Cucurbits, Sanskrit, and the Indo-Aryas

Author(s): Deena S. Decker-Walters

Source: Economic Botany, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1999), pp. 98-112
Published by: Springer on behalf of New York Botanical Garden Press
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CUCURBITS, SANSKRIT, AND THE INDO-ARYAS'

DEENA S. DECKER-WALTERS

Decker-Walters, Deena S. (The Cucurbit Network, P.O. Box 560483, Miami, FL 33256).
CUCURBITS,SANSKRIT, AND THE INDO-ARYAS. Economic Botany 53(J):98-112, 1999. Vedic and
early post-Vedic Sanskrit works describe Indo-Arvan life in northern India during 2000-200
B.C. Wild and cultivated plants of the Cucurbitaceae played an important role in Indo-Aryan
food, medicine, and culture; over 300 words describing cucurbits are found in the Sanskrit
texts. These words, their etymological relationships, and the geographies of the cucurbit taxa
were compared. Results indicate that the Indo-Aryas knew only a handful of cucurbits before
entering the Indian subcontinent from the west. They learned of at least 11 more species from
their neighbors in India, who were speakers of Dravidian or Munda languages.

LAS CUCURBITAS, EL SANSCRITO, Y Los INDOARIOS.La literatura de sanscrito vedico y post-

ve'dico antiguo describe la vida indoario en el norte de la India durante 2000-200 a. de J.C.
Las cucurbitdcea silvestres y domesticadas eran importante para la comida, la medicina, y la
cultura indoario: ma's que 300 palabras describen las cucurbitas en la literatura sa'nscrito.
Estas palabras, sus etimologias, y las geografi'as de las cucurbitas eran estudiado. Resultos
indican que los indoarios sabfan solamente unos cucu'rbitas antes de entrar en el subcontinente
indio desde el oeste. Aprendiaron de 11 especies ma's de parte de sus vecinos en la India, ellos
quienes hablaban un idioma drdvida o austroasidtico.
Key Words: Cucurbitaceae;Sanskrit;Indo-Aryas;India,biogeography.

The four Vedas-Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, cally distinctcultures.As the Vedas were reach-
Sama-Veda, and Atharva-Veda-represent one ing their final forms near the end of the first
of the oldest and largest bodies of ancient liter-millenium B.C., they had already served as the
ature. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, an early basis for variouspost-VedicSanskritand Prakrit
Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-European fam- works describing the first-millenium rule of
ily, these sacred hymns reflect Indo-Aryan life northernIndia by the Aryan kingdoms.
in Pakistan and across northern India during the The Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrittexts pro-
second and first millenia B.C. The oldest work, vide a valuable opportunityto study the use of
the Rig-Veda, was composed, revised, and even- plantsby a cultureas it existed two to four thou-
tually written down by various authors over sand years ago. Given that plant references in
many hundreds of years. It is believed to have these texts numberin the tens of thousands,this
originated as an oral history by Indo-Aryan in- study is restrictedto members of the Cucurbi-
habitants of the Indus River Valley during the taceae. One of the oldest Sanskrittexts to men-
early second millenium B.C., if not much earlier tion a recognized cucurbitis the second-millen-
(Feuerstein, Kak, and Frawley 1995:104-107). ium B.C. Atharva-Veda,some of the medical in-
Most scholars (e.g., Macdonell 1925:46-47, cantationsof which were incorporatedin the lat-
142-143) believe that the other Vedic works er medical tomes of the Ayurveda (1500-800
were composed after the decline of the Indus B.C.; Sivarajanand Balachandran1994:3). That
Valley civilization around 1750 B.C. (Vishnu- early Indo-Aryas would recognize cucurbits as
Mittre 1977); these texts chronicle the move- sources of medicines is not surprisinggiven the
ment of the Indo-Aryas east into the Yamuna numerous bio-active compounds (e.g., cucurbi-
and Ganges river valleys and south to the Vin- tacins, etc.) in these plants. But what was the
dhya Range, where they encountered linguisti- full extent of early Indo-Aryancontact with cu-
curbit species, many of which are domesticates
I Received 27 January 1998; Accepted 15 October cultivatedfor their edible fruits?And, when and
1998. where did this contact begin? Before answering
Economic Botany 53(1) pp. 98-112. 1999
(? 1999 by The New York Botanical Garden Press, Bronx, NY 10458-5126 U.S.A.

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1999] DECKER-WALTERS:
CUCURBITSAND INDO-ARYAS
these questions,it's necessary to look at the ear-
ly geographyof languagegroupsand cultureson
the Indian subcontinent.
Today,the 7000-year-oldIndo-Europeanfam-
ily of languages covers most of Europe as well
as south-centralAsia from Iran to India. Ac-
cording to Gamkrelidzeand Ivanov (1995:808-
812), an early split in the evolving family led to
the Indo-Iranianbranch, which presumablybe-
gan its separatedevelopmentin the northernpart
of the IranianPlateau.Duringthe fourthmillen-
ium B.C., some of the Indo-Iranianspeakingpeo-
ples moved further east, eventually reaching
Pakistan and India, where the Indo-Aryanlan-
guages evolved more or less separatelyfrom the
Iranianlanguages of Iran and Afghanistan.
Various Sanskrit scholars (e.g., Zvelebil and
Zvelebil 1990) maintainthat the entry of Indo-
Aryan speakersinto the Indus Valley of eastern
Pakistanand northwesternIndiaat least partially
caused the fall of the indigenous cities of Moh-
enjo-Daro and Harappaduring the second mil-
lenium B.C. The hypothesis is that, upon migrat-
ing into the Indus Valley from Afghanistan,the
warlike Indo-Aryas proceeded to destroy the
non-Aryansettlements,some of which date back
to the thirdmillenium B.C. However,Feuerstein,
Kak, and Frawley (1995:91-93, 124-125) have
interpreted astrological and geographical evi-
dence in the Rig-Veda as indicating that Indo-
Aryas were the inhabitants of Mohenjo-Daro
and Harappa,and that natural events such as
droughtcaused the Aryas to abandonthe Indus
Valley and move east. A third theory suggests
that althoughthe Indus Valley settlementswere
partof an agriculturalIndo-Aryancivilization, a
group of nomadic,pastoralIndo-Aryasfrom the
Russian steppes invaded the valley during the
second millenium B.C., going to war with their
distant cousins and composing the Vedas (Ren-
frew 1987:189-207). Each of these theorieshas
its problems,and the issue remainsunsettled.
Zvelebil and Zvelebil (1990) are among the
many linguists who believe that the early Indus
Valley residents were speakersof the Dravidian
family of languages,which may have its origins
among the Elamites of southernIran6000 years
ago (Diakonoff 1990). They contend that Dra-
vidian speakers, who today inhabit much of
southern India (with a few isolated pockets in
northernIndia and Pakistan),occupied a much
greaterportionof the Indiansubcontinentbefore
the arrivalof the Aryas.
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99
Althoughnot proposedas occupantsof the In-
dus Valley, speakersof Mundalanguages,a dis-
tinct language group in northeasternIndia, are
believed to have also had a more widespread
presence on the subcontinent4000 years ago,
particularlyin northernIndia (Levi, Przyluski,
and Bloch 1929:95). The Mundagroup is a lin-
eage of the Austroasiaticfamily, the latter with
languages in Vietnam and other parts of South-
east Asia. According to Kuiper (1948:8), 4000
years of contact among the Indo-Aryas,Dravid-
ians, and Mundasis evidenced by the many bor-
rowed words in these unrelatedlanguagegroups.
In summary, the Vedic composers, whether
invaders or founders of the Indus Valley civili-
zation, inhabitedthe valley for some period be-
fore abandoningit duringthe second millenium
B.C. and migrating east into the Yamuna and
Ganges river valleys. Linguistic (Kuiper 1948),
Vedic (Zvelebil and Zvelebil 1990), and archae-
ological (Vishnu-Mittre1977) evidence all sug-
gest increasingcontactswith the non-Aryancul-
tures of India. Although most of northernIndia
was conquered by Indo-Aryas during the first
millenium B.C., by the end of the sixth century
B.C., northwesternIndia became integratedinto
the Indo-Iranian-speakingPersian Achaemenid
Empire. Meanwhile, various Indo-Aryanking-
doms continuedtheir expansionssouth and east,
fighting with each other as well as with their
Dravidian- and Munda-speakingneighbors. By
the end of the third century B.C., Aryas domi-
nated most of India, the bulk of the Sanskritlit-
eraturehad been initiated,and land and sea trade
routes connected India with culturesthroughout
southern Asia. A century later, northernIndia
succumbed to various foreign invaders (e.g.,
Greeks, Kushans,etc.).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
To learn about the relationshipbetween early
Indo-Aryan culture (2000-200 B.C.) and cucur-
bits, cucurbit references in Sanskrit works were
studied, primarily by surveying the Sanskrit-En-
glish dictionary of Monier-Williams (1899).
This tome, consisting of over 1300 pages dense-
ly set in small type, contains Sanskrit words
from over 500 sources, including the Sanskrit
literatureitself as well as laterlexicons and com-
mentaries.Monier-Williamstakes a broad view
of Sanskrit, sometimes including words that are
more precisely classified as belonging to the
Prakrits, the vulgar derivatives of Sanskrit that
100 ECONOMICBOTANY [VOL. 53

