000 Ha had irrigation and 15200 had no irrigation. Total hectares cultivated was 19200 Ha.
In Urban phase 1 (6th-9th century)it became 20000, &30000 respectively with total 50000Ha
In urban phase 2 ,increased to 60000 and 70000 with total 130000Ha(9-13th)
Phase 3 (13-14th) it was decreased to 10000-27000 with only a total of 37000 Ha.
In these phases ,produce with a single pooval was calculated in land with and without irrigation.
Preurban:-5400000 KG with irrigation and 10640000 Kg with rainwater alone =total 16040000Kg
Urban 1:-27000000 with irrigation,21000000with rain alone and total 48000000Kg
Phases 2:-81000000 with irrigation,49000000 with rain alone ,and total 130000000Kg
Phase 3 had 13500000 with irrigation,21700000 without ,and total 35200000 Kg

In iruppoo(two seasons of produce):- it was same in preurban phase and urban 1 phase
In urban phase 2 a total of 202000000Ha and in phase 3 total of 44400000 kg produced.
Supposing the annual need of a family with 5-6 members is 1400 Kg rice finding out the population of the region (both farmers and nonfarmers)the surplus grain produced in the area can be calculated. The storage or sambharana of grain depend upon that .This was the method followed in India for time immemorial. The seed sown, the produce obtained and its ratio even without irrigation is 1:15 and it is increased with irrigation to 1:30-1:40.This is 15 to 20 times more than the temperate countries (Rome 1:4,France1:6,Burgandy 1:10) and the tropical Asian countries and their prosperity depends upon this and this alone. In this no one can beat us because the nature has blessed us and it is our duty to protect it and make maximum out of it.
Table showing surplus made by SEAsia (pp174-75 nature and orient ch 6):-

Century 4-6th(preurban) Urban 1(6-9) 2(9-13) 3(13-14)

Ha(land) 19200 50000 130000 37000
No of farmer family 4266 11111 288888 8222
Nonagri.Fam 6641 21764 60254 21378
No:/fam mem upper limit 10907 32857 180703 48000000
Upper limit of persons 59988 180703 490281 162800
Grain(Kg)total 160400000 48000000 202000000 44400000
Consumed(Kg) 5973333 15555400 40443200 11510800
Annual seed reserve(Kg) 768000 2000000 10400000 2960000
Surplus(kg) 9298667 30444600 151156800 29929200



From the preurban phase to phase 4 urban we find a definite pattern. The land increase till urban 2 phase(9th to 13th century and is a sharp fall after that.)
Number of farmer families increase in the 1st and 2nd phase of urbanization, and a drastic fall is seen in the 3rd phase of urbanization. The nonfarmers increase steadily and their fall in number in 3rd urban phase is not so drastic as the farmers. Total population increase steadily and is highest in the 3rd urban phase.
The total production of grain :-
There is a drastic fall in production when the preurban changes to urban 1st phase of about 112400000 Kgs .Then from 1st urban to 2nd urban there is a increase of 154000000 Kg .The fall in production from 2nd to 3rd urban phase is drastic about 167600000 kg .With all these defects still the ratio of seed: produce is still high in tropical countries than nontropical countries. It is this strength of our nature and ecology that we should be conscious of and the ancient ways of protecting the ecology to be learned from our ancient scriptures. The modern historians who write the history of India saying that there are only petty principalities and chieftains and their quarrels in history of India had totally forgotten this economic agrarian system and its wide network which can never exist without a strong centralized administration and several regionalized agro economies due to diverse geographic features. Each region had its strengths and each shared them with the neighbors by a wide network of local markets and the rest went to the world economical markets .Even now we can do that because we have the potential for it by our position in the monsoon path, in the path of the rain Gods mercy. One has to see the Unhistorical history of Asia of Hegel and Asiatic modes of production of Marx only under this light. Wisdom to protect nature and dharma of nature comes from experience only for a people which withstood millennia of changes .The evolution of such a people is the dharma which they followed and the timely changes for maximum benefit of the people was their revolution .This ecological and historical agro economical evolution and revolutions of India has to be studied well to make us a strong agro economy again. When we certify that everything prehistorical is myth ,and everything historical is only quarrels between local chieftains we are teaching our children to be fools. To say that after the European rule only India evolved into a world power is not truth. It was the other way round. Europe learned a lot from India and improved themselves .The Industrial revolution in Europe happened only because of the learning and the wealth and food that reached Europe .It is a good thing that we got technological advancement in several fields. We have to keep it up but know our real strengths and develop them too so that we can be the models of the entire world in food self sufficiency as well as in modern ways of technologies without harming our ecology. It is not an impossible task if we plan it in an integrated way. For that first we must know what we really are. Evolution itself has to be the revolution.

