A History of Agriculture in India v2.c69: Chapter 17. Fruits and Flowers

A History of Agriculture in India v2.c69

Language: English

v2.c69.s1 Fruits — 37 parts
v2.c69.s2 Flowers — 19 parts
v2.c69.s3 Aquatic Animals — 9 parts
v2.c69.s4 Birds — 39 parts
v2.c69.s5 References — 1 part

Chapter 17. Fruits and Flowers

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Babur mentions in his Memoirs the plants which he saw in India. His record of fruit and ornamental plants is important in the sense that we know in an authentic manner what plants were grown in India in the early sixteenth century. Among the fruits he mentions, mango, plantain, tamarind, mahua, jaman, chironji, jack, khirni, karonda, paniala, ber, amla, kamrak, lime, citron, galgal and santra orange. He also records the presence of date, coconut and toddy palms.

Fruits

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The Mango. The mango (ambah) is one of the fruits peculiar to Hindustan. Hindustanis pronounce the b in its name as though no vowel followed it; this being awkward to utter, some people call the fruit (P) naghsak as Khwaja Khusrau does: Naghsak-i-mā (var. khwash) naghs-kun-i-bustān, Naghstarin mewa (var. na’ mat)-i-Hindustan

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‘Mangoes when good are very good; but many as are eaten, few are first-rate. They are usually plucked unripe and ripened in the house. Unripe they make excellent condiments, are good also preserved in syrup. Taking it altogether, the mango is the best fruit of Hindustan. Some so praise it as to give it preference over all fruits except the musk-melon, but such praise outmatches it. It resembles the kārdi peach. It ripens in the rains. It is eaten in two ways: one is to squeeze it to a pulp, make a hole in it, and suck out the juice, —the other, to peel and eat it like the kārdi peach. Its tree grows very large and has a leaf somewhat resembling the peach-tree’s. The trunk is ill-looking and ill-shaped, but in Bengal and Gujrāt is heard of as growing handsome.

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The Plantain. ‘The plantain (Sans. kela; Musa paradisiaca) is another. Its tree is not very tall, indeed is not to be called a tree, since it is something between a grass and a tree. Its leaf is a little like that of the amān-garā but grows about two yards long and nearly one broad (1.8 m × 0.9 m). Out of the middle of its leaves rises, heart-like, a bud which resembles a sheep’s heart. As each petal of this bud expands, there grows at its base a row of 6 or 7 flowers which become the plantains. These flowers become visible with the lengthening of the heart-like shoot and the opening of the petals of the bud. The tree is understood to flower once only. The fruit has two pleasant qualities: one that it peels easily, the other that it has neither stone nor fibre. It is rather longer and thinner than the egg-plant (Solanum melongena). It is not very sweet; the Bengal plantain (i.e. chini-champa) is, however, said to be very sweet. The plantain is a very good-looking tree, its broad, broad, leaves of beautiful green having an excellent appearance.

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The Tamarind. The anbli (H. imli, Tamarindus indica, the tamarind) is another. It has finely-cut leaves (leaflets), precisely like those of the (T) buia, except that they are not so finely-cut. It is a very good-looking tree, giving dense shade. It grows wild in masses too.

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The Mahua. The (Beng.) mahua (Madhuca indica) is another. This also is a very large tree. Most of the wood in the houses of Hindustanis is from it. Spirit is distilled from its flowers; not only so, but they are dried and eaten like raisins, and from them, thus dried, spirit is also extracted. The dried flowers taste just like kishmish; they have an ill-flavour. The flowers are not bad in their natural state; they are eatable. The mahua grows wild also. Its fruit is tasteless, has rather a large seed with a thin husk, and from this seed, again, oil is extracted.

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The Khirni. The mimusops (Sans. khirni; Manilkara kauki) is another. Its tree, though not very large, is not small. The fruit is yellow and thinner than the red jujube (Elaeagnus angustifolia). It has just the grape's flavour, but a rather bad after-taste; it is not bad, however, and is eatable. The husk of its stone is thin.

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The Jaman. The (Sans.) jāman (Syzygium cuminii) is another. Its leaf, except for being thicker and greener, is quite like the willow's. The tree does not want for beauty. Its fruit is like a black grape, is sourish, and not very good (Fig. 22).

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The Kamrak. The kamrak (Averrhoa carambola) is another. Its fruit is five-sided, about as large as the 'ain-ālu and some 3 inches (7.6 cm) long. It ripens to yellow; gathered unripe, it is very bitter: gathered ripe, its bitterness has become sub-acid, not bad, not wanting in pleasantness (Fig. 22).

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The Jack-fruit. The jack-fruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) is another. This is a fruit of singular form and flavour; it looks like a sheep's stomach stuffed and made into a haggis and it is sickeningly sweet. Inside are filbert-like stones which, on the whole, resemble dates, but are round, not long, and have softer substance; these are eaten. The jack-fruit is very adhesive; for this reason people are said to oil mouth and hands before eating it. It is heard of also as growing not only on the branches of its tree, but on trunk and root too. One would say that the tree was all hung round with haggises (Fig. 25).