gave rise to modem Indo-Aryanlanguages such from a pair of gourds (L. siceraria). One of the
as Hindi. His transliterationsystem was used older post-Vedic works is the Maha-bhdrata,
throughoutthis paper,except for those Sanskrit initially composed sometime between 1500 and
and other non-English words taken from other 500 B.C. This famous civil war epic mentions
sources, in which case the particularsource was three terms for L. siceraria (aldbu, tumba-vina,
followed. kamandalu), two for Coccinia grandis (L.) Voigt
Relevant information was also taken from (bimba, bimb'-oshtha), and one for Benincasa
other linguistic sources, most notably Turner's hispida (Thunb.) Cogn. (kushmdnda). Many ad-
(1966) A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo- ditional cucurbit names are listed in the later
Aryan Languages, Burrow and Emeneau's Nighantu-prakasa, which is part of an etymo-
(1961) A Dravidian Etymological Dictionary, logical dictionary of Vedic terminology written
and Kuiper's (1948) Proto-Munda Words in during the fifth century B.C.
Sanskrit.The lattertwo works were surveyed to In all, Monier-Williams(1899) containsmore
assess the influence of Dravidian- and Munda- than 300 Sanskritwords referringto cucurbits,
speaking cultures on Indo-Aryan cucurbit as well as over 100 alternatespellings, related
knowledge and nomenclature.Along with the word forms, and synonyms; the complete ety-
linguistic works, several botanical sources, in- mological enumeration is in Decker-Walters
cluding floras of India by Chakravarty(1959, (1998). About 15% of these words remain un-
1982), Clarke (1879), Duthie (1905), and Rox- identifiedto genus. Most of the remainingterms
burgh (1832), were studiedto piece togetherthe apply to uniquely to individualtaxa: Benincasa
ancient biogeography,ecology, and human dis- hispida (10 words), Citrullus colocynthis (L.)
persal of cucurbitsin India. Shrad. (33), Citrulluslanatus (Thunb.)Mats. &
Using the above sources, tables of the San- Nakai (14), Coccinia grandis (20), Cucumis
skrit, modernIndo-Aryan,and Dravidianwords melo L. (33; especially var. utilissimuswith 19),
for cucurbitswere compiled for studyin Decker- Cucumis prophetarum L. (1), Cucumis sativus
Walters(1998). This manuscriptcan be obtained (11), Lagenaria siceraria (32), Luffa (36; esp. L.
from the author. cylindrica (L.) M. J. Roem., 10), Momordica
(25; esp. M. charantia L., 14), Solena amplexi-
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION caulis (Lam.) Gandhi (1), and Trichosanthes
Unless otherwise noted, all Sanskrit words (28; esp. T. dioica Roxb., 21). Other cucurbit
discussed below are from Monier-Williams words from Monier-Williams (1899) refer to
(1899) and all Dravidianterms are from Burrow multiple taxa, usually groups of species with
and Emeneau (1961). similar morphologicalfeatures or uses. For ex-
Cucurbits occur in over 40 of the Sanskrit ample, in addition to the 33 words referring
texts surveyed by Monier-Williams(1899). Al- solely to C. colocynthis(colocynth),thereare 16
though none are described in the oldest work, words that apply to this species as well as to
the Rig-Veda, therein we find the family name other cucurbits,particularlyC. melo var.pubes-
Ikshvaku, which is applied to Lagenaria sicer- cens (Willd.) Kurz, which is used medicinally
aria Ser. in later writings. In addition to iksh- like colocynth (Sivarajan and Balachandran
vdku, the Atharva-Veda mentions only alabu 1994:180).
and some of its variants (L. siceraria) and ur- A Sanskritword each was also found for the
vdru (Cucumis melo var. utilissimus (Roxb.) Du- wild species Corallocarpus eipgaeus (Roettl.)
thie and Fuller). However, most of the econom- C.B. Cl., Diplocyclos palmatus (L.) C. Jeffrey,
ically importantcucurbitsoccur in the later Ay- Mukia maderaspatana (L.) M. J. Roem., Solena
urvedic texts, particularlyin the medical works amplexicaulis, and Trichosanthes nervifolia L.
by Susruta and Caraka.Among the major do- in Jain and DeFilipps (1991:263, 267, 272) and
mesticates, only C. sativus L. is conspicuously Sivarajan and Balachandran(1994:478, 453).
absent from these texts, even thoughthis species However, given the paucity of available infor-
is discussed in subsequentmedical works (Jain mation, these taxa were not studied in detail.
and DeFilipps 1991:267). Urvdruis also men- A total of 17 cucurbitspecies were identified
tioned in the Vedic Age Brahmanas,as is anoth- in Monier-Williams'(1899) dictionary.Thirteen
er word for this taxon, karkati Occurringin the are cultivated in India (cf. Chakravarty1959;
Yajur-Vedais vfnd, a lute or chordophonemade Duthie 1905); the remaining four wild species

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1999] CUCURBITSAND INDO-ARYAS
DECKER-WALTERS: 101

