History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c24.s5.5

v1.c24.s5.5

The Kṛṣi-Parāśara is the only text which records the method of preparing manure out of cowdung (verses 107-9). It says: in the month of Māgha (January - February) a dung heap is raised with the help of a spade. When it is dried in the sun, smaller balls are made out of it. In the month of Phālguna (February-March) these dried balls of dung are placed into holes dug for the purpose in the fields, and at the time of sowing they are scattered in the field’. Apparently the author of the text cannot be expected to have identified the component elements of the cowdung manure, but, possibly, he was aware of its fertilising properties and also appreciated the way in which they could be preserved and increased. Gangopadhyaya (pp. 58-59) analyses this method of preparing the dung manure and shows that the practice of not disturbing dung-heap means the minimisation of the loss of nitrogen, the chief fertilising element, that of drying dung into balls results in reducing active ammonia which may be injurious to the plants, while that of placing the dung balls in pits increases humus that contributes to the fertility of the soil.