Kattungal Subramaniam Manilal (17 September 1938 – 1 January 2025) was an Indian botany scholar and taxonomist, emeritus professor of the University of Calicut, a botany scholar and taxonomist, who devoted over 35 years of his life to research, translation and annotation work of the Latin botanical treatise Hortus Malabaricus. This epic effort brought to light the main contents of the book, a wealth of botanical information on Malabar that had largely remained inaccessible to English-speaking scholars, because the entire text was in the Latin language.
In January 2020, Manilal was conferred with the Padma Shri award, the fourth-highest civilian honour of India, for his contribution to the field of Science and Engineering.
Despite the existence of Hendrik van Rheede's Hortus Malabaricus over the last three centuries, the correct taxonomic identity of many plants listed in Hortus Malabaricus, their medicinal properties, methods of use, etc., as described and codified by renowned traditional medical authorities of 17th-century India remained inaccessible to English language based scholars, until Manilal commenced publication of research papers and books on Hortus Malabaricus.
His efforts ultimately resulted in an English edition of Hortus Malabaricus, for the first time, 325 years after its original publication from Amsterdam. The English edition contains a word by word translation of all the twelve volumes of the book, retaining the original style of language. Medicinal properties of plants are translated and interpreted, with commentaries on their Malayalam names given by Van Rheede. In addition, the correct scientific identity of all plants, acceptable under ICBN is set out along with their important synonyms and basionyms.
Whilst the scope of Manilal's contributions to botany extends far beyond the research and publications around Hortus Malabaricus, his research work on Hortus Malabaricus alone is of botanical and socio-historic significance, and can be broadly classified under two heads:
Botanical and Medicinal aspects of Hortus Malabaricus; and Historical, Political, Social and Linguistic aspects of Hortus Malabaricus.
Manilal has over 198 published research papers and 15 books to his credit as author and co-author. He and his associates have credits for discovering over 14 species of flowering plants, varieties and combinations new to science. Dr. Manilal was the Founder President of the Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy (IAAT).Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy
Early life and work Manilal was born in the Kingdom of Cochin on 17 September 1938. He was one of three children born to his parents; father Advocate Kattungal A. Subramaniam (1914–1973) and mother K. K. Devaki (1919–1989). His father, was a practising advocate, also a writer, who authored the biography of Sahodaran Ayyapan. His family was from North Paravur in Kerala, India.
As a young boy, his interest was in Hortus Malabaricus was inspired by his father, whose avid reading habits and enthusiasm for sociology exposed him to a collection of books, and more specifically newspaper cuttings on Hortus Malabaricus during the late 1940s and 1950s.
He schooled initially at the Government Boys' High School, Kodungallur and later at the Government S.R.V. Boys' High School, Ernakulam. He did his undergraduate studies in botany at the Maharaja's College, Ernakulam, and later, he secured MSc Botany and PhD Degrees from University Teaching Department, Sagar, in Madhya Pradesh.
During his post-graduate studies, while on a study tour to the Forest Research Institute in Dehra Dun, He was able to see, for the first time, a set of volumes of the original Hortus Malabaricus. This was set of volumes acquired by the institute's library during the days of the British Raj, when the institute was called the Imperial Forest College. Manilal remarks "it fired my imagination!” on seeing a Latin book in which the names of plants were also written in native Malayalam language. Manilal maintained his interest in the book through his studies and professional life until 1969, when he commenced serious work on the transliteration of Hortus Malabaricus.
He stayed in Kozhikode.
Research and achievements
Botanical and medicinal aspects of Hortus Malabaricus
As Hortus Malabaricus is a pre-Linnaean book, the scientific names of plants, equivalent to local Malayalam names, were not included. Since voucher specimens for the book are also not known to exist, the correct identity of many of the plants described was unclear and not verifiable to original specimens. Earlier attempts, over three centuries, by European and Indian botanists to correctly identify all specimens were futile. Under two research projects; one sponsored by the U.G.C. (1975–1978) and the other by the Smithsonian Institution (1984–1987), Manilal collected all plants, described in Hortus Malabaricus, from localities in Malabar from where they were originally collected in the 17th century. Specimens were subjected to detailed studies and their correct identities were established in consultation with research institutes in Europe and USA. Based on this work, initially a concise reference book: An Interpretation of Van Rheede's Hortus Malabaricus, was published (with his collaborators) from Berlin (1988), by the IAPT. This remains the only book by Indian authors published by them (IAPT) till date and is an essential resource in study on the taxonomy of Southeast Asian plants.