(Cucumis prophetarum, Luffa echinata Roxb., floats) bottle gourd before it spreador was car-
Solena amplexicaulis, Trichosanthes tricuspida- ried inland. If the wild gourds spread to Asia
ta Lour. sensu lato) are typically gathered for much earlier, it becomes more probable that
medicinal purposes. Of the wild species, only populationsbecame self-establishedand spread
Cucumis prophetarum and Solena amplexicaulis inland without the help of humans. Late nine-
have Asian distributionswest of Pakistan. teenthcenturybotanistsreportedapparentlywild
The time and place of ancientIndo-Aryanex- populationsalong the southwesterncoast and in
posure to the domesticatedcucurbitsis difficult the northeasterntropics of India, as well as on
to judge, given that contacts between India and the seashore of an Indonesian island (De-
regions to the east and west go back thousands Candolle 1967:245).
of years. Artifacts at Mehrgarh suggest trade Many of the Sanskritwords referringto bottle
among Pakistan, eastern Iran, and southern gourd describepropertiesof the plant or uses of
Turkmenistanas early as 4000 B.C. (Jarrigeand the fruit. Building on the basal morphemes
Meadow 1980). Likewise, the non-Aryaninhab- (a)ldbu and tumba, there are references to the
itants of southern and eastern India had long smell of the bottle gourd (alaba-gandhi), its
been in contact with the cultures of Southeast downy pubescence (aldba-kata), the flower
Asia (Levi, Przyluski, and Bloch 1929:x-xxix). (tumbi-pushpa), and the use of the fruit as con-
Nevertheless, the linguistic and historical evi- tainers (tumbf-pitram, alabu-patra) and musical
dence presented below suggests that many do- instruments (tumba-vTna, &lapinO).The presence
mesticatedcucurbitswere first introducedto the of two idiomatic phrases, "friend of the bottle
Indo-Aryas by India's non-Aryan inhabitants, gourd" (aldbu-suhrid)and "the method of the
most likely during the latter half of the second water and the bottle gourd" (jala-tumbika-
millenium B.C. nydya), furtherindicate importanceof this plant
in Indo-Aryanlife.
LAGENARIA SICERARIA
The words (a)ldbu and tumbaare not of Indo-
Lagenaria siceraria, commonly referred to as European origins. Expanding on Jean Przylu-
bottle gourd in English, is an edible, medicinal, ski's work (e.g., Levi, Przyluski, and Bloch
and otherwise utilitariancucurbit with an an- 1929:153-159), Kuiper (1948:24) traces tumba
cient pantropicaldistribution.Archaeologicalre- to Austroasiatic(specifically proto-Munda)be-
mains suggest that the independentuse and cul- ginnings, possibly to the root da-ba meaning
tivation of bottle gourd dates back many millen- "swollen, roundish, etc." Although Kuiper
ia in the Americas,Africa, and easternAsia. Al- questions a direct connection between tumba
though all species in the genus are native to and ldbu,Levi, Przyluski,and Bloch (1929:155-
Africa, the early widespreaddistributionof the 157) make a strong case for a Southeast Asia
only annual,L. siceraria, is believed to have re- origin for ldbu. The following languages have
sulted from the bouyant and long-lasting prop- similar words for bottle gourd and cucurbitsin
erties of the dried fruit, which was carried to general (Levi, Przyluski, and Bloch 1929:155-
distant shores by ocean currents(Whitakerand 157): Malay (labu), Javanese (walu), Batak
Carter 1954). Morphological studies (Heiser (tabu), Malagasy (tavu), Khmer (Ibow). Except
1973) indicate that landraces from Africa and for Khmer,an Austroasiaticlanguage,these lan-
the Americas (ssp. siceraria) are somewhatdis- guages are currentlyviewed as partof the west-
tinct from those in Asia [ssp. asiatica (Kob.) ern branch of the Austronesian family, with
Heiser]. speakers today inhabiting the Malay Peninsula
The oldest Asian remainsof bottle gourdhave and Archipelago as well as Madagascar.Given
been Japanese seeds dating to 4000-6000 B.C. the proximity of the Austroasiaticand Austro-
(Crawford 1992) and possible rind from Thai- nesian languagegroupsin SoutheastAsia, which
land (Gorman 1969; Heiser 1979:81-83) dating probably extends far into the past, it's not sur-
to 6000-10 000 B.C. The earliest dispersalfrom prising to find cucurbitwords that may have re-
Africa to eastern Asia was probablyvia the In- sulted from the borrowing and mixing of the
dian Ocean. If this occurred 10 000-15 000 tumbaand ldbu roots (e.g., Batak tabu, Sanskrit
years ago, then fishing societies of coastal south- lambd).
ern Asia, including those in the Malay Archi- Tumbaand its variants(e.g., Tamiltumpi,Tel-
pelago, probably knew and used (as fishing ugu tummi)are used by Dravidianspeakersalso

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102 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL. 53

in reference to bottle gourd (Burrow and Eme- wild-type bottle gourd landracesproduce small
neau 1961:217). The termscould have been bor- bitterfruits (Duthie 1905:366) thatresembleand
rowed from Munda-speakingneighbors to the may have been utilized medicinally in place of
north or from the Indo-Aryas if the borrowing Citrullus colocynthis (Sivarajan and Balachan-
is more recent. Modern Indo-Aryan terms in- dran 1994:176, 180). Confusion in distinguish-
clude tumbi, tubra, and tomri, among others ing these species is also seen in some modern
(Decker-Walters1998:27). Another set of Dra- Indo-Aryanwords for colocynth that are based
vidian terms for bottle gourd (e.g., tore, curai, on tumba (e.g., tumba, tumma; Turner 1966:
sora) is possibly relatedto the proposedSanskrit 335).
tori, which Turner (1966:341) suggests may
have been derived from tumba via the hypo- CITRULLUSCOLOCYNTHIS
thetical tubara. Though small, dried,roundbottle gourdfruits
One Dravidianterm for bottle gourd,anakam resemblethose of colocynth,the two species dif-
and its relatives, is not similarto gourdterms in fer in other plant parts. Unlike bottle gourd, the
any other languagegroup. If driftingfruitsland- colocynth is a perennial and prefers relatively
ed on Indian shores before introductionswere arid habitats.Historically,colocynth has ranged
made by other cultures,then the Dravidians(or throughoutthe semi-desert regions of northern
their predecessors,about whom little is known) Africa and the southernMediterraneanthrough
might have discovered and named the species the Middle East to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and
independently. India. Although other wild species in the genus
There remains little linguistic evidence that are native to Africa, genetic diversityin the col-
the Indo-Aryasbroughtbottle gourd with them ocynth appearsto be centered in Israel and the
from the west. Even though some Sanskrit Sinai desert (Navot and Zamir 1987).
words for L. siceraria are not based on alabu or More Sanskrit words (around 40) relate to
tumba, most, like pindi, tanduli, and kamathas, colocynth than to any other cucurbit.Addition-
appearto have Mundaaffiliations(Kuiper1948: ally, it is probable that various Sanskritwords
33, 76). Of the remainingterms, only vTndand as yet unidentifiedto genus or species refer to
ikshvakus occur in early Sanskrit texts. The this species. On the otherhand, some of Monier-
name vina probably comes from a non-Aryan Williams' (1899) referencesto "colocynth"may
root, possibly from a Dravidianterm for "bam- be to other cucurbit species or to cucurbits in
boo," in reference to the lute's primitive pre- general. In any case, the importanceof this spe-
cursor,a single-stringedstick zitherin which the cies to the Indo-Aryasis evidenced not only by
gourd resonatoris attachedto a hollow bamboo the numberof names but by the relationshipof
tube (Sadie 1984:728). several of these names to importantfigures in
Ikshvdkusrepresentsthe best case for an early Indo-Aryanmythology, specifically the gods In-
indigenous Indo-Aryan name for the bottle dra and Varuna.Under the name indra-vdruni,
gourd. In the Rig-Veda,Ikshvakuis the name of colocynth is describedas "the favorite plant of
an important man. In later works (e.g., the Indraand Varuna."The colocynth word varunf
Maha-bharata),the wife of Ikshvaku'sdescen- also means "the western region, presided over
dent, the king of Ayodhya,is describedas giving by Varuna," suggesting that the Indo-Aryas
birth to a gourd (tumbam)from which 60 000 brought colocynth with them from a former
sons were born. Similar gourd-ancestormyths homeland to the west. Evidently, Varunawas
are found among various cultures of eastern consideredthe greatergod duringthe pre-Vedic
Asia. Consequently,Levi, Przyluski, and Bloch Indo-Iranianperiod, but was surpassedby Indra
(1929:154) suggest that ikshvdkuswas applied in later Vedic times (Macdonell 1925:88).
to bottle gourd after such a myth was adopted What made this species so importantto the
by the Indo-Aryas and based on an important Indo-Aryas was medicine. According to Siva-
Aryan lineage. Complicatingmattersis the fact rajan and Balachandran(1994:180), the name
that ikshvdkushas also been interpretedas being indra-vdrun.,in referenceto the colocynth drug,
the colocynth by Monier-Williams(1899:164). signifies the efficacy of the active principles
The colocynth was an importantmedicinalplant against a wide variety of ailments. In the Ay-
that was probablyknown to the Indo-Aryasbe- urvedic texts, the fruit is describedas useful in
fore theirmigrationinto India(see below). Some treating ascites, biliousness, jaundice, cerebral