The upavana of Apothecary and role of Malabar in teaching Europeans:-
After the Alexandrian Greeks we find European (Portuguese,Dutch,French,British)interested in the fauna and flora of India. This is the fifth phase of European learning of India. Drawn as a pyramid the first phase in the IVC /Mehrgarh period happened in knowledge of Indian agriculture in Babylon,Persia and Assyria. The second in the Pre-Alexanderian era of Pythagorus,Herodotus,Hippocratus of cos from Phoenicians and in between was the Hathseputh recreation of an Indian garden in Karnak.The third phase started with Alexander ,Aristotle and the Greco-Roman period. The fourth phase was the Arabian Avicenna period which was more on the model of Afghan,Persian models of gardens during Buddhist times and hence limited (due to geographical peculiarity).The 5th phase came with sea route discovery by Portuguese and influx of European merchants to India .The knowledge of the variety of plants and medicines of India lead to a expanse of material medica and pharmacopoeia of European medicine .The upavana constructed in Indian model in Karnak,Lycium and Alexandria were long forgotten. But a fresh series of Apothecary’s gardens came up in Europe attached to study centers and universities in 15th century and these lead to study of natural sciences ,classification(Taxonomy )in Europe on a scientific basis. The classification in Lycium and Alexandria were based on heresay and from peripatetic philosophers and collected manuscripts. It was not direct knowledge. But the botanical gardens of the Apothecarys were not like that. They had direct knowledge of what is done and how it is done in India from experience and from direct information from natives .Thus it was more scientific and more like the Indian way of taxonomy and knowledge. In the 1st century the material medica of Theophratus and (Enquiry into the plants)and Deoscorous’ material medica were noteworthy. Between 1503-1505 there was a renaissance of this knowledge .Leonardo Davinci and Albrecht Deut are some of the earliest botanists .After 1480 the unending granary of plant life and knowledge was opened up to Europe directly through Malabar which was hitherto unapproachable due to various reasons to the Europeans. European Zoology, Botany and pharmacopoeia and its classification(Taxonomy)evolved to its present form. Thus India was in the position of Guru for Europe for a long period extending to several millennia. If we consider the five phases as preprimary,Primary,High school,Predegree and degree levels ,Europe got its degree in science in 15th to 16th century from India. But after that there was a leap of the disciple over the Guru in the post-graduate and research ,technological phases.
In 16th century Botanical gardens Europe tried to grow all types of plants in the world. Only with wealth and sea trade this is possible. And they acquired both from the colonies. The competition of European nations for getting supremacy of sea trade and for wealth is no secret. Till that time the word Horthus had two meanings.1.A book on botany.2.A botanical garden nurtured by human beings. Till that time the Arab/GreacoEgyptian models of gardens alone were seen by Europe. That was the reason for these two meanings. Since the recreation of an heaven on earth was the goal ,the name Eden gardens was also given to such gardens. The religious background of the scientists/doctors is seenin that naming. In Italy(Pisa in 1547,Padua in 1545,Bologna in 1567)universities grew botanical gardens. The Horti sick type of keeping specimens (of dried plants)started because many of the plants cannot be grown in Europe due to its climate. The specimens were used for teaching students by demonstration..The study model spread to the North and in 1587 in Amsterdam and Lyden botanical gardens were made. Mont Pelllier (1593)Hydelberg(1597)followed. The interesting part is that these gardens were kept by Vaidyas and looked after for knowledge of medicines. Just as the Aristotle-Alexander model these scientists prompted the rulers and merchants to collect as many plants as possible. One such Portuguese doctor ,Dr Gracia D’Orta was the first one to produce a European material medica called Coloquios dos simples e drogas a coucas medicines da India (1565).His Assistant Charles D’Ecluse translated that into Latin. He was the one who played major role in making the Hortus Medicus of Vienna’s Maximilian emperor and the one who made a botanical garden in Lyden in 1593 .He spread several plants of India and America all over the world. The potato from Peru which was given to him by Drake ,reached all over the world in this manner. His successor was Paul Herman Chelsea who had close relation to Oxford botanical garden. His disciple was Dr Herman Borhave and to hear his classes in Lyden garden and Medical school, students from entire British Isles gathered. By this ,Maria Theresa was influenced to make a garden in Vienna .Thus Goa was the forerunner of a series of gardens. In the meantime Cochin had made a great contribution to European science. The Dutch boy Hendrik van Reede tot Drakenstein born and brought up in Cochin of a Dutch father made a tremendous contribution with the traditional knowledge of Kerala ,from Itty Achuthan ,and that is the Horthus Indicus Malabaricus.
Only when these series of experiments and experience came to Europe the knowledge of Hippocrates was the principle of Aired was understood by west. Both Coloquis and Horthus Malabaricus are entirely Indian books .With these and with the experiments done in the Apothecary’s gardens of doctors in the west ,the European professionalism was added for making profits out of it and the rest is history. Whatever books have come after these books in Europe about South East Asia is on the model of these two Indian Books by European authors. This historiography of botany and pharmacopoeia is noteworthy .From 16th to 17th centuries most of the scientific books produced in India had their origin in India after European colonization. The books and knowledge of India were categorized as Brahmanical,Budhist,Jainist and Ezhava etc by Europe and thus the divisive class oriented /caste oriented taxonomy of regression also started with that .The classification based on the political supremacy (as Hindu.Islam,Christian)was the main reason for this classification by the Europeans. The dharma and lifestyle was totally misunderstood as Semitic religion and this was a major setback for India ever afterwards.
