Bharatiya Pragna - Dr. Th Chowdary

Vishvavallabha was compiled by a
scholar, Sri Chakrapani Mishra, around 1577
AD. Chakrapani worked under the patronage
of the towering personality of Maharana Pratap
(1540–1597) of Mewar in Rajasthan. As is wellknown
Maharana Pratap refused to surrender
or be a vassal of the Mughal ruler, Akbar and
protected his own honor as well as that of his
people all through his life.
The text contains a wealth of information.
It describes methods to detect underground
water, construction of water reservoirs, planting
methods, plant disorders and treatments, and
plantation in forts.
Nuskha Dar Fanni-Falahat (The Art of Agriculture)
(c. 1650)
This text in Persian was copied from a
compendium, Ganj-e-Badawar, compiled
around 1650 AD by the Mughal prince Dara
Shikoh, son of Shah Jahan, who built the famous
Taj Mahal.
The text briefly describes the “art” of
growing about 100 economic plant species.
These include trees (fresh fruit, dry fruit, avenue,
and timber), shrubs of ornamental significance,
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vegetables, cereals, legumes, oilseeds, and aromatics.
Species are grouped on the basis of similarities
and the general sequence followed is: fresh
fruit trees, dry fruit trees, berry-producing plants,
avenue and timber trees, flowering shrubs, plantation
crops, spices, aromatics, cereals, legumes,
fiber crops, and vegetables. However, the sequence
has not been followed strictly.
Manures mentioned are dung, salt, and
nitre for soil application in case of palm trees,
nitre and vine sap as foliar application in vines,
eggs in soil and olive leaf-sap sprinkling on
leaves in fig, dung in soil in olive, pig’s dung and
human urine in soil in pomegranate, night soil,
animal dung, and sheep’s blood in soil in guava
[pear (?)], dry dung of pig in almonds, and
cowdung in carrots.
Nitre as a fertilizer was new to the Indian
agriculture as no document before the
present one mentioned use of nitre as a manure.
This must be therefore one of the first inorganic
fertilizers used in India. The recommendation to
sprinkle nitre on vines must have been based on
observing beneficial effects on growth of vines.
A statement under baqla (Vicia faba L.)
is noteworthy. It is mentioned that roots,
branches, and leaves of baqla “have the qualities
of manure and it increases the strength of
the manure” and that is why it is grown as an
intercrop. This is a very significant statement
pointing to the beneficial effects of legumes,
which we know so well today.
The contents of “Nuskha Dar Fanni-
Falahat” are almost totally different from the earlier,
indigenously written texts. It is not difficult
to understand the reason. Historically speaking,
the conquerors almost always despise the con-
November & December 2008 Bharatiya Pragna