The resemblance between Upavanavinoda and Vrikshayurveda may be explained by either proposing a theory that both have made use of texts of their predecessors or by revising our opinion regarding Surapala's date.
Surapala's merits as an author of a scientific work have been brought out incidentally in course of these discussions. Thus a systematic unfolding of the subject, a balanced treatment of various topics, neatly divided sections for the respective topics with clear demarcations of commencement and conclusion, a better and more logical expounding of various topics as compared with the other two texts, regard for predecessors combined with self-confidence and independent reasoning are some of the characteristics of his writing. However, in the description of the blossoming of some trees at the loving glance or a gentle kick of a charming young girl (as per conventions in literature), Surapala's poetic talent reveals itself fully and can match with the best of the classical poetry in Sanskrit (verses 147-151). Similarly, when he describes the plan and layout of a pleasure garden (verses 293-297), the poet in him automatically takes charge of his pen.
Below we quote some prescriptions from
Vrikshayurveda; the stanza numbers refer to Sadhale's translation. Some of the prescriptions sound very unconventional and should be experimentally verified. Some agricultural institute should try these methods and if found successful, should be used in regular practice.
On Soil
35. Arid, marshy, and ordinary are the three types of land. It is further subdivided into six types by colour and savour.
36. Black, white, pale, dark, red, and yellow are the colours and sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent are the tastes by which land is subdivided.
37. Land with poisonous element, abundance of stones, ant hills, holes, and gravel and having no accessibility to water is unfit for growing trees.
38. Bluish like saphire, soft like a parrot's feather, white like conch, jasmine, lotuses, or the moon, and yellow like heated gold or blooming
champaka is the land recommended for planting.
39. Land, which is even, has accessibility to water, and is covered with green trees is good for growing all kinds of trees.
40. Arid and marshy land is not good. Ordinary land is good as all kinds of trees grow on it without fail.
41.
Panasa,
lakuca,
tala, bamboo,
jambeera,
jambu,
tilaka,
vata,
kadamba,
amrata,
kharjura,
kadali,
tinisa,
mrdvi,
ketaki,
narikela, etc. grow on a marshy land.
42.
Sobhanjana,
sriphala,
saptaparna,
sephalika,
asoka,
sami,
karira,
karkandhu,
kesara,
nimba, and
saka grow well on an arid land.
43.
Bijapuraka,
punnaga,
champaka,
amra,
atimuktaka,
priyangu,
dadima, etc. grow on an ordinary type of land.
On Propagation
45.
Vanaspati,
druma,
lata, and
gulma are the four types of plants. They grow from seed, stalk, or bulb. Thus the planting is of three kinds.
46. Those which bear fruits without flowers are
vanaspati (types); those which bear fruits with flowers are
druma (types).
47. Those which spread with tendrils are
lata (types) (creepers ). Those which are very short but have branches are
gulma (types) (bushes).
4849.
Jambu,
champaka,
punnaga,
nagakesara,
tamarind,
kapittha,
badari,
bilva,
kumbhakari,
priyangu,
panasa,
amra,
madhuka,
karamarda, etc. grow from seeds.
Tambuli,
sinduvara,
tagara, etc. grow from stalks.
50.
Patala,
dadimi,
plaksa,
karavira,
vata,
mallika,
udumbara kunda, etc. grow from seeds as well as from stalks.
51.
Kumkuma,
ardra,
rasona,
alukanda, etc. grow from bulbs.
Ela,
padma,
utpala, etc. grow from seeds as well as from bulbs.
52. Seed is extracted from dried fruits, which become ripe in the natural course and season. It is then sprinkled.
68. After the ash is naturally cooled and removed,
kunapa water (liquid manure) should be sprinkled and the pits should be filled with good earth.
69. Sowing seeds for
makanda,
dadima,
kusmanda, and
alambuka is good but planting is even better.
70. In fertile lands, which are used excessively, seeds of
trapusa or of other vegetables are sown intermittently.
71. Here (in these fields),
saffron,
maruwaka, and
damanaka are similarly grown in a small carry (?).
72. Large seeds should be sown singly but smaller ones should be sown in multiples. The seed of
naranga should be sown in a slanting position with hand.
73. The seeds of
phanijjhaka (
maruwaka) should be mixed with earth and then water mixed with cow dung should be sprinkled gradually and gently.