Books, printing and marketing etc came for global marketing. The Europeans marketed Indian knowledge in translated versions in their own languages. In middle ages Arabs had done this at a lesser rate but the discovery of printing in China made it at large scale. Science and knowledge originated in India, and marketed by Arabs in Europe ,and worldwide marketing for mass financial benefits and technology was by Europe. As Richard Grove rightly said:-“Epistemological ,textual, and cognitive origin of written accounts of South Asian Botany between AD 700-1800 find a center of balance well to the east of Venice (pp194 Ch 7 .Indigenous knowledge .Richard Grove .Ch Burkill chapters in Indian history 3 .Nature and the orient .Oxford 2000).
Colloquios:-
D’Orta from his own experience analysed the botanical and medical knowledge of the Malayali and proves that no one including old European and Arab medical men can excel their knowledge. This was a new original method at that period.D’Orta was a European Christian doctor, doing research with financial assistance from a Muslim King ,and with the help of Arab /Muslim doctors practicing in the locality. Yet he showed a courage to opine his opinion that Muslim and European medicine is nothing when compared to Indian ancient medicine. The book was printed for marketing in India and Europe. It was written in the old style of Susrutha samhitha as questions and answers of Guru and shishya.He negated all Arabic and European medicine without thinking of the personal likes or dislikes or religious aftereffects and this is possible only with a scientific temper.He was a Jew and he was hiding the fact for fear of the Nizam .He had contacted all sorts of scholars .D’Orta says these vaidyas know about theories of Hippocratus,Galen,Aristotle,Plato .But he also writes that even the small people know more than what the scholars know in this country. Even though they have not read any old Arabic books on medicine ,these people know more medicine than the scholarly Arabic doctors employed by the Shaw, he wrote. He says ,though I am only a ignorant ,learned more than what the great Arabic scholarly vaidya of Shaw knows by contact with him, with Moors, Christians and from Genoas(The gentiles/ Hindu or Sindhu/later Hindu).And he says the greatest system is that of the gentoos.At that time Portuguese were here to make money and had no intention of learning other than methods of making money. Thus he analyses the mentality and scientific temper of different people and praise for the scientific knowledge and temper of the gentoos.As a conversation to his disciple he says in the book:-I will take you to see patients cured by Malayalis and Canarese ,that you may know physic more thoroughly”. He says but it is difficult to get knowledge from the Malayali Vaidya and they will first ascertain whether you deserve to be taught before giving instruction. This difficulty which D’O rto had in North Malabar was not experienced by Van Reid in Cochin. He did not have much communication from Malayali vaidyas yet what he got what excellent than the best recognized Arabic medicine and European medicine .He praises the kurumbi of Sahya,of gardeners of forest tribes and farmers etc for the knowledge of ethno botany they have. When D’Orta was writing the Europeans have not become a major sea power in entire world and had not established a worldwide network .By the D’Orta method and sound analysis and logical statements other doctors like Johann Koenig ,Honisberger etc decided to spread the Indian medical knowledge and methods in Europe and to be used individually .Claucius could therefore make it possible to bring to an academic/university level.

Role of Vaan Reide and Itty Achyuthan:-

D’Orta lived in Goa and knew that Malabar is the best place for pharmacopeic knowledge. But Vaan Reid grew up in Malabar.His father was the chief forester of the Malabar forests. He had contact with the local people from childhood and knew their knowledge of their ecology and also he enjoyed the forest and its life forms. The beauty of the atmosphere, the emotional attachment he had to it, and his childhood habit of recording everything he saw and learned from local people in a notebook ,later on lead to the creation of Horthus Malabaricus.He visualized the forests of Malabar as the great palaces of nature and its diversity of plant life, water resources etc as its beautiful gardens. He wrote that this is the real garden of the entire world and if at all any other place can be compared to it ,it would be Taprobana(present Srilanka)was his opinion. The reason he wrote is the monsoon climate being the same in both places. The geography, the climatic peculiarities, the local people and their consciousness of these factors in their life, their scientific mindset etc were studied by him thoroughly and hence he depended upon local people for his scientific work. He understood that Europeans(himself being one)see the plant life and wealth of Malabar as a means for earning money and as medicine for treating disease only. But they were more than that to the people of the land. They had a consciousness of ecological relation of nature and human life and it was reflected in their lifestyle. Therefore though he had some preliminary discussions with Fr Mathew(St Joseph)in 1673 and 74 about the possibility of doing a work like Hortus Malabaricus,seeing the “Viridarium orientale’style of the father, he totally rejected that type of approach. Then he depended upon his knowledge on four persons. Three of them were Bhats from