متن کامل نگلیسی ساینو-ایرانیکا اثر جاوید برتولت لوفر

CASSIA PODS AND CAROB 421

and extremely hard. The interior [the pulp] is as black as [Chinese]
ink and as sweet as sugar-plums. It is eatable, and is also employed in
the pharmacopoeia."

The tree under consideration has not yet been identified, at least not
from the sinological point of view. 1 The name a-lo-p'o is Sanskrit; and
the ancient form *a-lak(rak, rag)-bwut(bud) is a correct and logical
transcription of Sanskrit aragbadha, aragvadha, dragvadha, or argvadha,
the Cassia or Caihartocarpus fistula (Leguminosai) , already mentioned
by the physician Caraka, also styled suvarnaka ("gold-colored") and
rajataru ("king's tree"). 2 This tree, called the Indian laburnum,
purging cassia, or pudding pipe tree from its peculiar pods (French
caneficier), is a native of India, Ceylon, and the Archipelago 3 (hence
Sumatra and Malayan Po-se of the Chinese), "uncommonly beautiful
when in flower, few surpassing it in the elegance of its numerous long,
pendulous racemes of large, bright-yellow flowers, intermixed with the
young, lively green foliage." 4 The fruit, which is common in most
bazars of India, is a brownish pod, about sixty cm long and two cm
thick. It is divided into numerous cells, upwards of forty, each con-
taining one smooth, oval, shining seed. Hence the Chinese comparison
with the pod of the Gleditschia, which is quite to the point. These pods
are known as cassia pods. They are thus described in the " Treasury of
Botany " : "Cylindrical, black, woody, one to two feet long, not splitting,
but marked by three long furrows, divided in the interior into a number
of compartments by means of transverse partitions, which project
from the placentas. Each compartment of the fruit contains a single
seed, imbedded in pulp, which is used as a mild laxative." Whether
the tree is cultivated in Asia I do not know; GARCIA DA ORTA affirms
that he saw it only in a wild state. 5 The description of the tree and
fruit in the Yu yan tsa tsu is fairly correct. Cassia fistula is indeed
from twenty to thirty feet high (in Jamaica even fifty feet) . The seed,
as stated there, is of a reddish-brown color, and the pulp is of a dark
viscid substance.

1 STUART (Chinese Materia Medica, p. 496) lists the name a-p'o-lo (instead of
a-lo-p'o) among "unidentified drugs." Bretschneider has never noted it.

2 A large number of Sanskrit synonymes for the tree are enumerated by RODIGER
and POTT (Zeitschrift /. d. K. d. Morg., Vol. VII, p. 154); several more may be added
to this list from the Bower Manuscript.

3 GARCIA DA ORTA (Markham, Colloquies, p. 114) adds Malacca and Sofala.
In Javanese it is tenguli or trenguli.

4 W. ROXBURGH, Flora Indica, p. 349.

5 Likewise F. PYRARD (Vol. II, p. 361, ed. of Hakluyt Society), who states that
"it grows of itself without being sown or tended."



422 SlNO-lRANICA

When I had established the above identification of the Sanskrit
name, it was quite natural for me to lay my hands on MATSUMURA'S
"Shokubutsu mei-i" and to look up Cassia fistula under No. 754:
it was as surprising as gratifying to find there, "Cassia fistula M ffr 16
namban-saikachi." This Japanese name means literally the "Gleditschia
japonica (saikaci = Chinese tsao-kia-tse) of the Southern Barbarians"
(Chinese Nan Fan). The Japanese botanists, accordingly, had suc-
ceeded in arriving at the same identification through the description
of the plant; while the philological equation with the Sanskrit term
escaped them, as evidenced by their adherence to the wrong form
a-p*o-lo, sanctioned by the Pen ts'ao kan mu. The case is of methodo-
logical interest in showing how botanical and linguistic research may
supplement and corroborate each other: the result of the identification
is thus beyond doubt; the rejection of a-p'o-lo becomes complete, and
the restitution of a-lo-p'o, as handed down in the Cen lei pen ts*ao,
ceases to be a mere philological conjecture or emendation, but is raised
into the certainty of a fact.

