FERTILIZERS IN ANCIENT INDIA
R. P. Dwivedi

   Scientists to-day have already come to the conclusion that music comes to the life and growth of the plants and contribute to their yields. Dr. T.C.N. Singh, retired Professor of Botany, ' Annamalai University, has come to the conclusion that the sound of `Vina' produces better results in plants than that of the `Violin'. Experiments have been conducted in the U.S.A., Canada and Russia and it has been established that musical therapy considerably helps the plant to give better yields.

   This brings one to the subject of Dohada of trees and plants often discussed in Sanskrit literature. The word Dohada dhupini used by Sriharsa, the author of Naisadhiyacarita does speak of some material by which an extraordinary growth of fruits is achieved. The words of Narayana, the commentator on Naisadhiyacartia, on Naisadha 1.82, appear to be more significant. Varahamihira has spoken of the sesamum treatment for the soil in Chapter LV of his Brahatsamhita

   Mention of some fertilizers in Abhilasitartha Cintamani viz.; scratching the tree with thorns and fumigating them with cow's ghee, water and fat of parrots and rats as well as fumigation of trees by burning turmeric, white mustard etc., clearly indicate that the topic of fertilization had received sufficient attention. A mention has been made in some Sanskrit works on Vrksayurveda that creepers besmeared with honey produce red flowers. Recipes for making fruit evergreen are also found. It is interesting to note that cross breeding of plants was also anticipated by the ancients. A mention has been made that the plantain trunk if watered with the flesh and serum of a boar and decoction of Ankola, bares a pomegranate. All such things mentioned in Sanskrit works, in fact, await experiments.

 
About the Author :-

R.P.DWIVEDI
Birth : September 13, 1953
M.A. (Hindi) Sahityacharya,Shikshashastri
 

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