Mukund Mishra/Lucknow

Dussehri, the sweetest and the most flavorful of all varieties of mangoes that are grown on the soil of India was born out of an argument between a traveller and his host in the village by the same name, located close to Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh.

It was about 200 years ago that this mother tree of all the Dussehri trees grown in UP, was born; it still stands tall; though aged, bears copious fruits and is soon to be conferred the status of a heritage tree by the government of Uttar Pradesh.

The story of this tree’s birth is part of the living memory in Malihabad belt of UP. According to Insram Ali, president of Mango Growers Association, the legend has it that a Pathan, a resident of Khalispur village in Malihabad, was carrying the best variety of mangoes for sale to the mandi when he halted at Dussehri village for resting.

He stopped by the hut of a monk, and as it was the culture back then, the sadhu and the villagers made arrangements of food and water for him as he rested under a shady tree.

In return, Pathan gifted his host mangoes while boasting that he was giving him the most delicious of the fruits the flavour of which remains unmatched by any other mango variety.

Dussheri Mangoes

This led to a heated argument between the two and in the process, an angry Pathan threw one of his best ripe mango baskets on the ground that he had offered as a gift to the sadhu and left.  In the rainy season, the mango had germinated into a plant.

People took care of the plant and after about 12 years, it yielded fruit. The fruit of this tree was so delicious that people remembered the claims of the Pathan of his fruit being the best.

Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula, the owner of the land on which the tree was growing took care of the tree. His boss, the regional Nawab Mohammad Ansar Ali also showed interest in it and patronized the first Dussehri Tree.

This tree was used for propagating the variety and the fruit was given the name of the village where it was growing.

Today the mother Dussehri tree is about 10 meters tall and is spread over 21 square meters and its radius is three meters.

This heritage tree is owned by the descendants of Nawab Mohammad Ansar Ali. The fruit of this particular tree is sent to all the extended family of the Nawab.

Dussehri village is part of the Malihabad belt, known for its mango production. According to the locals of Malihabad,  Mirza Ghalib was fond of Dussehri mangoes. The famous Urdu poet once tasted it while he was travelling from Kolkata to Delhi and never forgot its taste.

Though the proposal has been floated long back, the Uttar Pradesh government is finally all set to declare this 200-year-old Dussehri tree a heritage tree. Not only this, a plan has also been prepared to beautify the Dussehri village of Kakori to woo the tourists.

Developing the village is part of government rural tourism promotion plans.

Padmashree Kalimulla Khan, who has grown 400 varieties from one single tree, says this Dussheri mango tree is behind his experiments. He has developed many varieties by cross-pollinating Dussehri with other varietiesand developed other popular varieties like Mallika, Langra, Amrapali.

Kalimullah has asked the government to declare this tree as a historical and heritage tree.