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History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c24.s3.t2: (b) Seeds

History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c24.s3.t2

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English

(b) Seeds

v1.c24.s3.t2.1

Surapāla, in his Vṛkṣāyurveda, dealing with plants (pādapa) in general, including big trees (vanaspati), trees (druma), creepers (latā) and thickets (gulma), mentions three ways of planting them, namely, by seeds (bīja), scion of a plant (kāṇḍa) and bulbous root (kanda). It lists different groups of plants that grow from seeds and scions, from bulbous roots, and from both seeds and bulbous roots (verses 45-51).

v1.c24.s3.t2.2

Varāhamihira makes a special mention of the fact that certain trees grow from scion and not from seeds. The scions are plastered with mud. These trees are Panasa (bread-fruit tree), Aśoka, plantain, rose-apple, Lakuca, pomegranate, Drākṣā (vine), Pālīvata, Bījapūra (citron) and Atimuktaka. They are to be carefully planted by taking their stem or by digging them up from the roots (Bṛhatsaṃhitā, 54.4-5).

v1.c24.s3.t2.3

A passage in the *Milindapañho* (IV.6, 47; II, p.79) implies a clear appreciation that the knowledge about seeds has two main parts - the selection of good seeds and sowing them in a proper manner.

v1.c24.s3.t2.4

Through experience the cultivator had realised that all seeds do not germinate. According to a passage in the *Milindapañho* (IV.1.64; I,p.193), the failure of a seed to germinate is, to a great extent, due to defects. The similies based on infertile seeds imply a general awareness of the properties of a seed. The *Mahābhārata* (XII.320.33) refers to parched grains as seeds unfit to grow. The *pulākā* grains mentioned in the *Mahābhārata* (XII.181.7) are explained by Nīlakaṇṭha as those rendered incapable of growing due to the excessive underground heat. Another passage in the *Mahābhārata* mentions the fruitlessness of *saṇḍa-tilas* and *kākayavas* (II.77.13). According to Nīlakaṇṭha, *kākayavas* is a term for a seed separated from its outer skin and thus rendered unproductive.

v1.c24.s3.t2.5

The collection of seeds in the appropriate time (*yathākālam*) was of great importance for the success of cultivation. The *Arthaśāstra* mentiones it as the first duty of the Superintendent of Agriculture (*sītādhyakṣa*). He is required to collect in the proper seasons seeds of all kinds of grains, flowers, fruits, vegetables, bulbous roots, roots, creeper fruits, flax and cotton (II.24.1).

v1.c24.s3.t2.6

The *Kṛṣi-Parāśara* (verses 157-67) is more detailed and specific. It requires seeds to be collected either in Māgha or Phālguna. They are to be dried up thoroughly in the Sun. The chaff is to be removed. The seeds which are uniform to be collected. They are to be kept in a very tight packet and the grass that has come out is to be cut. The advice about the preservation of the seeds is mixed up with traditional notions about sacramental purity. Seeds are not to be kept on an ant-hill, in the cowshed, the place where a woman has delivered a child, or a house having barren women. They are not to come in contact with remnant food, a woman in menses, a barren woman, a pregnant woman, or a woman who has just delivered. Ghee, oil, butter-milk, lamp and salt are not to be kept on seeds. Seeds, kept in contact with a lamp, fire or smoke, or damaged by rain, or kept in pits or underground, are not to be used. Likewise, seeds, which are mixed up or are chaff or mixed with particles, become barren.

v1.c24.s3.t2.7

To increase the fertility of the seeds they were treated before sowing. According to the *Arthaśāstra* (II.24.24), seeds of grains are to be soaked in dew and dried in the heat for seven days; those of pulses for three days and nights or five; stalks that serve as seeds are to be smeared at the cut with honey, ghee and pig's fat mixed with cow-dung; bulbous roots to be smeared with honey and ghee; and stone-like seeds to be smeared with cow-dung.

v1.c24.s3.t2.8

The *Vṛkṣāyurveda* (verses 52-58) of Surāpāla deals with the treatment of seeds in some details. It requires the seed to be extracted from a fruit that has ripened in due season and dried. The seed is to be soaked (*niṣicya*) in milk. It is to be besmeared (*lipta*) with the ashes of Bṛhati and sesamum and ghee and is to be rubbed well (*parimardita*) in cowdung. Then it is to be dried in shade for five days. After it has dried, it is to be rubbed repeatedly in honey and the powder of Viḍaṅga or in the ashes of Bṛhati, sesamum and Nala mixed with mustard.

v1.c24.s3.t2.9

It is to be fumigated with the fumes (dhūpayet) of ghee mixed with Vidanga, or of fat. The treatment is specially recommended in the case of seeds of mango (Makanda), rose-apple (Jambu) and bread-fruit (Panasa)¹⁴.

v1.c24.s3.t2.10

Varāhamihira prescribes the method for treating seeds for increasing their fertility. For ten days daily the seeds are to be handled by hands smeared with ghee and soaked in milk. Then they are to be repeatedly rubbed with cowdung. They are to be fumigated with the fumes of the flesh of hog and deer and are to be sown mixed with meat and the fat of hog (Br̥hatsaṃhitā, 54. 19- 20). Tintidi and other seeds are to be sprinkled with combination (saktu)¹⁵ of powder of rice, Māṣa and sesamum mixed with putrid flesh and regularly fumigated with the fumes of turmeric (Ibid.21). Kapittha seeds are to be placed in milk which has cooled down after boiling in the eight roots (aṣṭamūli) consisting of Āsphoṭa, Dhātrī, Dhava and Vāsikā, Vetasavallī and Sūryavallī with leaves, Śyāmā and Syandanaka for tālaśata¹⁶ and then dried in the Sun. This process is to be repeated daily for a month (Ibid., 22-23). A fourth method is to sprinkle the seeds a hundred time with the paste made of the fruit of Aṅkola or the oil made of it from the fruit of Śleṣmātaka (Ibid.27). The shell of the seeds of Śleṣmātaka is to be removed and then treated with the lubricous fluid of Aṅkola and then dried in shade. This is to be repeated seven times. Then they are to be rubbed in the dung of buffalo and put in the dry dung of the same animal and then mixed with hail and soil (Ibid.,29-30).

v1.c24.s3.t2.11

The prescription about the treatment of seeds is not without some scientific basis. If the seeds are soaked in any solution, the decayed ones will float and can easily be detected and discarded. The application of cowdung, honey, butter, etc., would protect it from insects and diseases. The cowdung, being hygroscopic and containing potassium, nitrogen and phosphates and also microbes, is expected to help germination.

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