Karnataka(Rangabhatt,Vinayakabhatt,and Appubhat).The last and most important was Ittiachuthan,an Ezhava vaidya who lived in coastal area. The Sanskrit book knowledge of the Bhatts were useful to Van Reid. But to identify each and every plant in the locality and to describe its uses ,IttiAchuthan was more helpful. For comparison, a young doctor who finish his MBBS can only prescribe medicines and quote academic things from books. He has no experience of how the medicine act ,nor does he know what are the ingredients of the drug, unless the manufacturing company details him about it. The Susruthasamhitha speaks of great doctors who have a medicinal garden attached to their homes and these were tended with great care by the “parichaaraka”who are experts in identifying medicines and their preparation. They had to be qualified in material medica and collection of roots,stems,leaf,flowers,fruits of any plant prescribed by the main physician and thus have to know the habitat of each plant. This work was done by the Adivasin of forests and mountains(who collected forest produce)and by trained paricharaka(assistants) in village botanical gardens .Under Itty Achutha’s leadership such a group of experts were organized into three groups and sent to different forests to collect specimens. Whatever they brought were drawn by three artists .Below each ,drawing its name, its qualities, medicinal value ,habitat etc were recorded ,by IttiAchyutha .Van Reid records that the people (Adivasis)who were in IttyAchutha’s group were traditional vaidya(paramparyavaidya)and scholars in Ayurveda,and trained from their own father and grandfather in their job(as a kulathozhil)and they were a kulasangha.Thus each Adivasi group was akulasangha just as the village and urban groups of people in pre-European era. Their status and job was not considered as below standard. Van Reid also records that each of their family had several manuscripts and grantha scrupulously protected and given to next generation for protection of their system of knowledge. In Hortus malabaricus more details of Itty Achutha is given in Aryabhasha and in Kolezhuthu Malayalam lipi(script).
Achutha entered the service of the Dutch company and he was a married settler in Cochin. But was originally from Malabar. He is said to be born in Charapuram Kodacharappally Gramam Kollada veettil in Ezhava samudaaya (note,Samudaaya is a group not a caste)and was apaaramparyavaydya(traditional doctor).The actual author was IttyAchuthan who stayed in Cochin fort for the purpose and he described them both in Malayalam and Portuguese language and his disciples wrote it down. He described it to Emmanuel Carneiro ,the translator and then made him write it in Portuguese language simultaneously. Whenever he had doubts ,he clarified each then and there .On 20th April 1675 IttyAchutha himself records that I have taught the classification, uses and treatment with these plants according to our system and our books .
In fact IttyAchutha decides which are the people to be sent, which all plants should be collected, which should be included in the work, which should be drawn etc and it was his contribution than that of Van Reid. But Van Reid and his interest became a cause for this .IttyAchutha had a style of naming two plants with same type of stems or characters with a species name ,and then add a prefix to identify the two and this is still followed in the science of Botany .For example Onappoo(The flower which is seen only in sravana season).He will give a prefix cheriyonappoo(small onappoo)and valiyonappoo(big onappoo).depending on the size of plant ,flower .By the name he even denoted the season in which it is seen in Malabar .This is a general way of naming in entire Malabar (probably elsewhere in India too).In 1740 Linnaeus accepted Itty Achutha’s classification entirely and gave 240 species names in this manner. This followed in 1763(Adanson),1789(Jussieu),1818(Dennstedt)1867(Haskarl).In India ,Roxburg,Buchanan-Hamilton,Hooker etc also followed the style of Achuthan.In 1988 I saw a report that the remaining manuscripts (palm leaf)of Achuthan kept in Kollada house of Alappuzha were lost 7 years before that ,in 1981.(D.H.Nicholson,C.R.Suresh,K.S.Manilal,An interpretation of Van Reids Hortus Malabaricus .Konigstein 1988.1-22)The organization of a 15 member group of Scholars as Royal council of Cochin, and as a member of that group, taking initiative to make such a great work possible in a diplomatic way ,and thus give local knowledge of Kerala to entire world so that it influenced entire western system of knowledge and in this way trying to protect the ancient heritage of Kerala was the excellent job of Van Reede.There 784 plants with 794 diagrams described in the work. This was an original attempt at that time in Europe
From 1628-1702 Holland had become the center of tropical botany under Rumphius’herbarium Ambroinence.Linnaeus after studying under Johannes Berman and Borhav in Lyden came to Holland .Burman had taught Hortus Malabaricus to his disciples including Linnaeus. This Malabar/Dutch /Cochin/Lyden/Batavis network of gardens and botanical studies became models for all other countries in the world and still remains so. The natural love of garden in Rheede and IttyAchuthan and the ecological co-existence of Malabar ,became altered by the Lyden contact which gave importance to economic Botany than ecology.Lyden garden was the first to try coffee plantation artificially for making money. In Paris, Oxford and Edinborough Botanical gardens and medical schools were on the model of Lyden.