The Arabs know the fruit of this tree under the names xarnub nindi
(" Indian carob") 1 and xiydr saribar ("cucumber of necklaces," from
its long strings of golden flowers). 2 Abu'l Abbas, styled en-Nebati
("the Botanist"), who died at Sevilla in 1239, the teacher of Ibn
al-Baitar, who preserved extracts from his lost work Rihla ("The
Voyage"), describes Cassia fistula as very common in Egypt, par-
ticularly in Alexandria and vicinity, whence the fruit is exported to
Syria; 3 it commonly occurs in Bassora also, whence it is exported to
the Levant and Irak. He compares the form of the tree to the walnut
and the fruit to the carob. The same comparison is made by Isak Ibn
Amran, who states in Leclerc's translation, "Dans chacun de ces tubes
est renferme'e une pulpe noire, sucree et laxative. Dans chaque com-
partiment est un noyau qui a le volume et la forme de la graine de
caroubier. La partie employee est la pulpe, a 1'exclusion du noyau et du
tube."

The Persians received the fruit from the Arabs on the one hand, and
from north-western India on the other. They adopted the Arabic word
xiyar-Sanbar* in the form xiydr-cambar (compare also Armenian xiar-

1 LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. II, p. 17.

2 Ibid., p. 64. Also qitta hindi ("Indian cucumber"), ibid., Vol. Ill, p. 62.

3 GARCIA DA ORTA says that it grows in Cairo, where it was also found by
Pierre Belon. In ancient times, however, the tree did not occur in Egypt: LORET,
in his Flore pharaonique, is silent about it. It was no doubt brought there by the
Arabs from India.

4 GARCIA DA ORTA spells it hiar-xamber.



CASSIA PODS AND CAROB 423



Samb, Byzantine Greek xiapaa^p, xecto-a/zTrdp) ; and it is a Middle-
Persian variation of this type that is hidden in the "Persian" tran-
scription of the Yu yah tsa tsu, hu-ye-yen-mo 3& if 8f i, anciently
*xut(xur)-ya-dzem(dzem)-mVak(bak, bax). The prototype to be
restored may have been *xaryadz"ambax. There is a New-Persian word
for the same tree and fruit, bakbar. It is also called kabuli ("coming
from Kabul").

The Fu-lin name of the plant is H M K a-li-fcu-fa, *a-li(ri')-
go-va5. I. LoEW 1 does not give an Aramaic name for Cassia fistula,
nor does he indicate this tree, neither am I able to find a name for it in
the relevant dictionaries. We have to take into consideration that the
tree is not indigenous to western Asia and Egypt, and that the Arabs
transplanted it there from India (cf . the Arabic terms given above,
"Indian carob," and "Indian cucumber"). The Fu-lin term is evi-
dently an Indian loan-word, for the transcription *a-ri-go-va5 cor-
responds exactly to Sanskrit drgvadha, answering to an hypothetical
Aramaic form *arigbada or *arigfada. In some editions of the Yu yah
tsa tsu, the Fu-lin word is written a-li or a-li-fa, *a-ri-va5. These would
likewise be possible forms, for there is also a Sanskrit variant arevata
and an Indian vernacular form ali (in Panjabi).

The above texts of C'en Ts'an-k'i and Twan C'en-si, author of
the Yu yah tsa tsu, give occasion for some further comments. PELLiox 2
maintained that the latter author, who lived toward the end of the
ninth century, frequently derived his information from the former, who
wrote in the first part of the eighth century; 3 from the fact that C'en
in many cases indicates the foreign names of exotic plants, Pelliot is
inclined to infer that Twan has derived from him also his nomenclature
of plants in the Fu-lin language. This is by no means correct. I have
carefully read almost all texts preserved under the name of C'en (or
his work, the Pen ts*ao Si i) in the Ceh lei pen ts*ao and Pen ts'ao kah mu,
and likewise studied all notices of plants by Twan; with the result
that Twan, with a few exceptions, is independent of C'en. As to Fu-lin
names, none whatever is recorded by the latter, and the above text is
the only one in which the country Fu-lin figures, while he gives the
plant-name solely in its Sanskrit form. In fact, all the foreign names
noted by C'en come from the Indo-Malayan area. The above case
shows plainly that Twan's information does not at all depend on C'en's



1 Aramaeische Pflanzennamen.

2 Toung Pao, 1912, p. 454.



3 The example cited to this effect (Butt, de VEcole fran$aise, Vol. IV, p. 1130)
is not very lucky, for in fact the two texts are clearly independent.



