A creation of Nawabi passion for the king of fruits

Kurnool: The Nawabs of Banaganapalle in Kurnool district have been fond of fruits especially mangoes. They are known for their passion towards planting and grafting fruit plants. Going into the history, one of the Nawabs’ ancestors used to specially get saplings from all over the country and overseas including Turkey. He used to graft them and grow them personally. He had the habit of naming the plants. Malguba, Chekarapara and Neelalu are some varieties that have been named by him.

It happened that he had forgotten to name a grafted plant that gave the sweetest mangoes he ever ate. That particular variety remained with no name for a few years. Later, the variety came to be called as Banginapalli which was the earlier name for Banaganapalle. According to the descendents, he grew 5,000 plants and named the plantation Kousar Bagh 180 years ago. He used to gift the fruits to his relatives and friends living at various places. His descendents are still following the tradition. But, as the time passed only 400 of the 5,000 plants are alive now.

Chekarapara is a variety which is of the size of a lemon. Abdul Musan, a gardener in the plantation says the fruit is sweeter than sugar. The Nawab family members enjoy the fruits of this variety by preserving them for the whole year by soaking them in honey. The mangoes are expensive as they have the 180-year long history. They have a lot of demand despite the high price.

The present generation of Nawabs who reside in Hyderabad are keen on protecting their inherited property. They are firm on not allowing outsiders into their plantation. They even cancelled the lease of the person who tried to take the advantage and took action legally. It is a routine that the present generation Nawabs visit the plantation four to five times a year.

By D Hari Kishan