Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Vanaspati: Plants and Plant-Life as in Indian Treatises and Traditions c6.t3: 1. Utility of Plants in the Growth of Hair

Vanaspati: Plants and Plant-Life as in Indian Treatises and Traditions c6.t3

Language
English

1. Utility of Plants in the Growth of Hair

c6.t3.1

Over and above the branches dealt with in previous sections of the paper, the verses of Atharva Veda contain a variety of uses to which plants used to be put. We place this under the head "Miscellaneous uses of plants." One of these topics is "the growth of hair." It is the outstanding merit of medical science in India that even in its infancy it took a due note of the vital relation of the body and the soul as also of the vital importance of considering its æsthetic aspects, and hence cosmatic consideration plays a part therein. Some hymns of the Atharva Veda mention plants used for contributing to the preservation, growth, development and nicety of hairs. The following extracts will give us an idea of the thing.

c6.t3.2

"O thou of great leaves, blessed one, rain-increased, righteous! as a mother to her sons, be thou gracious to the hair, O Śamī." (VI. 30.3.) (Prosopis spicigera and Mimosa suma).

c6.t3.3

“Fix thou the old ones, generate those unborn, and make longer those born.” (VI. 136.2.)

c6.t3.4

“What hair of thine falls down, and what one is hewn off with its root, upon it I now pour with the all-healing plant.” (VI. 136.3.)

c6.t3.5

“Fix thou the root, stretch the end, make the middle stretch out, O herb; let the black hairs grow out of thy head like reeds,” (VI. 137.3.)

c6.t3.6

2. *Bk. X. 3. With an amulet of Varaṇa (Crataeva Roxburghii).*

c6.t3.7

This hymn of the Atharva Veda gives us the use of a plant employed for manifold purposes: the prevention of injury, atonement for hereditary sins, warding off foes, and the attainment of prosperity. The following quotations will amply bear us out:

c6.t3.8

“This Varaṇa is my rival-destroying, virile amulet; with it do thou take hold of thy foes, slaughter thy injurers.” 1.

c6.t3.9

“From the niggard, from perdition, from sorcery, also from fear, from the more violent deadly weapon of death, the Varaṇa shall shield thee.” 7.

c6.t3.10

“What sin my mother, what my father, and what my own brothers, what we ourselves have done, from that shall this divine forest-tree shield us.” 8.

c6.t3.11

“I bear this *Varaṇa* being long-lived, one of a hundred autumns; may it assign to me both kingdom and authority, to me cattle and force.”

c6.t3.12

3. *Bk. XIX. For various blessings with an amulet of Darbha (Poa cynosuroides).*

c6.t3.13

The hymns 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, give us the variety of uses to which *Darbha* could be put for the purpose of the prolongation of life, for protection, for warding off enemies and for a variety of material blessings. The plant *Darbha* seems to be identical with modern *Kāśa* and *Kuśa*—which is still used for sacrificial purposes.

c6.t3.14

4. *Bk. XIX. 31. For various blessings with an amulet of Udumbara (Ficus glomerata)*

c6.t3.15

This hymn contains the multiplicity of blessings that the plant *Udumbara* (Ficus glomerata) yields—the blessings of progeny, material prosperity, protection against enemy and lordship over men and other animals. The quotations below will illustrate our remark:

c6.t3.16

“Let me be the over-ruler of cattle; let the lord of prosperity assign to me prosperity; let the amulet of *Udumbara* confirm to me possessions,”

c6.t3.17

“Unto me the amulet of *Udumbara*, with both progeny and riches: the amulet quickened by Indra hath come to me together with splendour.”

c6.t3.18

The plants *Jangida* in hymns 34, 35; *Śatavāra* (*Asparagus recemosus*) in 36; and *Guggulu* (*Balsamodendron mukul*) in 38,—are mentioned as remedies against diseases and for protection against witchcraft and various other blessings.

c6.t3.19

DEVELOPMENT OF MEDICAL SCIENCE

c6.t3.20

Technically, the scientific treatise dealing with medical problems is the *Āyurveda* or the Science of life. From the statement in the *Charaka*, *Suśruta* and other medical treatises, it is clear beyond all possibility of doubt that there must have existed a monumental treatise of the name marking the intermediate period of transition between the Rig and Atharva Vedas on the one hand and the *Charaka* and *Suśruta* on the other. Without the hypothesis of the existence of such a work, a hypothesis which is very valid, the unbridgable gulf—a gulf of probably a thousand years or more according to Dr. P. C. Roy¹—separating the rudimentary science of Medicine painfully gleaned out of the Vedic texts and the fully developed and scientifically accurate works of Charaka and Suśruta cannot be explained. Some of the ancient authorities traced the origin of the lost work to the Atharva Veda and some to the Rig Veda, but the following statement occurring in the Charaka,¹ seems to be decisive on the point.

