History of saffron cultivation
No one knows how saffron arrived in South Asia. Traditional Kashmiri and Chinese accounts date its arrival anywhere between 900–2500 years ago. Meanwhile, historians studying ancient Persian records date the arrival to sometime prior to 500 BC, attributing it to either Persian transplantation of saffron corms to stock new gardens and parks or to a Persian invasion and colonization of Kashmir. Phoenicians then marketed Kashmiri saffron as a dye and a treatment for melancholy. From there, saffron use in foods and dyes spread throughout South Asia. For example, Buddhist monks in India adopted saffron-coloured robes after the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama's death. However, the robes were not dyed with costly saffron but turmeric, a less expensive dye, or jackfruit.