वृक्षायुर्वेद (सुरपाल - प्राचीन भारतीय पादप-विज्ञान, कृषि एवं वृक्ष-चिकित्सा सटीक)

only in the footnote of his translation as a reading
accepted by some other editions. Evidently he translates
the passage under discussion without any reference to
Surapala but in the footnote, he adds, "The basis of the
legend connected with him (i.e., Surapala) seems to be
thus far unknown." Thus, tradition on one hand knew
about a science called Vrikshayurveda and on the other
hand also preserved the name of some legendary
Surapala without having any evidence or means to
establish his historicity. Surapala as a writer of
Vrikshayurveda seems to be on the record of the history
of ancient Indian medical science. Even in a brief survey
of the literature Keith (1929) mentions his name.
It is on this background that Dr Y L Nene, Chairman,
Asian Agri-History Foundation procured a manuscript
of Vrikshayurveda of Surapala from the Bodleian
Library, Oxford, UK. When it was shown to me, I gladly
accepted to read and translate it for publication by the
Foundation as a part of its program activities.
The manuscript is written in an old form of Nagari
script. The present Nagari is developed from Brahmi
through four or five stages. The script of the manuscript
represents, most probably, the stage immediately
preceding the modern form of Nagari. It uses a few
characters such as cha, na, tha, and bha in their archaic
forms. Joining of conjunct consonants is different in
some cases as for sva, or for kta, etc.
The script consists of sixty pages with margin on both
sides. Each page contains six lines in general
(occasionally five or seven). There are about thirty
characters in each line written boldly with a thick
pointed pen.
The scribe has written the text neatly in a uniform hand.
Some lapses such as careless deletion or addition of signs
of rkara, anuswara, vowels, halantas, and visargas do exist.
Occasionally, letters are omitted and late for labhate and
chineek for chinchineek are used. Slips of pen such as
pavanaaya for vapanaaya, agryanat for agnyanat, and
jambru for jambu occur but do not pose any difficulty in
understanding the content. Duplicating a letter which
is followed by refa as "sarvva" for "sarva", "kurvvanti"
for "kurvanti", "tarppan" for "tarpan", and "varjjayet" for
"varjayet" appears to be the special trait. Similarly, the
scribe consistently uses anuswara (e.g., vicharayantaha,
santi, kaanchan, panchak, bhaand, and champak) where the
corresponding nasal consonants must be written as per
the rule. Even when a nasal comes at the end of a line
he uses anuswara and not the nasal consonant (verses 5,
7, etc.) although it is against the rules. The signs of
avagraha are not used, e.g., dinepachiyante and
gulmantartalam. Letters bearing a resemblance such as
"va" and "cha", "ya" and "pa", and "ta" and "na" are
not carefully and distinctively written. In spite of all
these lapses, however, the scribe has succeeded in
preserving for the posterity a complete text of
Vrikshayurveda which can be sensibly read and
comprehended by putting in some effort.
The text is in a verse form. Prose is used to conclude the
preceding topic and commence a new one. There are
325 verses. Verses 184 and 202 are missing and a few
lines of some verses are missing. The verses are
composed mostly in the popular anustubh meter. More
elaborate meters such as upajati, vasantatilaka,
mandakranta, vamsastha, puspitagra, and sardulavikridita
are also used for some verses. The work starts with a
benediction and concludes with a colophon stating the
name of the work as Vrikshayurveda, that of the author

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