c6.t3.21

¹ "Where the humoral pathology is fully developed, the diagnosis and prognosis of diseases described at length, and elaborate mode of classification adopted."—Roy, History of Hindu Chemistry, Vol. I, p. viii (1902).

c6.t3.22

¹ Charaka I, Chap. XXX, 8 and 9.

c6.t3.23

"If anybody enquires from which of the four Vedas—Rik, Sāma, Yaju and Atharva, Āyurveda, i.e., the Veda of life emanates? What is life? Why the treatise is called the Science of life? Is it transient or permanent? What are the sub divisions of the Science of life, to whom it is open for study and why? A physician when thus interrogated, of all the four Vedas should mention the Atharva Veda emphatically as the Veda of life, i.e., should point out the Āyurveda as a part of the Atharva Veda for this reason that the Atharva Veda has prescribed treatment by gift, expiation, sacrifice, atonement and fast, as well as incantations, and has prescribed treatment solely as conducive to the welfare of life, etc."

c6.t3.24

"It is called the Āyurveda or the Science of life because it enables us to understand what Ayu or life is. If asked how it explains life, the answer is this:—it is called Āyurveda because it brings home to us the nat re of Ayu by characterisation, by happiness, by misery, by good and evil, and by positive and negative proofs."

c6.t3.25

The *Suśruta*¹ coming after Charaka precisely agrees with it in describing the same genesis of *Āyurveda*.

c6.t3.26

¹ *Suśruta* I. 1 3.

c6.t3.27

Those who hold to the Rig-Vedic² origin of the Science of life pointed out to the repeated mention of Rudra as the father of the Science of Medicine in the Rig Vedic texts (II. 7. 16). This view is echoed by later mythological literature, and the traditional association of Rudra with the healing science has been systematically maintained. Whatever that may be, the Atharvanic origin of the Science of life, the tracing of the genesis of the Charaka and *Suśruta* to the Atharva Veda seems to be warranted by facts. The divisions of the Science of Medicine as occurring in the Charaka and *Suśruta*³ are as follows :—

c6.t3.28

² “*Rigvedasyāurveda upaveda*”—*Caranavyuha* by Vyāsa. *Āyurveda Patrikā*—*Āyurveder mūltatwa*, 1319 B. S., Vol. I. *Cf.* also *Devīpurāṇam*, Chapter 107, p. 297, Bangabāsī edition.

c6.t3.29

³ Charaka I. XXX. 15; *Suśruta* I 2. 3.

c6.t3.30

(1) *Śalyatantra* (Major Surgery) ;

c6.t3.31

(2) *Śalakyatantra* (Minor ,, ) ;

c6.t3.32

(3) *Kāyachikitsā* (Medicine) ;

c6.t3.33

(4) *Bhutavidyā* (Demonology) ;

c6.t3.34

(5) *Kaumāravidyā* or the Science of Pædiatrics ;

c6.t3.35

(6) *Agadatantra* or Toxicology ;

c6.t3.36

(7) *Rasāyana* or the Science that treats of prolonging life; and

c6.t3.37

(8) *Vājīkaraṇatantra* or the Science of Aphrodisiacs, *i.e.*, treatment to stimulate the sexual power.

c6.t3.38

And these precisely correspond to the divisions of this science in its rudimentary stage as we have deduced in a previous section of this paper from the verses of the Atharva Veda.

c6.t3.39

The further story of the science of Medicine in India can be very briefly told. It is the story of monotony and stagnation—no development, no progress, no practical addition; rather, the spirit of enquiry, the desire of explanation, a hankering after the solution of each problem, the motive of searching analysis and scrutiny are all gone. In the Hindu Science of Medicine, Mythology with its vast array of gods and goddesses intrudes; and although the Science has been practised, and it is being practised still with wonderful efficacy, the progress has been arrested for good and all. The wonder of wonders is that the Indian Science of Medicine which was developed centuries before the modern Science of Medicine came into being, has stood so long the wear and tear of time, of revolutions and conquests and in all essentials is still as perfect as ‘the most developed European system to-day’ and, considered from the point of utility, it is peculiarly useful and efficacious to the people of the land of its origin. The glory of it is that it can still cope with any other system of medicine and the misfortune and shame of it is that it has not received adequate attention and has not consequently undergone any improvement.

c6.t3.40

BOTANY AND SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE

c6.t3.41

the Lacedaemonians, who had been waiting for the signal, now attacked the city. The Plataeans, seeing the enemy already inside and their own men falling, and knowing nothing of the plot, were seized with panic and, thinking that the Thebans were far more numerous than they really were, surrendered at discretion. But when they discovered that the Thebans were few, they took heart and, resolving to attack them, closed the gates and fell upon them.

