Ep 44: Sopan Joshi: ‘The mango is all that is India’

Sopan Joshi, in his book Mangifera Indica: A Biography of the Mango, which took eight years to write and research, accomplishes a historic, cultural, religious and  economic exploration of India’s favourite fruit.

Did you know that India is home to over 1,000 varieties of mangoes, besides the much loved Alphonso, Kesar and Dashehri? And whenever a major battle took place, such as the Battle of Plassey, it was usually near a mango grove, which was ubiquitous in ancient India. Once a place for social joy, “free therapy”, and the food of the poor, we now depend on store-bought mangoes, he points out. 

He links the mango to colonial history, Jesuit priests—the “Google search engines of their time”—who brought modern grafting techniques of the 16th century to India, and the Mughals’ fascination for the fruit. He also ties the mango and other fruits with our deepest cravings, associating it with alcohol and sugar addiction, which begins with mother’s milk.

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Timestamps
01:38 How the book happened
06:20 On the three parts of the book; seed-grown vs grafted mangoes
08:13 The culture of the mango grove or “amrai”
10:30 All empires and kings were invested in the mango
14:00 In earlier India, you were never very far from a mango grove
20:00 Akbar onwards, Mughal emperors were obsessed with mangoes
23:00 An obsession with the mango flower; the Kamadeva connection
31:50 Modern grafting techniques began in Goa with the Jesuit priests
35:36 The end of mango groves started with zamindari in the late 18th century
40:50 The “Habitat Selection” theory and why green belts are essential
42:25 The mango’s association with alcohol
46:04 How our ability to see red is rewarded by the colour of fruits
49:00 Whether the mango originated in India
54:46 Over a thousand varieties of the mango in India
58:20 Mango diplomacy down the ages, starting with Buddhism and the Mauryan empire
01:00:45 His relationship with the mango; memories of his uncle

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