Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Canal, re-excavated and re-aligned by
· āh ¡ ahān. Among other important
mediaeval works were the East Jamunā
Canal (early 18th century), a long canal
drawn from the Sutle ¡ by Fīrūz · āh,
a network of Mu al canals drawn from
the Rāvī near its entry into the plains, the
Sidhnai (which the Rāvī took as its main
bed in or before the 16th century), the
Begārīwah in upper Sind (17th or 18th
century) and the ānwah in the Indus
delta (early 16th century).
Most of the major crops raised today
were also raised in mediaeval times. A
few new crops were introduced during the
mediaeval period itself. Tobacco cultiva-
tion became well established throughout
the country during the earlier part of the
17th century. Coffee cultivation had its
beginnings late in the same century, while
the cultivation of capsicum spread rapidly
in the earlier part of the next. Among
the purely modern crops may be counted
maize, potatoes, tea and groundnuts.
The geographical distribution of the
crops in the 17th century (and so pre-
sumably earlier) was different in some
important respects from that prevailing
today. There was the same broad divi-
sion into rice and wheat zones marked by
the 40- or 50-inch isohyets. But the culti-
vation of cash crops, notably cotton and
sugar-cane, was far more widespread in
mediaeval times, the conditions of trans-
port prohibiting concentration. Indigo
claimed a large area, in mediaeval times
as well as till late in the 19th century; but
its cultivation has now practically disap-
peared. Similarly, opium and hemp were
more widely cultivated than now. On
the other hand, jute, though known to
have been cultivated in certain localities
in Bengal, was far from being an impor-
tant cash crop during mediaeval times.
Sericulture, which has undergone a great
decline since, flourished mainly in Bengāl
and Ka ª mīr.
Among fruits the most prominent were
the mango and the coco-nut. The pine-
apple was introduced during the 16th
century through the agency of the Por-
tuguese, and was rapidly acclimatized.
The practice of grafting seems to have
been widely applied in Mu al times.
ahāngīr describes its application to cher-
ries and apricots in Ka ª mīr. Amān Allāh
notices its use in planting mangoes, and
a history of Shāh ¡ ahān's reign declares
that great improvement in citrus fruits
resulted from grafting. The Emperors and
their nobles were generally fond of laying
out orchards. Fīrūz · āh is said to have
planted 1200 orchards around Delhi. The
Mu als have given their name to a par-
ticular type of garden, laid out in squares
and criss-crossed by channels of flowing
water obtained by various devices.
Abu'l-Fal in his famous work on
Akbar's administration, the Āīn-i Akbarī
gives much information relating to agri-
culture. In its detailed accounts of the
provinces of Akbar's Empire, the topic
contains lists of prices of agricultural pro-
ducts, tables of revenue-rates on the vari-
ous crops, and area statistics and sundry
information on cultivation and irrigation.
(Irfan Habib)
Date palm
Na l (A.) is a substantive of a collec-
tive nature (unit. na la , pl. na īl ) denot-
ing the date palm ( Phoenix dactylifera ) of
the order Palmae , sub-order Coryphineae .
In Persian it is na l or urma , in Turk-
ish hurma a a ¡ , in Hebrew tāmār and in
Tamaa, according to the sex, azzay/taz-
zayt, émellé/tamellalt, tadamant .
This attractive tree with dioecious
flowers is probably one of the first to be
known and exploited by mankind in the
hot and arid zones of Africa and the Ori-
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