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The Burhal. The monkey-jack (Artocarpus lakoocha) is another. The fruit may be of the size of a quince (var. apple). Its smell is not bad. Unripe it is singularly tasteless and empty thing; when ripe, it is not so bad. It ripens soft, can be pulled to pieces and eaten anywhere, tastes very much like a rotten quince, and has an excellent little austere flavour.

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FIG. 18. The wooden Persian wheels with baked earthen water pots are still in use in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. This photograph shows a Persian wheel near Khajuraho, Chhattarpur District, Madhya Pradesh, 1978.

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FIG. 19. Charsa, a leather bucket pulled by bullocks with the aid of a pulley, is still in use for irrigation in Gurgaon District of Haryana, 1978.

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FIG. 20. *Bagh-e-wafa*, the garden planted by Babur near Kabul in which he planted oranges and pomegranates. On the top sugarcanes and plantains are depicted. These were introduced by Babur from Lahore. From the *Babur-nama*. (Courtesy: British Museum, London)

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FIG. 21. *Bagh-e-wafa*. On the top a wooden Persian wheel is shown. In the garden oranges, pomegranates, plantains, cypresses and *keora* are depicted. An illustration to the *Babur-nama*. Mughal, 1597. Artist: Bhagwan.

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FIG. 22. An illustration of jaman (Syzygium cumini) and kamrak (Averrhoa carambola) from the Babur-nama. Mughal, 1597.

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FIG. 23. Paniala (Flacourtia jangomas) and chironji (Buchanania lanzan) trees. From the Babur-nama. Mughal, 1597.

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FIG. 24. Sadaphal (Citrus maxima) or chakotra on the top. Below is amarphal (C. aurantium). From the Babur-nama. Mughal, 1597.

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FIG. 25. Illustrations of jack-fruit (*Artocarpus heterophyllus*), keora (*Pandanus odoratissimus*) and oleander (*Nerium indicum*). From the Babur-nama. Mughal, 1597. (Courtesy: National Museum, New Delhi)

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*The Ber.* 'The lote-fruit (Sans. *ber*, *Ziziphus mauritiana*) is another. It is of several kinds: of one the fruit is larger than the plum; another is shaped like the Husaini grape. Most of them are not very good; we saw one in Bandir (Gualiar) that was really good. The lote-tree sheds its leaves under the Signs *Saur* and *Jauza* (Bull and Twins), burgeons under *Saratan* and *Asad* (Crab and Lion) which are the true rainy-season,—then becoming fresh and green, and it ripens its fruit under *Dalu* and *Haut* (Bucket, i.e. Aquarius, and Fish).

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*The Karaunda.* 'The *karaunda* (*Carissa carandas*) is another. It grows in bushes after the fashion of the *chika* of our country, but the *chika* grows on mountains, the *karaunda* on the plains. In flavour it is like the rhubarb itself, but is sweeter and less juicy.

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*The Paniyala.* 'The *paniyala* (*Flacourtia jangomas*) is another. It is larger than the plum and like the red-apple unripe. It is a little austere and is good. The tree is taller than the pomegranate's; its leaf is like that of the almond-tree but smaller (Fig. 23).

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*The Gular.* 'The (H) *gular* (*Ficus glomerata*) is another. The fruit grows out of the tree-trunk and resembles the fig, but is singularly tasteless.

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*The Amla.* 'The *amlā* (*Emblica officinalis*, the myrobalan-tree) is another. This also is a five-sided fruit. It looks like the unblown cotton-pod. It is an astringent and ill-flavoured thing, but confiture made of it is not bad. It is a wholesome fruit. Its tree is of excellent form and has very minute leaves.

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*The Chirunji.* 'The (H) *chirunji* (*Buchanania lanzan*) is another (Fig. 23). This tree had been understood to grow in the hills, but I knew later about it, because there were three or four clumps of it in our gardens. It is much like the *mahua*. Its kernel is not bad, a thing between the walnut and the almond, not bad! rather smaller than the pistachio and round; people put it in custards and sweetmeats.

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*The Date-palm.* 'The date-palm (*Phoenix dactylifera*) is another. This is not peculiar to Hindustan, but is here described because it is not in those countries (Tramontana). It grows in Lamghan also. Its branches (i.e. leaves) grow from just one place at its top; its leaves (i.e. leaflets) grow on both sides of the branches (midribs) from neck to tip; its trunk is rough and ill-coloured; its fruit is like a bunch of grapes, but much larger. People say that the date-palm amongst vegetables resembles an animal in two respects; one is that, as, if an animal's head be cut off, its life is taken, so it is with the date-palm; if its head is cut off, it dries off; the other is that, as the offspring of animals is not produced without the male, so too with the date-palm, it gives no good fruit unless a branch of the male-tree be brought into touch with the female-tree. The truth of this last matter is not known to me. The above-mentioned head of the date-palm is called its cheese. The tree so grows that where its leaves come out is cheese-white, the leaves becoming green as they lengthen. This white part, the so-called cheese, is tolerable eating, not bad, much like the walnut. People make a wound in the cheese, and into this wound insert a leaflet, in such a way that all liquid flowing from the wound runs down it. The tip of the leaflet is set over the mouth of a pot suspended to the tree in such a way that it collects whatever liquor is yielded by the wound. This liquor is rather pleasant if drunk at once; if drunk after two or three days, people say it is quite exhilarating. Once when I had gone to visit Bari, and made an excursion to the villages on the bank of the Chambal-river, we met with people collecting this date-liquor in the valley-bottom. A good deal was drunk; no hilarity was felt; much must be drunk seemingly, to produce a little cheer.

