Abstract
The Tamil littoral occupies a very small space in the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean. The northern segment of the Coromandel Coast was famous for the production of cotton and the export of textiles. The southern portion, sometimes called the Pearl Fishery Coast, was well known for its pearl banks and the export of chanks and pearls through Asian maritime trading networks. The European trading in the region and the religious activities of the missionaries in the early modern age resulted in the exchange of scientific knowledge. The medical encounter, in particular, and Euro-Tamil relations, more broadly, witnessed extraordinary and unprecedented innovations between 1700 and 1857.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Harold J. Cook (2007), Matters of Exchange: Commerce, Medicine and Science in the Dutch Golden Age (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press).
David Arnold (1993), Colonizing the Body: State, Medicine and Epidemic Disease in Nineteenth-Century India (Berkeley: University of California Press)
David Arnold, ed. (1996), Warm Climates and Western Medicine: The Emergence of Tropical Medicine, 1500–1900 (Amsterdam: Rodopi), pp. 7–8.
Pratik Chakrabarti (2011), Materials and Medicine: Trade, Conquest and Therauptics in Eighteenth Century (Manchester: Manchester University Press).
The date and provenance of the medical text of Sillarai Kovai is unknown. A palm-leaf manuscript is available at the library of the Institute of Asian Studies, Chennai, India. A. Thasarathan and V. S. Subbaraman, eds. (1993), A Descriptive Catalogue of Palm-Leaf Manuscripts in Tamil, 3 vols. (Madras: Institute of Asian Studies).
S. Jeyaseela Stephen (1998), Portuguese in the Tamil Coast: Historical Exploration of Commerce and Culture, 1507–1749 (Pondicherry: Navajyothi), p. 312
Claude du Choiseul (1756), Nouvelle méthode sure, courte et facile pour le traitement de personnes attaqués par de la rage (Paris: H. L. Guerin & L. F. Delatour).
Bartholom ä us Zeigenbalg was born in Pulsnitz in Lusatia (Saxony) on June 24, 1683; he studied at Halle and was ordained as a missionary. He left Copenhagen in a ship that sailed on November 29, 1705 and arrived at Tranquebar (after 222 days of voyage) on July 9, 1706. He worked in the Danish mission and died at Tranquebar on February 23, 1719 and was buried on February 24, 1719 in the New Jerusalem Church. Johan Ferdinand Fenger (1863), History of the Tranquebar Mission: Worked Out from Original Papers, trans. Emil Francke (Tranquebar: Evangelical Lutheran Mission Press), p. 312.
C. S. Mohanavelu (1993), German Tamilology: German Contributions to Tamil Language, Literature and Culture during the Period 1706–1945 (Madras: Saiva Siddhanta Pathippu Kazhagam), p. 123.
W. Caland (1926), Ziegenbalg Malabarische Heidenthum: Herausgegeben und mit Indices (Amsterdam: Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen).
William Germann (1880), “Ziegenbalg’s Bibliotheca Malabarica”, Missionsnachrichten der ostindischen missionsanstalt zu Halle, 32(3-4): 91.
Sarasvathi Mahal Library, Thanjavur, India, Tamil Medical Manuscripts, No. 14; S. Venkata Rajan, ed. (1980), Agathiyar Irrandayiram (Thanjavur: Don Bosco Press).
Benjamine Heyne (1814), Tracts: Historical and Statistical on India with Journals of Several Tour through Various Parts of the Peninsula also an Account of Sumatra in a Series of Letters (London: Black Parry), p. 126.
Whitelaw Ainslie (1813), Materia Medica of Hindoostan ... (Madras: Government Press).
Pratik Chakrabarti (2006), “Neither of Meate nor Drinke, but What the Doctor Alloweth: Medicine amidst War and Commerce in Eighteenth-Century Madras”, Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 80(1): 1–38.
Patrick Russell (1796), An Account of Indian Serpents Collected on the Coast of Coromandel; Containing Descriptions and Drawings of Each Species; Together with Experiments and Remarks on Their Several Poisons (London: W. Bulmer Shakespeare Press), pp. 76–77.
William Boag (1799), “On the Poison of Serpents”, Asiatic Researches Comprising History and Antiquities, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia, 6: 112–113.
T. Lauder Brunton and J. Fayrer (1873–74), “On the Nature and Physiological Action of the Poison of Naja Tripudians and Other Indian Venomous Snakes—Part II”, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 22: 132–133
Oliver Phelps Brown (1890), The Complete Herbalist; or, the People Their Own Physicians ... (London: W. Bulmer Shakespeare Press), p. 455.
James Lind (1768, 1792), An Essay on the Disease Incidental to Europeans in Hot Climates, 1st ed., 5th ed. (London: J. Murray), pp. 7–8
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2016 S. Jeyaseela Stephen
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stephen, S.J. (2016). The Circulation of Medical Knowledge through Tamil Manuscripts in Early Modern Paris, Halle, Copenhagen, and London. In: Winterbottom, A., Tesfaye, F. (eds) Histories of Medicine and Healing in the Indian Ocean World. Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137567574_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137567574_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-56267-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-56757-4
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)