कृषि-पाराशर (महर्षि पराशर - प्राचीन भारतीय कृषि, मृदा-परीक्षण, वर्षा-पूर्वानुमान व बीज-संस्कार)

FOREWORD
It is hardly necessary to write a foreword to a work the interest
of which speaks for itself. In an agricultural country like India one
would expect to find a good number of old works bearing upon agri-
culture or agricultural operations; but it is surprising that such
Sanskrit works are not numerous. The present work, small as it is,
is one of three or four such treatises which are known to exist; and it
is a happy idea to edit it critically from available manuscripts and
make it readily accessible to those who are interested in the
subject.
The present edition is based upon the collation of three manuscripts
obtained from different sources and a printed edition ; and all
important variants to the text-reading are faithfully recorded. It is
noteworthy that two of these manuscripts are in Bengali characters,
while the printed edition and the remaining manuscript in Devanāgarī
are based apparently on Bengali originals. This is a point in favour
of the editors' suggestion of the probable Bengal provenance of the
work.
Although associated with the name of a sage of hoary antiquity,
one must confess to a doubt with regard to the rather early date
(11th century A.D.) claimed for the present work. Even if systema-
tic, the work is not exhaustive ; and it has all the appearance of a
compilation. It is possible that it absorbs a great deal from a floating
traditional literature which is now lost. The fact that some of its
verses are ascribed by Raghunandana to some other authors would
perhaps point to the same direction. There is much again in this
work which finds an echo in the innumerable agricultural proverbs
which are to be found in the various languages of India, and which in
Bengali are seen in the apocryphal collection which goes by the name
of Khanā. These proverbs crystallise the scattered experience of ages
within the limits of cryptic but wise utterances. The editors have
rightly drawn attention to some parallelisms to be found in the sayings
of Khanā. I feel I am not entitled to express an opinion on the