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The Coconut Palm. The coconut palm (*Cocos nucifera*) is another. An Arab gives it Arabic form and says *nārjīl*; Hindustan people say *nālīr*, seemingly by popular error. Its fruit is the Hindinut from which black spoons are made and the larger ones of which serve for guitar-bodies. The coco-palm has general resemblance to the date-palm, but has more, and more glistening leaves. Like the walnut the coconut has a green outer husk; but its husk is of fibre on fibre. All ropes for ships and boats and also cord for sewing boat-seams are heard of as made from these husks. The nut, when stripped of its husk, near one end shews a triangle of hollows, two of which are solid, the third, a nothing, easily pierced. Before the kernel forms, there is fluid inside; people pierce the soft hollow and drink this; it tastes like date-palm cheese in solution, and is not bad.

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The Toddy Palm. The (Sans.) *tāṛ* (*Borassus flabellifer*), the palmyra-palm, is another. Its branches (i.e. leaves) also are quite at its top. Just as with the date-palm, people hang a pot on it, take its juice and drink it. They call this liquor *tāṛī*, it is said to be more exhilarating than date liquor. For about a yard (0.9 m) along its branches (i.e. leaf-stems) there are no leaves; above this, at the tip of the branch (stem), 30 or 40 open out like the spread palm of the hand, all from one place. These leaves approach a yard in length. People often write Hindi characters on them after the fashion of account rolls.

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Citrus Fruits. The orange (Ar. *naranj*, *Citrus aurantium*) and orange-like fruits are others of Hindustan. Oranges grow well in the Lamghanat, Bajaur and Sawad. The Lamghanat one is smallish, has a navel, is very agreeable, fragile and juicy. It is not at all like the orange of Khurasan and those parts, being so fragile that many spoil before reaching Kabul from the Lamghanat, which may be 13-14 *yīghāch* (65-70 miles; 105-113 km) while the Astarabad orange, by reason of its thick skin and scant juice, carries with less damage from there to Samarkand, some 270-280 *yīghāch*. The Bajaur orange is about as large as a quince, very juicy and more acid than other oranges. Khwaja Kalan once said to me, "We counted the oranges gathered from a single tree of this sort in Bajaur and it mounted up to 7,000.” It had been always in my mind that the word nāranj was an Arabic form; it would seem to be really so, since every-one in Bajaur and Sawad says nārang.

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The lime (Beng. līmū; C. aurantiifolia) is another. It is very plentiful, about the size of a hen’s egg, and of the same shape. If a person poisoned drink the water in which its fibres have been boiled, danger is averted.

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The citron (H, turunj; C. medica) is another of the fruits resembling the orange. Bajauris and Swadis call it bālang and hence give the name bālang marabbā to its maramlade (marabbā) confiture. In Hindustan people call the turunj bajauri. There are two kinds of turunj: one is sweet, flavourless and nauseating, of no use for eating but with peel that may be good for marmalade; it has the same sickening sweetness as the Lamghanat; the other, that of Hindustan and Bajaur, is acid, quite deliciously acid, and makes excellent sherbet, well-flavoured, and wholesome drinking. Its size may be that of the Khusrawi melon; it has a thick skin, wrinkled and uneven, with one end thinner and beaked. It is of a deeper yellow than the orange. Its tree has no trunk, is rather low, grows in bushes, and has a larger leaf than the orange.

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The sangtāra (C. reticulata) is another fruit resembling the orange (naranj).

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The large lime which they call (H) gal-gal in Hindustan is another fruit resembling the orange. It has the shape of a goose’s egg, but unlike that egg does not taper to the ends. Its skin is smooth like the sangtāra; it is remarkably juicy.

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The (H) jānbīrī lime (Citrus limon) is another orange-like fruit. It is orange-shaped and, though yellow, not orange-yellow. It smells like the citron (turunj); it too is deliciously acid.

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The (Sans.) sadā-fal (phal) (C. paradisi) is another orange-like fruit (Fig. 24). This is pear-shaped, colours like the quince, ripens sweet, but not to the sickly-sweetness of the orange (nāranj).

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The amrd-fal (Sans. amrit-phal) (C. aurantium) is another orange-like fruit (Fig. 24).

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The lemon (H, karnā; C. limon) is another fruit resembling the orange (nāranj); it may be as large as the gal-gal and is also acid.

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The (Sans.) amal-bid is another fruit resembling the orange. After three years (in Hindustan), it was first seen today. They say a needle melts away if put inside it, either from its acidity or some other property. It is as acid, perhaps, as the citron and lemon (turunj and līmū).