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1999] DECKER-WALTERS:
CUCURBITSAND INDO-ARYAS 103

congestion, colic, constipation, dropsy, fever, mordica Roxb. In his dictionary of the Indo-
worms, and sciatica; the root is prescribedfor Aryan language, Turner(1966:262) also lists C.
abdominalenlargement,cough, asthma, inflam- pubescens Willd., a wild-type melon. Monier-
mation of the breast, ulcers, urinary diseases, Williams' references to C. maderaspatanus
and rheumatism;and the seed oil is a treatment (e.g., citra; Monier-Williams1899:396) proba-
for poisonous bites, bowel complaints,epilepsy, bly refer to C. melo var.pubescens as well, giv-
and for blackeningthe hair (Sivarajanand Bal- en that the most prominentIndian flora of that
achandran1994:180). time (Roxburgh 1832:723) referredto this wild
Other Sanskritnames referringto the plant's melon as C. maderaspatanus.
chemically active principlesare visdla, Ineaning Kakri (C. melo var. utilissimus) and phut (var.
"powerful," laghu-cirbhi.t ("active cucurbit"), momordica(Roxb.) Duthie and Fuller) were in-
indra-surd("Indra'sliquor"), visha-ghnl ("poi- tensely grown in 19th century northern India
sonous killer"), and visha-lata ("poisonous (Duthie 1905:372-373). Even today, the imma-
creeper"). Several words recognize the fruit's ture oblong to elongate fruits are pickled or
value as food for wild (mriga-bhojani, mriga- cooked, the sweeter maturefruitseaten raw, and
dani) and domesticatedanimals (gavadani,gava the seeds ground into meal. Phut differs most
= "cow"). Other names merely describe the from kakriby the burstingof its fruitswhen ripe.
plant's form, e.g., dirgha-vrinta ("long vine"), The importanceof kakrito the early Indo-Ar-
kapildkshT("brown seed"), and pTta-pushpa yas is seen in its numerousSanskritnames. Giv-
("yellow flower"). The colocynth namtematri en that this and similar melons were often re-
which can be translatedas "mother"or "earth," ferred to as types of cucumbersby Monier-Wil-
again indicates the importanceof this cucurbit liams (1899), many more of his unidentified
to the Indo-Aryas. "cucumbers"could refer to kakri. Among the
The origin of the name trapusa, founidin the Sanskrit terms identified as var. utilissimius,
Ayurvedic work by Susruta,is more en:igmatic. karkati, cirbhata, and urvdru are the most com-
It is similarto tarambuja,which is the Sanskrit- mon in the original texts. The first is ancestral
ization of the Persian tarbuzaand refers to wa- to the modernIndo-Aryankakri,with origins in
termelon, another species of Citrullus. The a Munda root meaning "water jar" (Kuiper
words trapusa and tarambuja, along with the 1948:55-56), perhapsin referenceto the fruit as
cultivars they specifically named, may have a source of fluid. Cirbhata (var. utilissimius) and
been introducedto the Indo-Aryasby early Per- cirbhita (possibly var. pubescens) also have
sian traders. Mundaorigins (Turner1966:262). Accordingto
Did the Indo-AryasintroduceCitrulluscolo- Kuiper (1948:143-146), these terms, as well as
cynthis to India? Quite possibly. AlthoulghZev- sphuti and its modern variantsreferringto var.
en and de Wet (1982:108) cite the Mediterranean momordica, may be descendent from a proto-
region as the center of colocynth domestication,Mundaroot (ba-cda)meaning "swollen." In con-
fruits for human use are often collected from trast, urvdruand its variants(which sometimes
wild plants and this species is a semi-domesti- refer to colocynth as well as to kakri and phut)
cate at best, easily escaping from cultivationinappearto be purely Indo-Aryan,perhapsbased
appropriate habitats. Uniquely Dravidian or on the god Varuna.
Mundanames for colocynth are lacking. For ex- The linguistic evidence suggests that both the
ample, the Dravidian kummattiis related to a Indo-Aryas and Munda-speakingpeoples knew
host of other Dravidian names for Benincasa some forms of melon, particularlykakri, before
hispida and similarcucurbits(Burrowand Eme- the Indo-Aryas settled in India. Different mor-
neau 1961:120). phological studies have synonymized var. util-
issimus with the popularpickling melon of Chi-
CUCUMIS MELO na (var. conomon (Thunb.)Mak.) (e.g., Greben-
Althoughthe infraspecifictaxonomyof melon scikov 1986), or alternately,with var.flexuosus
(Cucumismelo) continues to be debated, many (L.) Naud., the snake melon of southwestern
previously defined species of Cucumis are now Asia (Mungerand Robinson 1991). Recent iso-
recognized as infraspecifictaxa of C. mei'o.Two zyme and randomamplifiedpolymorphicDNA
such cultivated taxa mentioned by Monier-Wil- data (Staub et al. 1997) indicate a close rela-
liams (1899) are C. utilissimusRoxb. and C. mo- tionship between vars. conomon and fiexuosus

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104 ECONOMICBOTANY [VOL. 53

(var. utilissimuswas not included in the study). describing the species in general or, more spe-
Consequently,var.utilissimusis probablypartof cifically, round-fruitedtypes. This western im-
a conomon/flexuosus complex ranging from port may have arrivedin northwesternIndiadur-
northeasternAfrica to eastern Asia. This com- ing the Persianreign in the latterhalf of the first
plex (cf. C. melo var. agrestis Naud. in Jeffrey millenium B.C.
1980) probablyincludes var. momordica,which Althoughkharbuijarepresentsa westernintro-
is indigenous to India, as well as wild popula- ductionto Indo-AryanIndia,the Ayurvedicjalin
tions in western and centralAsia known as var. (jdla = "netted"and has Mundaaffinities;Kui-
pubescens (syns. C. acidus Jacq., C. callosus per 1948:62) suggests that earlier Indianinhab-
(Roettl.) Cogn., C. trigonus Roxb., C. turbinatus itants knew at least some cultivarswith a retic-
Roxb.). ulatedrind, these typicallybelonging to vars. re-
Given the widespreaddistributionof the con- ticulatus or cantalupensis. How and when these
omon/flexuosus complex, the geographic home arrivedin India is unclear.
of domesticationfor this group is uncertain.Ar- The first millenium spread of a Chinese cul-
chaeological melon remains dating to 3000 B.C. tivar to India, possibly a typical var. conomon,
in China (Watson 1969) probably are of var. is suggested by cTna-karkatika ("Chinese mel-
conomon. A long, green, slightly curved fruit on"), which is named in the Nighantu-prakasa.
figuredin an Egyptiantomb of the thirdmillen- Many of the other Sanskritwords for melon
ium B.C. is thought to represent var.flexuosus are descriptiveof the fruit or plant:madhu-paka
(Pickering 1879:72). The earliestmelon remains ("sweet when ripe"),toya-phald("wateryfruit"),
in India date to between 2300 and 1600 B.C. at dfrgha-timisha ("long and wet"), pi-ndgand
the Indus Valley site of Harappa(Vishnu-Mittre ("swell and burst"),lomasa-kandd("hairy stem
1974) and around 1600 B.C. in western central node"), katu-dald ("bitter young plant part").
India (Vishnu-Mittre1977). These are probably
The name mi7trald,which also means "diuret-
of var. utilissimusor its common ancestorin the
ic," suggests the efficacy of kakri for this me-
conomon/flexuosuscomplex. Assuming a single
dicinal purpose.The kakriname valukfprobably
domesticationevent, which is supportedby the
refers to the fact that melon plants prefer well-
genetic affinity of the taxa, the cultivatedances-
drainedsandy soils (valuka = "sand, gravel").
tor of this complex was carriedacross long dis-
tances in southern Asia before or during the According to Jain and DeFilipps (1991:267),
third millenium B.C. the Sanskritname aindra listed in Monier-Wil-
Morphologicaland DNA studies (Staub et al. liams (1899:234) refers to a melon relative, the
1997) recognize a second major grouping of wild Cucumis prophetarum, which ranges from
melons (cf. C. melo var. melo in Jeffrey 1980), Africa throughsouthwesternAsia andinto India.
which includes various wild and cultivated The allusion to the god Indra suggests ancient
plantsnative to southwesternAsia (vars.dudaim Indo-Aryanknowledge of an importantmedici-
(L.) Naud., cantalupensis Naud., reticulatus nal plant. In moderntimes, varioustaxa used to
Ser., inodorus H. Jacq.). Fruits of this group prepare the drug colocynth (usually Citrullus
(herein called the inodorus/reticulatuscomplex) colocynthis, but also C. melo var. pubescens and
are typically sweeter and roundto ovoid, but not C. sativus var. hardwickii (Royle) Alef.) have
elongate;in many,the rindis covered with corky been referredto as the etymologicallyrelatedin-
netting (hence the Latin reticulatus). drayan (cf. Duthie 1905:373-374).
Cultivars of the inodorus/reticulatusgroup
may not have enteredChinauntil the systematic CUCUMIS SATIVUS
use of the Silk Road in the second century B.C. Whereas most species of Cucumisare native
(Kitamura1951). An earlierappearancein India to tropical Africa, cucumber (C. sativus) is an
is suggested by the Persian term kharbuza, Asian taxon acclimated to the cooler tempera-
which is the etymological precursorof Sanskrit tures of the Himalayanfoothills. The wild an-
kharbuja (Monier-Williams 1899:338). Al- cestor, var. hardwickii, is indigenous to this
though Monier-Williamsidentifies kharbuja as mountainousregion, extending from northeast-
watermelon,modern usage of similar words in ern India and Nepal, throughnorthernMyanmar
Indo-Aryan(e.g., kharbuzin Hindi) and Persian and Thailand,and into southernChina.The ten-
languages typically refers to melon, usually in der rind and crisp juicy flesh of the immature

