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Vanaspati: Plants and Plant-Life as in Indian Treatises and Traditions c5.s8: Section VIII. Plants and Evolution

Vanaspati: Plants and Plant-Life as in Indian Treatises and Traditions c5.s8

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Section VIII. Plants and Evolution

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The ancients in India believed that plants had preceded animals, particularly man in the scale of creation, a fact confirmed by the evidences of modern Geology.

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The first writer who gives a definite pronouncement upon the point is *Uddālaka*¹ who holds :

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¹ Chhāndogya Upanishad, Adhyāya I, Khaṇḍa I, 2.

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“The earth is the source (*rasa*) of all these elements (एषां भूतानाम्); water is the source of the earth; again the essence of water is embodied in plants (*aushadhayo*—of herbs), and man represents the essence of plants and so forth.”

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Next comes *Varuṇa*² according to whom the elements are five—Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. “Of these, in order of time Ether (*ākāśa*) springs from Brahman; Air from Ether; Fire from Air; Water from Fire; Earth from Water; herbs from Earth: food from herbs; seed from food; and man from seed”—such is the evolution from the Supreme Brahman to Man.

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² Taittirīya Upanishad, II, 1; Barua, IX, p. 145.

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Yājñavalkya¹ maintains the above view in more details. Thus :

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¹ Brihadāraṇyaka Upanishad, 4.6.1.

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“Earth is the source of this creation—movable and immovable, for it supplies them with the constituents of their body ; and water again is the root cause of earth for earth is begotten of water ; the essence of water is embodied in plants such as grasses, creepers and the rest, flowers represent the essence of plants, and the essence of flowers are fruits, such as paddy, wheat and the rest.”

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An astonishingly modern idea of Evolution occurs in the following dialogue of Buddha :

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“There come a time when the visible universe passes away, and consequently beings are reborn elsewhere in the nebular sphere. This is duly succeeded by a time when the world begins to develop anew. All is then water, and enveloped in darkness, a darkness that blinds. Those beings, falling from radiant worlds are reborn within the formed universe, made of consciousness, sustained by joy, floating in space, and shining in glory. The formed universe, the juicy earth (*rasa pathavi*) ‘emerges from the waters like a scum of milk or ghee, odorous and sweet.’ Having come in contact with it, feasting thereon, those beings become solidified, and lose thereby part of their luminance. Thus the Sun, the Moon and the Stars and Planets

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appear once more, and the natural seasons come into existence. Meanwhile the cooling process goes on. As the juicy earth gradually becomes hardened, it loses its flavour and sweet taste, but vegetation first of low, then higher grade evolves. Man descends at length from his heavenly ancestors—from the vital Sun or the reflective Moon."

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In this quotation ¹ we notice a distinct mention of the evolution of plants in themselves from the low to the higher grade.

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¹ Barua, History of the Pre-Buddhistic Indian Philosophy, XIV, pp. 217, 218

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Let us sum up the chapter with an interesting anecdote from the Rāmāyaṇa ² which very powerfully bears upon the precedence of plants to animals. The story is summarised below :

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² Rāmāyaṇa, Uttarākāṇḍa, Canto 72, pp. 1393-1395, Bangabāsī Edition.

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Once an owl and a vulture quarrelled over the possession of a nest in a certain tree each laying an equally emphatic claim to its ownership. Unable to settle the dispute themselves they preferred an appeal to Rāma. On being asked how long they had been there the vulture replied that he had been there since man began to inhabit the earth (मनुष्यैः परितोयदा). The owl replied that he had been there since the earth became decorated with plants (पादपै रूपशोभिता). In consultation with his ministers Rāma decided in favour of the owl on the score of the prior appearance of plants on earth.

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