Influences of botanical knowledge from the East in the colonial medical developments: A case study from early modern Kerala, India

Abstract

The paper looks into the indigenous medical tradition and the exchange of botanical knowledge that happened throughout colonialism and even before it to highlight Kerala’s local knowledge base from around eleventh century CE, especially in botany. Plant-based healing practices have been followed in Kerala since antiquity, and the local physicians had considerable knowledge about the properties of the plants they used in and as medicines. The most common spices used in medicines in Kerala include pepper, cardamom, ginger, turmeric, and cinnamon. We also find a similar usage pattern in some early and medieval Western medicines. Since spices did not grow within European geography, it aroused much curiosity about their habitat and uses. This led to a quest for spices and an exchange of knowledge, especially regarding the properties and uses of the plants and spices used as medicines. The medical and botanical developments of early modern Kerala, the European curiosity about spices and plants of the East and how it became grounds for the exchange of knowledge and information relating to the botany of the region and its subsequent presence in European medicine in the medieval and early modern times forms the crux of this paper.