Sambodhi 2018 Vol 41

Author(s): J B Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 61

52 Dhananjay Vasudeo Dwivedi
SAMBODHI Any seed being soaked a hundred times in a paste of Ankola fruit or in its oil, or in a paste or oil of Ślesmāntaka fruit, will, when sown in a soil mixed with hail, sprout instantaneously, and what wonder it be, if its branches were laden with fruits
शतशोऽङ्कोलसमभूतफलकल्केन भावितम् । एतत्तैलेन वा बीजं श्लेष्मातकफलेन वा ॥ वापितं करकोन्मिश्रमृदि तत्क्षणजन्मकम् ।
फलभारान्विता शाखा भवतीति किमद्भुतम् ॥61 Pits should be first kept ready heating them from inside and filling with soil. Seeds should be treated with dry cow dung and them with clarified butter and honey. 62 After rubbing them in dung or after smearing them with a mixture of ashes of Tila plants and seeds and clarified butter, the wise should sow them at proper places.63 Even an old seed when smeared with Ankola oil sprouts quickly. 64
The prescription about the treatment of seeds is not without some scientific basis. If the seeds are soaked in any solution, the decayed ones will float and can easily be detected and discarded. The application of cow-dung, honey, butter etc., would protect it from insects and diseases. The cow-dung being hygroscopic and containing potassium, nitrogen and phosphates and also microbes, is expected to help germination.
Mānasollāsa also discusses the process of seed treatment. According to it, the first method is employed for the seeds of all kinds of trees. According to this method, the ripe fruits are first dried in Sun. Then they are kept covered with cow-dung for five days. They are perfumed with the Vidanga and the clarified butter.65 The other method is a special treatment given to the milky trees. According to this method, the seeds are soaked in the cow's milk continuously for ten nights. They are coated with the cow-dung and mixed with the ashes of Vyāghr and with ashes of barley and wheat. 66
SOWING -
Sowing being an important process in cultivation, it was given serious attention and care. Befitting its importance solemn religious rites were performed on the occasion. Vrksāyurveda of Surapāla says regarding sowingThe owner of the farm should wear clothes after bath, worship God, offer salutations to his preceptors, offer wealth or land to the worthy, offer