Of Poets, Kings, and Gods
It is said that India has only two seasons, the monsoon season and the mango season. Monsoon rains replenish the soil and the literati claim that mangoes replenish India’s soul. The fruit has been a subject of Indian poetry over the years. One of the popular poems, “Aam Naama”, by noted Urdu poet Akbar Allahabadi is a plea sent to his friend Munshi Nisar Husain.
“Naama na koi yaar ka paigham bhejiye
Is fasl mein jo bhejiye bas aam bhejiye
Aisa zaroor ho ki unhein rakh ke kha saku’n
Pukhta agarche bees to das khaam bhejiye
Maaloom hi hai aap ko bande ka address
Seedhe Allahabad mere naam bhejiye
Aisa na ho ki aap ye likhein jawaab mein
Tameel hogi pahle magar daam bhejiye”
The English translation of Allahabadi’s poem by author Khushwant Singh goes like this:
“Neither letter nor message from my beloved send to me,
If you must send something this season, mangoes let them be.
Make sure these are some I can keep to eat another day,
If 20 be ripe, add another 10 that can stay.
Your slave’s address you know, it remains the same,
Dispatch them to Allahabad in a parcel in my name.
Whatever you do, in reply please be not brash:
Order for mangoes received, just send the cash.”
The succulent flesh of the mango, poetically called samar-e-bahisht in Persian means “fruit of paradise.” The Chausa mango is the original samar bahisht. This mango was made famous when the Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri defeated Mughal emperor Humayun at Chausa in Bihar. Sher Shah Suri gave his favourite mango the name of his place of victory.
The fruit is considered an aphrodisiac and Indian paintings are replete with rendezvous of lovers in mango groves. Mangoes are also depicted as an elongated twisted teardrop in Indian paisley patterns.
The fruit is an object of envy and rivalry too. Once Sage Narada went to meet Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati in Mount Kailash. Narada was carrying a special fruit, the Mango of Knowledge and Truth. He gave it to Shiva and Parvati on one condition; the mango should be consumed by one person and it should not be cut or shared. Shiva and Parvati had two sons, Kartikeya and Ganesha. As they couldn’t divide the fruit between their sons, they held a contest for them.
“Whoever goes around the world three times shall win the special mango.”
On hearing this, Kartikeya sped away in his vehicle, the peacock. Ganesha got on his vehicle, the mouse. But instead of setting off, he thought about the contest and then walked around his parents three times. When Shiva and Parvati asked him the reason for doing so, Ganesha replied, “To me, the entire universe is contained in my parents. They are the origin, sustenance and dissolution of all that exists. By circling them, I have circled the world.”
His parents, pleased with his answer rewarded him with the Mango of Knowledge and Truth. When Kartikeya returned from his journey, he was disappointed. Bitter, he left Kailash and went south to the hills of Palani in Tamil Nadu.
A tool of Diplomacy and Jingoism
The word “mango” is derived from “manga”, the fruit’s name in Tamil. It originated in Indian forests bordering with Myanmar. It is never “tree-ripened.” When it is still hard, the fruit is wrapped in a newspaper and set aside unrefrigerated. The human touch allows it to peak. India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was fond of the Dasheri mango, golden oval with sweet saffron-orange flesh. So much so that he sent the fruit each year to Queen Elizabeth II. When Nehru visited Washington to meet President John F. Kennedy, the American authorities allowed mangoes to be imported. At the state dinner, Alphonso mango, a plump, orange-yellow rounded oval with tangy-sweet yellow flesh, was served.
In 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush signed a landmark trade and nuclear deal with India. At that ceremony, he remarked, “The United States is looking forward to eating Indian mangoes.”
Mango’s love is universal in India but each state has its own variety. This results in jingoism and each person claiming theirs to be the best. Its allure is not just the taste but the excitement of the wait and the anticipation of the aftereffect. Madhur Jaffrey, the famous cookbook writer, once disappointed with an American variety of mango fussed, “…not those pleasantly hued but lifeless rocks that pass as mangoes…They might hint at possibilities but provide no satisfaction…”
Sources
“Meanwhile: The Fruits of Diplomacy” by Madhur Jaffrey, The New York Times, March 13, 2006
“What’s in a Mango’s Name? Everything – If you’re Indian” by Joseph Lelyveld, The New York Times, June 2, 1969
“The Mango Looks Beautiful Enough to eat (and it is)” by Julie Sahni, The New York Times, May 17, 1989
“100 Days of Madness as the ‘King of Fruits’ is Celebrated Again” by Jim Yardley, The New York Times, June 3, 2012
“In India’s Heat, the Mango is Perfection” by Steven R. Weisman, The New York Times, June 4, 1986
https://www.thequint.com/videos/urdu-poetry-and-the-love-of-mangoes-in-akbar-allahabadis-aam-nama