Volume-XII, Issue-III, May 2026 |
উদ্যানচর্চার চর্চার ইতিহাসে শ্রীরামপুর: প্রাকৃতিক ধর্মতত্ত্ব, দেবানুগত সংগ্রাহক গোষ্ঠী ও পাশ্চাত্য বিজ্ঞানের ভারতীয়করণ আকাশ ভট্টাচার্য্য, গবেষক, ইতিহাস বিভাগ, বিশ্বভারতী, শান্তিনিকেতন, পশ্চিমবঙ্গ, ভারত |
Received: 14.05.2026 | Accepted: 19.05.2026 | Published Online: 31.05.2026 | Page No: 21-31 | ||||
DOI: 10.29032/ijhsss.vol.12.issue.03W.319 | |||||||
Serampore in the History of Horticultural Practice: Natural Theology, Devout Collector Communities, and the Indianization of Western Science Akash Bhattacharjee, Research Scholar, Department of History, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India | ||
ABSTRACT | ||
This article explores the early nineteenth-century horticultural history of Serampore, focusing on the botanical endeavours of William Carey and the Baptist Mission. Unlike the rigid, institutionalized imperial botany of the era, Carey established a five-bigha botanical garden driven by an informal network of devout collectors, friends, and family spread across the globe. For Carey, the expansion of Western science was deeply intertwined with Protestant Christian theology and was viewed as essential for the upliftment of the local population. Through an early application of "liberation theology," he sought to alleviate the poverty of Indian peasant farmers by introducing improved agricultural productivity, often blaming the Zamindar class for their agricultural misery. A central theme of Carey’s work was the "Indianization" of Western science. To make scientific knowledge accessible and culturally legitimate, the Serampore missionaries created a mixed knowledge system. They translated botanical texts into Bengali, utilized both Western and local medicinal plant knowledge, and even incorporated traditional Indian agricultural practices from texts like the Agni Purana. Furthermore, the article highlights the indispensable role of indigenous gardeners (malis), such as the chief gardener Haldhar, who mastered the Latin nomenclature of plants and drove the local popularization of horticulture. Ultimately, Carey's botanical pursuits transcended mere imperial or economic interests; they were fundamentally rooted in a religious commitment to local development and a genuine quest for knowledge, profoundly shaping Serampore's ecological and social landscape. | ||
Keywords: William Carey, Serampore Mission, Horticultural History, Indianization of Science, Colonial Botany |