Johann Martin Honigberger (10 March 1795 – 18 December 1869) was an
Imperial Austrian physician and traveller. He travelled through Asia to India and wrote a book on his experiences in the east. A novel based on his life, written by
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religiou ...
in 1940, ''
The Secret of Dr. Honigberger'', became popular.
Early life
Honigberger was born to a
Transylvanian Saxon
The Transylvanian Saxons (german: Siebenbürger Sachsen; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjer Såksen''; ro, Sași ardeleni, sași transilvăneni/transilvani; hu, Erdélyi szászok) are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania ...
family in
Kronstadt
Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for " crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city ...
which was then part of the
Principality of Transylvania. After training in
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...
, Honigberger travelled to
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
in 1815 and over the following two years he travelled throughout the
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
,
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...
and
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
as a government physician.
Whilst in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
he learnt of the exploits of four European generals,
Jean-François Allard,
Paolo Avitabile
General Paolo Crescenzo Martino Avitabile (25 October 1791 – 28 March 1850), also known as Abu Tabela ( hnd, ), was an Italian soldier, mercenary and adventurer. A peasant's son born in Agerola, in the province of Napoli near Sorrento (in so ...
,
Claude Auguste Court
Claude Auguste Court (24 September 1793 – 21 January 1880) was a French soldier and mercenary.
He was hired by Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab in 1827 to organize and train the artillery. He was promoted to the rank of general, and served a ...
and
Jean-Baptiste Ventura
Jean-Baptiste (Giovanni Battista) Ventura, born Rubino (25 May 1794 – 3 April 1858), was an Italian soldier, mercenary in India, general in Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Sarkar-i-Khalsa, and early archaeologist of the Punjab region of the Sikh Empi ...
who had thrived in the service of
Maharajah Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He s ...
.
On being told of the need for medical personnel in the army Ranjit Singh was preparing, he obtained a reference letter and set out for
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...
.
Punjab
In 1829 he arrived in
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...
which was then the capital of the
Sikh Empire
The Sikh Empire was a state originating in the Indian subcontinent, formed under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who established an empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahor ...
. He would remain in the Punjab for the next twenty years save for an interlude in Europe. During his time in the Punjab, he was fondly known as 'Martin Sahib'. In Lahore, he initially treated
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
soldiers before he was able to attract the attention of the Ranjit Singh who made him a court physician.
In 1834 he returned to Europe, following the road across the
Sulaiman Range
The Sulaiman Mountains, also known as Kōh-e Sulaymān ( Balochi/Urdu/ fa, ; "Mountains of Solomon") or Da Kasē Ghrūna ( ps, د كسې غرونه; "Mountains of Kasi"), are a north–south extension of the southern Hindu Kush mountain system i ...
from the Indus into
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. He was robbed at
Bamyan
Bamyan or Bamyan Valley (); ( prs, بامیان) also spelled Bamiyan or Bamian is the capital of Bamyan Province in central Afghanistan. Its population of approximately 70,000 people makes it the largest city in Hazarajat. Bamyan is at an al ...
, north of
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
, but eventually made it through
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
to reach Europe once more. Between 1836 and 1838 he practiced medicine in Constantinople, experimenting with homoeopathic remedies.
In 1838 he returned to Lahore at the request of Ranjit Singh.
[Sigalea, Robert (2003) Johann-Martin Honigberger: Medecin et Aventurier de l’Asie. Paris] Despite winning the favour of Ranjit Singh, Honigberger held an unflattering opinion of the Maharaja, describing him as of very low stature. Ranjit Singh offered him command of an artillery battalion, but Honigberger refused on want of not being a soldier, eventually however he accepted an appointment as superintendent of the royal gunpowder factory.
He kept an account of his time in the Punjab, and noted that quarantine was frequently used in the management of plague in Punjab.
In 1839 Honigberger was present at the funeral of Ranjit Singh, a ceremony he described as abominable, and of which he wrote a detailed account of the burning of four of his widows, and seven slave girls.
The following year he attended the funeral of
Kharak Singh
Kharak Singh (22 February 1801 – 5 November 1840) was the second Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. He was the eldest son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire and his consort, Maharani Datar Kaur. He succeeded his father on 27 June ...
, describing it as horrid yet remarkable, in which three of Kharak Singh's widows were burnt alive along with eleven slave girls.
Plants
Honigberger was a keen plant collector and whilst in the India he compiled a materia medica of his discoveries. He is credited with organising the first botanical collections in Afghanistan, undertaken on a journey in 1833.
Homeopathy
During his stay in Europe in the mid-1830s he met
Samuel Hahnemann
Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann (; 10 April 1755 – 2 July 1843) was a German physician, best known for creating the pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine called homeopathy.
Early life
Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann was ...
and was influenced by the idea of homeopathy. He became a student of homeopathy and is said to be responsible for its introduction to Asia, notably using homeopathic remedies to cure the Maharajah's paralysed vocal chords.
References
External links
Thirty-five years in the East. Adventures, discoveries, experiments, and historical sketches, relating to the Punjab and Cashmere
{{DEFAULTSORT:Honigberger, Johann
1795 births
1869 deaths
People from Brașov
Transylvanian Saxon people
19th-century Austrian physicians
Austrian expatriates in India