Flowers

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Among the flowers Babur mentions hibiscus, oleander, keora, chambeli or white jasmine in the Babur-nama. These are all indigenous flowering plants of India. Babur is also credited with the introduction of the scented Persian rose in India.

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*Gurhal.* ‘In Hindustan there is great variety of flowers. One is the (D.) *jāsūn* (*Hibiscus rosa-sinensis*), which some Hindustanis call (Hindi) *gurhal*. It is not a grass; its tree is in stems like the bush of the red-rose; it is rather taller than the bush of the red-rose. The flower of the *jāsūn* is fuller in colour than that of the pomegranate, and may be of the size of the red-rose; but the red-rose, when its bud has grown, opens simply, whereas when the *jāsūn*-bud opens a stem on which other petals grow is seen like a heart amongst its expanded petals. Though the two are parts of the one flower, yet the outcome of the lengthening and thinning of that stem-like heart of the first-opened petals gives the semblance of two flowers. It is not a common matter. The beautifully coloured flowers look very well on the tree, but they do not last long; they fade in just one day. The *jāsūn* blossoms very well through the four months of the rains; it seems indeed to flower all through the year; with this profusion, however, it gives no perfume.

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The Oleander. ‘The (H.) *kanir* (*Nerium indicum*, the oleander) is another (Fig. 25). It grows both red and white. Like the peach-flower, it is five-petalled. It is like the peach-bloom in colour, but opens 14 or 15 flowers from one place, so that, seen from a distance, they look like one great flower. The oleander-bush is taller than the rose-bush. The red oleander has a sort of scent, faint and agreeable. Like the *jāsūn* it also blooms well and profusely in the rains.

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The *Keora*. ‘The (H.) *kiūra* (*Pandanus odoratissimus*, the screw-pine) is another (Fig. 25). It has a very agreeable perfume. Musk has the defect of being dry; this may be called moist musk—a very agreeable perfume. The tree’s singular appearance notwithstanding, it has flowers perhaps 13½ to 18 inches (35.³ to 45.7 cm) long. It has long leaves having the character of the reed (P) *gharau* and having spines. Of these leaves, while pressed together bud-like, the outer ones are the greener and more spiny; the inner ones are soft and white. In amongst these inner leaves grow things like what belongs to the middle of a flower, and from these things comes the excellent perfume. When the tree first comes up not yet shewing any trunk, it is like the bush of the male-reed, but with wider and more spiny leaves. What serves it for a trunk is very shapeless, its roots remaining shewn.

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The Jasmine. ‘The (P.) *yāsman* (jasmine) is another; the white they call *champa*. It is larger and more strongly scented than our *yāsman*-flower.³

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³ The Babur-nama, pp. 503-515

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OBSERVATIONS OF BABUR ON THE ANIMALS AND BIRDS OF INDIA

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BABUR observed the following quadrupeds in India: the elephant, rhinoceros, wild buffalo, *nilgai*, Kotah-paicheh, antelope, deer, gaugini, monkey, mongoose and squirrel.

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'The elephant, which Hindustanis call *hāt(h)i*, is one of the wild animals peculiar to Hindustan. It inhabits the (western?) borders of the Kālpi country, and becomes more numerous in its wild state the farther east one goes (in Kālpi?). From this tract it is that captured elephants are brought; in Kārrah and Mānikpūr elephant-catching is the work of 30 or 40 villages. People answer for them direct to the exchequer. The elephant is an immense animal and very sagacious. If people speak to it, it understands; if they command anything from it, it does it. Its value is according to its size; it is sold by measure, the larger it is, the higher its price. People rumour that it is heard of in some islands as 10 *qārī* high, but in this tract it is not seen above 4 or 5. It eats and drinks entirely with its trunk; if it lose the trunk, it cannot live. It has two great teeth (tusks) in its upper jaw, one on each side of its trunk; by setting these against walls and trees, it brings them down, with these it fights and does whatever hard tasks fall to it. People call these ivory; they are highly valued by Hindustanis. The elephant has no hair. It is much relied on by Hindustanis, accompanying every troop of their armies. It has some useful qualities:—it crosses great rivers with ease, carrying a mass of baggage, and three or four have gone dragging without trouble the cart of the mortar it takes four or five hundred men to haul. But its stomach is large; one elephant eats the corn of two strings of camel.