Lyden ,though gave importance to economic botany had a religious tolerance and allowed jews,Romans,Catholics,AnaBaptists,Anglicans,Calvinists,Lutherans and Quakers to study there .All of them learned medicine an botany there. The taught text was the Indian Medicine (Goa/Malabar/Cochin model).Lyden became very popular and seeing its potential in 1630 French Government had instituted in Paris “Jardine de Roi”.And in 1654 we see the first company garden in Cape town.

Botanical knowledge in Colonial India(1790-1840):-
The scientific knowledge of India was called “Native knowledge” and it was systematically enquired and studied by Europeans to develop a science culture in Europe. Thus Europe learned science from the colony. One has to view the Marxian theory that the British made the botanical garden in Calcutta to grow Burmese teak for making ships has to be taken from this background. There was both economic and commercial as well as scientific and learning motives simultaneously developed in Europeans by contact with India. The field scientist of Britain, Joseph Banks, said that Botanical garden of Calcutta was for study of Botany. It was created in 1746-93 under Robert Kidd ,a military officer for transfer of plants from India to England. But Kidd did not have knowledge of botany and he thought this garden is only a luxury and during his period the garden was just a nursery. In 1793 ,Joseph Banks had to interfere and remove Kidd from the post and entrust it to Dr William Roxburg,who studied medicine in Edinborough under Prof John Hopp.He was a person studied in Linnaeus school. But some of Linnaeus description of Indian trees were rejected by him based on Cocos nucifera and grasses. According to Linnaeus system Roxburg named 5000 species of plants in Calcutta Botanical garden. After Roxburg Dr Francis Bucccanan was selected. Unless one gets a subordinate from India ,then only one from Europe must be selected and that too a person who has studied natural history was decided .At the same time the company rejected Nathaniel Valaigh saying that he is too scientific(and not concerned with practical economical aspects)..William Griffith(1810-45)started experimental practice in plant physiology there. He said without knowing the physiology how can we know the changes (pathology)happening in plants? How can one know a plant, animal or human unless one know from the seed, its germination, all processes and stages of growth and decay and functions? The method of Indian science is in this way ,right from the beginning .In 1783 William Jones came to India with a specific aim.” To know India perfectly, as no other European had ever known”. He made the Asiatic society of Bengal with aim of learning the functions of man and his environment ,and its effects.
In Indian science of life man,animal,bird,plant and all life is a single whole. Therefore the study of its nature and function and of diseases and balancing also go hand in hand. It is a holistic approach. Linnaeus had divided Botany from medicine and from zoology and neglected ecological co-existence of all. His specialization technique and learning with a dry specimen of plant(and a cadaver)was mocked at by Griffith due to this extreme specialization which loose all natural feelings. Because India is always Holistic in its approach ,the artificial specialization technique of Europe was rejected here and in 1830 itself the ecological model as against the Linnaeus model which neglect ecology developed among Europeans practicing here ,in India. The approach of Alexander Von Humboldt was related to this. For the shift from “Natural history” to “history of nature”, John Royle ,born and brought up in Kanpur(1799-1858)became instrumental .He had gone to England to get his official Medical education and returned to take up responsibility of ShaharanPur botanical garden. Just beneath the Himalayan forests ,in this gardens he formulated his ecological theories.Royl was not a Botanist but a Doctor by Profession, just like Itty Achutha.He did not agree with the trend of specialization narrowing down to inhumane practices. Just to name and identify a plant is not the goal of Botany and it is just a process equivalent to give a script to a language, he said. His approach was ecological as that of Humboldt know a plant, know its soil, its water resources, its environment ,he said. In 1833-39 his Illustrations of Himalayan Botany were published. The geography of Indian plains and mountains,geology,special climatic conditions,seasons,the heat and pressure of Simla and Mussorie,the different plants and cattle in India grown in specific seasons in specific places etc are all included in his book. With this he had given 207 plants and their descriptions and where they are seen in the world. The Indian plants in comparison with the similar plants in other parts of the world and their similarities and dissimilarities are given. This scheme was as follows:-
Tropical east Indian islands, Tropical Africa,Brazil,Guiana,West Indies ,Florida Thiruvithamkur,Cochin,Malabar,Ceylon,Malaayan peninsula,Chittagong,Bengal,Lower Assam
East &west coast of Africa, Coromandel coast,northern Circars,Konkan
Southern states of N A merica,Egypt,N.Africa,Syria Gujarat,Bihar,Doab,Delhi,Malawa
Mexican highlands,lower mountains of Spain Mysore,Deccan mountains,Rajasthan
Southern part ofAfrica,extratropical new Holland ,South America south o f23 degree 3’ Saharanpur,North Doab
Mediterranean Dehradun,Himalayan areas
China,Japan,Middle Andes,Peru,Brazil mountains Nilgiri,Assam,Himalayas
North of Europe,North of Asia,N.America Oak and pine areas of Himalaya
Arctic,mountains of Europe, high parts of Andes Himalaya above the forests

His environmentalism included human ecology and social forestation as well. The ratio between demand and supply should be controlled so that the balance of natural resources is not disturbed. Natural forests were enough for human beings when the population density was less. When population increased, people destroy natural forests for making agricultural lands and for making homes etc.Thus the natural forests which is the best wealth of humanity is lessened. When a people achieve self-sufficiency in food production, and have small scale industries needed for day to day existence a system of barter develop in which the excess is shared by neighbors .This barter later became a worldwide network .The division of labor which naturally developed in this system they applied to plant classification as well. When the soil and climate and geography of a locality give it prosperity ,other nations aspire to get that and that demand had naturally resulted in barter and trade with neighboring civilizations .That is how India entered world trade.
