404 Sino-Iranica 



gathered, and either pounded and pressed or roasted and boiled, and 

 the oily fluid is collected. It is found to be unctuous and not inferior to 

 olive-oil for burning in lamps, save that it emits a disagreeable odor. 

 Seeds of Ricinus are known from Egyptian tombs, and the plant is still 

 cultivated in Egypt. Pliny 1 states that it is not so long ago that the 

 plant was introduced into Italy. A. de Candolle 2 traces its home to 

 tropical Africa, and I agree with this view. Moreover, I hold that it was 

 transplanted from Egypt to India, although, of course, we have no 

 documentary proof to this effect. Ricinus does not belong to the plants 

 which were equally known to the Iranians and Indo-Aryans. It is not 

 mentioned in the Vedas or in the Laws of Manu. 3 The first datable 

 references to it occur in the Bower Manuscript, where its oil and root 

 are pointed out under the names eranda, gandharva, rubugaka, and 

 vaksana. Other names are ruvu, ruvuka, or ruvilka, citraka, gandharva- 

 hastaka, vyaghrapuccha (" tiger 's-tail"). The word eranda has become 

 known to the Chinese in the form i-lan & Hi, 4 and was adopted into the 

 language of Kuca (Tokharian B) in the form hiranda. 5 From India 

 the plant seems to have spread to the Archipelago and Indo-China 

 (Malayan, Sunda, and Javanese jarak; Khmer lohon; Annamese du du 

 tran, kai-dua, or kai-du-du-tia; Cam tamnon, lahaun, lahon). 6 The 

 Miao and the Lo-lo appear to be familiar with the plant: the former 

 call it zrwa-fio; 7 the latter, l K e-tu-ma (that is, "fruit for the poisoning 

 of dogs"). 8 



In Iran the cultivation of Ricinus has assumed great importance, 

 but no document informs us as to the time of its transplantation. It 

 may be admitted, however, that it was well known there prior to our 

 era. 9 The Persian name is bedanjir, pandu, punde, or pendu; in Arabic 

 it is xarva or xirva. 



a 



\ 



1 xv, 7, § 25. 



2 Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 422. 



3 Joret, Plantes dans l'antiquit6, Vol. II, p. 270. 

 * Fan yi tnin yi tsi, section 24. 



5 S. Levi, Journal asiatique, 191 1, II, p. 123. 



6 On the cultivation in Indo-China, see Perrot and Hurrier, Mat. m£d. et 

 pharmacop^e sino-annamites, p. 107. Regarding the Archipelago, see A. de Can- 

 dolle, op. tit., p. 422; W. Marsden, History of Sumatra, p. 92; J. Crawfurd, 

 History of the Indian Archipelago, Vol. I, p. 382. The plant is reported wild from 

 Sumatra and the Philippines, but the common Malayan name jarak hints at an 

 historical distribution. 



7 F. M. Savina, Dictionnaire miao-tseu-francais, pp. 205, 235. 



8 P. Vial, Dictionnaire francais-lolo, p. 290. Also the Arabs used Ricinus as a 

 dog-poison (Leclerc, Traits des simples, Vol. II, p. 20). 



9 Joret, op. tit., p. 72. 