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1999] DECKER-WALTERS:
CUCURBITSAND INDO-ARYAS 105

fruit has made cucumber a popular fresh and these areas: the Arabic khiar, Tartarkiar, and
pickled vegetable. Armeniankaran resemble the Persian khiar, as
Monier-Williams(1899) translatedmany San- well as the modern Indo-Aryan khira. Turner
skrit names as "a kind of" or "a species of cu- (1966:192) traces khira back to the Indo-Aryan.
cumber."His usage of "cucumber"sometimes ksfra, meaning "milk,juice, sap." However,the
applied specifically to C. sativus (e.g., sukhacia), lack of this term in directreferenceto cucumber
sometimes to C. melo (e.g., karkati),sometimes in the Sanskritwritings suggests that the khira
to species of other genera (e.g., gavadant), or cultivar became widely disseminated after the
most often to an unspecified member of Cucu- Indo-Aryashad been in India for some time.
mis (e.g., go-pdlF-karkati) or to the family (e.g., Perhapsthe best candidatefor an ancient in-
sdni, setu). He tied only five words (alpa- digenous Sanskritterm for cucumberis sukhaga,
pramanaka, celdla, citra-phala, rdja-timisha, which translatesas "pleasant food." However,
sukhasa) directly to C. sativus. At least six oth- given that the medical historianSusrutadid not
ers (celana, jala, jald, kshetra-sambhavd, pansu- mention cucumber, this domesticate probably
cdmara, Sagaindulh)probably specify this spe- did not arrive in northwesternIndia before the
cies; jalT and gagadndulW have modem Bengali latterhalf of the first millenium B.C.
equivalents in reference to C. sativus-jali
(Turner1966:287) and sasa (Chakravarty1982: BENINCASA HISPIDA
36). Thirty other names that have "cucumber" Wax gourd (Benincasa hispida) is an impor-
in Monier-Williams'definitions remain uniden- tant domesticated cucurbit in eastern Asia,
tified. where the large, white-fleshed, bland-tasting
Among the Sanskrittermsfor cucumber(used fruits are generallycooked or pickled. Wild pop-
hereafterto mean C. sativus), Kuiper(1948:62- ulations producingsmall, roundfruits (ca. 5 cm
64) suggests that jala (dll, celana, and celdla in diameter)have been reportedin southernChi-
also?) is relatedto jatd, and thatboth are derived na, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, and several is-
from the proto-Munda root da-da, meaning lands in the South Pacific (DeCandolle 1967:
"matted, entangled." The appellationprobably 269; Whistler 1990). The earliest evidence of
refers to the netting found on the fruits of some cultivationcomes from Chinese writings 1500 to
easternAsian cultivars.Given the distributionof 2500 years old (Walters1989). Wax gourd was
wild cucumber populations, ancient knowledge probablydomesticatedin SoutheastAsia (Zeven
of this species among proto-Munda-speaking and de Wet 1982:51), where most of the diver-
tribes is highly probable. sity in landracesand cultivarsexists today. Al-
Eastern Asian influences are also seen in though grown historically in some parts of Af-
some of the Dravidianwords for cucumber,in- rica and the New World,no evidence exists for
cluding pipingkai and kotun-kay; kay, meaning ancient cultivationof this species west of Paki-
"unripe fruit" in Tamil, may be related to the stan.
Austroasiatickai meaning "plow" (Levi, Przy- Given its distribution,the Indo-Aryasproba-
luski, and Bloch 1929:9). Although other Dra- bly did not know wax gourd until they migrated
vidian words for cucumber are more unique east in northernIndia, where they found that it
(e.g., savute), variantswithin these word groups was esteemed by the indigenous Munda-speak-
often refer to kakri melon as well (Burrowand ing peoples. The dominant Sanskrit name for
Emeneau 1961:157), making it difficult to tell this species, kushman.da,has proto-Mundaori-
which species was named after which, or if they gins (Kuiper 1948:144). Some modern Indo-
were initially regardedindiscriminately.A Dra- Aryan languagesexhibit morerecentborrowings
vidian/Sanskritconnection is seen in the Mala- from Munda, as in the Nepali kubhindo,con-
yalam vellari, which is similar to the Sanskrit structedwith one of the Mundamorphemesfor
vallari meaning "any climbing or creeping gourd (bhind-lpind-)and a typical Austroasiatic
plant." prefix for plant names, ka-lku- (Kuiper 1948:
Evidently, the Chinese did not know cucum- 144). Anotherrecentborrowingfrom the Munda
ber until it was carriedover the Silk Road in the morphemepind- is the modernIndo-Aryanterm
second centuryB.C. (DeCandolle 1967:266). Re- petha (Kuiper 1948:143-144).
cency in the MiddleEast and Europeis indicated Although the Dravidian languages possess a
by the similarity of the terms for cucumberin set of words (e.g., kumpalam)that are relatedto