74-75. Smeared with the pulp of a plantain ripened naturally and dried in the sun, a rope of the stalk of
sastika (a rice variety that matures in 60 days) should be laid in the pits intermittently. Sprinkled with little water continuously in the hot days, it yields without fail sprouts blue like
tamala.
76. The stalk should be eighteen
angula, not too tender nor too hard. Half of it should be smeared with plenty of cow dung and then (it) should be planted with three-fourth part in the pit and should be sprinkled with water mixed with soft sandy mud.
77. The lower part of the stalks of
satapatrika should be half-ripened and then in the month of
Kartika (post-rainy season) should be planted in a carry and drenched with water for about two months.
78. When they are covered with leaves they should be uprooted and transplanted wherever desired in the month of
Asadha (beginning of rains).
79-80. The branches of
dadima and
karavira should be bent and planted applying enough cow dung at the root. They should be watered regularly for two months. After the leaves start growing they should be cut in the middle.
81. Bulbs should be planted in pits measuring one forearm-length, breadth, and depth-and filled with mud mixed with thick sand.
82.
Kadali should be planted after smearing the root profusely with cow dung. It should be planted in the pit along with the root and should be watered well.
83. Small trees should be transplanted by daytime at the proper directions when they are one forearm tall. The roots should be smeared with honey, lotus-fibre, ghee, and
bidanga and then planted in proper pits along with the earth.
84. Big trees should be similarly transplanted with their roots covered during evening after reciting the following mantra the previous day.
87.
Ksirika,
tuta,
dadimi,
bakula, etc. should be planted in the month of
Sravana (midst of rainy season).
Rajakosa,
amra,
lakuca, etc. should be planted in the month of
Bhadrapada (when rains are receding).
On Treatment
187. The diseases of the
kafa type can be overcome with bitter, strong, and astringent decoctions made out of
panchamula (roots of five plant species –
sriphala,
sarvatobhadra,
patala,
ganikarika, and
syonaka) with fragrant water.
188. For warding off all
kafa type of diseases, the paste of white mustard should be deposited at the root and the trees should be watered with a mixture of sesame and ashes.
189. In case of trees affected by the
kafa disease, earth around the roots of the trees should be removed and fresh, dry earth should be replaced for curing them.
190. A wise person should treat all types of trees affected by the
pitta type of diseases with cool and sweet substances.
191. When watered by the decoction of milk, honey,
yastimadhu, and
madhuka, trees suffering from
pitta type of diseases get cured.
192. Watered with the decoctions of fruits,
triphala, ghee, and honey the trees are freed of all diseases of the
pitta type.
193. To remove insects both from the roots and branches of the trees, wise men should water the trees with cold water for seven days.
194. The worms can be overcome by the paste of milk,
kunapa water, and cow dung mixed with water and also by smearing the roots with the mixture of white mustard,
vaca,
kusta, and
ativisa.
195. The worms accumulated on trees can be treated quickly by smoking the tree with the mixture of white mustard,
ramatha,
vidanga,
vaca,
usana, and water mixed with beef, horn of a buffalo, flesh of a pigeon, and the powder of
bhillata (
bhallataka ?).
196. Anointing with
vidanga mixed with ghee, watering for seven days with salt water, and (applying) ointment made out of beef, white mustard, and sesame destroy the worms, insects, etc.
197. Creepers eaten away by insects should be sprinkled with water mixed with oil cake. The insects on the leaves can be destroyed by sprinkling the powder of ashes and brick-dust.
198. A wound caused by insects heals if sprinkled with milk after being anointed with a mixture of
vidanga, sesame, cow's urine, ghee, and mustard.
199. Trees suffering from (damage due to) frost or scorching heat should be externally covered. Sprinkling with
kunapa water and milk is also advisable.
200-201. The broken trees should be smeared with the paste of the bark of
plaksa and
udumbara mixed with ghee, honey, wine, and milk and the broken parts should be firmly tied together with the rope of a rice stalk. Fresh soil should then be filled in the basin around the trees, sprinkled immediately with the milk of buffalo and flooded with water. Thus they recover.
203. If the branches fall off, the particular spot should be anointed with the mixture of honey and ghee and sprinkled over by milk and water so that the tree will have its branches reaching the sky.
204. If the branches are burnt they should be cut off and the particular spots should be sprinkled with water and grape, crystalline sugar, and barley (and then watered with the same ?).
