On a quiet June morning in Vechale village in Maharashtra, because the wind rustles via rows of mango bushes, one department stands out—curved gently beneath the burden of a fruit virtually forgotten. It’s not the famed Alphonso or the juicy Kesar.
It’s rarer, older, and named after a person who helped form Mumbai centuries in the past. That is the story of the Cawasji Patel mango, and the farmer who’s making an attempt to carry it again.
On the Deshmukh household’s farm, stands a raiwal mango tree not like some other. This indigenous sentinel bears grafts of 5 distinct mango varieties—a residing mosaic of flavour and legacy. However this graft, specifically, tells a story that reaches far past the orchard.
Commercial
This mango tree, rising quietly in a rural farm, connects to the busy Cawasji Patel Avenue in Fort and the outdated CP Tank—each named after a person who helped construct town of Mumbai.
The tank, as soon as positioned close to Girgaon, between Grant Street and Marine Traces, was an outdated water reservoir that equipped ingesting water to South Mumbai a few years in the past.
Cawasji Patel funded the development of the water tank to handle town’s ingesting water shortages, resulting in the realm being named after him. The tank, now defunct, is traditionally essential as a part of Mumbai’s early water infrastructure.
Patel’s legacy is tied to public infrastructure philanthropy. The Gazetteer of Bombay Metropolis and Island (1909) notes Patel’s contribution to the water challenge.
Again then, as Bombay grew, a mango was named after him—a tribute from a metropolis that remembered its patrons in candy, lasting methods.
Grown in Patel’s orchards within the neighbourhood of Powai Lake, it later unfold to orchards arising in Thane and Pune. The Powai property had one lakh mango bushes unfold over 1334 acres.
Commercial
The mango rising right here was in style among the many British because the “Bombay Mango”. In 1833-34, it was dearer than Ratnagiri’s mango. On Could 18, 1838, a basket of this well-known Bombay Mango was despatched to Queen Victoria of England.
Inexperienced fruit with white pulp: What made this mago distinctive
The fruit was usually harvested inexperienced with white pulp, making it distinctive amongst mangoes. It was fibreless, which made it a wonderful alternative for cooking, particularly for making jams and jellies—a high quality appreciated by each Europeans and the Parsee group.
Right here in Vechale, Cawasji Patel lives once more—not in stone or brass, however within the flesh of a mango, candy with reminiscence and dripping with reverence.
Immediately, the variability is taken into account obscure and uncommon in Indian markets as it’s overshadowed by commercially profitable varieties just like the Alphonso, Kesar, Dasehri, and their likes.
The Cawasji (or Kawasji) Patel mango quietly pale from view—and from collective reminiscence.
Three years in the past, Chinmay Damle, a analysis scientist and meals fanatic, famous that specimens from Pune’s Ganeshkhind Botanical Gardens had as soon as been dispatched overseas and stood tall in numerous farms and gardens throughout Europe and the US.
Commercial
Whereas he neglected the truth that the variability nonetheless exists in some Indian orchards, he did make clear the failed efforts to export it throughout an period predating refrigeration.
57-year-old Deshmukh is the one custodian of this forgotten selection. “12 years in the past, I used to be gifted a scion of Cowasji Patil, which I grafted on a raiwal (indigenous) mango tree. This June, I received 50 items of this selection, every mango weighed 1003 grams. However individuals hardly ever purchase it because it’s not like Hapus or Kesar, not candy sufficient for our palate. However excellent for diabetics,” Deshmukh says.
Cawasji Patel: one of many few mangoes named after individuals
Curiously, out of the 1,500 mango varieties present in India, just a few are named after individuals. Cawasji Patel shares this uncommon honour with a choose few.
There’s Amrapali, named after the legendary dancer and courtesan from historical Vaishali; Alphonso, which pays tribute to a Portuguese common from the 18th century; and Kesar, as soon as often known as Salebhai’s Ambdi, renamed by Nawab Mahabat Khan III in 1934.
One other well-known selection is Chausa—not named after an individual, however after a spot and a historic occasion. In 1539, after defeating the Mughal emperor Humayun in Chausa, Bihar, Sher Shah Suri renamed his favorite mango—initially referred to as Ghazipuria—as Chausa.
From orchards to archives: The Cawasji Patel mango in international analysis collections
Springer’s “The Mango Genome” does point out the Cawasji (Cowasji) Patel mango selection and contains a picture of the fruit, too. The guide particularly notes that “hybrids had been developed from the cross Cowasji Patel × Pairi, with three hybrids remoted from 153 crosses.