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'The rhinoceros is another. This also is a large animal, equal in bulk to perhaps three buffaloes. The opinion current in those countries (Tramontana) that it can lift an elephant on its horn seems mistaken. It has a single horn on its nose, more than nine inches (23 cm) long; one of two *qārish* is not seen. Out of one large horn were made a drinking-vessel and a dice-box, leaving over (the thickness of) 3 or 4 hands. The rhinoceros's hide is very thick; an arrow shot from a stiff bow, drawn with full strength right up to the arm-pit, if it pierce at all, might penetrate 4 inches (10 cm). From the sides of its fore and hind legs, folds hang which from a distance look like housings thrown over it. It resembles the horse more than it does any other animal. As the horse has a small stomach so has the rhinoceros; as in the horse a piece of bone (pastern?) grows in place of small bones, so one grows in the rhinoceros. It is more ferocious than the elephant and cannot be made obedient and submissive. There are masses of it in the Parashāwar and Hashnagar jungles, so too between the Sind-river and the jungles of the Bhira country. Masses there are also on the banks of the Sāru-river in Hindustan. Some were killed in the Parashāwar and Hashnagar jungles in our moves on Hindustan (Fig. 26). It strikes powerfully with its horn; men and horses enough have been horned in those hunts. In one of them the horse of a brave named Maqṣūd was tossed a spear's-length, for which reason the man was nick-named the rhino's aim.

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'The wild-buffalo is another. It is much larger than the (domestic) buffalo and its horns do not turn back in the same way. It is a mightily destructive and ferocious animal.

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'The nīla-gau (blue-bull) is another. It may stand as high as a horse but is somewhat lighter in build. The male is bluish-gray; hence, seemingly, people call it nīla-gau. It has two rather small horns. On its throat is a tuft of hair, nine inches (23 cm) long; in this it resembles the yak. Its hoof is cleft like the hoof of cattle. The doe is of the colour of the būghu-marāl; she, for her part, has no horns and is plumper than the male.

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'The hog-deer is another. It may be of the size of the white deer. It has short legs; hence its name, little-legged. Its horns are like a būghu's but smaller; like the būghu it casts them every year. Being rather a poor runner, it does not leave the jungle.

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'Another is a deer (kiyik) after the fashion of the male deer (airkākī hūna) of the jīrān. Its back is black, its belly white, its horns longer than the hūna's, but more crooked. The Hindustani calls it kalahara, a word which may have been originally kala-haran, black-buck, and which has been softened in pronunciation to kalahara. The doe is light-coloured (Fig.27). By means of this kalahara people catch deer; they fasten a noose on its horns, hang a stone as large as a ball on one of its feet, so as to keep it from getting far away after it has brought about the capture of a deer, and set it opposite wild deer when these are seen. As these (kalahara) deer are singularly combative, advance to fight is made at once. The two deer strike with their horns and push one another backwards and forwards, during which the wild one's horns become entangled in the net that is fast to the tame one's. If the wild one would run away, the tame one does not go; it is impeded also by the stone on its foot. People take many deer in this way; after capture they tame them and use them in their turn to take others; they also set them to fight at home; the deer fight very well.

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'There is a smaller deer (kiyik) on the Hindustan hill-skirts, as large may-be as the one year's lamb of the argārghalcha (Ovis ammon polii).

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'The gīni-cow is another, a very small one, perhaps as large as the ram of those countries (Tramontana). Its flesh is very tender and savoury.

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'The monkey is another. The Hindustani calls it bandar. Of this too there are many kinds, one being what people take to those countries. The jugglers teach them tricks. This kind is in the mountains of Nūrdara, in the skirt-hills of Safid-koh neighbouring on Khaibar, and from there downwards all through Hindustan. It is not found higher up. Its hair is yellow, its face white, its tail not very long. Another kind, not found in Bajaur, Sawād and those parts, is much larger than is the one taken to those countries (Tramontana). Its tail is very long, its hair whitish, its face quite black. It is in the mountains and jungles of Hindustan. Yet another kind is distinguished, quite black in hair, face and limbs.

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‘The nawal is another. It may be somewhat smaller than the kish. It climbs trees. Some call it the mush-i-khūrma (palm-rat). It is thought lucky.

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‘A mouse people call galahrī (squirrel) is another. It is just always in trees, running up and down with amazing alertness and speed (Fig.28).

Aquatic Animals

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Alligator, water-hog, gharial, fish and frogs.

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One is the water-tiger (P. shīr-ābī, Crocodilus palustris). This is in the standing-waters. It is like a lizard. People say it carries off men and even buffaloes.

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‘The siyāh-sār (black-head) is another. This also is like a lizard. It is in all rivers of Hindustan. One that was taken and brought in was about 4-5 qārī (c. 13 feet; 4 m) long and as thick perhaps as a sheep. It is said to grow still larger. Its snout is over half a yard (45 cm) long. It has rows of small teeth in its upper and lower jaws. It comes out of the water and sinks into the mud.

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‘The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is another. It is said to grow large; many in the army saw it in the Saru (Gogra) river. It is said to take people; while we were on that river’s banks, it took one or two slave-women and it took three or four camp-followers between Ghazipur and Banaras. In that neighbourhood I saw one but from a distance only and not quite clearly.

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‘The water-hog (Platanista gangetica, the porpoise) is another. This also is in all Hindustan rivers. It comes up suddenly out of the water; its head appears and disappears; it dives again and stays below, shewing its tail. Its snout is as long as the siyāh-sār’s and it has the same rows of small teeth. Its head and the rest of its body are fish-like. When at play in the water, it looks like a water-carrier’s bag (mashak). Water-hogs, playing in the Saru, leap right out of the water; like fish, they never leave it.

