io8 



Food-Grains of India. 



white or black, with or without a border ; they are generally ^Vth 

 inch in diameter, but variable in size as well as in form and colour. 

 Some of the above-cited synonyms may belong to A. caudatus, a 

 closely allied species. 



This plant is cultivated throughout India and Ceylon, and up 

 to 9,000 feet in the Himalaya. 



The three analyses given below were made upon samples of 

 seeds respectively identified with : A. irumentaceus (analysis A), 

 A. anardana (analysis B), and a third form of the exact character 

 of which some doubt exists (analysis C) ; analysis B is a recent 

 one of my own. 



Composition of Amarantus paniculatus (Seeds). 



The nutrient-ratio is i : 5*3, and the nutrient-value 90. 



The red amaranth grown by the Bodagars on the Nilgiris 

 and described as A. frumentaceus by Buchanan, is regarded by 

 Cleghorn as identical with the " bathu " of the North-West 

 Himalaya, which forms so remarkable a feature in the landscape 

 at Simla in October and November. Dr. Wight says that " it 

 is much cultivated on the slopes of the higher hills in several 

 districts of Southern India. In Coimbatore, Salem, and Madura, 

 I have frequently met with large fields of it, often on very steep 

 slopes ; in such situations it often grows upwards of 6 feet high. 

 The seed ground into meal forms the principal food of the wild 

 inhabitants of these hills." Probably this is the same plant as 

 " rajgi'rah," which, according to Colonel Sykes, is cultivated in 

 the Deccan. He says it is not a bread-grain, but is eaten by 

 those Hindus who keep the two fast days of each month. The 

 practice is to parch the seeds, to reduce them to meal, and to eat 

 this meal mixed with sugar. The seeds are sown during the 