c6.t3.42

The Thebans, finding themselves in a trap, began to defend themselves. Twice or thrice they repelled the attacks of the Plataeans, but when the women and slaves began to shout and throw tiles and stones from the houses, and a heavy rain began to fall, the Thebans, confused and blinded, broke and fled through the city. Most of them, not knowing the way in the darkness and rain, fell into the drains or were killed by the Plataeans, who knew the streets. The gate through which they had entered had been shut by a Plataean who had found a javelin-head and used it as a bolt, so that there was no way out. Pursued through the city, some climbed the wall and jumped down, most of them perishing; others reached the gate and, finding it shut, were cut down by the women and slaves. A small party, seeing a large building with an open door, rushed in, thinking it was a gate, and were captured.

c6.t3.43

Meanwhile, the main body of the Thebans, who were to have arrived at daybreak to support the first party, had been delayed by the rain and the swollen river Asopus. When they heard of the disaster, they hurried to the city, intending to seize any Plataeans who might be outside the walls. The Plataeans, suspecting their intention, sent a herald to them, warning them not to harm the prisoners they had taken, and threatening to kill them if they did not withdraw from their territory. The Thebans, upon this, retired.

c6.t3.44

The Plataeans, having thus cleared the city, collected their dead and the prisoners. The prisoners, numbering about one hundred and eighty, were executed the next day, despite a message from the Thebans claiming that they had surrendered on terms. The Plataeans denied this, asserting that they had promised to spare them only if they did not commit further acts of violence.

c6.t3.45

Thus ended the attempt of the Thebans upon Plataea, an event which was the immediate cause of the war between Athens and the Peloponnesians. The Plataeans, having secured their city, sent a messenger to Athens with the news, and the Athenians, fearing for the safety of the Plataeans, sent a garrison to their aid and removed the women and children to Athens.

c6.t3.46

The ancient Botanical Science and the ancient Science of Agriculture are so closely connected and interwoven with each other in Indian thought and practice, at any rate in the period of its infancy, that they cannot be well separated. In the present book we shall attempt a study of the historical development of the ancient Science of Agriculture with the object of incidentally illustrating the corresponding development of an aspect of the Botanical Science.

c6.t3.47

Agriculture requires the agency of three factors: the soil to be cultivated, the cultivator and the objects to be cultivated. All these three requisites are eternal and unchangeable in all ages and under all circumstances.

c6.t3.48

BEGINNINGS OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE

c6.t3.49

The earliest mention of Agriculture occurs in a hymn¹ of the Rigveda which definitely shows us that India was peculiarly fit for Agriculture which was then the staple industry of the country, the sole source of the supply of food and the universal occupation of the people. The northern India being very fortunate in supply of water owing to the existence of a net work of rivers, yielded crops with ease and in abundance; and the cream of the population, the highest section of the race, namely, the Brahmin *Rishis*, regarded agriculture as a holy and dignified occupation.

c6.t3.50

¹ Rigveda, IV. XII (LVII)—Wilson. Vol. III, pp. 224, 225 (1857).

c6.t3.51

The following hymn from the Rigveda shows that agriculture constituted a theme of inspired speculation:

c6.t3.52

“With the master of the field, our friend, we triumph: may he bestow upon us cattle, horse, nourishment, for by such (gifts) he makes us happy.” 1.

c6.t3.53

“Lord of the field, bestow upon us sweet, abundant (water), as the milch cow (yields her) milk, dropping like honey, bland as butter: may the lord of water make us happy.” 2.

c6.t3.54

“May the herbs (of the field) be sweet for us may the heavens, the waters, the firmament, be kind to us : let us, undeterred (by foes), have recourse to him.” 3.

c6.t3.55

“May the oxen (draw happily), the men (labour) happily ; the plough furrow happily ; may the traces bind happily ; wield the goad happily.” 4.

c6.t3.56

“*Suna* and *Sira* be pleased by this our praise, and consequently sprinkle this (earth) with the water which you have created in heaven.” 5.

c6.t3.57

“Auspicious *Sītā* (furrow) be present, we glorify thee : that thou mayest be propitious to us, that thou may yield us abundant fruit.” 6.

c6.t3.58

“May Indra take hold of *Sītā*, may Pushan guide her ; may she, well stored with water, yield it as milk, year after year.” 7.

c6.t3.59

“May the ploughshares break up our land happily ; may the ploughman go happily with the oxen ; may *Parjanya* (water the earth), with sweet showers happily : grant, *Suna* and *Sira*, prosperity to us.” 8.

c6.t3.60

This shows us very clearly that the Aryans by the time when the hymn was composed were settled in the fertile soil of North India and realised the vital importance of Agriculture as a staple and national industry for which they took a good deal of care and for which the Divine was invoked. They seem to acquire also a sound knowledge of the science as it exists to-day, and a nice handling of the instruments of Agriculture, such as plough, etc.