424 SlNO-lRANICA

passage: the two texts differ both as to descriptive matter and nomen-
clature. In regard to the Fu-lin information of Twan, HIRTH'S opinion 1
is perfectly correct: it was conveyed by the monk Wan, who had
hailed directly from Fu-lin. 2 The time when he lived is unknown, but
most probably he was a contemporary of Twan. The Fu-lin names,
accordingly, do not go back to the beginning of the eighth century, but
belong to the latter half of the ninth.

An interesting point in connection with this subject is that both
the Iranian and the Malayan Po-se play their r61e with reference to
the plant and fruit in question. This, as far as I know, is the only in-
stance of this kind. Fortunately, the situation is perfectly manifest on
either side. The fact that Twan C'eii-si hints at the Iranian Po-se
(Persia) is well evidenced by his addition of the Iranian name; while
the tree itself is not found in Persia, and merely its fruit was imported
from Syria or India. The Po-se, alluded to in the Cen lei pen ts'ao and
presumably traceable to C'en Ts'an-k'i, unequivocally represents the
Malayan Po-se: it is joined to the names of Sumatra and P'o-lo-men;
and Cassia fistula is said to occur there, and indeed occurs in the Malayan
zone. Moreover, Li Si-6en has added such an unambiguous definition
of the location of this Po-se, that there is no room for doubt of its identity.

45. Reference has been made to the similarity of cassia pods to
carob pods, and it would not be impossible that the latter were included
in the " Persian Gleditschia" of the Chinese.

Ceratonia siliqua, the carob-tree, about thirty feet in height, is
likewise a genus of the family Leguminosae, a typical Mediterranean
cultivation. The pods, called carob pods, carob beans, or sometimes
sugar pods, contain a large quantity of mucilaginous and saccharine
matter, and are commonly employed in the south of Europe for feeding
live-stock, and occasionally, in times of scarcity, as human food. The
popular names " locust-pods" or "St. John's Bread" rest on the suppo-
sition that the pods formed the food of St. John in the wilderness
(LUKE, xv, 1 6); but there is better reason to believe that the locusts
of St. John were the animals so called, and these are still eaten in the
Orient. The common Semitic name for the tree and fruit is Assyrian
xarubu, Aramaic xdrubd, Arabic xarrub and xarnub. 5 New Persian
xurnub (khurnub) or xarnub, also xarrub (hence Osmanli xarup, 4 Neo-

1 Journal Am. Or. Soc., Vol. XXX, 1910, p. 18.

2 Cf. above, p. 359.

8 Egyptian darud, garuta, darruga; Coptic garate, are Greek loan-words
(the tree never existed in Egypt, as already stated by Pliny, xni, 16), from /cepdna.

4 Also ketSibujnuzu ("goat's horn").



CASSIA PODS AND CAROB 425

Greek xapoviriov, Italian carrobo or carrubo, Spanish algarrobo, French
caroube or carouge), is based on the Semitic name. Lelekl is another
Persian word for the tree, according to ScHLiMMER, 1 peculiar to Gilan.

The Arabs distinguish three varieties of carob, two of which are
named saidalani and sabuni? There is no doubt that the Arabs who
were active in transplanting the tree to the west conveyed it also to
Persia. A. de Candolle does not mention the occurrence of the carob
in that country. It is pointed out, however, by the Mohammedan
writers on Persia. It is mentioned as a cultivation of the province
Sabur by Muqaddasl 3 and Yaqut. 4 Abu Mansur discusses the medicinal
properties of the fruit in his pharmacopoeia; he speaks of a Syrian and
a Nabathasan xarnub. 5 SCHLIMMER G remarks that the tree is very
common in the forest of Gilan; the pods serve the cows as food, and are
made into a sweet and agreeable syrup. No Sanskrit name for the
tree exists, and the tree itself did not anciently occur in India. 7

