Concept Of Tamarind

Well, this piece of information has nothing to do with the biological roots of the plant called Tamarind.

I would recount my travel with a self-proclaimed Historian named Ralph Martin. He introduced himself as an offspring to a Tamil Mother and an American father. Although born and brought up in the US, his interpretations of different civilizations impressed upon me as a vast storehouse of historical knowledge. His arguments were apt and always supported by both biological and historical evidence. He connected the human nature with the civilizations which evolved it. His conclusions on Indian males and females, especially in the matriarchal society in the south or patriarchal society in the major northern part of the country, found its twines in Aryan and Dravidian cult. I abhorred History throughout my academic life but after these articulate conversations, I repented as to why I was not fascinated by this field. Maybe the way of teaching in my primes failed to instill the interest the way Shri Ralph preached me.

He talked on a lot of issues ranging from addressing Jesus as Jeus, a certain version of the Koran (all insightful and healthy, of course), Dravidian Civilization, etc but the one which I find worth sharing was the connection of Tamarind with Arab countries. I reproduce his say hereafter. The Tamarind (IMLI), as everybody knows, forms an essential ingredient in the making of any south Indian delicacies.

It was way back some 300-400 years ago, South West part of our country saw a lot of migration towards Gulf countries. The Indian spices formed the biggest trade between South West India and the Gulf. Also, the population in the south was fascinated with the easy money and the richness that prevailed there. Arabs were in fact fascinated by this particular spice, which attracted them to come to India. In fact, it was more of a barter system of bringing a whole lot of dry fruits and dates and in return taking spices from the Southern part of the country. They were in so much fascinated by this derivative of IMLI, that they in fact named it TAMAR-E-HIND i.e. Dates of India, thus known as TAMARIND. Arabs refer to TAMAR as ripe – Sun-dried Dates in Gulf countries. Arunbhai