उपवनविनोद (आचार्य शार्ङ्गधर - वृक्षायुर्वेद, भू-जल संधान एवं उद्यान-विज्ञान सटीक)

2 UPAVANA VINODA
The treatment, as might be expected in an anthology, is rather inexhaustive.
The subject, however, was studied in India for centuries prior to the date of
the composition of the present treatise. The Science of Plant-life,
Vṛkṣāyurveda, was a distinctly comprehensive science, a branch of which
dealing with the construction and maintenance of gardens, is only referred
to here. It is pertinent to enquire, where is this Science—the Vṛkṣāyurveda ?
It must have been there at one time, but it is, like the Dhanurveda or the
Science of Archery and many other sciences, practically lost. A reconstruc-
tion at the present state of our knowledge is out of the question ; but we
have significant references scattered throughout Sanskrit literature, from which
it is possible to have a glimpse of it. We have elsewhere tried to show that
this science existed in ancient India, and the students of Medicine and Agricul-
ture, as now, had to study it as a necessary part of their programme.¹
The science of Arbori-Horticulture, the subject of our present study,
which is a comparatively new thing in the West being brought into vogue
towards the middle of the 19th century was an old thing in India. It played
an important part in public administration. Public parks and pleasure
gardens were provided by the Government (Arthaśāstra, Śukranīti and
Kāmandakinīti) for health, recreation and enjoyment of the public.
All decent houses (Vātsyāyana’s Kāmasūtra) and palaces of kings had
pleasure gardens attached to them. These were well laid out, kept in perfect
order, and placed in charge of well-trained experts (Ārāmādhipati). In
ancient dramas and epics and amatory poems, flowers and flower gardens
played important parts, and special class of artists, malakara and mālinī,
came into being enjoying protection of the State (Śukra. II. 83).
A clear idea of the contents of the chapter and their historical and
scientific importance may be formed from the conspectus given below :—
1. GLORY OF TREES
The custom of planting shady fruit trees along the public thoroughfares,
or constructing gardens and consecrating them for public use has been of
immemorial antiquity.² Like many a good thing in India it received a
religious sanction.
The glory of trees is proclaimed in some of the Purāṇas too, much after
the manner we find here in Śārṅgadhara’s treatise. Thus in the Matsya Purāṇa
we read : “One who sinks a well in a place where there is scarcity of water,
lives in heaven for as many years as there are drops of water in it. The effect
of digging ten such wells is equivalent to the digging of one pond, and the
1 Vanaspati-Majumdar, Calcutta, 1927.
2 Sāṅkhāyana—Gṛhyasūtra, V, 3, 2, et seq (R. V. III, 8, 11). S. B. E. 29, pp. 135—136.