History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c24.s5.14

v1.c24.s5.14

There are some special manuring prescriptions for particular plants: for grapes (drākṣā) manuring the roots with the powdered ordure of cocks and nourishing with the broth of fish and meat (verse 122); for mango nourishing with the juice of ripe Ankola fruit, ghee, honey and the fat of a hog (verse 123); for palm and coconut trees (tṛṇapādapa) watering with the boiled juice of the flesh of a cow, hog, and porpoise and anointing with Śapharī fish and pounded sesamum (verse 124)34 ; for coconut (nārikela) plastering at night with the paste of maireya wine, Kinva (a drug causing fermentation), sesamum, bean, surasava35, mixed with honey (kṣaudra), salt and Viḍaṅga (verse 125) or watering with alkaline water mixed with barley powder or with sour barley gruel (tuṣajala); for pāṇyāmala36 nourishing with the soup (yūṣa) of beans (verse 125); for date tree (Kharjūrī), orange (kamalā = nāranga) and bread-fruit (lakuca) the juice of black mustard containing barley husk and oil-cake (Piṇyaka)³⁷ (verse 127); for pomegranate (Dāḍimī) nourishing with the flesh of a cat, blue jay, deer, elephant and hog, plenty of fat and buffalo milk (verse 128), applying lumps of flesh of jackal (pheru) mixed with flesh of domestic animals (paśu) and inundating with copious water in which sugar has been dissolved (verse 129), plastering with turmeric, ghee, śapharī fish and honey (kṣaudra) and fumigating with the powder of triphalā³⁸ mixed with ghee (verse 130), and nourishing with non-poisonous snakes (duṇḍubha) boiled in milk and the broth of śapharikā fish (verse 131)³⁹ for bread-fruit tree (panasa) watering with the decoction of three myrobalans and decorating with husk (palalāka) (verse 133); for Kola (berry) nourishing with water mixed with liquorice (yaṣṭimadhūka), sesamum and honey and irrigating at the root with corpse-water (kuṇapa) (verse 134); for Karkandhuka (jujube), bread-fruit (Lakuca), badarī (jujube), dhātrikā (Āmalaka) and Jambu (rose apple) trees anointing with ghee and plastering with plenty of barley mixed with paste of honey, Kṛśarā and Rodhra, fumigating with sesamum, honey and barley for twelve days and watering with diluted milk at the time of efflorescence (verse 135) and watering with an unstinted quantity of liquor (sidhu) (verse 136); for Bilva and Kapittha trees feeding with jaggery (guḍa), ghee, milk and honey (verse 137); for plantain trees (kadali) dressing of the roots with old straw, dry cowdung (karīṣa) and ashes and sprinkling with the washings of the flesh or kasa⁴⁰ (verse 138); for Tinduka tree watering with the soup of rice and beans, and for Paravata trees with the juice of the leaves of Nicula (verse 139); for Matulungi (citron) trees, nourishing with the solution of sesamum oil-cakes mixed with the decoction of milk, flesh, jhaṣa fish, cowdung, rice and Kiṇva (a drug causing fermentation) (verse 140); for Bījapūraka (citron) nourishing with the flesh or a jackal coated with jaggery; for orange (Nāgaraṅgaka or Nariṅgaka) feeding with broth of meat, jaggery (guḍa) and milk (verse 141), watering with the infusion of Viḍaṅga, beans, sesamum, mustard and Bilva mixed with flax (uma), flesh of hare (śaśakāṃsa) and milk, and fumigating with the unguent of the flesh of hare (verse 142); for Madhuka, fumigating with abundant lumps of flesh, mixed with a little (kalā) of the powder of Aṅkola bark and seasoned with the root (siphā) and leaves (dala) of Jālini⁴¹ (verse 143); and for Śyāmā, Kadamba and Karikesaraka (Nāgakesara), nourishing with sour gruel (sauvīra)⁴², whey (mastu), curd (dadhi), Kola (berry) and sesamum mixed with wine (sidhu), iṇḍi, alkaline ashes (kāca) and corpse- water (kuṇapa) (verse 144).