c6.t3.61

From another hymn¹ quoted below it will appear that they had recourse to artificial water supply when necessary, and, as in modern Europe, used to employ horses as well as cattle in agricultural operations.

c6.t3.62

¹ Rigveda, X. CI. (Wilson, Vol. VI, pp. 289-291 (1888).

c6.t3.63

“Awake, friends, being all agreed ; many in number, abiding in one dwelling, kindle Agni. I invoke you, Dadhikara, Agni, and the divine Ushas, who are associated with Indra, for our protection.” 1.

c6.t3.64

“Harness the ploughs, fit on the yokes, now that the womb of earth is ready sow the seed therein, and through our praise may there be abundant food; may (the grain) fall ripe towards the sickle.” 3.

c6.t3.65

“The wise (priests) harness the ploughs, they lay the yokes apart, firmly devoted through the desire of happiness.” 4.

c6.t3.66

“Set up the cattle-troughs, bind the straps to it; let us pour out (the water of) the well, which is full of water, fit to be poured out, and not easily exhausted.” 5.

c6.t3.67

“I pour out (the water of) the well, whose cattle-troughs are prepared, well fitted with straps, fit to be poured out, full of water, inexhaustible.” 6.

c6.t3.68

“Satisfy the horses, accomplish the good work (of ploughing), equip a car laden with good fortune, pour out (the water of) the well, having wooden cattle-troughs, having a stone rim, having a receptacle like armour, fit for the drinking of men.” 7.

c6.t3.69

“Construct the cow-stall, for that is the drinking-place of your leaders (the gods), fabricate armour, manifold and ample; make cities of iron and impregnable; let not the ladle leak, make it strong.” 8.

c6.t3.70

“The beast of burden pressed within the two wagon-poles, moves as if on the womb of sacrifice having two wives. Place the chariot in the wood, without digging store up the juice.” 11.

c6.t3.71

The following quotation¹ goes to show that lands used to be distributed among cultivators by measurement, a fact which is full of meaning. “Measure the land with a rod.”

c6.t3.72

¹ Rigveda, Vol. I, p. 56 (Wilson).

c6.t3.73

This noble pursuit was so well conducted and the agricultural products so plenty that hospitality came to be regarded as a holy duty religiously enjoined—an ideal which is upheld in India even to-day. The following quotations² powerfully bear on the following points :

c6.t3.74

² Rigveda, X, 117 (Wilson) ; Vol. VI, pp. 328, 329.

c6.t3.75

“The gods have not assigned hunger as (the cause of death), for deaths approach the man who has eaten ; the riches of one who gives do not diminish, he who gives not finds no consoler.” 1.

c6.t3.76

“He who, possessed of food, hardens his heart against the feeble man craving the nourishment, against the sufferer coming to him (for help), and pursues (his own enjoyment even) before him, that man finds no consoler.” 2.

c6.t3.77

“He is liberal who gives to the suppliant desiring food, wandering about distressed; to him there is an ample (recompense), and he contracts friendship with his adversaries.” 3.

c6.t3.78

“He is not a friend who gives not food to a friend, to an associate, to a companion; let him turn away from him, that is not a (fitting) dwelling; let him seek another more liberal lord.” 4.

c6.t3.79

“Let the very rich man satisfy his suitor, let him look forward to a more protracted route, for riches revolve from one man to another as the wheels of a chariot turn round.” 5.

c6.t3.80

“The inhospitable man acquires food in vain. I speak the truth—it verily is his death. He cherishes not Aryaman, nor a friend; he who eats alone is nothing but a sinner.” 6.

c6.t3.81

“The ploughshare furrowing (the field) provides food (for the ploughman)...(so) let the man who gives become a kinsman to the man who gives not.” 7.

c6.t3.82

The art of Agriculture as it can be gleaned from the verses of the Atharva Veda¹ is practically a reproduction of what we get in the Rik. Thus:

c6.t3.83

¹ All the hymns of the Atharva Veda referred to in this thesis are from Whitney (1905).

c6.t3.84

Hymn 17 : *For Successful Agriculture.*²

c6.t3.85

² Atharva Veda, Book III, p. 114.

c6.t3.86

This hymn begins by asking the poets to "harness the ploughs" and "to extend severally the yokes," and "scatter the seed in prepared womb," and so forth—a fact showing us unmistakably that poets in their fine frenzy of a joyous vision, and wise men in their meditative quest after truth, at least occasionally made time to hold the plough and to cultivate the land as a means of earning the livelihood—food without which no poetry, however excellent, and no philosophy, however grand, is possible. The picture of the art of cultivation as we get in this hymn does not differ a bit materially from the same art practised by the peasants in India to-day. There is the same mode of ploughing the land, preparing the womb of the earth, cutting the corn with the same sickles when they are ripe only with this distinction that the profession was then sanctified with a hallow of divinity.

