A History of Agriculture in India v2.c76: Chapter 24. Gardens of Akbar
A History of Agriculture in India v2.c76
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- v2.c76.s1 Flowers of Iran and Turan — 2 parts
Chapter 24. Gardens of Akbar
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FLOWERING TREES, SHRUBS AND CLIMBERS IN MUGHAL GARDENS
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APART from his love of architecture and painting, Akbar was interested in gardens and plants. He was the first Mughal emperor to enter the Kashmir Valley. At Srinagar, close to the Dal Lake, he planned a large garden, Nasim Bagh. The walls, fountains and irrigation channels of this garden have disappeared, but the chenars still remain.
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Evidence of the structure of the Mughal gardens and plants grown in them is in the Persian classics illustrated during the reign of Akbar. Among them is *Diwan-i-Anwari*, a collection of poems by the Persian poet Anwari, who flourished in the latter part of twelfth century. It contains some excellent paintings on gardens and gardening. A painting by Mahesh shows two gardeners at work. They have an exotic appearance and are possibly from Iran. (Abu-l-Fazl mentions that Akbar imported gardeners from Iran and Turan.) One of them is plucking flowers, whereas another is digging with a spade. In the foreground is a plantain and some flowering annuals, and in the background a pair of elegant cypresses, a mango and a palm. In the centre is a squarish tank with a fountain (Fig. 35). It provides a good idea of a small garden during the reign of Akbar.
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Abu-l-Fazl provides a list of twenty-one fragrant flowering plants along with the colour of their flowers and the season of flowering in the *Ain-i-Akbari*. These are the *sewti*; the *bholsari*; the *chambeli*; *ray-bel*; the *mongra*; the *champa*; the *ketki*; the *kuza*; the *padal* the *juhi*; the *niwari*; the *nargis*; the *keora*; the *chalta*; the *gulal*; the *tasbih gulal*; the *singarhar*; the *violet*; the *karna*; the *kapur bel*; and the *gul-i zafran*.
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It is followed by another list of twenty-nine plants with flowers notable for their beauty. These are, the *gul-i aftab*; the *gul-i Kawal*; the *jafari*; the *gudhal*; the *ratan-manjani*; the *kesu*; the *senbal*; the *ratan-mala*; the *sonzard*; the *gul-i-malti*; the *karnphul*; the *karih*; the *kaner*; the *kadam*; the *nag-kesar*; the *surpan*; the *siri khandi*; the *jait*; the *champala*; the *lahi*; the *gul-i karaunda*; the *dhanantar*; the *gul-i Hinna*; the *dupahriya*; the *bhun champa*; the *sudarsan*; the *kangla-i*; the *siras*; and the *san*.
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Then follows a detailed description of forty-five plants including those already mentioned in the lists detailed above. In these descriptions, which are given in the following account, shape and colour of flowers, season of flowering and shape of the crown, etc., are mentioned.
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'The Sewti resembles the Gul-i Surkh, but is smaller. It has in the middle golden stamens and from four to six petals. Habitat Gujarat and the Dakhin.
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‘Of the *Chambeli* there are two kinds. The *Ray Chambeli* has from five to six petals, outside red. The *Chambeli* proper is smaller, and has on the top a red stripe. Its stem is one-and-a-half or two yards (137 to 183 cm) high, and trails over the ground. It has many long and broad branches. It flowers from the first year.
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‘The *Raybel* resembles the jasmine. There are various kinds, single, double, etc. A quintuple is very common, so that each petal might be separated as a distant flower. Its stem grows a yard (91 cm) high. The leaves of the tree resemble those of the lime tree; but they are somewhat smaller and softer.
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‘The *Mungra* resembles the *Raybel*. It is larger, but inferior in perfume. It has more than a hundred petals; the plants grows to a large tree.
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‘The *Champa* flower has a conical shape, of the size of a finger and consists of ten petals and more, lying in folds one above the other. It has several stamens. The tree looks graceful, and resembles in leaf and trunk the nut tree. It flowers after seven years.
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‘The *Ketki* has the form of spindle of the size of a quarter of a yard (23 cm), with twelve or more petals. Its smell is delicate and fragrant. It bears flowers in six or seven years.
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‘The *Kewra* resembles the preceding, but is more than twice as big. The petals have thorns. As they grow on different places, they are not all equal. In the midst of the flower, there is a small branch with honey-coloured threads, not without smell. The flower smells even after it is withered. Hence people put it into clothes when the perfume remains for a long time. The stem of the tree is above four yards (3.6 m) high; the leaves are like those of the maize, only longer, and triangular, with three thorns in each corner. It flowers from the fourth year. Every year they put new earth round about the roots. The plant is chiefly found in the Dakhin, Gujarat, Malwa and Bihar.