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106 ECONOMICBOTANY
kushmanda, many of the variants refer to other
cucurbits along with or instead of wax gourd.
The lack of distinctive Dravidian words for this
species suggests an Austroasiatic introduction,
probably directly from the Munda, but possibly
via the Indo-Aryas.
A common Austronesian word for wax gourd
is kundur, which resembles the modern Indo-
Aryan term kundha (Duthie 1905:368) and an
Oriya name (kundura) for another cucurbit, Tri-
chosanthes cucumerina (Turner 1966:170). The
time and direction of any possible borrowing of
kundur or its root is not clear, in part, because a
variety of other names for these species are used
on the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago.
Another Sanskrit word for wax gourd, with
lexical references apparently to Cucumis melo
var. utilissimus and watermelon as well, is kal-
inga. The Kalifigas, presumably a Munda-speak-
ing people (Levi, Przyluski, and Bloch 1929:74-
75, 95), occupied eastern coastal India (modern
Orissa) during the time of their conquest by the
Indo-Aryan Emperor Ashoka in the third cen-
tury B.C. Levi, Przyluski, and Bloch (1929:99)
believe that, because the Kalinga Empire was
held together as an important political and reli-
gious center under Aryan rule, the non-Aryan
kalinga name, which was derived from the Mun-
da tribe's bird totem (Kuiper 1948:45), survived.
Were there particular cultivars of wax gourd,
melon, and watermelon that were native to this
area and were therefore named kalinga by the
Indo-Aryas?
Once they knew wax gourd, the Indo-Aryas
came up with their own descriptive terms, in-
cluding pushpa-phala in recognition of the
large, attractive, yellow flower. In kaca-dugdhi-
kd, kaca refers to the pubescence of the plant
(hence the specific epithet hispida) and dugdha,
meaning "sap," to the fruit's waxy coating or
wet interior. The moist flesh is further alluded to
in timisha, a Sanskrit name which was also ap-
plied to the even juicier watermelon. The lin-
guistically similar Austronesian timun and its
variants refer to watery cucurbits like cucumber
and melon in Indonesia (Burkill 1935:697) and
the Philippines (Merrill 1923:583). Although
mature wax gourds can be kept for several
months, fruits must have been stored too long
sometimes, leading to the Sanskrit phrase pati-
kushma-nda, meaning literally "to resemble a
rotten gourd" and figuratively "to be quite
worthless" (Monier-Williams 1899:641). Wax
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[VOL. 53
gourd was suitable elephant food, hence the
names gaja-danta-phald and aibhi. Dried fruits
may have served as containers in some situa-
tions; the wax gourd name kumbha-phaldtrans-
lates as "waterpot fruit." Several modem Indo-
Aryan terms for wax gourd appearto be based
on the kushmanda relative kumbha, including
kumbhra, kumbara, and kumra (Turner 1966:
174).
Eighteenth century botanists were confused
about the circumscriptionand naturaldistribu-
tion of Cucurbita,a wholly New World genus
of pumpkins,squashes, and ornamentalgourds.
In fact, bottle gourd was originally classified as
Cucurbita lagenaria by Linneaus (1753:1010).
Complicatingmatters,in Loureiro'sFlora Coch-
inchinensis of 1790, he mistakenly identified
wax gourd as Cucurbitapepo L. (Merrill1935).
Consequently,Monier-Williamsand other nine-
teenthcenturyresearchersinterpretedsome San-
skrit words (e.g., gaja-danta-phald, kanta-phald,
and kumbha-phald)as referringto "pumpkin"
or "Cucurbita,"when in fact, wax gourdor bot-
tle gourdwas probablymeant.Even DeCandolle
(1967:251) tentatively identified the Sanskrit
kurkarou as a species of Cucurbita; his spelling
not withstanding, DeCandolle's reference was
probably to karkdru, which Monier-Williams
(1899:256) identifies as wax gourd.
CITRULLUSLANATUS
Watermelonis native to the warm, sandy re-
gions of southernAfrica. Nevertheless,self-sus-
taining, bitter-fruitedplants are found through-
out much of the continentand are escapes from
cultivation in warm regions worldwide. Defini-
tive early archaeologicalevidence of watermel-
on is lacking. However, the green fruit painted
on a third millenium B.C. Egyptiantomb is said
to resemble watermelon (Pickering 1879:72).
Watermelonis more clearly figured on a first
millenium B.C. Egyptian papyrus (Anonymous
1982:1294). Chinese texts mentionthe arrivalof
this "westernmelon" to their world in the tenth
century A.D.,coming by way of the Silk Road
(DeCandolle 1967:264).
When and how watermelonreached India is
unclear. However, its Sanskrit name kalinda
(kalindd in Hindi; Turner 1966:158) suggests
that it may have been cultivatedin India before
the Indo-Aryanimmigration.Like kaliiga, kal-
inda is a Mundalanguagegeographicaltermthat
refers to an area of India (in this case, the Ya-
1999] DECKER-WALTERS:
CUCURBITSAND INDO-ARYAS 107

muna plains) that presumablywas inhabitedby is M. charantia (bitter melon in English), wild
Austroasiaticsbefore the influx of the Indo-Ar- and domesticatedforms of which can be found
yas (Levi, Przyluski, and Bloch 1929:94-95). throughoutthe tropics. Much of the pantropical
Given that the Dravidianwords for watermelon distributionof this species is probably due to
are derivedfrom Dravidianwords for wax gourd dispersal of the red-arillateseeds by birds. The
(cf. Burrowand Emeneau 1961:120), watermel- center of domestication of bitter melon lies in
on was probablyseen as an aberrantform of the easternAsia, possibly in Indiaor southernChina
latter and was not particularlyvalued by these (Waltersand Decker-Walters1988).
Indianinhabitants.The Indo-Aryas,on the other Various bitter melon cultivars are grown in
hand, exhibited a greaterappreciationfor water- India, China, and Southeast Asia. Those with
melon. Sanskritnames recognizedthatthe round large fruits are typically grown for consumption
fruit (su-vartula, vritta-karkatf) could be sweet of the immaturefruit, aftersteepingin salt water
(madhu-phald) and pleasant smelling (sukha- to lessen the bitter taste. All parts of wild or
vasa), or bitter (tikta, tikta-phald) and suitable small-fruited cultivated plants have medicinal
for cow fodder (go-dimba);names also describe uses, some dating from the Ayurvedic texts (Si-
the plant as a creeper(lata-panasa)with slender varajanand Balachandran1994:220). The plants
stems (sTrna-vrinta). are filled with numerous active principles such
It is an open questionwhetherthe Indo-Aryas as alkaloids (including momordicine),saponins,
knew watermelonbefore they enteredthe Indus the hypoglycaemic compounds p-insulin and a
Valley. However,after settling in India, they ex- phytosterolglycosidecalled charantin,abortifa-
changed cultivars with their Indo-Iranianrela- cient glycoproteins called momorcharins,and
tives to the west. The Sanskrittarambuja(trans- the majorconstituents,distinctcucurbitacin-type
formed into the Hindi tarbuz and Bengali tor- triterpenesknown as momordicosides(Neuwin-
muj; Chakravarty1982:22) and its Persian pro- ger 1996:401-405).
genitor tarbuza (Monier-Williams 1899:439) The most prominentSanskritname for bitter
indicate cultivar movement from west to east. melon is kdravalli. Along with its various per-
Another Persian term for watermelon, hin- mutations and modern derivatives (e.g., kdrilli,
diuanh, suggests movementfrom east to west as kdriyallai, kareld, karelo), this term may ulti-
well. How early this tradebegan takingplace is mately be of Dravidianorigin accordingto Turn-
uncertain;but, it was probablyhappeningby the er (1966:156). The Ayurvedic's kdravellam drug
sixth century B.C., when northwestern India was and continues to be derived from this spe-
came underPersiancontrol. cies, although the preparationcalled vanya-ka-
A close relative of watermelonis tinda [Prae- ravall has been preparedhistoricallyfrom wild
citrullus fistulosus (Stocks) Pang.], a native cul- M. cymbalariaas well (Sivarajanand Balachan-
tigen of Pakistan and northern India. Resem- dran 1994:220). Other Sanskritnames for bitter
blance of the plant and fruit to watermelon melon describe its bitter taste (katilla, kdnda-
caused early botanists (e.g., Duthie 1905:374- katu), strong stem (su-kdnda), creeping habit
375) to classify tinda as a variety of Citrullus (toya-vallt), beaked fruits (ndsa--samvedana),
lanatus. Consequently, some of Monier-Wil- and penetrating smell (ugra-gandhd). Sanskrit
liams' (1899) references to "a watermelon" names based on the morphemes kanda- or
may have meant tinda. On the other hand, even kanda (e.g., kanduras, kandfras, ugra-kdnda, as
today there are few colloquial names for this well as those listed above) may also be of Dra-
species (e.g., tinda, dilpasand; Duthie 1905: vidian or Munda origins (Kuiper 1948:50-51).
375), so perhaps tinda was a relatively late or Whereasthe Dravidianlanguagespossess an ad-
localized cultigen. ditional distinct suite of terms for bitter melon
(e.g., pdkal, paval), the lack of a unique set of
MOMORDICA SPECIES
Indo-Aryanwords indicates that the Aryas did
Although most of the 40 or so species of Mo- not know bitter melon before enteringIndia.
mordica are native to and restrictedto Africa, a An Ayurvedic name for Momordica cochin-
handful are strictly Asian (including M. coch- chinensis, karkotaka, is also the name of an an-
inchinensis (Lour.) Spreng), while a few occur cient northernIndia people presumablyof Aus-
wild on both continents (e.g., M. cymbalaria troasiatic descent (L6vi, Przyluski, and Bloch
Hook. f. andM. balsaminaL.). Most widespread 1929:75). The Cochinchingourdmay have orig-