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‘Again there is the kalah (or galah)-fish (baligh). Two bones each about 3 inches (7.6 cm) when taken, produce an extraordinary noise; whence, seemingly, people have called it kalah.

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‘The flesh of Hindustan fishes is very savoury; they have no odour. They are surprisingly active. On one occasion, when people coming had flung a net across a stream, leaving its two edges half a yard (45 cm) above the water, most fish passed by leaping a yard (90 cm) above it. In many rivers are little fish which fling themselves a yard or more out of the water if there be harsh noise or sound of feet.

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'The frogs of Hindustan, though otherwise like those of other countries, run 6 or 7 yards (5.5 to 6.4 m) on the face of the water.'¹

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¹ *Babur-nama*, pp. 488-503

Birds

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Babur describes the following birds in *Babur-nama*: Peacock, parrot, *sharak*, *lujeh*, *durraj* (or black partridge), *pulpeikar*, *murgh-e-sahra* (or fowl of the wild), *chelsi*, *sham*, *budineh* or quail, *kharchal* (or bustard), *charz* (or floriken), *baghri-kara* (or rock-pigeon), water-fowl, *dig* (or adjutant), *sāras*, minkisa, *yak ding*, *buzek* (or curlew), *gheret-pai*, *shahmurgh*, *zumej*, starling, *ala-kurgheh* (or magpie), crowpheasant, *chamgidri* (or flying fox), *aakeh*, *karcheh*, or *koel*. The flying fox is a mammal and not a bird, and it was included by Babur among birds by mistake.

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'The peacock (Ar. *ṭaus*) is one. It is a beautifully coloured and splendid animal (Fig. 28). Its form is not equal to its colouring and beauty. Its body may be as large as the crane's but it is not so tall. On the head of both cock and hen are 20 to 30 feathers rising some 2 or 3 inches (5 to 7.6) cm high. The hen has neither colour nor beauty. The head of the cock has an iridescent collar; its neck is of a beautiful blue; below the neck, its back is painted in yellow, parrot-green, blue and violet colours. The flowers on its back are much the smaller; below the back as far as the tail-tips are (larger) flowers painted in the same colours. The tail of some peacocks grows to the length of a man's extended arms. It has a small tail under its flowered feathers, like the tail of other birds; this ordinary tail and its primaries are red. It is found in Bajaur and Sawad and below them; it is not in Kunur and Lamghanat or any place above them. Its flight is feebler than the pheasant's; it cannot do more than make one or two short flights. On account of its feeble flight, it frequents the hills or jungles, which is curious, since jackals abound in the jungles it frequents. What damage might these jackals not do to birds that trail from jungle to jungle, tails as long as man's stretch! Hindustanis call the peacock *mor*. Its flesh is lawful food, according to the doctrine of Imām Abū Hanīfa; it is like that of the partridge and not unsavoury, but is eaten with instinctive aversion, in the way camel-flesh is.

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'The parrot is another. This also is in Bajaur and countries lower down. It comes into Ningnahar and Lamghanat in the heats when mulberries ripen; it is not there at other times. It is of many, many kinds. One sort is that which people carry into those (Tramontana) countries. They make it speak words... Another sort is smaller; this also they make FIG. 29. A hunter netting birds. In the foreground are sarus cranes, pelicans and wild ducks. To the left a pair of hoopoes. In the net a falcon. From the *Babur-nama*. Mughal, 1597.

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FIG. 26. Babur hunting rhinos near Peshawar. From the Babur-nama. Mughal, early 17th century A.D. (Courtesy: British Museum, London)

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FIG. 27. Babur hunting. From the Babur-nama. Mughal, early 17th century A.D. (Courtesy: British Museum, London)

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و بالا عجب جست و خیزان می دود از طیور یکی طاووس است

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برزک و پر زیب جانوری است اندام او در خور زک و زیب اوست در جثه برابر کلنگ بوده باشد اما برابر کلنگ بلند نیست در سر زامه در سر ماده او پست سی پر می باشد و سه انگشت بلندی آن پر ها باشد در ماده او زیب و رنگی نیست سر را و سویی درخشنده است گردن او رنگی کبود است از گردن پایان تر پشت او از زرد و توکلی و کبود و بنفش رنگ نقش

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FIG. 28. Squirrels playing on a tree. Below a peacock and a hen, and sarus cranes. From the Babur-nama, Mughal, 1597. (Courtesy: National Museum, New Delhi)

