Bharatiya Pragna - Dr. Th Chowdary

quered. The Portuguese and the British did it
and so did the Mughals. British tried to implant
their knowledge and culture in India as something
superior compared to what was indigenous.
Mughals did the same. Because Dara Shikoh
was a scholar with an open mind, he tried to
encourage exchange of information between the
cultures of West Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
The text “Nuskha Dar Fanni-Falahat”
seems to be one such effort. During the Mughal
rule in India from 1526 through 1857, a large
number of persons from West Asia and West
Central Asia (e.g., Uzbekistan) settled down in
India, owned land, and practiced agriculture,
especially horticulture. Thus in villages, at the
level of farmers, exchange of knowledge was
occurring during the 300-year period. From the
sporadic references we find, the Muslims seem
to have specialized in ornamental gardening and
in developing excellent fruit orchards.
Relevance today
There is a great need to renew interest in
astrologically made rainfall predictions, because
the modern meteorology is still imperfect. The
two systems could synergize and lead to better
predictions.
72
In all these classics, management of soil,
water, and other resources have been stressed.
In India we do have excellent crop varieties, but
the management is generally unsatisfactory. As a
result the optimum yield potential of varieties is
not exploited. Domestic cattle were cared for
as “members of family” and their management
was given a very high priority.
Seed quality was given highest importance
and selling spurious seed was a major offence.
One of the duties of Rajas, kings, and
other rulers was to ensure timely supply of resources
to farmers in their kingdoms.
The science of Vrikshayurveda evolved
utilizing the knowledge of Ayurveda, between 600
and 1000 AD. Many recommendations were
made in texts such as Surapala’s Vrikshayurveda,
Chavundaraya’s Lokopakara, and Chakrapani
Mishra’s Vishvavallabha. These texts also contain
several recommendations to increase yield,
especially the perennial plantation crops such as
tea
It is up to present-day farm scientists to
study recommendations of the past and practice
them, if found valid.
Asian Agri-History Foundation,
Secunderabad 500 009, Andhra Pradesh,
India (email: ynene@satyam.net.in
November & December 2008 Bharatiya Pragna