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).
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. 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.
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