239. The white flowers of a tree turn into a golden colour if the tree is watered with the mixture of turmeric powder,
kimsuka, cotton seed,
manjista, and
lodhra.
240. The white flowers of a tree turn into a golden colour if it is smeared at the roots with the mixture of
manjista,
darada, milk,
kanksi (kind of fragrant earth), and flesh of a pigeon.
241. Trees watered continuously with the liquid of
triphala, barley, mango seed, and indigo; and also filled at the root with the powder of the same mixture produce fruits resembling collyrium (see
anjana).
242. Trees treated with water and paste containing the mixture of barley,
kimsuka,
manjista, turmeric, and sesame and also smeared with the same paste bear red fruits.
243. Trees watered and smeared at roots with the mixture of the bark of the
salmali tree, turmeric, indigo,
triphala,
kusta, and liquor bear fruits having the shades of a parrot.
244. Trees watered after being sprinkled at the root with the mixture of indigo, turmeric,
lodhra,
vara (
triphala), sesame,
asana,
kasisa and
yasti – all powdered together – produce fruits of golden colour.
245.
Bakula trees blossom forth producing lots of
champaka flowers if continuously fed with fresh water after filling the bottom with plenty of mud mixed with
kalaaya and the skin of a python or snake.
246. Plantain trees create wonder by producing pomegranate fruits if fed by water mixed with the urine of a hog and
ankolha.
247. A castor tree produced from a seed cultured by the marrow of a boar, treated further by the process in the previous verse, produces
karavella fruits.
248. Fragrance of the blossom can be changed by filling (the base near) the roots of the trees with the earth scented with the desired fragrance and then fed with water mixed with
jalada,
mura,
nata,
valaka, and
patraka.
249. All types of flowering plants produce excellent fragrance if earth strongly scented by their own flowers is filled around the base (of the trees) and then fed with water mixed with
musta,
mura,
nata leaves, and wine.
250. The same treatment used in the evening at their blossoming time along with fat, milk, blood, and
kusta intensifies the natural fragrance of the blossoms of
punnaga,
naga,
bakula, etc.
251. A big and strong mud pot should be filled with the mixture of mud and plenty of beef; and the
karavira plant should be grown there with effort by watering profusely with cow dung and good quality beef.
252. The above stated plant of
karavira should then be shifted to a pit, previously prepared by filling with cow bones, well-burnt ashes and then wetted by water mixed with beef. Thereafter, the plant should be fed with plenty of water mixed with beef. So treated, it is transformed into a creeper to blossom profusely and perennially.
253. A tamarind plant is grown into an excellent creeper if fed with water, mixed with the powder of
triphala.
ecology
![Photo: Ancient Indian Technology
Aryabhata is also known as Aryabhata I to distinguish him from the later mathematician of the same name who lived about 400 years later. Al-Biruni has not helped in understanding Aryabhata's life, for he seemed to believe that there were two different mathematicians called Aryabhata living at the same time. He therefore created a confusion of two different Aryabhatas which was not clarified until 1926 when B Datta showed that al-Biruni's two Aryabhatas were one and the same person.
We know the year of Aryabhata's birth since he tells us that he was twenty-three years of age when he wrote Aryabhatiya which he finished in 499. We have given Kusumapura, thought to be close to Pataliputra (which was refounded as Patna in Bihar in 1541), as the place of Aryabhata's birth but this is far from certain, as is even the location of Kusumapura itself. As Parameswaran writes in [26]:-
... no final verdict can be given regarding the locations of Asmakajanapada and Kusumapura.
We do know that Aryabhata wrote Aryabhatiya in Kusumapura at the time when Pataliputra was the capital of the Gupta empire and a major centre of learning, but there have been numerous other places proposed by historians as his birthplace. Some conjecture that he was born in south India, perhaps Kerala, Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh, while others conjecture that he was born in the north-east of India, perhaps in Bengal. In [8] it is claimed that Aryabhata was born in the Asmaka region of the Vakataka dynasty in South India although the author accepted that he lived most of his life in Kusumapura in the Gupta empire of the north. However, giving Asmaka as Aryabhata's birthplace rests on a comment made by Nilakantha Somayaji in the late 15th century. It is now thought by most historians that Nilakantha confused Aryabhata with Bhaskara I who was a later commentator on the Aryabhatiya.
Continuation :
http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Printonly/Aryabhata_I.html
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