A mango filled with unique aroma and taste and introduced by a missionary

In the world of mangoes, Pathiri is to Mayiladuthurai (or Mayavaram) what Alphonso is to Maharasthra. Alphonso is named after Afonso de Albuquerque, the viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515 CE. Jesuit missionaries, who first began grafting mango plants in Goa between 1550 and 1575 CE, also introduced the Alphonso variety. Once confined to the western parts of India, the fruit is now cultivated nationwide.

William Dalrymple, the author of The White Mughals, writes about the correspondence between British officials Palmer and James Kirkpatrick. In it, Palmer offered to send him a selection of mango grafts for his orchards. The two were soon comparing notes on their favourite varieties, agreeing — sensibly enough — that the Alphonso was hard to beat.

Pathiri, on the other hand, remains unique to Mayiladuthurai and the surrounding areas. The name is short for Pathiriyar, the Tamil word for a Christian priest (Father). Rev. Ochs, a German missionary and pastor of the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC) Holy Immanuel Church in Mayiladuthurai, was the first to plant the sapling of this variety.

Hard to resist

While a fine variety of Alphonso remains beyond the reach of the common man, Pathiri, with its unique aroma and sweetness, floods the markets of Mayiladuthurai and neighbouring areas during the season. The green-yellow skin and red-yellow pulp are hard to resist. Like the Kathali banana, the sugar content of the fruit is concentrated as the skin of the fruit shrinks. People prefer the fruit with shrunken skin, as they make a hole and suck the pulp as if they were drinking juice from a bottle through a straw.

There is an apocryphal story about the propagation of the Pathiri mango. Rev. Ochs, who came to Mayiladuthurai in 1845 for missionary work and stayed there until 1857, is said to have found a mango seed floating in the waters of River Cauvery. He planted the seed. After a few years, it began yielding fruit. The unripe fruit was extremely sour, and Ochs was initially disappointed. However, when fully ripened, the fruit emitted a distinctive aroma and had a delightful taste. He distributed it to visitors to the church. People liked it and began calling it Pathiri, as it had been given to them by the Pathiriyar.

Though the original tree planted by Ochs died a few years ago, a few of its ‘descendants’, majestic in size, still stand in the garden of the Mayiladuthurai church. The last fruits of the season, some of them already tasted by squirrels and birds, still hang from the trees. Their yellow-red pulp offers a hint of the fruit’s flavour and taste.

“There were nine trees in the garden, including the first one planted by Rev. Ochs. But it died a few years ago. Its ‘offspring’ are still in the garden and bear fruit,” says A.J. Alphonse, the gardener.

Presented by a convert

An article published in the souvenir of the TELC says a sapling of Pathiri was given to Rev. Ochs by Gnanachiriyam, a Christian convert who was in charge of the Saraswathi Mahal Library in Thanjavur. He was instrumental in populating the garden of the church with various trees. “It was he who presented Ochs with a grafted sapling of a mango tree. Ochs, known for his green fingers, paid special attention to growing the mango plant. As the tree bore fruit with extraordinary taste and aroma, it became popular amongst the locals. They named it Pathiri,” says the article. The entire garden is still known as Pathiri Thottam. It was so popular that people in Mayiladuthurai planted at least one sapling in the vacant space around their homes. The aroma is overpowering, and the fruit easily attracts the attention of customers in the market. “It will announce its presence by its aroma. People buy it and send it to their relatives in the country and abroad,” says Thulasiraman, a fruit vendor in Mayiladuthurai.

The original tree, which lived for 125 years, was cut down in 1982 after losing its branches and starting to decay. But saplings grafted from the tree have spread to many parts of Tamil Nadu.

‘Grafting is vital’

R. Venkatraman, Deputy Director of the Horticulture Department, Thanjavur, says that while a new plant can be grown from the seeds of the Pathiri tree, there is no guarantee that it will possess all the characteristics of the original plant and fruit. “The best way to ensure the original characteristics and quality is grafting. The upper part of the sapling should be grafted with a branch from the original tree.”