And according to the geography ,human demand and supply the rich tropical land had been in demand from ancient times. So Royl said that the growing tendency among modern European scientists that there is racial intellectual superiority of Europeans over the east (what Joachim von schouw had called mental superiority of races) does not exist. All are equally intelligent and superior provided they have experience in their geographical and productive economy and develop a balanced sharing system for self sustenance and sharing with others. Thus he argues that the Europeans who came to India ,learning science from India and spreading it to Europe is only a barter of intelligence. Europe gains by way of getting its science consciousness .The Horthus Malabaricus is proof for intellectual superiority of the race of Itty Achuthan over the European race because they borrowed from him to develop a system of knowledge. And for Indians including Itty Achuthan ,the knowledge is a blessing of the nature and climate and the ancient system of dharma developed by them. That dharma itself is the gift of nature for several lakhs of years .In science, tax system, in agriculture and industries the people are so experienced so that Europeans had taken their help to learn them. They had translated all they collected into their languages and taught fellow Europeans the wisdom of the East. William Jones learned names of plants from a sankrit scholar who was his Guru. He even suggested that one should use Sanskrit names not Latin for naming plants.
When Council of Linnaean society in London objected to publishing articles of Asiatic society scientific articles S.Goodnough told them that more publications mean more data and more data mean more science.Dr John Forbes Royl,was a European doctor who grew up in India and who did research in Botanical garden of Saharanpur and when he say such strong views in favour of India he was expressing the view that India was not only the Guru for spirituality but also for administration,trade,commerce,Zoology,and medicine and other sciences to Europe.
Metereology,ecology and native knowledge:-
Drought,monsoon,whirlwinds,change in climate ,seasons, annual meteorological predictions based on observations and the knowledge that all this is due to undercurrents in the southern ocean existed among local people of India(Natives).Now we call it ENSO(El Nino current and southern oscillations).The rhythm of this change was known and predicted by them. The sea trade was based on monsoon winds and thus there is no wonder that they knew this. The predictive astrology of seasonal changes like drought and famine, excess or less rain etc developed for the sake of agrarian economy .But also for trade route management. Both people,traders,rulers were therefore interested to know that in advance to plan their activities. Only in AD 1500 ,Europeans come across such knowledge of sea. Only in 1701 they understand that the Indian monsoon is not a local regional phenomenon but is a global one. By 200 years they understood the rain cycles, productive cycles, trade and how it affects people and environmental role in economy of the land etc.In 1791 they analysed what they had observed .This was first done by East India company Botanical Medical service to understand the interrelationship of nature and environment and man and his agriculture and its mutual relation. Same type of study was conducted in Caribbean .The saying of natives that if forests are not protected rains will fail was found to be true by them. For the global analysis in 1816 Botanist and medical doctor Francis Buchanan Hamilton was sent to Bengal by Wellesley. He did research for 7 years(1807-1814)and said that what the natives say of interrelation of deforestation, lack of rain and famine are true and it is scientific. Only then William Roxburg started a programme of forestry in Bengal,Bihar,Orissa,and St Helina.(East India company areas)to increase rainfall.

