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ELEUSINE CORACANA GAERTN. Wft-~M The Palaeobotanist, 26 (1): 10-15, 1979. FURTHER CONTRIBUTION ON PROTOHISTORIC RAGI• ELEUSINE CORACANA GAERTN. R. SAVITHRI & VISHNU-MITTRE Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow-226 007, India ABSTRACT The paper describes comparative morphology of Neolithic and Harappan carbo• nized grains identified as Efeusine coracana and of modern Ragi. The morphological details not described earlier are found to be similar in both, thus supporting the identi• fication of carbonized grains to Efeusine coracana Key-words - Ragi, Carbonized grains, Protohistoric (India). ,rml(T \3ITW-~Tfu'fi wft-~m;; ~;;T i\;t~;;o~ ~ aTt~ at~;;·-~fu mfuft ~ fcrsur flrvr ~~ WTtT-'l(:f if f;p;jTfupl'fl 1:(<[ q:-.:un 'I1T<'IT;;'liT.r;;T~ ~T 'fiT, fil";;'liT >;rh'Rm<:ur ~~m;; ~T'fir;;T ~ f'!>!ITlfllT ~, (f~m'im 00 '*T ~lT'fi ~ 'fol"'fUr;; ~ I <;1;lTif m'liTfm m<:ur, "fT ~(f: w.rfUf(f ~, tf11H 'TTi'tlTi't ~, f;m~ <0:;; 'fiR;fl"'!i(f ~T ifi il"~~m;;onTWtHT ~ >;rf'lrRtTT<:ur'*T ~lS<:Tq:T(fT~ I INTRODUCTION at our disposal by the Archaeological Survey of India, and from locus xA 4, 2d. 1, layer 5, depth 1·6 m, dated to 1660 B.C., THEnizeddiscoveryplant remainsof Ragiat Hallur,in the Karna•carbo• TF-1307, consists of lumps of carbonized taka (Vishnu-Mittre, 1971) and dated grains most of which belong to wild herba• to about * 1800 B.C. has been an important ceous plants. Amongst them were retrieved addition to ancient plant economy of India. some which are identified as of Ragi. This record known from India has been We have also re-examined carboniz~d of world interest particu.larly for its anti• Ragi grains from Hatlur described and quityand being the first most ancient world figured earlier by one of us (Vishnu-Mittre, record and more especially in regard to its 1971). A comparative study of the spikelets postulated origin in the African continent and grains of modern Ragi has also been (Mehra, 1963a, b; Hutchinson, 1965) where• carried out to enable identification of carbo• from the archaeobotanical records are of nized grains. The results of entire study later date. are presented in this paper. The singular record of ancient Ragi The carb::mized lumps were found stored referred to above is now duplicated by the in earthenpots belonging to the white painted discovery of its carbonized grains at the black and red ware referred to Period III Harappan site Surkotada near Adesar in and dated from 1790 B.C. to 1660 B.c. Ku.tch (Map I). The material kindly placed The Surkotada material is comparatively less charred than that of Hallur which owing *The material is discovered from the floor of a house in layer 9 trench I in the Neolithic levels, to excessive charring has become fragile. the base of which (layer 14, trench 1) is dated by radiocarbon to 3660± 105 (TF-580), i.e. 1710± 105 OBSERVATIONS B.C. The cerell Ragi is believed to have been cultivated and consumed in the entire Neolithic at this site until evidence contrary to it has been A grain in modern Ragi is surrounded diSCOVered. by a loose papery membrane (pericarp) lO SA VITHRI & VISHNU-MITTRE - CONTRIBUTION ON PROTO HISTORIC RAGf 11 o 8 14 .1& .0 0 JO 60 PO 120 _ ••.•. ,'-- ...•J MILliS I I I<l"\ 5. '_0 A IV /II o F K V MAP 1 - Showing the location of Surkotada in Kutch, and is lodged in a cavity formed by the shape and position of the hilum f,car are lemma and palea, and a spikelet contains also alike. The carbonized grains measure several grains each individually lodged in 1'20-1'60 mm in length and 0'80-1'20 mm such a cavity formed by the lemma and in breadth. The carbonized grains are palea. The grains are oblong to globose, indeed smaller in size than those of modern shrunken in some, often smooth-walled Ragi grains possibly due to the effect of when without the seed coat. The seed carbonisation. Most carbonized grains with coat bears minute loosely to densely distri• the seed coat reveal wide open scar with buted warts or wart-like or peg-like thicken• the projecting embryo, which may suggest ings. The hilum scar is distinctly and the bursting of the grains at the time of prominently present. The seeds measure carbonisation (PI. 1, figs 5, 6). The oblong 1·70-2'00 mm in length and 1'00-1·50 mm in grains as referred to by Vishnu-Mittre breadth. The membrane enclosing the grain (197 I, pp. 126,127) to Eleusine indica were is provided with fine finger-print like pattern. not discovered in the Hallur material (cf. The Surkotada carbonized grains have also Vishnu-Mittre, 1974, p. 80). They also been observed to possess a loose mem• are quite distinct in morphology and shape brane which in structural