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‘The *Chalta* resembles a large tulip. It consists of eighteen petals, six green ones above, six others, some red, some green, some greyish yellow, and six white. In the midst of the flower, as in the flower called *Hamesha Bahar*, there are nearly two hundred little yellow leaves, with a red globule in the centre. The flower will remain quite fresh for five or six days after having been plucked. It smells like the violet. When withered, the flower is cooked and eaten. The tree resembles the pomegranate tree and its leaves look like those of the lime tree. It blooms in seven years.
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‘The *Tasbih gulal* has a fine smell. The petals have the form of a dagger. The stem of the plant is two yards (1.8 m) high. It flowers after four years. They make rosaries of flowers, which keep fresh for a week.
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‘The *Bholsari* is smaller than the jasmine; its petals are indented. When dry the flower smells better. The tree resembles the walnut tree, and flowers in the tenth year.
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‘The *Singarhar* is shaped like a clove, and has an orange-coloured stalk. The stamens look like poppy seeds. The tree resembles the pomegranate tree, and the leaves are like the leaves of a peach tree. It flowers in five years.
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‘The *Kuza* looks like a *Gul-i surkh*; but the plant and the leaves are larger. It has five or a hundred petals and golden-coloured stamens in the middle. They make *Abirmaya* and an extract from it.
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‘The *Padal* has five or six long petals. It gives water an agreeable flavour and smell. It is on this account that people preserve the flowers, mixed with clay, for such times when the flower is out of season. The leaves and the stem are like those of a nut tree. It flowers in the twelfth year.
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‘The *Juhi* has small leaves. This creeper winds itself round about trees, and flowers in three years.
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‘The *Niwari* looks like a simple *Raybel*, but has larger petals. The flowers are often so numerous as to conceal the leaves and branches of the plant. It flowers in the first year.
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‘The *Kapur bel* has five petals, and resembles the saffron flower. This flower was brought during the present reign from Europe.
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‘The *Zafaran* (saffron). In the beginning of the month of Urdibihisht, the saffron seeds are put into the ground which has been carefully prepared and rendered soft. After this, the field is irrigated with rain-water. The seed itself is a bulb resembling garlic. The flower appears in the middle of the month of *Aban*; the plant is about a quarter of a yard (23 cm) long; but, according to the difference of the soil in which it stands, there are sometimes two-thirds of it above and sometimes two-thirds below the ground. The flower stands on the top of the stalk, and consists of six petals and six stamens. Three of the six petals have a fresh lilac colour, and stand round about the remaining three petals. The stamens are similarly placed, three of a yellow colour standing round about the other three, which are red. The latter yield the saffron. Yellow stamens are often cunningly intermixed. In former times saffron was collected by compulsory labour; they pressed men daily, and made them separate the saffron from the petals and the stamens, and gave them salt instead of wages, a man who cleaned two *pals* receiving two *pals* of salt. At the time of Ghazi Khan, the son of Khaji Chak, another custom became general; they gave the workmen eleven *tarks* of saffron flowers, of which one *tark* was given them as wages; and for the remaining ten they had to furnish two Akbarshahi *sers* of clean, dry saffron, i.e. for two Akbarshahi *mans* of saffron flowers they had to give two *sers* of cleaned saffron. This custom, however, was abolished by his Majesty on his third visit to Kashmir, to the great relief of the people.
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‘When the bulb has been put into the ground, it will produce flowers for six years, provided the soil be annually softened. For the first two years, the flowers will grow sparingly; but in the third year the plant reaches its state of perfection. After six years the bulbs must be taken out; else they get rotten. They plant them again on some other place; and leave the old ground uncultivated for five years.
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FIG. 35. A gardener digs with a spade. In the background is a reservoir flanked by irrigation channels. Mughal, 16th century, from Diwan-i-Anwari. (Courtesy: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)
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FIG. 36. An illustration to a stanza in Bihari Sat Sai shows an eighteenth-century kitchen with brinjals (Solanum melongena), a favourite vegetable of India. Kangra, 18th century.
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'Saffron comes chiefly from the place Pampur, which beongs to the district of Mararaj. The fields there extend over nearly twelve *kos*. Another place of cultivation is in the Parganah of Paraspur, near Indrakol, not far from Kamraj, where the fields extend about a *kos*.
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'The *Aftabi* (sunflower) is round, broad, and large, has a large number of petals, and turns continually to the sun. Its stem reaches a height of three yards (2.74 m).
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'The *Kanwal*. There are two kinds. One opens when the sublime sun shines, turning wherever he goes, and closing at night. It resembles the *Shaqayiq*, but its red is paler. Its petals, which are never less than six in number, enclose yellow stamens, in the midst of which there is an excrescence of the form of a cone with the base upwards, which is the fruit, and contains the seeds. The other kind has four white petals, opens at night, and turns itself according to the moon, but does not close.
