Louis Cardon
Father Louis Cardon (25 December 1857 – 11 February 1946) was a Belgian Jesuit missionary who worked among the Chota Nagpur tribes in current day Jharkand in India. He studied the local culture, collected plants and insects and contributed illustrations to the Encyclopaedia Mundarica. The beetle species Cicindela cardoni and Adoretus cardoni are among the many named in his honour.
Life and work
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Cardon was born in Néchin,[1] Maurage (Hainaut) and entered the Society of Jesus on 25 October 1876. He was sent to India as part of a Belgian mission along with Constant Lievens and reached India on 25 November 1884. He was involved in the establishment of the Biru Mission and extended its activities to Gangpur. He worked at Tetara, Torpa, Barway (=Barwe), Rengarih and several other places. He also travelled around the country including to the northeast of India (Kurseong) and collected plants (particularly orchids[2]) and insects in these areas and sent them to collectors in Europe, some sold for money.[3][4] Several new species were described based on these specimens including the tiger beetle Cicindela cardoni which was named his honour by the French entomologist Edmond Jean-Baptiste Fleutiaux. Numerous other species were also named after him including Octocryptus cardoni, Verania cardoni, Sumnius cardoni, Harpalus cardoni, Anegleis cardoni, Orectochilus cardoni, Cybister cardoni, Lebia cardoni, Merista cardoni, Anagylmma cardoni, Symmorphocerus cardoni, Aulis cardoni, Caelophora cardoni, Pallodes cardoni, Stenelmis cardoni, Symmophocerus cardoni and Idgia cardoni. He collaborated with Father Jan-Baptist Hoffmann on producing the Encyclopaedia Mundarica for which he contributed illustrations. He also studied the culture of the Munda people,[5] recording plant foods used during famines and assisted Walter Ruben in his study of the Asurs in 1939.[6] He died at Samtoli, Samdega.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ Missions Belges de la Compagnie de Jésus. Bruxelles. 1913. p. 12.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Mooney, H.F. (1944). "A list of plants recorded from the pats of Ranchi and Palamau Districts and the states of Jashpur and Surguja". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal. Science. 10: 59–116.
- ^ Duvivier, Ant. (1891). "Les phytophages du Chota-Nagpore". Annales de la Société entomologique de Belgique. 35: xxiv–li.
- ^ Bates, H. W. (1891). "List of the Carabidae (Ord. Coleoptera) obtained by pere Cardon in Chota-Nagpore". Annales de la Societe Entomologique de Belgique, Comptes-Rendus des Seances. 35: 324–340.
- ^ Roy, S.C.; Roy, R.C. (1937). The Kharias. Ranchi: Man in India.
- ^ Ruben, Walter (1939). Eisenschmiede und Dämonen in lndien. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
- ^ Tete, Peter (1991). "Louis Cardon, S.J. (1857-1946): The Founder of the Biru Mission". To Chotanagpur with Land and Service. Ranchi: Catholic Press Ranchi. pp. 65–77.