Itty Achudan

rdf:langString Itty Achudan

rdf:langString Itty Achudan

rdf:langString Itty Achudan

rdf:langString Circa 1640 AD

rdf:langString Ayurvedic physician, Botanical expert, incumbent "Kollat Vaidyan" during the period 1670–1700 AD

rdf:langString Itty Achudan (forename also spelt as Itty Achuden in English, and Itti Achudem in Latin), known to have lived during the second half of the 17th century, was a distinguished herbalist, belonging to an Ezhava family of physicians in Kerala who practised pre-Ayurvedic systems of traditional medicine. The Kollatt family are natives of Kadakkarappally, a coastal village, north-west of Cherthala town, in Kerala, South India. Itty Achudan was the most remarkable Indian figure associated with Hortus Malabaricus, the botanical treatise on the medicinal properties of flora in Malabar (present day Kerala), in the 17th-century. It was compiled by the Dutch Governor of Malabar, Hendrik van Rheede, and Itty Achudan was Van Rheede's key informant who disclosed the pre-Ayurvedic traditional knowledge about the plants of Malabar to him. Hortus Malabaricus was published posthumously in Amsterdam between 1678 and 1693. The preface to Hortus Malabaricus includes a mentioning about Itty Achudan and a testimony revealing his contribution in his own hand writing. Itty Achudan was introduced to Van Rheede by Veera Kerala Varma, the then ruler of the erstwhile state of Kochi.