History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c24.s4.19

v1.c24.s4.19

The Kṛṣi-Parāśara advises the performance of the rite of planting a reed (nalaropaṇa) in a paddy field (verses 198-205). It was performed so that all the paddy plants, tender, young and old, the largest and the smallest, the diseased and the healthy, be of uniform growth and yield abundant produces. Thus, the rite was intended to remove the diseases of the plants, including the pests that afflicted them. On the Kārttika-Saṅkrānti day a nala, along with leaves, was planted on the north-east corner of the field with a prescribed incantation, and the nala and the paddy plants were to be worshipped with suitable offerings. The rite is taken to be similar to the practice, prevalent in Bengal, of fixing poles of various designs, in order to scare away mischievous birds and beasts (Majumdar and Banerji, Introd.p.XVI). This shows that, in place of pesticides, the cultivators resorted to magico-religious rites.