c6.t3.87

Hymn 24 : *For Abundance of Grain.*³

c6.t3.88

³ Atharva Veda, Book III, p. 129.

c6.t3.89

The hymn is addressed to the god of plenty so that he might favour his worshippers with an abundance of grain.

c6.t3.90

The 5th verse supplemented by the 7th gives us an idea of the village life based on communal principle. It does not seem to be improbable that the villagers used a plot of land in common, where they used to graze their cattle, and cultivate the land, and sow and reap the corn collectively. The five races of men referred to may be the five bodies of men—namely, the ploughmen, the sower, the reaper, the gatherer and the bringer and the distributor. All these were engaged in the common work of cultivation in the most comprehensive sense of the word. The theory of the division of labour seems to have been understood, realised and thoroughly practised by the Ancients. At the very early stage of society a race of invading immigrants, just settled in groups in an unreclaimed land, could not do better than fall upon the method of organisation on communal basis—one headman with his band of followers, supervising, controlling and distributing the produce of the common land amongst his followers much after the fashion of a father in a family.

c6.t3.91

Reading the verses between the lines we can get a clear idea of the village construction with the "village common" in the centre surrounded by habitations on all sides, whence people used to come when necessary to carry on the work.

c6.t3.92

"These five directions that there (village) are, the five races (ploughman, etc.) descended from Manu—may they bring fatness (contribute to the production of abundant grain) together here, as streams drift when it has rained.” 5.

c6.t3.93

HYMN 15.¹

c6.t3.94

¹ Atharva Veda, Book IV, p. 172.

c6.t3.95

This hymn conveys a beautiful tribute to rain which is a vitally necessary agency in the luxurious development of herbs and plants. The connection between rain and the growth of corn is gratefully and poetically acknowledged. The condition of Agriculture in India is precisely the same now as it was in the days of the Atharva, and the following invocation of rain might well be put in the mouth of a devout peasant to-day:—“let the mighty liberal ones cause to behold together; let the juices of the waters attach themselves to the herbs; let gushes of rain gladden the earth, let herbs of all forms be born here and there; .....let the herbs become full of delight with the coming of the rainy season.”

c6.t3.96

HYMN 50.²

c6.t3.97

² „ „ „ VI, p. 317.

c6.t3.98

This hymn enumerates the animal enemies of corn and invokes the divine aid for their destruction. The locust, the rat, the devourers of corn, and the borers figuring in this hymn are precisely the animals that we meet to-day, After all, from verses like these it is clear that the agricultural condition of India, like other conditions, is not materially different from what existed in the days of old.

c6.t3.99

HYMN 142.¹

c6.t3.100

¹ Atharva Veda, Book VI, p. 387. ² „ „ „ VI, „ 325. ³ „ „ „ IV, „ 187.

c6.t3.101

This hymn distinctly shows that at one time barley happened to be the staple food of the Indians to the extent of being regarded as a fit object for invocation. And this hymn indicates a note of jubilation at the abundance of the growth of this corn.

c6.t3.102

HYMN 59²: *For Protection of Cattle.*

c6.t3.103

This hymn and the one following show how cattle used to be held as precious:

c6.t3.104

“To the draft-oxen [do thou] first, to the milch kine [do thou], O *Arundhatī* (the commentator identifies it with *Sahadevī*), to the non-milch cow, in order to vigour, to the four-footed creatures do thou yield protection.” 1.

c6.t3.105

HYMN 21³: *Praise of the Kine.*

c6.t3.106

“They shall not be lost; no thief shall harm (them); no hostile (person) shall dare attack their track: with whom he both sacrifices to the gods and gives, long verily with them does the kine-lord go in company.” 3.

c6.t3.107

“No dust-raising horseman reaches them; nor unto the slaughter-house do they go, etc.” 4.

c6.t3.108

“Rich in progeny, shining in good pasture, drinking clear waters at a good watering-place—let not the thief master you, nor the evil plotter; let Rudra’s weapon avoid you.” 7.

c6.t3.109

DEVELOPMENT DURING MAURYA PERIOD

c6.t3.110

By the 4th century B. C. the art of Agriculture received a consummate perfection. It became an important department¹ of the Government, a special officer, called the Superintendent of Agriculture, being appointed for the management and supervision of the important industry. This dignitary was to be a man of accurate and scientific knowledge of the subject, or "assisted by those who are trained in such sciences."

c6.t3.111

¹ Chapter XXIV, Sections 117, 118, pp. 138-143. (Dr. Shama Sastri's translation and edition, 1923.) For original Sanskrit text see Arthaśāstra of Kautilya edited by R. Shama Sastri, Mysore Oriental Library Publications—Sanskrit Series, No. 54, 1919, pp. 115-118.

