Eternal India Encyclopedia

LIFE SCIENCES IN ANCIENT INDIA

Eternal India

encyclopedia

Ancient Indians had a profound knowledge of the living world

around them and were second to none in pressing the biological en-

vironment to human service. Many Western historians of biology

like Nordenskiold, Bodenheimer etc however have very little to say

about the contributions of ancient Indians to biology. This is largely

due to the lack of knowledge of Sanskrit which is the chief reposi-

tory of ancient Indian wisdom. As the following paragraphs will

show there is enormous evidence (literary, archaeological, folklore,

sculptural etc) to indicate that the biological knowledge of ancient

Indians compares more than favourably with that of contemporary

Western civilizations.

PLANT SCIENCE

Ayurveda

, the celebrated ancient Indian medical science, had

reached very exacting standards as early as the first century B.C.

The fact that

Ayurveda

very heavily depends on the vegetable

kingdom for its medicinal sources is a clear indicator to show that

ancient Indians must have had a thorough understanding of the flora

from the point of view of their growth, cultivation, identification,

classification, chemical properties etc.

The ancient Indian name for botany is

Vrkshayurveda.

The fact

that plant science in ancient India had developed as a separate sci-

entific discipline can be proved by the observation of Vatsyayana,

the author of

Kamasutra,

who regards

Vrkshayurveda

as one of the

64 branches of knowledge. The codification of botanical knowledge

scattered in various Sanskrit texts perhaps started a little earlier to

the beginning of the Christian era. As the legend goes, Parasara

who is hailed as the father of Indian botany, was requested by the

sages assembled in the

Chitraratha

forest (during the course of a

scientific symposium) to let them know details of plant science.

Upon their request Parasara codified all the available botanical

knowledge in the form of

Vrkshayurveda.

Unfortunately, the full

text of Parasara’s

Vrkshayurveda

is not extant, while a few ex-

cerpts have been published here and there. A historian of Indian

botany therefore has to collate information available as scattered

references in the entire gamut of Sanskrit literature.

Information on plants is available in (i) religious or ritualistic

literature (ii) lay literature and (iii)technical literature. The reli-

gious literature includes

Vedas, Upanishads, Aranyakas, Braha-

maws,

Epics etc; the lay literature includes — prose, poetry, drama

etc., while the technical literature which is purely secular in content

includes medicinal literature and

Vrkshayurveda

texts. A few of

the

Vrkshayurveda

texts are available in Oriental libraries in India

and abroad.

Archaeological excavations have revealed the evidences of cul-

tivation of many cereals like wheat, barley etc. in ancient India

pointing to their antiquity.

Rig Veda, the earliest ever written record, has numerous refer-

ences to plants. Banyan (

Nyagrodha

), Peepal (

Aswatha

) are men-

tioned, besides

Soma

plant with its hallucinogenic properties. The

Atharva Veda

classifies trees into various types such as

Vishaka

(spreading branches),

Manjari

(leaves in long clusters),

hambhini

(bushy),

Prastanavati

(expanding type),

Amshumati

(many culms) etc. The

Vajasneyi Samhita

and

Taittereya Samhita

identify the various parts of the plant as follows -

Mula

(root),

Tula

(Shoot),

Kanda

(Stem),

Valsa

(twig),

Puspa

(flower) etc.

The epic

Mahabharata

has certain verses in Santiparva which

speak of the sensory perceptions of plants.

Absorption of food materials including water from the soil, their

movement in the plant upwards and the preparation of food is also

mentioned in the Santiparva of Mahabharata. The term

Padapa

(that which sucks from its base) for trees is an indication of water

absorption from soil. The phenomenon of ascent of sap through

transpiration pull is also clearly illustrated in a verse which states -

just as water may be drawn up by sucking through the lotus petiole

applied to the mouth, (

Vaktrenotpalanalena yathordham jalama-

dadeth),

so also plants absorb water with the help of air (

Tatha

pavana samyuktaha, padai pibathi padapaha).

The water with the

food materials combines with

Agni

(energy of Sun) and

Marutha

(air-C0

) in the plant and help it to grow.

Secular texts like

Arthasastra

of Kautilya,

Brihat Samhita

Varahamihira and

Amarakosha

of Amara Simha have numerous

references to plants.

The

Arthasastra

of Kautilya (4 Cent. B.C.) is in the form of

advice to the prospective king who should know everything about

the statecraft. Methods of sowing, planting and economic uses of

plants have been given in detail.

The

Brihat Samhita

(5 Cent. A.D.) is an encyclopaedic work

having a chapter on

Vrkshayurveda.

Varahamihira, the author,

gives methods of vegetative propagation, details of transplanta-

tion, use of green manure etc. Of greater interest in this chapter is

an account of plant disease and their treatment. Plant diseases are

classified into four types

Pandupatrata

(Chlorosis),

Pravala

Avridhi

(falling off of buds),

Sakhasosha

(Drying of branches)

Rasasruti

(gummosis). Application of cow dung, ghee, extract of

many medicinal herbs is prescribed as treatment for the plant

diseases.

Ancient Concepts, Sciences & Systems