A History of Agriculture in India v2.c83.s2: Pelsaert’s Observations on the Crops of Agra
A History of Agriculture in India v2.c83.s2
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Contents
- v2.c83.s2.t1 Indigo — 7 parts
Pelsaert’s Observations on the Crops of Agra
v2.c83.s2.1
Francisco Pelsaert, a Dutch man, was the Senior Factor of the Dutch East India Company at Agra. He travelled by land from Masulipatam to Surat and from Surat to Agra, where he remained from 1621 to 1627. He was posted at Agra by the Dutch to develop indigo trade. The *Remonstrantie*, his report, essentially a commercial document, was written in 1626 and sums up his seven years’ experience in Agra. Apart from details about Dutch trade in northern India, he describes the city of Agra, administration of the country, the manner of life of the people, their religions and customs. Pelsaert’s report is objective and shows keen sense of observation and knowledge of agriculture in the Agra region of India.
v2.c83.s2.2
Describing the agriculture of Agra province, Pelsaert observes, ‘From April to June the fields lie hard and dry, unfit for ploughing or sowing owing to the heat. When the ground has been moistened by a few days’ rain, they begin to sow indigo, rice, various kinds of food-grains eaten by the poor, such as jowar, bajra, kangni, various pulses for cattlefood, such as moth, mung, orb, urd, and a seed from which oil is extracted. Large numbers of wells have to be dug in order to irrigate the soil, for at this time it is beginning to lose its productive power. Provided the rains are seasonable, and the cold is not excessive, there is a year of plenty, not merely of food, but in the trade in all sorts of commodities. The poor burn cow-dung, mixed with straw and dried in the sun, which is also sold, as peat is sold in Holland.
v2.c83.s2.3
‘Fruit-trees are still scarcer, because the ground is salty, and all fruit comes from Kandahar or Kabul—no apples, pears, quinces, pomegranates, melons, almonds, dates, raisins, filberts, pistachios, and many other kinds. Great and wealthy amateurs have planted in their gardens Persian vines which bear seedless grapes, but the fruit does not ripen properly in one year out of three. Oranges are plentiful in December, January and February, and are obtainable also in June and July; they are very large, especially in the neighbourhood of Bayana. Lemons can be had in large quantities.
v2.c83.s2.4
‘The supply of meat, such as we have in Holland, is ample, but it is cheaper than with us. There are sheep, goats, fowls, geese, ducks, deer and other game; and the supply is so large that it is little valued, and prices are low. Oxen and cows are not slaughtered, as they have to work while they are young, doing everything that is done by horses in Holland, and, besides, their slaughter is strictly forbidden by the King on pain of death, though buffaloes may be freely killed.’
Indigo
v2.c83.s2.t1.1
As indigo was the principal commodity with which Pelsaert was concerned, he gives details about its cultivation and extraction of the dye.
v2.c83.s2.t1.2
‘Indigo is sown in June, when the first rain has fallen, at the rate of 14 or 15 lb (6.25 to 6.8 kg) of seed to the bigha,’ states Pelsaert. He continues, ‘If the rains are moderate, the crop grows an ell high in the course of four months, and is usually cut at the end of September or early in October, when it is fully ripe. The leaves of indigo are round (Fig. 60). The cold weather sometimes sets in so suddenly that, if the cutting is postponed too long, the indigo loses its colour in the course of manufacture, and comes out brown without gloss, for it cannot stand cold. It is a good sign of a heavy yield if in the first crop grass comes up plentifully, though expensive weeding is then required to prevent injury to the indigo roots, or delay in growth. At harvest the plants are cut a handbreadth from the ground, and next year the second, or ratoon, crop grows from the stumps. The yield of one bigha is usually put into each put, and allowed to steep for 16 or 17 hours, the put being about 38 ft (11.58 m) in perimeter, and its depth the height of an ordinary man; the water is then run off into a round put, constructed at a somewhat lower level, 32 ft (9.75 m) in circumference and 6 ft (1.83 m) deep.
v2.c83.s2.t1.3
FIG. 58. Mohammad Shah smoking a hookah by a lotus pond. Mughal, c. 1740. (Courtesy: Salar Jang Museum, Hyderabad)
v2.c83.s2.t1.4
FIG. 59. In the eighteenth century the habit of smoking spread in India. Even ladies smoked. In this painting from Guler, c. 1760, a Rajput princess is shown smoking a hookah. (J.K. Galbraith Collection. Courtesy: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Boston)
v2.c83.s2.t1.5
FIG. 60. A flowering branch of indigo (Indigofera tinctoria). A flower is on the left and pods on the right.
v2.c83.s2.t1.6
Two or three men standing in the *put* work the indigo back and forward with their arms, and owing to the continuous motion the water absorbs the dark-blue colour. It is then allowed to stand again for 16 hours, during which the matter, or substance, settles in a bowl-shaped receptacle at the bottom of the round *put*. The water is then run off through an outlet at the level of the bottom; the indigo which has sunk down is taken out, and laid on cotton cloths until it becomes as firm as soap, when it is made into balls.’³
v2.c83.s2.t1.7
³ Moreland, W.H. and Geyl, P. (tr). *Jahangir’s India—the Remonstrantie of Francisco Pelsaert*, pp. 10, 11, 48, 49