A botanical problem remains to be solved in connection with Cassia
fistula. DuHALDE 8 mentions cassia-trees (Cassia fistula) in the province
of Yun-nan toward the kingdom of Ava. "They are pretty tall, and
bear long pods; whence 'tis called by the Chinese, Chang-ko-tse-shu,
the tree with long fruit (ft JK. -? 8f) ; its pods are longer than those we
see in Europe, and not composed of two convex shells, like those of
ordinary pulse, but are so many hollow pipes, divided by partitions
into cells, which contain a pithy substance, in every respect like the
cassia in use with us." S. W. WiLLiAMS 9 has the following: ''Cassia
fistula, t^ ffi W hwai hwa ts*in, is the name for the long cylindrical pods
of the senna tree (Cathartocarpus) , known to the Chinese as c'an kwo-tse
$M, or tree with long fruit. They are collected in Kwan-si for their
pulp and seeds, which are medicinal. The pulp is reddish and sweet,
and not so drastic as the American sort; if gathered before the seeds
are ripe, its taste is somewhat sharp. It is not exported, to any great

1 Terminologie, p. 120. The pods are also styled tarmil.

2 L. LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. II, p. 16.

3 P. SCHWARZ, Iran, p. 32.

4 BARBIER DE MEYNARD, Dictionnaire ge"ographique de la Perse, p. 294.

5 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 59.

6 Terminologie, p. 119.

7 The alleged word for the carob, $imbibheda, given in the English-Sanskrit
Dictionary of A. BOROOAH, is a modern artificial formation from qinibi or Qiniba
("pod"). According to WATT, the tree is now almost naturalized in the Salt Range
and other parts of the Pan jab.

8 Description of the Empire of China, Vol. I, p. 14 (or French ed., Vol. I, p. 26).

9 Chinese Commercial Guide, p. 114 (sth ed., 1863).



426 SlNO-lRANICA

extent, west of the Cape." F. P. SMITH/ with reference to this state-
ment of Williams, asserts that the drug is unknown in Central China,
and has not been met with in the pages of the Pen ts'ao. Likewise
STUART, 2 on referring to DuHalde and Williams, says, "No other
authorities are found for this plant occurring in China, and it is not
mentioned in the Pen ts'ao. The Customs Lists do not mention it; so,
if exported as Williams claims, it must be by land routes. The subject
is worthy of investigation." Cassia fistula is not listed in the work of
Forbes and Hemsley.

There is no doubt that the trees described by DuHalde and Williams
exist, but the question remains whether they are correctly identified.
The name hwai used by Williams would rather point to a Sophora,
which likewise yields a long pod containing one or five seeds, and his
description of the pulp as reddish does not fit Cassia fistula. Contrary
to the opinions of Smith and Stuart, the species of Williams is referred
to in the Pen ts*ao kan mu? As an appendix to his a-p'o-lo (instead of
a-lo-p'o), Li Si-Sen treats of the seeds of a plant styled lo-wan-tse it
H -?, quoting the Kwei hai yu hen li by Fan C'eii-ta (1126-93) as
follows: "Its habitat is in Kwan-si. The pods are several inches long,
and are like those of thefei tsao JJE & (Gleditschia or Gymnocladus sinen-
sis) and the tao tou 73 U (Canavallia ensiformis) . The color [of the
pulp] is standard red JE JJ. Inside there are two or three seeds, which
when baked are eatable and of sweet and agreeable flavor." 4 This lo-wan
is identified with Tamarindus indica; 5 and this, I believe, is also the
above plant of Williams, which must be dissociated from Cassia fistula;
for, while Li Si-Sen notes the latter as a purely exotic plant, he does not
state that it occurs in China; as to lo-wan , he merely regards it as a
kindred affair on account of the peculiar pods: this does not mean, of
course, that the trees yielding these pods are related species. The
fruit of Tamarindus indica is a large swollen pod from four to six inches
long, filled with an acid pulp. In India it is largely used as food, being
a favorite ingredient in curries and chutnies, and for pickling fish. It is
also employed in making a cooling drink or sherbet. 6

1 Contributions towards the Materia Medica of China, p. 53.

2 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 96.
Ch. 31, p. 9b.

4 The text is exactly reproduced (see the edition in the Ci pu tsu lai ts'un su,
p. 24).

5 MATSUMURA, No. 3076 (in Japanese dsen-modama-rabo$i).
8 WATT, Commercial Products of India, p. 1067.