c6.t3.112

The duty of the Superintendent was a very extensive one. He was to "collect the seeds of all kinds of grains, flowers, fruits, vegetables, bulbous roots, roots, creepers, fibre-producing plants, and cotton." He was to see that the cultivation of the crown land should suffer on no account and enforce laws governing the proper cultivation of the soil.

c6.t3.113

"The work of these men (slaves, labourers and prisoners) shall not suffer on account of any want in ploughs (karshanayantra) and other necessary instruments or of bullocks. Nor shall there be any delay in procuring to them the assistance of blacksmiths, carpenters, borers (medaka), rope-makers, as well as those who catch snakes and similar persons.

c6.t3.114

"Any loss due to the above persons shall be punished with a fine equal to the loss."

c6.t3.115

The meteorological observations conducted in connection with and in the interest of Agriculture over the whole of India seem to be simply marvellous for that age.

c6.t3.116

"The quantity of rain that falls in the country of Jāngala (in the desert countries—com.) is 16 droṇas; half as much more in moist countries (anūpānām); as to the countries which are fit for agriculture (deśavāpānām)—13½ droṇas in the country of Aśmakas (the countries of Maharashtra—com.); 23 droṇas in Avanti, and an immense quantity in Western countries (aparāntānām—the countries of Koṅkaṇa), the borders of the Himalayas, and the other countries where water channels are made use of in agriculture (kulyāvāpānām).

c6.t3.117

"When one-third of the requisite quantity of rain falls both during the commencement and closing months of the rainy season (months of Śrāvaṇa and Kārtika—com.) then the rainfall is (considered) very even (*sushamārūpam*).

c6.t3.118

“A forecast of such rainfall can be made by observing the position, motion and pregnancy (*garbhādhāna*) of Jupiter (Bṛhaspati), the rise, set and motion of Venus, and the natural and the unnatural aspect of the sun.

c6.t3.119

“From the sun, the sprouting of the seeds can be inferred; from (the position of) Jupiter, the formation of grains (*stambakaritā*) can be inferred and from the movement of Venus, rainfall can be inferred.

c6.t3.120

“Three are the clouds that continuously rain for seven days; eighty are they that pour minute drops; and sixty are they that appear with the sunshine—this is termed rainfall. Where rain free from wind and unmingled with sunshine falls so as to render three turns of ploughing possible, there the reaping of a good harvest is certain.

c6.t3.121

“Hence, *i.e.*, according as the rainfall is more or less, the Superintendent shall sow seeds which require either more or less water” (p. 139).

c6.t3.122

The Superintendent was also to see that seeds of crops are properly sown and reared in their proper seasons, in proper fields and under circumstances and conditions favourable to the growth. Thus:

c6.t3.123

“The Superintendent shall grow wet crops (*kedāra*), winter crops (*haimana*), or summer crops (graishmika) according to the supply of workmen and water.

c6.t3.124

“Lands that are beaten by foam (phenāghātaḥ, i.e., banks of rivers, etc.), are suitable for growing Vallīphala (pumpkin, gourd, and the like) ; lands that are frequently overflown by water (parivāhāntā) for long pepper, grapes (mṛdvikā), and sugarcane ; the vicinity of wells for vegetables and roots, low grounds (haraṇiparyantaḥ—moist beds of lakes—com.) for green crops ; and marginal furrows between any two rows of crops are suitable for the plantation of fragrant plants, medicinal herbs, khuskhus roots (uśīra), hira (?), beraka (?) and piṇḍāluka (lac) and the like.

c6.t3.125

“The seeds of grains are to be exposed to mist and heat (tuṣārāpāyaṇamuṣṇam cha) for seven nights ; the seeds of Kōsī (such as mudga and māsha, etc.—com.) are treated similarly for three nights; the seeds of sugarcane and the like (kaṇḍabījānām) are plastered at the cut end with the mixture of honey, clarified butter, the fat of hogs, and cowdung; the seeds of bulbous roots (kanda) with honey and clarified butter, cotton seeds (asthibīja) with cowdung; and water pits at the roots of trees are to be burnt and manured with the bones and dung of cows on proper occasions.

c6.t3.126

“The sprouts of seeds, when grown, are to be manured with a fresh haul of minute fishes and irrigated with the milk of *Snuhi* (Euphorbia antiquorum).

c6.t3.127

“*Śāli* (a kind of rice), *Vrīhi* (rice), *Kodrava* (Paspalum scrobiculatum), *Tila* (sesamum), *Priyaṅgu* (panic seeds), *Dāraka* (?) and *Varaka* (Phaseolus trilobus) are to be sown at the commencement (*pūrvāvāpaḥ*) of the rainy seasons. *Mudga* (Phaseolus mungo), *Māsha* (Ph. radiatus) and *Śaivya* (?) are to be sown in the middle of the season. *Kusumbha* (Safflower), *Masura* (Ervum hirsutum), *Kulattha* (Dolichos biflorus), *Yava* (Barley), *Godhūma* (wheat), *Kalāya* (Leguminous seeds), *Atasī* (linseed), and *Sarshapa* (mustard) are to be sown last.”¹

c6.t3.128

¹ All the quotations are from Dr. Shama Sastri's English edition, see supra, p. 198.

