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An Indigo Story
John Mathew
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United States) and India is made explicit for the crop. This is done in ways
that are redolent (if not necessarily
symmetrical) of efforts by Richard
Grove for physiocratic improvement of
plants taken from French efforts in the
botanical garden at Pamplemousses in
Mauritius and brought to Bengal (particularly through the efforts of Robert
Kyd in founding the Calcutta Botanical
Garden in 1787) in Green Imperialism:
Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens
and the Origins of Environmentalism,
1600-1860 (1995). This is also similar to
comparisons of medical practices linking
the colonial and the local in Pratik
Chakrabartis Materials and Medicine:
Trade, Conquest and Therapeutics in the
Eighteenth Century (2011) in both Jamaica
and India. In the latter, however, the
vector is not from one region to the other,
but both are directed towards the
metropole that is London.
We are also introduced to the role of
particular workers. A tract called The
Complete Indigo-Maker (1769) by Elias
Monnereau in San Domingue (Haiti)
published in England has considerable
influence on James Prinsep and Claude
Martin, both major indigo manufacturers (among other exploits) in India.
A local alternative from the genus Nerium is championed on the other hand
by the superintendent of the Calcutta
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compound body which contains several other ingredients and colours besides indigotin,
and it is the combination of these that gives
natural indigo preeminence over all other
blue colours. One might as well call albumen
an egg or starch a potato as to call synthetic
indigotin indigo (quoted on pp 239-40).
The planters objections notwithstanding, the writing is on the wall and even
the likes of Bergtheil are wise to it. The
introduction of a new strain from Java,
which promises and initially delivers
better yield, will suffer from the effects
of wilt to which there appears no swift
anodyne. Things look decidedly bleak by
the summer of the 1913, when the Sirsiah
laboratory is closed. Ironically, a new
lease of life for the beleaguered natural
form will be vouchsafed from the unlikeliest of sources a world war.
The outbreak of hostilities (underlying
Chapter 6, A Lasting Definition of Improvement in the Era of World War)
among western powers has grave implications for the dissemination of synthetic
indigo from Germany. Attenuation in supply
generates a renewed demand for natural
indigo. At the same time, indigo from
Zululand appears to hold promise against
wilt and is promptly imported to India.
Besides, seeing as the Indian troops have
stayed loyal to Britain, it stands to reason
that the empire should stand with its jewel
in the crown and support its interests,
which in turn buttress those of the empire. Experiments continue at full swing.
A new indigo research chemist, W A Davis,
is despatched to Pusa, where indigo paste
making is undertaken in full swing. With
developments in paste production and
efforts made to resist wilt, it appears as
though indigo will have a fighting chance.
Yet the cessation of hostilities in 1918,
coupled with horrendous climatic conditions that result in poor yield that force
indigo prices up, put paid to this short-term
resurgence. Practicalities of trade prospects (including poaching German technology) as well as annoyance with continuing labour insurgency in Bihar, ultimately force the British governments hand
and natural indigo as a significant agricultural crop for the region is put to pasture.
Conclusions
As the foregoing discussion suggests, we
have a rich and cogent description of the
available at
S Thanu Pillai
T.C.28/481, Kaithamukku
Thiruvananthapuram 24
Kerala
Ph: 2471943
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