Alfonso is named after its Portuguese cultivator in India, Nicolau Alfonso. Little else is known of the creator.

The famous varieties over which Indians squabble so much, started appearing only after the Portuguese introduced grafting. This technique was then patronized by Mughal rulers. Nicola Manucci, an Italian traveler in Aurangzeb’s court, notes that Portuguese created many varieties which carried the names of individual cultivators. These mangoes were a favourite of Emperor Shahjahan, who had a dedicated supply from Mazgaon to Delhi. Today, it is grown in the Konkan region and is the one of the prized exports from India.

Picture Credit: Joquim, pixabay

The English word mango originated from Tamil “mangai” and Malayalam “manga.” Cashew, same as mango family, is called Kashumaanga in Malayalam! The Malayan word for mango is manga, same as Tamil. After its domestication in India more than 4000 years ago, traders, travelers and rulers have taken the mango across the globe. During 4-5th centuries BCE the Buddhist monks took mango to Malaya Peninsula and East Asia. Chinese traveler Hiuen T’sang returned from India to China with the mango in the 7th century CE. Further, in the 10th century CE the Persians carried it to East Africa. During 16th century CE the Portuguese have taken it to West Africa & Brazil and thence to West Indies where the British picked it up.

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Zia-ul-Haq was an army general and martial law president of Pakistan. He died in a plane crash in 1988, at the height of his power. Several of his senior colleagues and the US Ambassador to Pakistan also died with him. A box of mangoes had been gifted to him just before the flight. Popular belief is that a bomb was hidden among the mangoes. There is no official admission that he was assassinated, leave alone the role of mangoes.

Picture Credit: AI generated image of an exploding mango, GenCraft

The genome of Mangifera Indica, mango, has been detected 60 million years ago. Mango leaf fossils (Paleocene era) have been recovered near Damalgiri, West Garo Hills, Meghalaya. This was even before joining of the Indian and Asian continental plates.

Wild species of genus Mangifera are distributed throughout South and South East Asia. Cultivation started much later. The consensus among historians is that cultivation of mangoes started in the north east India about 4000 years ago.

Picture Credit: AI generated mango leaf fossil, GenCraft

Buddha had committed to perform a miracle under a mango tree in Sravasti. To make it impossible for Buddha to perform the miracle, his opponents uprooted all mango trees. While Buddha was on his begging rounds, the King’s gardener presented Buddha with a ripe mango. Buddha ate the fruit, planted the seed and washed his hands over the seed. Instantly the seed grew upto a full mango tree. Buddha would go on to perform another miracle at the mango tree. Sanchi has a sculpture on the Mango Miracle of Buddha at Sravasti.

The gateways of the great stupa at Sanchi (1st century CE) and the railings at Bharhut stupa (2nd century CE) have 40 representations of plants including the mango. Sanchi stupa sculptures show among other representations an elephant heading towards a mango tree laden with fruits and monkeys on a mango tree looking for the fruit.

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The original name of Bhubaneswar is Ekamra-kshetra because the presiding deity, Lingaraj was originally under a mango tree. The Brahma Purana states that, “In Utkala or Orissa there is the kshetra of Lord Shiva, Krittivasas. It removes all sins, and such places are difficult to come across. It has a crore of Siva Lingas and is equal in merit to Banares. It is known as Ekamra and has eight principal tirthas.”

Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu is also called Emkarakshetra and houses the famous Ekambaranathar Temple.

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Valmiki Ramayana has many references to mango. For e.g., Balakand describes the city of Ayodhya, “(it) accommodates groups of danseuses and theatrical personnel, and is surrounded everywhere with the gardens and brakes of mango trees, and her wide fort wall is like her cincture ornament”. Later, there are profuse references in Sanskrit dramas and Puranas. There is also a theory that there must be a reference in Vedas to mangoes, since mango leaves are used in homams. But historians don’t concur.

Picture Credit: Bishnu Sarangi, Pixabay

When Hanuman reached Lanka in search of Sita, he is supposed to have encountered an Aamra – Kanan (Mango grove). After having done justice to the fruits, he is said to have thrown the seeds across the sea to India where they took root. Hanuman is also known to have taken a flight towards the Sun mistaking it for a mango. A story of contest between Ganesha and Karthikeya has the prize as a golden mango.

We know that the mango is indigenous to India but the story illustrates how most things in India have been linked to the itihasa-purana tradition.

Picture Credit: Salangpur Hanumanji, Twitter

The Jesuit delegation to Akbar in 1579 is said to have introduced the idea of grafting mangoes to the emperor. He is said to have planted one lakh trees in Darbhanga, Bihar to introduce this technique on a large scale. This led to the creation of many mango varieties. While the story is not in Ain-i-Akbari, it is accepted by historians as true. The Mughals loved mangoes, introducing recipes like the Aaam Panna, Aaam ki Lauz and Aam ka Meetha Pulao. Nurjehan is said to have created wines mixed with mangoes.

Picture Credit: AI generated image of one lakh mango trees, GenCraft

Sher Shah defeated Humayun at Chausa near Buxar in Bihar in 1539 and at Kannauj in Western UP in 1540. Sher Shah named a mango variety Chausa, to mark his victory. Chausa is very popular in the north of India.

With these victories, Sher Shah drove Humayun out of India. Humayun regained his throne in 1556CE after the second battle of Panipat where the successors of Sher Shah were defeated.

Picture Credit: Indian Institute of Horticultural Research

The genus Mangifera contains 41 valid species out of which the maximum number are located in the Malaya region which is generally considered as the birth place of the wild growing mango. The species are spread out from India to the Phillipines and the mango is considered important in this belt. But the only cultivated species of mango is Mangifera indica, the cultivation of which first started 4000 years ago in NE India from where monks and traders took them to SE Asia.

The picture is a mango orchard from the Guimaras province of Philippines. Like others, it claims to have the sweetest mango in the world.

Picture Credit: tsinelaslife.com

Malda alone (West Bengal) has three GI tagged mango varieties, Laxman Bhog, Himsagar and Fazil. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have two each. Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat, Bihar and Andhra have one each.

Picture Credit: Wikimedia Commons