April 21, 2013

vrikshayurveda of Acharya Surapala - A boon to the Ayurveda & Horticulture


                                 Dr.Bhat.A.Rangaprasad -Sarve janah Sukhino Bhavanthu || Sarve santhu Niramayah ||


The treatise Vrikshayurveda indeed is a master piece in itself, and certainly each and every Ayu physician should be proud of possessing one.
The availability of book can be checked with this link ...http://bit.ly/hUED33, whose paper edition is priced at INR 350/-

The Vrkshayurveda also deals in detail regarding the following concepts.,.,

How to procure a plant
Construction of pit on earth for sapling
Nature of soil and it's relation with plants
natural form of fertilzers, watering method,
lay out of the garden based on vastu principles etc.,

Acharya Surapala is referred to be a prominentt physician of is time (vaidya vidyavarenya), whose period of time seems to be in between 7th to 10th century A.D.


For better understanding of the books utmost important usage the following foot notes with the authentic verse numbers will be appropriate to view.


48-49. Jambu, champaka, punnaga, nagakesara, tamarind, kapittha, badari, bilva, kumbhakari, priyangu, panasa, amra, madhuka, karamarda, etc. grow from seeds. Tambuli, sinduvara, tagara, etc. grow from stalks.

50. Patala, dadimi, plaksa, karavira, vata, mallika, udumbara kunda, etc. grow from seeds as well as from stalks.

72. Large seeds should be sown singly but smaller ones should be sown in multiples. The seed of naranga should be sown in a slanting position with hand.76. The stalk should be eighteen angula, not too tender nor too hard. Half of it should be smeared with plenty of cow dung and then (it) should be planted with three-fourth part in the pit and should be sprinkled with water mixed with soft sandy mud.

78. When they are covered with leaves they should be uprooted and transplanted wherever desired in the month of Asadha (beginning of rains).


The other ecxerpts, stated below, depicts Achaya Suraphala's observation and efficacy in treating the diseased plants, viz.,

191. When watered by the decoction of milk, honey, yastimadhu, and madhuka, trees suffering from pitta type of diseases get cured.195. The worms accumulated on trees can be treated quickly by smoking the tree with the mixture of white mustard, ramatha, vidanga, vaca, usana, and water mixed with beef, horn of a buffalo, flesh of a pigeon, and the powder of bhillata (bhallataka ?)

197. Creepers eaten away by insects should be sprinkled with water mixed with oil cake. The insects on the leaves can be destroyed by sprinkling the powder of ashes and brick-dust.200-201. The broken trees should be smeared with the paste of the bark of plaksa and udumbara mixed with ghee, honey, wine, and milk and the broken parts should be firmly tied together with the rope of a rice stalk. Fresh soil should then be filled in the basin around the trees, sprinkled immediately with the milk of buffalo and flooded with water. Thus they recover.

239. The white flowers of a tree turn into a golden colour if the tree is watered with the mixture of turmeric powder, kimsuka, cotton seed, manjista, and lodhra.

246. Plantain trees create wonder by producing pomegranate fruits if fed by water mixed with the urine of a hog and ankolha.253. A tamarind plant is grown into an excellent creeper if fed with water, mixed with the powder of triphala.

The contents of the book, is hereby presented with the images which I tried to create through PPT.






Last but not the least, it may elude one's mind whether the above concepts of horticulture explained in Vrikshayurveda is fruitful or not. It indeed is fruitful one, so was the observation of the members of CIKS.The excerpt of which is given below.

The Center of Indian Knowledge Systems (CIKS) has worked for several years experimented and analysed, that using the ancient techniques mentioned in the treatise of Surapala, the Vrkshayurveda, has the capacity to revitalise the present day agriculture.
In this link certain examples of how they treated the leaf webber disease with the nimba and karanja oil associated with fumigation of daruharidra and vidanga; like wise also explains how they treated the a tree of Custard apple with the help of the fertilzer recipe told in vrkshayurveda and helped the tree grow the fruits, which was not able to do previously. vide link - http://www.compasnet.org/afbeeldingen/Magazines/CM4/cm4_12.PDF

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