‘Neither disease, nor weakness’- Why did this mango name be ‘Langa’? Know the truth behind it

Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh (UP) is famous for mango cultivation across the country. This place is known as ‘Mango Belt’, from where thousands of tons of common are exported every year in the country and abroad. Saharanpur is known for its special common lame.

Let us tell you that the fragrance, taste and texture of the lame mango is so different that its demand is always in the whole country. One of the special features of this mango is that it remains green even after cooking, while the color of the other mangoes becomes yellow after ripening.

This mango is also known as ‘Banarasi Langa’. But have you ever wondered how this mango was named lame? It is said that the birthplace of this mango is Banaras (now Varanasi), from where it gradually spread to the rest of North India.

The story of this mango is considered to be around 250–300 years old, when a priest from Varanasi planted its first tree in his ashram, which later became history. The story of lame mango is very long, let’s tell you about it.

According to the story, a priest living in a temple in Banaras who was crippled with his feet, planted this mango tree and people called him a lame priest. When the children used to throw stones to break the mangoes from that tree, the lame priests drove them away with a stick.

For all these reasons, people started calling that tree ‘mango of lame’. When this story reached the king of that time, he asked for mangoes and was so impressed by taste that he named that mangoes lame mango forever.

The king made many new trees from that particular tree cuttings, so that its taste and aroma could reach generations and since then this mango spread throughout North India. Even today in Saharanpur