“Summer season in India is the season of luscious and juiciest fruits,” jotted down Lord Cornwallis in his diary in 1803 when he was in Bihar. He wrote at length on mangoes, pineapple, litchis, among others. But the fruit he simply loved was litchi. Unlike mango (Mangifera Indica), pineapple and litchis came from outside.
Pineapple came from Portugal and litchi reached India by the end of 17th century (but this is fiercely disputed as old records at Patna University Archive and Shanghai Heritage Library indicate that it came to India more than 2200 years ago along with silk). It came from South China and is called Litchi Chinensis (family: Sapindaceae). India ranks second in the world next to China in litchi production. Litchi could originally be a Chinese fruit, it tastes the best and juiciest (esp. the pinkish-red Shahi variety) when it comes from the sprawling orchards of Muzaffarpur (Bihar).
By the way, Bihar leads the country in litchi production. Apart from Muzaffarpur, the fruit is also cultivated in East Champaran, Madhubani and Begusarai districts. There are very interesting histories and apocryphal anecdotes as to how it came to India millennia ago. Litchi is China's national fruit and it has existed there for more than 4000 years! In fact, litchi is the world's oldest documented fruit.
In old Cantonese, litchi is considered as a sacred fruit with an emblematic essence and connotation. Confucius used litchi as a metaphor for human nature. The red, grainy peel (the Chinese litchis are crimson red from outside) of the fruit is equated with the external appearance of humans. When it's removed, the white pulp comes out which is the sign of unadulterated and unvarnished essence of the human soul.
The juiciness of litchi is the joie de vivre or elan vital of human existence. Its perfect brown seed is the gut (Chinese believe that gut is of deep brown colour). The pulpiness is a symbol of soft inner core. Its saccharine sweetness is the basic sweet nature of every individual (wish it were true!). That's why, it's still a belief among Chinese people according to Feng Shui to plant a litchi tree at home to invite good luck or at least keep a replica of a half-peeled litchi. Litchi is seen as a lucky charm or mascot in China.
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In Chinese mythology and folklore, litchi is a hermaphrodite fruit because there's a perfect juxtaposition of Yin (feminine energy) andYang (masculine energy) in it (known as Uinchong in Mandarin). Litchi is profusely used in Chinese traditional medicines and its syrup is an antidote to chronic ailments like asthma and arthritis. This has been vindicated by modern medical science as well and Ayurveda of ancient India called it 'Parishrutam falam’' (a medically proven fruit). Ayurveda doctors still prescribe a spoonful of litchi juice at night to ward off excessive snoring and chronic constipation.
It is interesting to note that wherever Chinese monks, scholars and students went in olden times to acquire knowledge, they carried the seeds of litchi and planted the trees. That’s the reason, Bihar's Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga (because of Nalanda and Vikramshila Universities being there), Pakistan's Taxilla (actually Takshshila, now in Punjab Province of Pakistan) and Dhannyakatak (near Ujjain in Central India) still have litchi trees.
All these Buddhist universities of ancient India had Chinese students and scholars like Fahiyan, Hiuen Tsang, Hue Koizen, to name but a few. There were old Buddhist monasteries in today's Dehradun and Dharamsala where Chinese students studied Indian scriptures. Dehradun is yet another place in India famous for its juicy litchis. When Shimla was the summer capital of Brits in India, the sweetest and juiciest litchis from Dehradun were served to the English Viceroys and Governors.
Lord Curzon, infamous for dividing Bengal, was nuts about litchis of Dehradun and wrote to his mother that because of mangoes and litchis, he didn't feel like leaving India. But he had to leave. The last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, who happened to be a poet in addition to being an emperor (a weird combination indeed!), loved litchis more than mangoes and musk melons (originally brought to India from Central Asia by Zahiruddin Babar).
He even wrote an ode to litchi: Tahseen-e-zaqeer (In praise of zaqeer, Persian word for litchi)-Ras se sarabor, zaika bemisaal/ Kya tahseen zaqeer ki, hai ye samar kamaal (Brimful with juice, taste unparalleled/ Words are inadequate to describe litchi, this fruit is simply peerless; samar: fruit in Persian). Litchi indeed is peerless. Alas, so pricey in many parts of India. But then, most good things come with an exorbitant price tag, don't they?