c6.t3.129

The Greek ambassador at the Court of Chandra Gupta—Megasthenes—a contemporary of the author of Arthaśāstra, pays² an eloquent tribute to the abundance of crops in India, to the fertility of the soil, to the absence of famine and the peculiar respect in which agriculture and the agriculturists were held. Even at the time of war the combatants used to leave the agriculturists undisturbed as a matter of duty.

c6.t3.130

² Fragments of Indika of Megasthenes, Bonn 1846. (Dr. E. A Schwanbeck.)

c6.t3.131

Thus he says in :

c6.t3.132

FRAGMENT I

c6.t3.133

“ India has many huge mountains which abound in fruit trees of every kind, and many vast plains of great fertility. The greater part of the soil, moreover, is under irrigation and consequently bears two crops in the course of the year.” 35.

c6.t3.134

“ In addition to the cereals there grows throughout India much millet.........and much pulse of different sorts and rice also, and what is called Bosmorum, as well as many other plants useful for food of which most grow spontaneously.” 36 (9).

c6.t3.135

“ It is accordingly affirmed that famine has never visited India and that there has never been a general scarcity in the supply of nourishing food.” 36 (10).

c6.t3.136

“ But, further, there are usages observed by the Indians which contribute to prevent the occurrence of famine among them, for, whereas among other nations in the contests of war to ravage the soil and thus to reduce it to an uncultivated waste is the practice, among the Indians on the contrary by whom husbandmen are regarded as a class that is sacred and inviolable, the tillers of the soil, even when battle is raging in their neighbourhood, are undisturbed by any sense of danger for the combatants on either side in waging the conflict make carnage of each other but allow those engaged in husbandry to remain quite unmolested. Besides, they neither ravage an enemy’s land with fire nor cut down its trees.”¹ 36 (14).

c6.t3.137

¹ Cf. also Aiyangar, Ancient India, p. 18 (1911).

c6.t3.138

FRAGMENT XI

c6.t3.139

On the fertility of India

c6.t3.140

“During the rains flax is sown, and millet, also sesamum, rice and bosmorum, and in the winter time wheat, barley, pulse and other esculent fruits unknown to us.”¹

c6.t3.141

¹ Other foreign observers also dwell upon the perfection of agriculture and the fertility of the soil in India. Thus Strabo, coming long after Megasthenes, remarks: “During the rainy season flax and millet as well as bosmorum are sown and in the winter season wheat, barley, pulses and other esculents with which we are unacquainted” 13. “They (Nearchos and Aristoboulos) add that the land while but still half dried is sown, and though scratched into furrows by any common labourer, it nevertheless brings what is planted to perfection and makes the fruit of good quality. Rice according to Aristoboulos stands in water, and is sown in beds. The plant is 4 cubits in height, has many ears and yields a large produce. Megillos says that rice is sown before the rains, etc.” 18. Strabo, Ancient India. McCrindle (1901), Secs. II-IV, Bk. XV, 13, 18.

c6.t3.142

The grandson of Chandragupta, Asoka, as it is clear from one of his edicts² looked upon the encouragement of agriculture not only as a political duty (as Chandragupta did) but also as a moral duty.

c6.t3.143

² “Everywhere in the dominions of His Sacred and Gracious Majesty the King, as well as among his frontagers, the Cholas, the Pāndyas, the Satyaputra, the Ketalaputra as far as the Tāmbaparṇī, Antiochos, the Greek king or even the kings, the neighbours of that Antiochos—everywhere have been made the healing arrangements of His Sacred and Gracious Majesty in two kinds, (namely) healing

c6.t3.144

By the time of Manu the duty of looking to the agricultural interest of the country became codified¹ into a law, and a special class of people versed in the knowledge of correct measurement and weight, as also good and bad qualities of the soil, sprang up known as *Vaiśyas*. Thus:

c6.t3.145

¹ Mrs. Spier, Life in Ancient India, Book I, Chap. VII, p. 151 (1856, London).

c6.t3.146

“If the land be injured by the fault of the farmer himself, as if he fails to sow it in due time, he shall be fined ten times as much as the King’s share of the crops that might otherwise have been raised.” Code \ III, 243.

c6.t3.147

“Again a *Vaiśya* must be skilled in seeds, and in the bad or good qualities of land and the correct modes of measuring and weighing.” Code IX, 330.

