A History of Agriculture in India v2.c61.s3: Kerala—Pepper, Ginger, Sugarcane, Coconut and Pulses
A History of Agriculture in India v2.c61.s3
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Kerala—Pepper, Ginger, Sugarcane, Coconut and Pulses
v2.c61.s3.1
During the latter part of his stay at Dehli, Ibn Battuta lost the favour of Sultan Muhammad-bin-Tughlak as he paid visits to a Moslem Sufi faqeer, who courageously denounced the atrocities of the Sultan. Feeling apprehensive about his safety, he asked permission of the Sultan to travel to China. The Sultan accepted his request, appointed him his ambassador to the Emperor of China and provided him an escort to Quilon in Kerala, from where he intended to set sail for China. Near Aligarh he fell into the hands of Hindu brigands who kept him in confinement as a prisoner. He escaped with great difficulty and resumed his journey to the south. At the end of his journey from Delhi he entered the land of Mulaybar (Malabar), as it was then known. His observations indicate that even in the fourteenth century, Kerala was densely populated and intensively cultivated. Houses were scattered in the cultivated area as they are now. He states, 'The land of Mulaybar extends for two months' journey along the coast from Sandabur (Goa) to Kawlam (Quilon, in Kerala). The road over the whole distance runs beneath the shade of trees, and at every half-mile (0.8 km) there is a wooden shed with benches on which all travellers, whether Muslims or infidels, may sit.... On this road, which, as we have said, extends for a two months' march, there is not a foot of ground but is cultivated. Every man has his own orchard, with his house in the middle and a wooden palisade all around it. The road runs through the orchards, and when it comes to a palisade there are wooden steps to go up by and another flight of steps down into the next orchard.... I have never seen a safer road than this for they put to death anyone who steals a single nut, and if any fruit falls no one picks it up but the owner.... The first town in the land of Mulaybar that we entered was the town of Abu-Sarur (Barcelore), a small place on a large inlet and abounding in coco-palms. Two days' journey brought us to Fakanur (Bacanor, now Barkur), a large town on an inlet; here there is a large quantity of sugarcanes, which are unexcelled in the rest of that country....Three days after leaving Fakanur we reached Manjarur (Mangalore), a large town on the inlet called ad-Dumb, which is the largest inlet in the land of Mulaybar. This is the town at which most of the merchants from Fars and Yemen disembark, and pepper and ginger are exceedingly abundant there.'
v2.c61.s3.2
The first European to describe pepper was John of Marignola, who travelled by the land route to China in A.D. 1338 as emissary of Pope Benedict XII. He returned by the sea route, and landed at Quilon or Columbum, as he calls it. He thus describes a visit to a pepper garden. 'On Palm Sunday A.D. 1357 I entered Columbum, the most famous city in the whole of India, where all the pepper in the world grows. It grows on creepers, which are planted exactly like vines and first produce wild grapes of a green colour. Thereupon a kind of grape forms containing red wine, which I have squeezed out on to the plate with my own hand as a condiment. Thereafter they ripen and dry on the trees. And when the immoderate heat of the sun has dried them hard, they are struck down with staves and collected on linen clothes spread out beneath. This I have seen with my own eyes and felt with my own hands throughout fourteen months.
v2.c61.s3.3
Pepper is not burnt, as has been erroneously stated, nor does it grow in deserts, but in gardens.'²
v2.c61.s3.4
² Quoted by Paul Herman in *Conquest of Man*, p. 394