Richard H. Grove, in his book Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens and the Origins, states that Itty Achudan and his team selected the plants which were to be drawn and included in Hortus Malabaricus, with accurate identification and mentioning of vernacular (local) name of the plants.. Grove, Richard H. 'Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens and the Origins of Environmentalism, 1600–1860'(Studies in Environment and History), Cambridge University Press, retrieved on 7 June 2021. Itty Achudan also disclosed the medicinal and other uses of the plants which was known to him from his own experience as a herbal physician and from the 'palmleaf scripture' carried by his family as 'wealth of knowledge'. Achudan dictated the material, in his native Malayalam language, which was then translated into Latin. Hortus Malabaricus was compiled over a period of nearly 30 years and published in Amsterdam during 1678–1693.
Historical, political, social and linguistic aspects of Hortus Malabaricus The compilation and publication of Hortus Malabaricus is intimately connected with the history of India, politics of the 17th century Netherlands and the then social conditions of Malabar. It is also an important source of information, and the oldest printed, authentic document, on the evolution of Malayalam language and script. Manilal studied these aspects for over 35 years bringing to light many interesting facts, some of which were included in his book: Botany & History of Hortus Malabaricus, published from Rotterdam and Delhi (1980). Another book, in Malayalam: A study on the role of Itty Achudan in the compilation of Hortus Malabaricus, was published from Kozhikode in 1996.
In the research paper published in the journal Global Histories, entitled "Plants, Power and Knowledge: An Exploration of the Imperial Networks and the Circuits of Botanical Knowledge and Medical Systems on the Western Coast of India Against the Backdrop of European Expansionism", Malavika Binny states that Kerala had medical traditions that existed even prior to Ayurvedic tradition. As per the author, Ezhava Tradition of Healing Practices or 'Ezhava vaidyam', as it is called, was prominent among other medical traditions that existed in Kerala which involved a considerable contribution from Buddhism which was a major force from the sixth century to about the eleventh century. This Buddhist tradition of treatment of diseases using plants and the knowledge of the indigenous plants preserved by the Ezhavas was exploited by the European endeavour as suggested by the inclusion of Itty Achuden in the compilation of Hortus Malabaricus which is basically an ethno-botanical treatise on the flora of Malabar.Power and Knowledge:/ Plants, Power and Knowledge: An Exploration of the Imperial Networks and the Circuits of Botanical Knowledge and Medical Systems on the Western Coast of India Against the Backdrop of European Expansionism (2015) – Malavika Binny, Global Histories, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Dec. 2015), pp. 3–20 at Retrieved on 9 June 2021. Van Rheede's motivation to compile a book on the natural plant wealth of Malabar was to prove his belief that Malabar is self-sufficient in all requirements of military and commerce and hence that Cochin was better suited to be the south east Asian Headquarters of the Dutch overseas forces, compared to Colombo in Ceylon.
Information is also available in the text of Hortus Malabaricus not only about the vegetation in 17th century Malabar, but also about the general social conditions prevalent in those days. Significant inferences could also be drawn on some of these matters, indirectly from the data available in the book. Several research papers have been published by Manilal on these topics. Some more, particularly on the different Numerals and Numerical Systems used in Hortus and their sociological implications and significances in the Indian society, are under preparation.
Taxonomic and biodiversity studies in Kerala Manilal pioneered taxonomic research and biodiversity studies in Kerala by training a genre of young taxonomists and identifying and cataloguing local plants in biodiversity-rich South India. A comprehensive study on the flora of the Greater Kozhikode area, consisting of the western sectors of the present day Kozhikode and Malappuram districts, covering an area of about 600 km2. was started in 1969. When completed in 1975, this work resulted in recording about one thousand species of flowering plants from the region, including several species recorded for the first time in India and importantly seven species new to science. Based on this work, a book: Flora of Calicut, was published (from Dehra Dun), and was taken as a model for subsequent research in India.
Research and revelations at Silent Valley In the 1970s, when a proposal to build a hydro-electric project in Silent Valley triggered political controversy in Kerala due to an impending ecological disaster, the Government of Kerala appointed an experts' committee of scientists to study, inventorise and report on Silent Valley's flora and fauna. The experts' committee reported that the forests there could not be classified as tropical evergreen rainforests and that they contain only 240 species of flowering plants, which are also found elsewhere, and also that the Valley does not possess any new or rare species. Despite protests by environmentalists the State Government was about to go ahead with the project, only awaiting a clearance form the Central Government. At this juncture, the Department of Science and Technology (India) accepted Manilal's proposal to study the flora of Silent Valley and also required him to make a general study of the ecological status of the forests.
Over a four-year period commencing 1981, Manilal and research assistants undertook a study that brought to light:
A record of nearly 1,000 species of flowering plants; Seven species new to science; Several plants believed to be found only in Sri Lanka, Philippines, etc.; Some species which were believed to be extinct, such as the Malabar Daffodil, which was last seen in 1850 by a scientist named Thomas C. Jerdon in Nilgiris; Rare medicinal plants until then known to grow only in the islands of Philippines; Many endemics of the neighbouring countries, where their existence was threatened, were found to have migrated to these forests for safety.