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108 ECONOMIC BOTANY
inally been utilized in India by Munda-speaking
inhabitants;it has long been cultivated and nat-
uralized throughoutmuch of southeasternAsia.
In India, variousplant partsare cooked for food
(especially the immaturefruit), used medicinal-
ly, and made into poison (hence the Sanskrit
name karkotaka-visha).
Apparently missing from the Sanskrit texts
are any obvious referencesto M. balsaminaand
M. dioica Roxb. ex Willd. The one possible San-
skrit word for M. dioica mentionedin Jain and
DeFilipps (1991:270), vahisi, was not found
elsewhere and does not have modern equiva-
lents. Both of these species occur wild and cul-
tivated in India, with uses similar to those of
bitter melon, although fruits of M. dioica are
sweet instead of bitter. Momordica balsamina,
which may be the plant featuredon a thirdmil-
lenium tomb at Benihassan in western Asia
(Pickering1879:87), may have been a latecomer
to India. Unlike M. balsamina, M. dioica has
several names in modernIndo-Aryan(e.g., kak-
sa, kakrol, jangli-karela, etc.) and Dravidian
(e.g., agakral, hagal, karlikai, etc.) languages
(Decker-Walters1998:29, 32-34), reflecting its
importanceas a crop in recent centuries. How-
ever, most of these names are similar to local
names for bitter melon. There is also a Munda
language term for M. dioica, kanchan-arak
(Chakravarty1982:94).
COCCINIA GRANDIS
Ivy gourd (Coccinia grandis) ranges from
tropical Africa to southeasternAsia, Australia,
and the New World. The remaining species in
the genus are strictly African. The widespread
distributionof ivy gourd is facilitated by birds
(e.g., the Indian crow; Ridley 1930:454), which
eat the 5-cm-long, red, fleshy fruits. In India,
fruits from wild populations are bitter and ob-
long-ellipsoid, whereasthose of the domesticate
are sweet and more obtusely rounded (Jeffrey
1980). Young berries are prepared in curries;
ripe fruits are eaten raw. Variousplant parts are
used medicinally.
In some Sanskrittexts, the bright scarletfruit
(rakta-phald)of ivy gourd is synonymous with
the poetic descriptionof the humanlips (oshtht).
Burrow and Emeneau (1961:224) suggest that
the Sanskrit tundf is etymologically related to
similar Dravidian words for ivy gourd (e.g.,
tonde), with Kuiper(1948:153-154) arguingfor
ultimate origins in proto-Munda.Dravidianalso
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[VOL. 53
has its own morphemefor ivy gourd, k5va. Al-
though Monier-Williams (1899:246) translates
Sanskrit kanduras as bitter melon, kanduri is
given as the modem vernacularfor ivy gourdin
floras of Pakistanand northernIndia (cf. Nazi-
muddinand Naqvi 1984; Duthie 1905:376). Un-
der the Sanskritjfvaka, ivy gourd is said to be
one of the eight principaldrugscalled ashtavar-
ga by Susruta. Jfvaka, praiqa-da, and pracaka
are all ivy gourdnames that can be translatedas
"life-giving," underscoringthe importanceas-
cribed to this medicinal plant.
Most of the Sanskritnames for ivy gourd are
based on bimba (sometimes written vimbd),
which dates back to the Mahd-bharataand may
be semantically rooted in "spherical." Bimba
and its variantswere also names of royal wom-
en, and sometimesmen, of northernIndianking-
doms. For example, Bimbi-sarawas the name of
a fifth century B.C. king of Magadha;Bimbi was
his mother;and Bimba was the name of a prin-
cess who founded a temple called Bimbesvara
(Monier-Williams1899:731). The Austroasiatic
habit of naming territories,peoples, and leaders
afterplants and birds was apparentlyadoptedby
the Indo-Aryas (Kuiper 1948:45; Levi, Przylu-
ski, and Bloch 1929:17, 99-100, 160). Though
not specificallydiscussed in Kuiper(1948), bim-
bd, like so many words of the form -imba,
-amba, and -umba, has an Austroasiaticflavor
to it.
When did the Indo-Aryaslearn of ivy gourd?
Historically,wild populationshave rangedmore
or less continguouslyfrom western Pakistanto
southeasternAsia and into tropical Australia.
Although found on the Arabian peninsula as
well, there are no reportsof this species in Af-
ghanistan,Iran, or other regions of central and
western Asia. In Africa, it ranges from Senegal
to Somali, but not in the desert countriesfurther
north. Given the tenacious characterof this op-
portunisticweed, it is unlikely, though not im-
possible, that ivy gourd previously occurredin
areas where it is now absent. Consequently,the
Indo-Aryasprobablydid not encounterthis plant
until they enteredthe Indian subcontinent.
LUFFA SPECIES
The four Old World species of Luffa (com-
monly called loofah) have naturaldistributions
in India: the two domesticates, L. acutangula
(L.) Roxb. and L. cylindrica, and two wild spe-
cies, L. echinata and L. graveolens Roxb. All
1999] CUCURBITSAND INDO-ARYAS
DECKER-WALTERS: 109

but the last are specifically mentioned in Mon- dia and Pakistan,those of the geneticallydistinct
ier-Williams(1899), who attributesover 30 San- var.forskalii (Harms)Heiser and Schilling occur
skrit names to loofah. only in Yemen (Heiser and Schilling 1990). Oth-
Leaves of loofah plants are typically five- er than Yemen, none of the wild species or va-
lobed, giving rise to the Sanskrithasti-parnika, rieties grows in Asia west of Pakistan.
meaning "leaf like a hand." The flowers are yel- Because of the general lack of archaeological
low (sa-pftaka), except in Indian plants of L. loofah remains,it is not clear how early the do-
echinata, where they are white (sveta-ghoshd), mesticates were carried to western Asia. The
presumablyopening at night like those of Tri- common name for L. acutangulain Afghanistan
chosanthes (hence the name jyotsna, meaning is torai (Kitamura 1960:377), while the local
"moonlight,"appliedboth to L. echinata and T. name for var.forskalii in Yemen is turia (Cog-
dioica). The domesticatedloofahs are grown for niaux and Harms 1966:68). In Hindi, some loo-
their edible immaturefruits, which are elongate fah names are built on the morphemetorui (e.g.,
like cucumber but have a drier white flesh. karui-taroi for L. acutangula and ghia-torui for
When maturefruitsdry out completely,the firm, L. cylindrica; Chakravarty 1982:70). These
but thin rind (karkasa-cchadd)encloses a fibrous names are all probablyrelated to the Dravidian
interiorwhich can be used to scrub the skin. In terms curai, tore, etc. for bottle gourd, indicat-
kosdtaki, a Sanskrit name applied to cucurbits ing that loofahs were probablyintroducedto Af-
with fibrous interiors (mostly loofahs), kosa ghanistan and Yemen (the latter by seafarers?)
means "seed vessel." The closely relatedghos- from India.
ha (LuJffacylindrica) and ghoshatakf (L. echin- VariousDravidian(avade, phr,etc.) and Aus-
ata) mean "indistinct noise," alluding to the tronesiannames (langker,blustru,etc.; Koorders
quiet rattle the seeds make as they fall through 1912:293) for the domesticatedloofahs bear no
the fibrous interiorwhen the fruit is shaken by similarity to the Sanskritnames. The proto-In-
wind. This sound is also behind loofah names dochinese term for L. cylindrica (an nguok) is
based on mridamga (e.g., mridamga-phala = L. likewise distinct(Keraudren-Aymonin 1975:48),
acutangula; mridamgF = L. echinata), meaning suggesting that southeasternAsian cultures in-
"drum," and tada (e.g., deva-tdda = L. cylin- dependentlyknew loofahs from early times, but
drica), meaning "beating." The black seeds thatloofahs were probablynot an importantitem
eventually exit the fruit through an operculum of trade or mythology, as was the bottle gourd.
at the blossom end of the fruit;hence the names Aside from the medicinal usage of loofah, the
krita-cchidra for L. acutangula (chidra = only other indication of loofah's importanceto
"opening") and krita-vedhana for L. echinata the Indo-Aryas is the name deva-tdda, which
(vedha = "perforation"). can be translatedas "rattle of the gods." The
Bitter fruits (katu-phald)and other parts of Indo-Aryas probably first discovered the wild,
wild varietiesof the domesticatesand of wild L. noise-making loofah plants when they entered
echinata are used in Indianmedicine for people the Indus Valley, creating their own names for
(Jain and DeFilipps 1991:268) and for horses the various species.
(Duthie 1905:368). From the domesticates is
made the Ayurvedic drug kosataki (Sivarajan TRICHOSANTHES SPECIES
and Balachandran1994:252). Approximately40 species make up the prin-
Althoughthe disjunctdistributionof L. echin- cipally Indomalesiangenus Trichosanthes.Al-
ata in tropical Africa and the northernIndian though over 20 species occur in India,including
subcontinentremains to be explained, long-dis- many endemics, only two of the taxa are widely
tance dispersal by humans is not suspected. Its cultivated: T. cucumerina var. anguina (L.)
fruits are spiny, possibly adaptedto dispersalvia Haines (snake gourd) and T. dioica (pointed
animal fur. The fruits of other loofah species, gourd). Here, too, the gourds are importantin
including the domesticates,have exhibited lim- traditionalmedicine, with several references in
ited ability to remainafloat for weeks to several the Ayurvedic texts to their ability to treat skin
months in seawater,with a small percentageof diseases, intestinal disorders, coughs, ulcers, and
seeds retaining their viability (Heiser 1985:25- more (Sivarajanand Balachandran1994:370).
26). Whereaswild populationsof L. acutangula Monier-Williams(1899) mentions three spe-
var. amara (Roxb.) C.B. Cl. are restrictedto In- cies of Trichosanthes: snake gourd, pointed

