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The Mughal emperor Akbar is credited with planting the Lakhi Bagh, an orchard of about one lakh (100,000) mango trees near Darbhanga in Bihar. Mughal courts treated mango orchards as displays of sovereignty and taste, and their patronage helped collect, name and spread distinct varieties across north India.
Seeds of most prized Indian mango cultivars do not reproduce the parent's fruit, so a variety such as Alphonso or Dasheri survives only when growers graft cuttings onto rootstock. Every tree of a named variety is therefore a clone kept alive by continuous human work, which makes a cultivar as much a cultural artefact as a botanical one.
Particular mango varieties become badges of place, such as Alphonso for Ratnagiri, Dasheri for Malihabad and Himsagar for Bengal. Seen this way, arguments over which mango is best, geographical-indication tags and mangoes given as diplomatic gifts are contests over regional and national identity carried on through a fruit.
A mango ripens and rots within days of harvest, so growers cannot hold their crop back while they wait for a better price. That short window gives power to commission agents, contractors who buy orchard harvests in advance, and wholesale markets that control transport and timing. It also pushes the trade toward shortcuts like forced artificial ripening.