Australia ,Indonesia ,India, North and South Africa and Pacific coast of south America get heavy rains and floods by the warm event or ENSO.These were the sea routes of ancient Phoenicians. Therefore the rhythm of seasons in these places help us understand the unified rhythm which is teleconnected to each other.1877-79 saw the most severe artificially created famine of India and only after that the European scientists saw reason that the peoples health was due to climate, food and the lifestyle they had. If the balance is lost severe imbalance result in disease. The several discussions about this were conducted by India’s surgeon general Edward Balfour.Or it took one century for them to agree that the natives were right. In 1780 they thought about air, weather ,volcano arose and in 1783 Benjamin Franklin said the extreme cold of Paris(temperate)is due to volcanic action in Icelandic Mount Hecla.By this time German and Danish missionaries were doing meteorological research in Madras. In 1776 Sir William Roxburgh reached Madras. From 1778 he was looking after an ancient mughal garden at Samulkota.In 1778 and 1790 this Surgeon’s meteorological observations were published. In 1788 Sir Joseph Banks ,influenced by him, gave his own meteorological data to be published in Royal society transactions. Why should a young surgeon take interest in metereology as soon as he lands in India? He was the star student of John Hopp ,the curator of Edinborough Botanical garden and a plant physiologist. Therefore he was in contact with two intellectual groups
.Royal society of science as well as Arts .This and the lifelong love of Hopps in planting trees had made him do such a thing. The relation of health and environment his profession of Medicine had already taught him. Thus in 1776 itself he started his interdisciplinary programme of metereology,Arboriculture,Medical practice and medicinal plants .By 1820 he became the only European doctor who had collected maximum amount of meteorological data. Sitting in India he argued that the reason for famines and so many diseases which came with famine in India, was the extensive capitalistic destruction of Indian forests by Europeans .After 1770 the meteorological data collections all came from doctors. They were the only people who thought from the point of view of the health of the people ,health welfare,pulic health through protection of productive trees and gardens and fields .The new science of Metereology started in Europe in France by the conference of society Royale de Medicine there. The European naturalists started to understand that each plant is useful for health of man and even the plants which do not have direct medicinal use are purifying air by their presence. Thus the theory of protecting all life became a new acceptable theory of science from the east.

WHAT TYPE OF A LIFE DR ROXBURG LEAD?
He was a practicing surgeon in Nagore.He was protecting the botanical garden north of Madras in Samulkotta and was tending plants there with involvement. The seeds and saplings thus reared carefully were also sent by him to other Botanical gardens all over the world. From 1776 to 1793 for long 17 years he lived thus and at the same time for 17 years he had been measuring temperature and pressure in Coromandel coast with a Nairne thermometer and a Ramsden barometer. All his observations, analysis and conclusions were neatly written and sent to Sir John Pringle of Royal society of Britain. But many of them were lost or not published. His first article was published in 1778 Philosophical transactions of Royal society by Pringle.In 1782 Dr Roxburg wrote to Banks that his essays are being neglected and lost in Royal society. In 1790 another set was published. It was in Nagore in1780 that he understood the exact relation of ,famine and diseases. He recommended that the company should sponsor a programme of cultivating fruit trees in riverbanks and on either side of roads so that any hungry man can eat and get nourishment and free from disease. Since he gave exact data for 17 years from a particular locality in India on pressure, temperature and other meteorological observations ,the related global changes elsewhere could be compared with it and relation of Indian monsoon to El Nino was understood. If one know Monsoon cycle one know El Nino and vice versa. In 1791 there was a strong El Niño. After 1780 famine from 1789-92 Madras presidency had severe drought and Godavery delta population drastically decreased.Alexander Beatson reported on this as:-During these two years there was no rain.More than half of the population in northern Circars died of famine.The rest became too weak due to lack of food.When rice was mobilized from Malabar coast,the news spread among people and 5000 people from Rajamundry moved to the port to get rice.But they could not cross more than 50 miles ,and before that many of them fell dead due to sheer fatigue “
This famine was a topic of discussion in Europe and Edmund Burke has mentioned about it.It was here ,the European doctor Roxburg made a very brave comment about this occurrence.He said the pre-colonial irrigation projects and agricultural methods were scientific to the core and suited for the geography of India and the programme of the company to discard them was totally irresponsible and the famine was actually created by that policy.If not,India might have as usual fruitfully avoided such a change in climate as it had done before .This opinion Burke also shared.From 1782 onwards rain was decreasing in South East Asia .Roxburg had observed that.When he sent such observations and conclusions to the company in 1793 ,company immediately transferred him from Nagore to Calcutta.
The experience of South Indian famine and weather and health of people made Roxburg think in three directions.
1.Comaprison of context of history and chronology with 1789-93 famine
2.Discovering that the drought which is usual in India had become a famine by the irresponsible interference of the company in the local methods of resistance to it
3.Project to plant as many fruit bearing plants and trees so that one can give food even in famine times, and prevent soil erosion by roots, and increase rainfall. The forestation with fruit trees natural to the area will give all the effects at one stretch.(increase,food,prevent malnutrition and allied diseases, prevent bad effects of droughts and famines, keep people healthy and also by preventing soil erosion ensure rain in plenty.
The history of previous famines of India he had some information from a Brahmin accountant of Raja of Pithanpore.The description of a famine in 1685-8 (during the accountants grandfathers time)was given in his manuscript library of accounts. In that period only once rain fell in northern provinces and by three years population came down drastically. In 1737 there was a miner food shortage and in 1770 in Bengal there was a local food shortage and famine.

