FLAX AND LIN 





Ataii versus 

 K$uma. 



LINUM 



USITATISSIMUM 



Keuma Fibre. 



\Vhilo the classic records of India certainly do make mention of 

 umd, kaumd, etc., etc., no account, cither of the oil-seed or of the fibre, 



such a.s to remove all pns>ilile doubt that linseed and flax were undoubtedly 

 .1, hut it . an l>e said that greater eertainty pre\ails regarding the Oil 

 the tiln-e. In the IttHtitntiH ni Mann (hk. ii., 41) we road that the garments 

 students should (-.insist of skins a-lmve and of fabrics of hemp, flax (kaumd) 



wool below. So again (bk. v., \'2 1), a man who knows the law is likened 

 purili.-d linen cloth (kaumd). Lastly a I'.rahmin, if he he eompelled to make 

 s living as a trader (bk. x., 87), must n.it sell d\.-d eloth or garment* of hemp, 

 (lav (l-.ii////ii) and wool. Thus there would seem no doubt that the word kaumd 

 of fr.'.jueut oceurreiiee, and that it denoted a fibre which was purified (bleached, 

 tilit loss). Kalidasa speaks of the white colour of the cloth. But whether 

 mally denoted linen or silk, or rhea, or r//*-/i. or some such fibre, 

 necessarily limm, seems a doubtful question. Most commentators have, 

 accepted the name kaumd as linen, and often with an atmosphere of 

 such a-sunmee as to convey the impression that there was no doubt, and could 

 he no doubt, as to its determination. But if that view be correct it is, to say 

 the least nf it, curious that to-day the only use of the plant, known to the people 



India, is as a source of Unseed and linseed oil, not of fibre (kautnd) or garments Linseed oil. 

 the same. In fact, it is the all but universal belief that the linseed plant will 

 t yield fibre of sufficient merit to repay the expense of its separation and 

 itieation. Are we to suppose, then, that since classic times a complete revo- 

 ion has in India taken place, and that cultivation as a source of oil-seed is 

 parutively modern a consequence possibly of the Muhammadan conquests of 

 ia, if not of European commerce ? Or is the other explanation more accepfc- 

 ie, namely that the passages above indicated refer to an entirely different plant 

 ibly cotton) or denote experience obtained and opinions held prior to the 

 asion of India, and, therefore, prior to any knowledge of the plant as a source 

 oil ? Mr. F. W. Thomas (Librarian to the India Office) draws my attention to 

 fact that in Suaruta (800 B.C.) atasi oil is spoken of as having a slight smell 

 flesh ; of its being used like that of hemp and sesamum for poultices ; and of 

 its being pungent, light, penetrating and laxative. These are characters that 

 would seem to denote linseed, so that the atasi of Sanskrit authors stands a better 

 ce of having been linseed than the umd or kaumd of being flax. Dutt 

 at. Med. Hind., 1900, 292) simply gives, in an appendix to his work, the name 

 as the Sanskrit of i.inmn ; masina, its Bengali; and tisi, its Hindustani; 

 so that it may be inferred to have been a drug, in the opinion of the Sanskrit 

 authors, that was unworthy of special consideration. 



The oil is occasionally mentioned, however, in the Ain-i-Akbari and in a 

 'ew other such publications, but on the other hand all the early European travel- 

 in India whose evidence is generally regarded as of value historically, are 

 ularly silent regarding both Unseed and flax. Rheede, Rumphius and 

 ann make no mention of any species of lAnnut. The East India Com- 

 y's Records, as published by Birdwood and Foster (First Letter Book, 

 to 1619), the subsequent six volumes of Letters Received by The East 

 to Company, as also the still more recent work, The English Factories in 

 \ia, 1618-21, prepared by Foster, do not contain any references to linseed 

 or flax. .Mil burn (Or. Comm., 1813), who deals with all the articles traded 

 in between England and the East Indies, China and Japan of that date, makes 

 not the slightest allusion to linseed or flax, though he deals with sesamum 

 castor and other oils and oil-seeds as exported from India. Next to nothing 

 a historic character can, therefore, be recorded of the early production 

 trade in Unseed. The only point at all conclusive is that the Muham- 

 niadans seem more closely connected with the origin of the traffic than the 

 Hindus. 



Buchanan-Hamilton (Stat. Ace. Dinaj. (written subsequent to 1807), 174) Buchanan- 

 enu i iterates " Flax or Linseed, mosina " among his agricultural crops of Bengal, Hamilton's 

 hut makes no observations regarding it. Neither in his Journey through Mysore, 

 Ifc., lS07 r nor in his Account of the Kingdom oj Nepal (1819) does he refer to 

 either flax or linseed. Ainslie (1826) says there was then a good deal of flax 

 being cultivated in Upper India, especially in Bengal, for making oil ; he then 

 adds, " of late years it has also become an object in the lower provinces." 

 Carey (As. Res., 1808, x., 15) was apparently one of the first authors who wrote Carey's 

 definitely regarding Indian linseed. He says that the oil is mixed with mustard Account, 

 to such an extent that it is " unfit " for painting or the other useful purposes 



721 46 



Linseed 

 Oil. 



Not mentioned 

 by E.I.O. 



