(Saurav Pathak) writes:

> Lewis Perin ) wrote on 21 Mar 2005 11:05:34 -0500:
> + (Saurav Pathak) writes:
>
> + > Lewis Perin ) wrote on 05 Feb 2005 11:31:00 -0500:
> + > + Gactimus > writes:
> + >
> + > + > [...theft...]
> + > + >
> + > + > Tea for example, was stolen from India during the height of British
> + > + > colonialism. And let's not forget the Opium Wars, where the British Empire
> + > + > simply took over the opium trade in the far East. The first drug lords.
> + >
> + > + Not exactly. Tea was stolen by the British, who brought it to India
> + > + so they could grow it there and wouldn't have to pay the Chinese
> + > + monopoly prices for it. (Not that the Brits necessarily objected to
> + > + *charging* monopoly prices.)
> + >
> + > do you have a reference for this?
>
> + As for the bringing of tea cultivation to India by the British in the
> + 19 century, Eric Jorgensen has already posted a source. There are
> + many others, including James Norwood Pratt's _New Tea Lover's
> + Treasury_.
>
> yes, but some of the accounts are inaccurate. it was the local nobleman,
> maniram dewan, who led bruce to tea, which is generally glossed over in
> british accounts, because the dewan was an enterprising man, and had set
> up his own tea estates. the british placed sedition charges on him and
> had him hanged.

No matter how villanous the Brits were toward Dewan and the rest of
the population of India, the reason tea was being looked into in the
Subcontinent in the 19th century was Britain's desire to stop paying
the Chinese for it.

> + > as far as i am aware, the chinese variety is different from the
> + > assam variety which is native to that place.
> + > http://www.tocklai.org/about_tea/tea_class.htm
>
> + True, but the fact that the Assam strain grew wild doesn't change the
> + fact that tea *cultivation*, not to mention tea drinking, originated
> + in China. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that some anthropologist
> + has found some use of tea in the ethnobotany of Assam hill tribes, but
> + you aren't going to find a mention of tea in e.g. the Vedas.
>
> no one is claiming that they are mentioned in vedas.

Please forgive my whimsy, or sarcasm, or whatever it was. I'll be
more explicit now: as far as I know, you won't find tea mentioned in
Indian literature before the 19th century, because tea was simply
unknown to mainline Indian culture.

> + > the chinese variety does not survive in india.
>
> + It sure does in Darjeeling.
>
> yes, but in assam, it does not. the assams are grown very close
> to sea level. the chinese plant does not do well in this situation.
> you need to make that distinction.

Granted.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html