The transfer was in a sense a punishment transfer because he was asked to continue the experiment of teak sapling growing in Bengal and to make teak plantations in Bengal,Orissa, Bihar as a uniculture plantation(not fruit trees).He took teal saplings from Rajamundri and started the programme and it became successful between 1793-1813.There he did observation and comparative research on growth of natural teak and the artificial teak plantations. He continued his meteorological observations there too and many of them were published in Medical journals.(William Roxburg.Remarks on the land winds and their causes :Transactions of the London medical society .1.1810.189-211)
In 1791 there had been a drought in St Helena also. Similar drought was there in west Indies too in same period. This global experience of famine in three places was compared by Alexander Beatson (East India company Governor of St Helena).Though he had asked for a reduction in revenue recovery ,the company did not grant it .And people of the island rose in revolt and Beatson himself had to control it( as per company instructions).In 1791 Peruhad floods, Mexico had famine and droughts and South Africa had famine. In Egypt, China and East Indies there were long recorded history of floods and droughts .But such observation and scientific recording was new to Europe of that time.Metereological observation was not a science of Europe but of the East and the tropical Americas. This science Roxberg,the surgeon ,taught Europe from Indian experience.When in 1791 Australia had a severe drought ,tanks in Indian model were constructed there for water (drinking and irrigation) by Governor Philip. Thus the four British colonies were experiencing same conditions and comparing them with each other and discovering the role of human interference and its bad effects on nature. They compared geotectonic mechanism, artificial deforestation,El Niño, global climatic changes and possible ways of preventing them .But the study was only on paper. The company did nothing to prevent disasters and was intend upon making profit irrespective of human suffering or not. In 1877 -79 India saw another famine. By 3 years 50 million people were dead. In Indian famine commission report of 1890 its description can be seen. The result was the establishment of three departments :_IMO or Indian Meteorological office, Agricultural department and the forestry rules of 1878.When atmospheric pressure increase droughts happen both in India and Australia was noted. Drought and famine happen simultaneously in these two distant places was confirmed. But there are certain droughts which do not occur simultaneously .The reason is southern Oscillation which is a weather teleconnection. In both continents of Australia and India in May ,drought related to El Nino occur.(just before south west monsoon).This southern oscillation is described in Indian astronomy for several millennia and in modern times the credit of discovery is given to Charles Todd and H.H.Hildebrandt.Sir Gilbert Walker of IMO named each of the southern oscillations at beginning of 20th century and showed its relation to rain in Australia .He found that Australian summer rain can be predicted correctly .The rain of southern Australia was predicted in spring, by Quayle.In 1970 El Nino became centre of global attraction again. Because in that year Australian meteorologists developed a special interest in it. Prediction of spring and summer rains and droughts and metereology was a science that was prevalent in entire India and each village community had a official employed for this very purpose whom they kept in great reverence. The barter sharing system of the panchayath looked after their requirements .(More about that in my astronomy studies. Therefore not repeated here).
Before the great Mutiny of India the prediction and study of East India company officials ,and after 1857 the study of the officials of the empire taught a global climatic and meteorological unity of the globe to Europe. Russell in 1896 compared Indian and Australian droughts as below.
Australia India
1789-91 1790-2
1793
1797
1798-1800
1802-1804 1802-04
1808-15 1812-13
1818-21
1824 1824-25
1827-9 1828
1833 1832-33
1837-9 1837-9
1842-3
1846-7
1849-52
1855
1857-9 1856-8(Mutiny of India)
1861-2
1865-9 1865-6
1872
1875-7 1875-7
1880-1
1884-6 1884

From this one find that famines are less in India .Between 1790 -1802 famine 10-12 yrs interval is there. From 1802-12 also 12 year interval exists. Again from that to 1824 is a 12 yr period. This 12 yr cycle suddenly decrease from 1824 onwards .From 1824 to 1837 the intervals have become 4, 4,and 3 3ach between three famines
Then there is a long spell of 19 years of famine free period and the severe famine of the year of Mutiny happens. Then next famine come 9 yrs later. Then 10yrs ,9 yrs intervals exist between subsequent famines. This long interval is not there in Australia and human sufferings are more frequent due to frequent droughts and famines. This is because Australia had not evolved a system of prolonged observation, resistance and withstanding such conditions by a well built agro economy as India had done. This co-operative agro economical unified Governance and political system of India did not exist in Australia so that it could not withstand frequent small droughts .

From this chapter what I want to stress is that India had been the Guru for European sciences. And India has the potential to come out of any averse situations due to her geographical position and fertility of land .If only people understand their strengths as well as weaknesses and co-operate in the optimum way ,such an ancient land can save the entire global community .But ,leave the nature alone. Do not disturb it at any cost, If we disturb it we jeopardize entire global society, not only humans but entire life forms. And also that a Medical person is the best think of such things as Roxburg did. Because the treatment of individual persons alone is not sufficient .The treatment of the mindset of entire society and nation so that it see reason and become healthy together is the view of a responsible doctor. The responsible doctor ,as a world citizen has to be concerned not only about his practice as a means of life but also of good water supply ,good nutrient foods, and good music for community health and welfare and for good value based education and ecological lifestyle not upsetting ones nature and of earths nature so that all prosper together ,for peace of all .That is for the world peace ,a doctor has to be a socio-politically motivated being ,not just a technological ,and practice oriented selfish personality!!!Roxburg taught us that model.And India had taught him that Model.