History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c24.s4.21

v1.c24.s4.21

The only reference to the use of pesticides in Sanskrit literature, which we have been able to trace, occurs in the Kāśyapīya-Kṛṣisūkti29. Here also, it is to be noted, there is no advice to the application of the pesticide to rice, pulses, grains, and other crops. It is in connection with the cultivation of vegetables that the pesticide is recommended. The text says that if vermins etc. are eating the leaves of the vegetables etc. or egg plant (vārtāka), small cucumber (paṭolikā), vallī, śavaka, pumpkin gourd (kūṣmaṇḍa), kalata (?), surana, śākuta (?), turmeric (haridrā) and ginger (ārdraka), the bla tes are to be systematically sprinkled with ash-dust and lime-water to remove the damage caused by vermins. It can be surmised that the cultivator used these pesticides in the case of grains and other crops as well. Though the text seems to be a medieval work, we may not be wrong in suggesting that this traditional knowledge of rudimentary pesticides went back to ancient times.