Commercial
The Agricultural Analysis Service (ARS) of the USA Division of Agriculture’s (USDA) Nationwide Germplasm Repository in Miami, Florida, contains the Cawasji Patel mango in its assortment of over 300 mango sorts. Whereas itemizing well-known varieties from Western India like Alphonso, Pairi, and Fernandin, creator Sanjana Venu additionally highlights Cawasji Patel as an essential one.
Although the Cawasji Patel mango is not present in most orchards throughout Maharashtra and Gujarat, it’s nonetheless preserved as germplasm in a number of essential analysis centres.
These embrace the Fruit Analysis Station (FRS) in Vengurla, the College of Agricultural Sciences in Dharwad (which homes 67 different mango varieties), Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth in Ahilyanagar, and the Laldhori Botanical Backyard close to the Girnar mountains, managed by Junagadh Agricultural College.
Laldhori’s residing library of mango range
“The Cawasji mango tree at Laldhori is round 80 years outdated—a uncommon and regionally vital selection cultivated primarily for conservation and genetic range,” shares Dr Dharmendra Mehta, Professor and Head of the Division of Genetics and Plant Breeding at Junagadh Agricultural College.
Situated in Gujarat’s Bhavnath foothills, the Laldhori Botanical Backyard is dwelling to over 1,000 species—from sandalwood and teak to fragrant herbs like clove, cardamom, and cinnamon. Amongst these, the backyard additionally holds a germplasm assortment that includes dozens of lesser-known mango varieties, together with the elusive Cawasji Patel mango.
“These mangoes aren’t extensively commercialised or bought in markets,” provides Dr Dharmendra. “However they maintain great worth for analysis, genetic conservation, and preserving our horticultural heritage.”
Commercial
Each June, Junagadh Agricultural College hosts its Mango Pageant, a celebration of India’s mango biodiversity. It was at one such competition that Sumeet Samsudin Jhariya, an Indian Agricultural Analysis Institute (IARI) Revolutionary Farmer awardee from Junagadh’s Bhalchel village, first got here throughout the Cawasji Patel selection.
“I noticed it amongst greater than 150 varieties displayed,” he recollects. “I’ve over 200 mango varieties rising on my farm, and I wished a sapling—however I couldn’t get one. I nonetheless hold a photograph of it saved on my telephone.”
The variability that guidelines Gujarati kitchens
As soon as a family identify in Gujarati houses, the Cawasji Patel mango was cherished for its giant measurement, small seed, and candy pulp, particularly for making pickles, murabba, and chhundo. However as high-yielding business varieties like Totapuri and Rajapuri gained dominance, farmers moved away from cultivating this heritage mango—resulting in its quiet disappearance.
“Now, individuals don’t even know they’ve misplaced one thing particular,” displays Dr Dharmendra.
Whether or not or not the Cawasji Patel is actually unmatched is a matter for debate—however its conservation, and that of different forgotten varieties, is essential.
“Preserving the germplasm—the genetic materials—of conventional mango varieties is vital to biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, and meals safety,” explains Dr Anant Morade, fruit scientist on the Nationwide Institute of Abiotic Stress Administration (NIASM) in Baramati, Maharashtra.
A mango that’s related to festivals, folks and household traditions
“These mangoes aren’t simply crops. Many are tied to native festivals, folks drugs, and household traditions,” he says. “Conserving them means safeguarding cultural reminiscence. And it should transcend labs—we’d like on-farm conservation and robust community-driven efforts.”
One mannequin of such grassroots preservation is present in Malihabad, Uttar Pradesh, the place the Society for Conservation of Mango Range (SCMD) has made vital progress.
Their farmers’ catalogues doc greater than 3,500 mango varieties, holding alive each biodiversity and group knowledge. Based on Dr Shailendra Rajan, Director of the Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture in Lucknow, 34 of those have been submitted for official recognition beneath India’s Safety of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA).
Thus far, over 10,000 grafts of non-commercial mangoes have been propagated—together with forgotten gems like Gilas, Fakira, Taimuria, and Ramkela—now making a comeback in area of interest markets and fetching higher costs for farmers.
And Deshmukh, who stumbled upon the Cawasji Patel mango whereas nurturing his orchard in Maharashtra, sums it up greatest: “Now that I’ve found one thing actually distinctive in my mango assortment—one thing nobody else has—I intend to propagate it. Not each motion stems from business acquire; typically, you do it purely out of affection.”