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'The *Ja fari* is a pretty, round flower, and grows larger than the *Sadbarg*. One kind has five, another a hundred petals. The latter remains fresh for two months and upwards. The plant is of the size of man, and the leaves resemble those of the willow, but are indented. It flowers in two months.
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'The *Gudhal* resembles the *Jaghasu* tulip, and has a great number of petals. Its stem reaches a height of two yards (1.83 m) and upwards; the leaves look like mulberry leaves. It flowers in two years.
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'The *Ratanmanjani* has four petals, and is smaller than the jasmine. The tree and the leaves resemble the *raybel*. It flowers in two years.
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'The *Kesu* has five petals resembling a tiger's claw. In their midst is a yellow stamen of the shape of a tongue. The plant is very large, and is found on every meadow; when it flowers, it is as if a beautiful fire surrounded the scenery.
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'The *Kaner* remains a long time in bloom. It looks well, but it is poisonous. Whoever puts it on his head is sure to fall in battle. It has mostly five petals. The branches are full of the flowers; the plant itself grows to a height of two yards (1.83 m). It flowers in the first year.
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'The *Kadam* resembles a *tumagha* (a royal cap). The leaves are like those of the walnut tree, which the whole tree resembles.
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'The *Nag kesar*, like the *Gul-i surkh*, has five petals and is full of fine stamens. It resembles the walnut tree in the leaves and the stem; and flowers in seven years.
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'The *Surpa* resembles the sesame flower, and has yellow stamens in the middle. The stem resembles the *Hinna* plant, and the leaves those of the willow.
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‘The *Srikandhi* is like the *Chambeli*, but smaller. It flowers in two years. ‘The *Hinna* has four petals, and resembles the flower called *Nafarman*. Different plants have often flowers of a different colour. ‘The *Dupahriya* is round and small, and looks like the flower called *Hamesha-bahar*. It opens at noon. The stem is about two yards (1.83 m) high. ‘The *Bhun champa* resembles the *Nilufar*, and has five petals. The stem is about a span long. It grows on such places as are periodically under water. Occasionally a plant is found above the water. ‘The *Sudarshan* resembles the *Raybel*, and has yellow threads inside. The stem looks like that of the *Susan* flower. ‘*Senbal* has five petals, each ten fingers long, and three fingers broad. ‘The *Ratanmala* is round and small. Its juice, boiled and mixed with vitriol and *mu’asfar*, furnishes a fast dye for stuffs. Butter and sesame oil are also boiled together with the root of the plant, when the mixture becomes a purple dye. ‘The *Sun ard* resembles the jasmine, but is a little larger, and has from five to six petals. The stem is like that of the *Chambeli*. It flowers in two years. ‘The *Malti* is like the *Chambeli*, but smaller. In the middle there are little stamens looking like poppyseed. It flowers in two years more less. ‘The *Karil* has three small petals. It flowers luxuriantly, and looks very well. The flower is also boiled and eaten; they also make pickles of it. ‘The *Jait* plant grows to a large tree; its leaves look like tamarind leaves. ‘The *Chanpala* is like a nosegay. The leaves of the plant are like walnut leaves. It flowers in two years. The bark of the plant when boiled in water makes the water red. It grows chiefly in the hills; its wood burns bright like a candle. ‘The *Lahi* has a stem one and a half yards (1.37 m) high. The branches before the flowers appear are made into a dish, which is eaten with bread. When camels feed on this plant they get fat and unruly. ‘The *Karaunda* resembles the *Juhi* flower. ‘The *Dhanantar* resembles the *Nilufar*, and looks very well. It is a creeper. ‘The *Siras* flower consists of silk-like threads, and resembles a *tumagha*. It sends its fragrance to a great distance. It is the king of the trees, although the Hindus rather worship the *Pipal* and *Bar* trees. The tree grows very large; its wood is used in building. Within the stem the wood is black, and resists the stroke of the axe. ‘The *Kangla-i* has five petals, each four fingers long, and looks very beautiful. Each branch produces only one flower. ‘The *San* (hemp) looks like a nosegay. The leaves of the plant resemble those of the *Chinar*. Of the bark of the plant strong ropes are made, called *Pat-san*. It makes a very soft rope.
Flowers of Iran and Turan
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After describing the indigenous flowering trees and shrubs, Abu-l-Fazl mentions the names of those introduced from foreign countries. ‘There are also found many flowers of Iran and Turan, as the *Gul-i surkh*, the *Nargis*, the violet, the *Yasman-i kabud*, the *Susan*, the *Rayhan*, the *Ra na*, the *Zeba*, the *Shaqayiq*, the *Taj-i khurus*, the *Qalgha*, the *Nafarman*, the *Khatmi*, etc. Garden and flower beds are everywhere to be found.’¹
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¹ Abu-l-Fazl, *Ain-i-Akbari*, pp. 87-93