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
110 ECONOMICBOTANY [VOL. 53

gourd, and T tricuspidata (as syn. T. palmata points out the relationshipbetween cicinda and
Roxb.). Sivarajanand Balachandran(1994:370) various modem Indo-Aryan words, including
also list T. nervifolia as the drug tsjeru-pada- the Nepali cicindo ("snake gourd"). FromMun-
valam, but the antiquityof this word is not dis- da languages,we can also comparethe Mundari-
cussed. Most of Monier-Williams'referencesare Ho cindi ("hair-ornament"),which sharesits or-
to pointed gourd, with some reflecting the ther- igins with Dravidian words for "crown, crest,
apeutic value of this species: e.g., kacchu-ghna comb" according to Kuiper (1948:154). Could
("skin disease killer"), kasa-mardana("cough a basal proto-Mundamorpheme for "tuft of
crusher"), kushtha-kanda("medicinal root"). hair" (cf. Kuiper 1948:154) be behind cicinda
Others describe the plant as a night-blooming in recognitionof the snake gourd's long-fimbri-
(jyotsni) creeper (lata-phala), with scabrous rig- ate petals? In any case, a non-Aryan ancestry
id leaves (karkasa-cchada, patu) and bitter for the term cicinda seems likely.
(katu-phala) to poisonous (a-mrita-phala), Given that none of the species of Trichosan-
green- and white-stripedfruits (rdji-phald)that thes naturally occurs in western Asia beyond
turn yellow (pdndu-phala)to orange-redwhen Pakistan,the Indo-Aryasprobablyfirstmet these
ripe, and containmany seeds (bjja-garbha). That plants on the subcontinent.Although they may
the immaturefruit, which is eaten as a cooked have encounteredboth pointed gourd and snake
vegetable, is highly regardedis indicatedby the gourd plants in the wild, the domesticatedform
name rdja-phala, meaning "royal fruit." The of the latter was apparentlyintroducedto the
maturefruit can be fibrous,causing it to be se- Indo-Aryasby non-AryanIndianresidents.
mantically lumped sometimes with loofah, as
with the term kosataki CONCLUSIONS
The Dravidianputal and its 20 or so variants Comparison of the biogeography, ecology,
(Decker-Walters1998:35) are closely associated nomenclature,and ancientliteraryreferencesfor
with Trichosanthes, particularly snake gourd. Indian cucurbits shows that most of these spe-
Turner(1966:434) views the Sanskritpatola and cies were unknownto the Vedic-speakingIndo-
its many permutationsin modern Indo-Aryan Aryas before that culture'sarrivalto the subcon-
languages (e.g., padol, parval, paror) as derived tinent.Notable exceptions are Citrulluscolocyn-
from the Dravidian.Wild (var.cucumerina)and this, Cucumis prophetarum, and C. melo, all of
domesticated (var. anguina) plants of T. cucu- which had ancient western Asia distributionsas
merina are widespreadin Indiaand southeastern well as names tying them to the gods Varuna
Asia. The former, which extends into northern and Indra. In fact, the Indo-Aryas could have
Australia,is used primarilyfor medicine, where- been responsible for the spreadof colocynth to
as the latter is extensively cultivated in India, India.
the Malay Peninsulaand Archipelago,and Chi- The ikshvdku and alabu references in the Rig-
na for the long snake-like fruit eaten as a veg- Veda and Artharva-Veda may mean that the
etable when young. Although some Austrone- Indo-Aryaslearnedof bottle gourd while in the
sian words for snake gourd (e.g., kukukdjantung Indus Valley. Even if this is so, references in
in Sundanese; Koorders 1912:296) appear dis- laterworks indicatethatIndo-Aryanexposureto
tinct, others are based on patola, causing Burkilladditionallandraces, as well as to most of the
(1935:2178) to suggest India as the site of do- easternAsian cucurbits,occurredonly after the
mestication. Li (1970) traces the movement of Aryas moved into the Yamunaand Ganges Val-
snake gourd from the Malay Peninsulato south- leys, where they increasinglyencounterednon-
ern China between 500 and 700 A.D. Aryan-speakingpeoples. Surprisingly,this may
Although some of the morphemes (e.g., be true for watermelonalso, an African domes-
pandu-) used in Sanskrit words for Trichosan- ticate that appearsto have reached India in ad-
thes have Munda affinities (Kuiper 1948:76), vance of the Indo-Aryas.
these are merely descriptive words, none of Kuiper's (1948) analysis indicates that the
which is tied uniquelyto these plants.A possible Mundainfluenceon Sanskritcucurbitnomencla-
exception is the Sanskritcicinda, which specifies ture was greater than the Dravidian influence,
snake gourd. Monier-Williams(1899:395) was particularlyfor bottle gourd, wax gourd, water-
not able to group this word with any other San- melon, cucumber, ivy gourd, and Cochinchin
skrit morpheme. However, Turner (1966:260) gourd.On the otherhand,names for bittermelon

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
1999] CUCURBITSAND INDO-ARYAS
DECKER-WALTERS:
and domesticatedspecies of Luffa and Trichos-
anthes point to Dravidianorigins. This may re-
flect differences in the relative importance of
certain species to India's non-Aryanresidents.
A laterPersianinfluenceis seen in a few San-
skrit and Indo-Iraniannames for melon, water-
melon, and cucumber,apparentlyas a result of
landraceexchange in both directions.For melon
and watermelon, in particular,the diversity of
linguistic borrowingsin the Sanskritnomencla-
ture indicates that several landraceshad devel-
oped locally and were being traded within and
beyond the Indo-Aryanempire.
In additionto telling us aboutthe ancientflow
of cucurbitsacross space, time, and cultures in
southernAsia, the Sanskritterminologyreflects
the ways in which the Indo-Aryasthoughtabout
the plant world. The difficulties scholarshave in
determining some taxon identifications occurs
because the Sanskrit nomenclaturefocused on
those plant propertiesthat were importantor ob-
vious to the Indo-Aryas. Often these properties
were sharedby more than one species, such as
the bitter and medicinally potent, gourd-like
fruits of colocynth, bottle gourd, and wild mel-
on; the moisture-richfruits of cultivatedmelon,
cucumber, watermelon, and wax gourd; the
white night-bloomingflowers of Luffa echinata
and species of Trichosanthes;the suitability of
cucurbitfruitsgenerallyfor cow or elephantfod-
der; and so on.
In summary,the Sanskritwritingsreveal that
the Vedic-speakingIndo-Aryasof 2000-200 B.C.
valued cucurbitsfor use as medicine,food, con-
tainers, musical instruments,and literary meta-
phors.The comparativelinguisticanalysisgoes on
to show that the relationshipsbetween the Aryas
and cucurbitswere, in some cases, a complexmix
of opportunismand culturalassimilation.
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