Botanist K S Manilal, who made ‘Hortus Malabaricus’ accessible to the modern world, passes away

Originally authored by Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede, who had been a governor of Malabar during the days of the Dutch East India Company in 1669-1676, Hortus Malabaricus contained descriptions and illustrations about 742 plants. This was published from Amsterdam during 1678-1693 and was the most comprehensive study of the medico-botanical resources of Asia published from Europe before the 18th century.

Manilal, who served as a botany professor at the University of Calicut for 23 years from 1976 to 1999, devoted 35 years to the research, translation and annotation work of this Latin botanical treatise. His translation of this enormous 12-volume document into English and Malayalam served as an opening for the Latin treatise, which had remained inaccessible to the academic world. Apart from the translation, Manilal gave annotation, and modern botanical and historical interpretation for this Latin treatise, which shed light on the the life and culture of the Malabar coast.

Manilal also authored 198 research papers and 15 books on taxonomy and botany, mainly about the medico-botanical aspects, or the historical, socio-political and linguistic significance of Hortus Malabaricus. In 2003, the University of Calicut published the 12 volumes of the translation of Hortus Malabaricus. In the 1980s, Manilal conducted extensive research about the flora and fauna of the Silent Valley rain forest in Kerala, which later turned into a major cause for its conservation.

Hailing from Paravur in Ernakulam district, Manilal obtained PhD in Botany and became a faculty at the University of Kerala before moving to the University of Calicut. In 2020, the country honoured him with a Padma Sree, considering his work on Hortus Malabaricus.

He was the founder of the Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy and was also honoured by the Netherlands with the ‘Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassu Award’, one of the highest civilian awards given by the country.

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