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speak words. They call it the jungle-parrot. It is numerous in Bajaur, Sawad and that neighbourhood, so much so that 5 or 6,000 fly in one flock. Between it and the one first-named the difference is in bulk; in colouring they are just one and the same. Another sort is still smaller than the jungle-parrot. Its head is quite red, the top of its wings (i.e. the primaries) is red also; the tip of its tail for two hands'-thickness is lustrous. The head of some parrots of this kind is iridescent. It does not become a talker. People call it the Kashmir parrot. Another sort is rather smaller than the jungle-parrot; its beak is black; round its neck is a wide black collar; its primaries are red. It is an excellent learner of words. We used to think that whatever a parrot or a sharak might say of words people had taught it, it could not speak of any matter out of its own head. At this juncture one of my immediate servants Abū-l-qāsim Jalāīr, reported a singular thing to me. A parrot of this sort whose cage must have been covered up, said, 'Uncover my face; I am stifling.' And another time when palkī bearers sat down to take breath, this parrot, presumably on hearing wayfarers pass by, said, "Men are going past, are you not going on?" Let credit rest with the narrator, but, never-the-less, so long as a person has not heard with his own ears, he may not believe!—Another kind is of a beautiful full red; it has other colours also, but, as nothing is distinctly remembered about them, no description is made. It is a very beautiful bird, both in colour and form. People are understood to make this also speak words. Its defect is a most unpleasant, sharp voice, like the drawing of broken china on a copper plate.

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The sharak is another. It is numerous in the Lamghanat and abounds lower down, all over Hindustan. Like the parrot, it is of many kinds.—The kind that is numerous in the Lamghanat has a black head; its primaries (qanāt) are spotted, its body rather larger and thicker than that of the chughūr-chūq (Sturnus vulgaris indicus; syn. S. humii). People teach it to speak words.—Another kind they call pindawalī, they bring it from Bengal; it is black all over and of much greater bulk than the sharak (here, house-mina). Its bill and foot are yellow and on each ear are yellow wattles which hang down and have a bad appearance. It learns to speak well and clearly.—Another kind of sharak is slenderer than the last and is red round the eyes. It does not learn to speak. People call it the wood-sharak. Again, at the time when (934 AH.) I had made a bridge over Gang, crossed it, and put my adversaries to flight, a kind of sharak was seen, in the neighbourhood of Laknau and Oude for the first time, which had a white breast, piebald head, and black back. This kind does not learn to speak.

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The luja is another. This bird they call (Ar.) bu-qalamūn (chameleon) because, between head and tail, it has five or six changing colours, resplendent like a pigeon's throat. It is about as large as the kabg-i-dari and seems to be the kabg-i-dari (monal) of Hindustan. As the kabg-i-dari moves on the heads of mountains, so does this. It is in the Nijr-aū mountains of the countries of Kabul and in the mountains lower down, but it is not found higher up. People tell this wonderful thing about it:—When the birds, at the onset of winter, descend to the hill-skirts, if they come over a vineyard, they can fly no further and are taken. God knows the truth! The flesh of this bird is very savoury.

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'The partridge (dūrraj) is another. This is not peculiar to Hindustan but is also in the Garm-sir countries; however, some kinds are only in Hindustan; particulars of them are given here. The dūrraj (Francolinus francolinus) may be of the same bulk as the kiklik; the cock's back is the colour of the hen-pheasant; its throat and breast are black, with quite white spots. A red line comes down on both sides of both eyes. It is named from its cry which is something like Shir daram shakrak. It pronounces shir short; daram shakrak it says distinctly. Astarabad partridges are said to cry Bat mini tutilar (Quick! they have caught me). The partridge of Arabia and those parts is understood to cry, Bi'l shakar tadawin al ni'am (with sugar pleasure endures)! The hen-bird has the colour of the young pheasant. These birds are found below Nijr-aū.—Another kind is called kanjal. Its bulk may be that of the one already described. Its voice is very like that of the kiklik but much shriller. There is little difference in colour between the cock and hen. It is found in Parashawar, Hashnagar and countries lower down, but not higher up.

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'The p(h)ul-paikar (Tragopan melanocephalus) is another. Its size may be that of the kabgi-dari; its shape is that of the house-cock, its colour that of the hen. 'From forehead (tumagh) to throat it is of a beautiful colour, quite red. It is in the Hindustan mountains.

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'The wild-fowl (Gallus gallus; syn. G. ferrugineus) is another. It flies like a pheasant, and is not of all colours as house-fowl are. It is in the mountains of Bajaur and lower down, but not higher up.

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'The chilsī (or jilsi) is another. In bulk it equals the p(h)ul-paikar but the latter has the finer colouring. It is in the mountains of Bajaur.

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'The sham is another. It is about as large as a house-fowl; its colour is unique. It also is in the mountains of Bajaur.

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'The quail (Coturnix coturnix) is another. It is not peculiar to Hindustan but four or five kinds are so.—One is that which goes to our countries (Tramontana), larger and more spreading than the (Hindustan) quail.—Another kind is smaller than the one first named. Its primaries and tail are reddish. It flies in flocks like the chir [Catreus (Phasianus) wallichii].—Another kind is smaller than that goes to our countries and is darker on throat and breast.—Another kind goes in small numbers to Kabul; it is very small, perhaps a little larger than the yellow wag-tail; they call it quratu in Kabul.

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'The Indian bustard is another. It is about as large as the great bustard (*Otis tarda*). Its flesh is delicious; of some birds the leg is good; of others, the wing; and of the bustard all the meat is delicious and excellent.

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'The florican (*?Sypheotides indica*; *?Eupodotis bengalensis*) is another. It is rather less than the *tughdīrī*; the cock's back is like the *tughdīrī*'s, and its breast is black. The hen is of one colour.

