Medicinal and Aromatic Plants - vol 45 - Turmeric- The Genus Curcuma

Turmeric — The Golden Spice of Life 5
TABLE 1.1 (Continued)
List of Common Names of Turmeric and Some of the Related Species of Curcuma
Botanical Name Languages Common Names
Marathi
Persian
Urdu
Portugese
Russian
Telugu
Tamil
Sanskrit
Sinhalese
Kacchura, kacchuri, narkacchuura
Kazur, urkelkafur
Kacchura
Zedoaria
Tzitvar
Katchili gaddalu, kachhooram
Katchili kilangu, pulakilangu
Dravida, durlabha, gandhamulaka
Haru kaha
Source: From Velayudhan et al. (1999). www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/sorting/curcuma.html, 2005
TABLE 1.2
Area and Production of Turmeric in the Major Turmeric
Producing Regions in India
State Area (ha) Production (t) Productivity (kg/ha)
Andhra Pradesh 64,100 346,400 5,404
Karnataka 6,800 28,900 4,250
Kerala 3,700 7,900 2,135
Maharashtra 6,900 8,700 1,261
Orissa 28,100 61,200 2,178
Tamil Nadu 28,300 150,000 5,300
West Bengal 13,300 20,000 1,504
1.3 HISTORY
The earliest reference about turmeric can be seen in Atharvaveda (Ca. 6000 yr B.P.), in which
turmeric is prescribed to charm away jaundice. It was also prescribed in the treatment of leprosy.
Reference to turmeric has also been made in the Yajnavalkyasamhita (composed, Ca. 4000 yr B.P.)
at the time of the epic Ramayana. Turmeric was listed as a coloring plant in an Assyrian herbal
dating about 2600 yr B.P. Marco Polo, in 1280 A.D., mentioned turmeric as growing in the Fokien
region of China (Rosengarten, 1969). Evidences indicate that turmeric was under cultivation in
India from ancient times, but whether the turmeric that they used was C. longa or some other
species having yellow rhizome, is not known. Garcia de Orta (1563) described turmeric under the
name Crocus indicus. Fluckiger and Hanbury (1879) wrote “several varieties of turmeric, distinguished
by the names of the countries or districts in which they are produced are found in the
English market; although they present differences that are sufficiently appreciable to the eye of the
experienced dealer, the characters of each sort are scarcely so marked or so constant as to be
recognizable by mere verbal descriptions.” Linschoten (1596), while describing with the utmost
details the trade in Cochin makes no mention of turmeric.
Sopher (1964) states that “the distribution and uses of turmeric in domestic sites outside India,
especially in Celebes, the Moluccas, and Polynesia indicates their antiquity and suggests an early
cultural connection between the people of these areas and the indigenous pre-Aryan cultivators of