details is much (PI. 2, fig. 9). These morphological and the same as in modern Ragi (PI. 1, figs 3, 4; anatomical comparisons between modern PI. 2, fig. 8). The seed coat bearing tubercles grains are beyond doubt that the carbonized is remarkably alike in both (PI. 1, fig. I; grains belong to Eleusine coracana, the PI. 2, fig. 10). At the same time both the Ragi. 12 THE PALAEOBOTANIST CONCLUSION Ragi is the principal staple crop of the poor masses in states of Karnataka (Mysore) The discovery of Ragi from Kutch and Tamil Nadu (Madras) and elsewhere advances our knowledge hitherto known too, though the upper classes use it occa• from Karnataka only for its wider cultivation sionally but more regularly in the Karnataka in ancient India. Although, in south it State. Nearly 70 % of the Ragi area under were the Neolithic Mysoreans who had cultivation lies in States of Karnataka, subsisted upon it, yet in Kutch the Harap• Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra and more pans had consumed it. However, the C-]4 than one third of it only in the Karnataka dates at hand suggest contemporaneity of State. It is also grown in Andhra Pradesh, these two cultures. Both the records are in uplands of Bihar and also in the Sub• the first and the oldest in the world, and Himalayan tracts. One to three seasonal none so ancient has so far been found in crops are grown. Tn Karnataka and Tamil Africa, believed on cytogenetical grounds to Nadu, the crop is mostly fed by monsoons, be the centre of its origin (Vavilov, 1951; though irrigation during summer is necessary Darlington, 1943; Mehra, 1963a, b; Hutchin• in some areas in the Maharashtra State. son, 1974). Its wild progenitor Eleusine In Punjab it is sown in marshes. ajricana (tetraploid) (PI. 2, fig. 7) is pro• Apart from pure crop it is also grown fusely distributed as a weed in the fields mixed with other crops such as species of of Finger millet in Africa but not found Dolichos, Cajanus cajan, Vigna sinensis, in India. The Indian wild form is E. indica etc., and as a subsidiary crop to ground nut. which being diploid rules out its being the The finds from Karnataka are unassociated progenitor (Mehra, I963a). According to with any other crop though remains of Mehra (1963b) E. a/ricana arose through Dolicho.~ biflorus are obtained at other crossing of E. indica and related taxon depths at Hallur. At Surkotada the re• resulting in doubling of chromosomes. The mains are associated with seeds of Setaria African high laid coracana then arose from ilalica and several wild species in which it by selection and Afro-Asian coracana those of grasses and sedges abound. from it by selection for reduced length. The Presently, Ragi is used as flour for bread, seeds in both E. africana and E. indica are porridge, pudding, etc. and a fermented elliptical and those of E. coracana are drink is also prepared from the grains. oblong. Could selection alone bring about Possibly, Ragi in the past was used as food such a change in the shape of their seeds as well as for drinks: we have no positive remains to be understood? Its original evidence for either. home in Africa is apparently established and the Indian finds dated to about J800 ACK OWLEDGEMENTS B.C., the only most ancient world record, would suggest ancient Indo-African cultural We have pleasure in recording our grateful contacts which the archaeologists have not thanks to the Archaeological Survey ofIndia been able to bring out as yet. particularly to Shri J. P. Joshi presently E. indica is widely distributed today in Assistant Director General, Archaeological the tropical and warm temperate regions Survey of India, for placing the fascinat• of India. Whereas, the seeds of E. indica ing material from Surkotada at our dis• are gathered and eaten in times of scarcity. posal. REFERENCES DARUNGTO , C. D. (1943). Chromosome Botany MEHRA,K. L. (1962). Study of 35 herbarium speci• and the Origins of Cultivated Plants. (2nd. ed.). mens of African £Ieusine. J. Indian bot. Soc., London. 41: 531. HUTCHINSON,J. B. (1965). Essays in Crop Plan! MEHRA, K. L. (1963a). African origin of Eleusine Evolution. Cambridge Univ. Press, London. coracana "transported to India in pre-Aryan HUTCHINSON,SIR JOSEPH(1974). Crop plant evolu• times". Curl'. Sci., 32; 300-301. tion in the Indian subcontinent, pp. 151-152 in: MEHRA, K. L. (1963b). Differentiation of the Evolutionary Studies ill World Crops. Cambridge cultivated and wild £Ieusine species. Phy ton, Univ. Press, London. 20: 189-198. SAVITHRI & VISHNU-MITTRE - CONTRIBUTION ON PROTOHISTORIC RAG! 13 VAVILOW(1951). Origin, Variation, Immunity and Dharwar, India.
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