PHA-Exchange> Horstus Book (2) order form

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> Hortus Malabaricus is a 12 volume treatise on the plant wealth of Malabar
(Kerala), published during 1678-1693, from Amsterdam. It was compiled by the
then Dutch Governor of Malabar at Cochin, Hendrik Adriaan Van Rheede. Hortus
Malabaricus enshrines the indigenous, pre-Ayurvedic knowledge of the
hereditary medical practitioners of the Indian state of Kerala. The book
contains illustrations of 742 plants belonging to 691 modern species,
together with their descriptions and medicinal and other uses. All plants
are described and illustrated under their local Malayalam names, written in
Roman, Malayalam and Arabic scripts. In most cases, their Konkani,
Portuguese and Dutch names are also given. The entire text of the book is in
Latin.
>
> Since the publication of the first volume of the book in 1678, there have
been several attempts by eminent botanists to translate Hortus Malabaricus
into Dutch and English. While the first two volumes were translated into
Dutch and published in 1720, an English translation of even the first volume
has never been completed. During the past  three centuries, there have been
several attempts to correctly identify the plants described in this
pre-Linnaean book, according to modern, scientific botanical nomenclature,
particularly because  this book is of great value in the history of Botany
in general and the taxonomy of tropical plants in particular. It is perhaps
the only authentic source of the ancient ethno-medical knowledge of Kerala,
culled from the hereditary palm-leaf manuscripts by Itty Achuthan, a famous
traditional physician of Kerala at that time. Three Konkani
priest-physicians, Ranga Bhat, Vinayaka Pandit and Appu Bhat, supplemented
the information. Br. Mathew of St. Joseph also collaborated with Van Rheede
during the initial days of the compilation of the book. Unfortunately, the
original sources of the book have been irrecoverably lost.
>
> The publication of the book at this juncture has tremendous,
socio-political and economic significance in the context of the
implementation of intellectual property rights and patent regime by the
World Trade Organisation. It is being debated all over the world that the
new patent regime may lead to the loss of traditional knowledge systems and
above all the biological wealth of the developing countries.. Hortus
Malabaricus can be used as a powerful resource book to combat any attempt to
exploit and misappropriate the medicinal plant wealth of India.
>
> The migration, disappearance and the possible extinction of many of the
useful plants from the original habitats, from where they were collected 325
years ago, as described in this book, also points to the need to take urgent
steps to protect and conserve the plants of the biodiversity rich zone in
the Western Ghats of Peninsular India, considered one of the hot-spots of
the world.
>
> Today, 325 years after the publication of the original Latin edition, the
University of Kerala is proud to bring out for the first time, this English
Edition of Hortus Malabaricus.  This English edition is the result of almost
thirty years’ dedicated work by Prof. K. S. Manilal, Emeritus Professor of
Botany ,who prepared the annotations and modern botanical interpretation of
the plants described in Hortus Malabaricus. We hope that the present English
Edition will open up a wide vista for  further research in many branches of
technical and social sciences, languages and humanities.
>
> Publication Date: June 2003
>
> HORTUS MALABARICUS-Annotated English Edition
>
> Price: Out side India : US $ 950
>  (Twelve Volumes: Inclusive of Freight Charges)
>
> ORDER FORM
>
>
> I/We would like to place order for ……………….set/sets of Hortus Malabaricus.
>
> Enclosed herewith a banker’s cheque/bank draft no:……………………………….
>
> dated……………….in favour of the Finance Officer, University of Kerala,
>
> Thiruvananthapuram, India for US$……………………….(US Dollars
>
> .………………………………… …only) drawn on. ……………………………..
> payable at USA/State Bank of India, Thiruvananthapuram.
>
> (PLEASE FILL IN BLOCK LETTERS)
>
> Name: ………………………………………………………………………………
> Address: …………………………………………………………………….………
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> The completed forms with the draft/cheque should be returned to:
> The Publication Officer, University of Kerala,
> Thiruvananthapuram- 695 034, Kerala India.
>
>