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'The Hindustan sand-grouse (*Pterocles exustus*) is another. It is smaller and slenderer than the *bāghrī-qara* (*Pterocles arenarius*) of those countries (Tramontana). Also its cry is sharper.

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'Of the birds that frequent water and the banks of rivers, one is the ding (*Leptoptilus dubius*), of great bulk, each wing measuring a *qulach* (fathom). It has no plumage on head or neck; a thing like a bag hangs from its neck; its back is black; its breast is white. It goes sometimes to Kabul; one year people brought one they had caught. It became very tame; if meat were thrown to it, it never failed to catch it in its bill. Once it swallowed a six-nailed shoe, another time a whole fowl, wings and feathers, all right down.

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'The sāras (*Grus antigone*) is another (Fig. 29). It may be smaller than the ding but its neck is longer. Its head is quite red. People keep this bird at their houses; it becomes very tame.

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'The manek (*?Ciconia leucocephala*) is another. In stature it approaches the sāras, but its bulk is less. It resembles the lag-lag (*Ciconia ciconia ciconia*; syn. *C. alba*) but is much larger; its bill is larger and is black. [These are the field characteristics that differentiate the eastern white stork, *Ciconia ciconia boyciana*, from the white stork, *Ciconia ciconia*.] Its head is iridescent, its neck white, its wings partly-coloured; the tips and border-feathers and under parts of the wings are white, their middle black.

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'Another stork (lag-lag) has a white neck and all other parts black. [The reference is probably to the white-necked stork, *Ciconia episcopus episcopus*.] It goes to those countries (Tramontana). It is rather smaller than the lag-lag [*Ciconia ciconia*; syn. *C. alba*).

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'Another bird resembles the grey heron and the lag-lag; but its bill is longer than the heron's and its body smaller than the white stork's.

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'Another is the large buzak (black ibis, *Pseudibis papillosa papillosa*. In bulk it may equal the buzzard. The back of its wings is white. It has a loud cry.

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'The white buzak [*Threskionnis (ibis) melanocephala*] is another. Its head and bill are black. It is much larger than the one that goes to those countries, but smaller than the Hindustan buzak.

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'The gharm-paī (*Anas poecilorhyncha poecilorhyncha*; spotted billed duck) is another It is larger than the *sūna burchīn* (mallard). The drake and duck are of one colour. It is in Hashnagar at all seasons; sometimes it goes into the Lamghanat. Its flesh is very savoury.

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'The *shah-murgh* (*Sarcidiornis melanonotus melanonotus*, comb duck or *nukta*) is another. It may be a little smaller than a goose. It has a swelling on its bill; its back is black; its flesh is excellent eating.

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'The *zummaj* is another. It is about as large as the *burgut* (*Aquila chrysaetos daphanea*, the golden eagle).

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'The (T.) *ala-qargha* of Hindustan is another. This is slenderer and smaller than the *ālā-qārgha* of those countries (*Tramontana*). Its neck is partly white.

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'Another Hindustan bird resembles the crow (*Corvus splendens splendens*) and the magpie. In Lamghanat people call it the jungle-bird (*Centropus sinensis sinensis*; crow-pheasant). Its head and breast are black; its wings and tail reddish; its eye quite red. Having a feeble flight, it does not come out of the jungle, whence its name.

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'The great bat is another. People call it (Hindi) *chumgādur*. It is about as large as the owl, and has a head like a puppy's. When it is thinking of lodging for the night on a tree, it takes hold of a branch, turns head-downwards, and so remains. It has much singularity.

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'The magpie is another. People call it *matā* (*Dendrocitta vagabunda*, the Indian tree-pie). It may be somewhat less than the '*aqqa*, which moreover is pied black and white, while the *matā* is pied brown and black.

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'Another is a small bird, perhaps of the size of the (T.) *sandulach*. It is of a beautiful red with a little black on its wings.

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'The *karcha* is another; it is after the fashion of a swallow, but much larger and quite black.

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'The *kuil* (*Eudynamys scolopacea*, the koel) is another. It may be as large as the crow but is much slenderer. It has a kind of song and is understood to be the bulbul of Hindustan. Its honour with Hindustanies is as great as is the bulbul's. It always stays in closely-wooded gardens.

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'Another bird is after the fashion of the (Ar.) *shiqarrak* [*Kitta (Cissa) chinensis*, the green-magpie]. It clings to trees, is perhaps as large as the green-magpie, and is parrot-green [*? Picus xanthopygaes; syn. Gecinus striolatus*; the little green-woodpecker].'²

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² *Babur-nama*, pp. 493-501

References

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Beveridge, A.B. *Babur-nama*, translated from the original Turki text of Zehir-ud-din Muhammad Babur Padshah Ghazi (Indian reprint), New Delhi, 1970 Leyden, J. and Erskine, W. *Memoirs of Zehir-ud-din Muhammad Babur, Emperor of Hindustan*, written by himself in the Chaghatai Turki, annotated and revised by Sir Lucas King, Vols. I and II, London, 1921