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

SCIENCE OF ARBORI-HORTICULTURE IN ANCIENT INDIA 31
Guṇaratna (circa 1200 A, D.), the commentator of Ṣaḍdarśana Samuc-
caya draws the following analogy to prove the existence of consciousness
in plants :
“Just as human body is subject to jaundice, dropsy, shofa (?) emaciation,
and defects (dwarfness) of fingers, nose, etc., etc., so also plants suffer from
similar diseases, such as inception of disease, displacement or dislocation of
flowers, fruits, leaves and bark.”
“And just as by the application of the appropriate remedies unnatural
growth, deterioration, wounds, fractures, etc., etc., can be cured, so also in
plants by the application of proper drugs as prescribed in the Vṛkṣāyurveda.”¹
Unfortunately for us this treatise on the treatment of plants referred to in
the Arthaśāstra, Śukranīti, Bṛhatsaṁhitā, Agnipurāṇa and other non-Botanical
treatises is no longer available.
XIV. BOTANICAL MARVELS
Botanical marvels constitute an interesting subject by itself and it has receiv-
ed sufficient attention in our ancient literature.
Varāhamihira gives us a few recipes by the application of which some
botanical wonders may be produced. Thus he says that “any seed, being
steeped a hundred times in a paste of Alangium fruit, or in its oil, or in (the
dregs and oil of) Cordia, will, when planted in clay impregnated with hail-
water, sprout instantaneously and what wonder, that the branches should be
loaded with fruits ? 27 & 28.
When you wish to plant Cordia seeds take the precaution of stripping
them of the shell, and of steeping them in the shade, seven times in water
mixed with a thick sauce from Alangium fruits ; then rub them with buffalo's
dung and lay them in manure. Being afterwards planted in clay soaked with
hail water, they will produce fruits (so to say) in a day.² 29 & 30.
Prof. Benoy Sarkar writes, and we completely agree with him, that “if the
complete transformation of orders and genera be absurd, that of species is not
so, and has been verified by experiments. With the horticultural miracles
guaranteed by Varāhamihira & Śārṅgadhara of old we are tempted to compare
the epoch making new creations in plant life by Luther Burbank, the American
plant-breeder of modern times. The wonderful achievements of this great and
unique genius include among other creations the following : the improved
thornless and spineless edible cactus, food for man and beast, to be the recla-
mation of the deserts of the world ; the primus berry, a union of rasp-berry
and blackberry, the first recorded instance of the creation of a new species,
a tree which grows more rapidly than any other tree ever known in the
1 Biblio. Indica, New Series, 1151 (1907).
2 Chap. 54.