c6.t3.148

arrangements for men and healing arrangements for beasts. Medicinal herbs also, both medicinal herbs for men and medicinal herbs for beasts, wheresoever lacking have been everywhere both imported and planted. Roots also, and fruits wheresoever lacking have been everywhere imported and planted. On the roads too wells have been dug and trees planted for enjoyment of men and beasts.”

c6.t3.149

Tablet II, Edict II (of Aśoka)—

c6.t3.150

(a) Vincent Smith, Aśoka, p. 160, 3rd Ed.

c6.t3.151

(b) Dr. Bhandarkar and S. N. Majumdar, The Inscriptions of Asoka, pp. 4-6 (1920).

c6.t3.152

KRISHI-PARAŚARA

c6.t3.153

A very valued treatise called *Krishi-Paraśara* of uncertain date, but composed certainly not later than the 5th century A.D., devoted principally to the plantation of paddy and secondarily to other things concerning agriculture, throw a flood of light upon the perfection attained by the Art of Agriculture in India. It deals with such topics as meteorological observations leading to the prediction of the scarcity, drought and abundance of rain ; superintendence of the field and its produce ; tending of the herd needed for cultivation ; preparation and application of manure ; the construction of agricultural implements, collection of seeds ; sowing ; harvesting, etc., etc. This treatise is all-comprehensive being full of a large number of pregnant aphorisms relating to the minutest particulars of agricultural processes.

c6.t3.154

A verse ¹ concerning the ploughing of land runs :

c6.t3.155

¹ “हेमन्ते कृष्यते हेम वसन्ते ताम्ररौप्यकम् । धान्यं निदाघकाले तु, दारिद्रान्त घमागमे ॥”

c6.t3.156

“By ploughing the land in autumn one gets the goodliest of harvests (golden) and by

c6.t3.157

ploughing it in spring one gets the next best (copper and silver), by ploughing in summer one gets simple paddy (i.e., of the third order), and ploughing in the rainy season one gets absolute dearth."

c6.t3.158

There is another¹ relating to the sowing of paddy:

c6.t3.159

¹ "वैशाखे वपनं जैष्ठं ज्येष्ठं तु मध्यमं स्मृतम् । आषाढे चाधमं प्राहुः श्रावणे चाधमाधमम् ॥" *Cf. also* "रोपणार्यन्तु बीजानां शुचौ वपनमुत्तमम् । श्रावणे चाधमं प्रोक्तं भाद्रे चैवाधमाधमम् ॥"

c6.t3.160

"The month of *Baiśakh* is the best time for sowing seeds of paddy, the next is *Jaiṣṭha*, *Āṣāṛ* is bad for the purpose and *Śrāvaṇ* is the worst."

c6.t3.161

Here is another² telling us how to manure the land.

c6.t3.162

² "रौद्रे संशोध्य तत्सर्वं कृत्वा गुल्मं करूपिणम् । फाल्गुने प्रति केदारे गर्त्तं कृत्वा निधापयेत् ॥ ततो वपनकाले तु कुर्यात् सारविमोचनम् । विना सारेण यद्धान्यं वर्द्धते न फलत्यपि ॥"

c6.t3.163

"After sunning the manures and grinding them in the month of *Māgh* one should bury them in the fields in the month of *Phālgoon* and then on the eve of sowing should apply them to the soil, else the yields of crops will not increase."

c6.t3.164

Let us quote last a verse from *Krishi-Parāśara* concerning the construction of the plough:

c6.t3.165

“पञ्चहस्तो भवेदीशः स्थाणुः पञ्चवितस्तिकः ।
सार्धहस्तस्तु निर्योलः युगः कर्णसमानकः ॥
निर्योलपाशिका चैव अड्डचक्रस्तथैव च ।
द्वादशाङ्गुलिमानोहि शलोऽरत्निप्रमाणकः ॥
सार्धद्वादशमुष्टिर्वा कार्या वा नवमुष्टिका ।
दृढा पञ्चनिका ज्ञेया लौहाग्रा वंशसम्भवा ॥”

c6.t3.166

KHANĀ'S MAXIMS

c6.t3.167

The striking resemblance between some of the aphorisms of Khanā relating to agriculture and some of the verses in *Krishi-Parāśara* on the same subject may warrant us in the supposition that the authentic treatise in Sanskrit might have a good deal to do with the mythical author of the aphorisms of Khanā who has carried the lessons contained in the *Krishi-Parāśara* to particular applications in minute details.

c6.t3.168

The aphorisms of Khanā bearing on agriculture may be classified under the following heads:

c6.t3.169

1. General maxims governing the conduct of the cultivators. 2. Meteorological observations with a view to the guidance of the farmers. 3. Selection of the soil. 4. Ploughing. 5. Sowing and planting. 6. Reaping and harvesting, etc. The number of maxims under each of these heads is too large to be given except in typical selections:

Cites (14)