Science Of Forests In Ancient India

By Author: Gulnaz
Total Articles: 12
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India has been a wonderland from many perspectives. Starting from people, language to flora, fauna and geography — the diversity is enormous and is very complex. Have we ever wondered how these diversities played out in managing our natural resources? Let’s take the example of forests.
The question which always comes to our mind is — in spite of diversity, how aware were ancient Indians about forests and have they documented the knowledge? Did these forests exist? How were they taking care of natural resources, especially Flora (forests in this context)? Did they even think of managing them? What were the guiding principles? Were they aware of sustainability? Etc.
The answers are well documented and some of the methods used for trees and food security produced as well as for purposes of building homes and preserving (keeping sustainability and rejuvenation in mind) are pertinent even today.Ancient Indians were well aware about forests and its importance. The earliest references we find about forests are well documented in Vedas, Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Valmiki documents 140 species of plants in Ramayana ...
... which are said to be seen by Rama during his 14 years of vanavasa. These have been documented from Chitrakoot, Dandakaranya, Panchvati, Kishkindha, Ashok Vatika and Dronagiri. The astonishing fact is, geographical location and species composition of forests described in Valmiki Ramayana is still more or less same — whether it be finding Saal and Sagaun in Dandkarayana in Central India or Chandan and Raktchandan in Kishkindha region (Bellary in Karnataka) or Seeta, Ashok and Nagkesar in the evergreen forest of Sri Lanka where Ashok Vatika was situated.
Veda Vyasa in Mahabharata documents the creation of the Indraprastha, the capital of Pandavas which was done by burning down the forest around River Yamuna and is known as Khandava Dahana (the burning of Khandava Forest). It’s believed that a curse was given to Pandavas by the inhabitants who got affected during the burning down of the forest. Pandavas stayed in Kamyaka and Dwaita forests during their 12 years of exile.Atharva Veda documents Bhoomi Sooktam in 12th Kaanda and 1st Sookta which praises the mother earth, the giver of everything and the 63 hymns describes the relationship man should have with mother earth. Ancient Indians were aware that the forests have productive and protective aspects.
The Vedas and Upanishads have many references with emphasis on productive and protective aspects. Aranyakas have documentation regarding the science behind forests ancient India and Upanishads document many uses of forests. Most aspects detail out sustainability as an implicit behaviour.
Vedic traditions have identified types of forests to be present around a village to attain ‘Holistic’ livability and the forests were managed by participatory management by the village heads.
Agriculture practices that were prevalent in Vedic period, emphasized on forest management, need to keep the soil fertile and maintain the micro/macro environment health. Ancient Indians took only what they needed for living from the forest.
Need to associate religion or godliness of nature to protect forests was evolved post Vedic period with an understanding of ethnic forestry tools. The sacredness of trees/ plants/ shrubs due to their medicinal and lifesaving values led to conservation of forests. The sages knew that, had they not given it a sacred status, those valuable trees would have fallen to the axes even during those times.
Ancient Indians were well aware of land needs and hence made allocations for cultivation to support expanding population and also ensured the required balance between produce and preserve types of Vanas.
The Vedic texts suggest that most part of the land originally was under tree cover, but as the human settlements expanded, trees were cleared to make way for cultivation. As per Sri Madbhagavata 4th skanda and adhyaya 17 &18, King Prithu milked the earth (Prithvi) in the form of a cow signifying the start of agriculture. Prithu is also credited with the feat of clearing forests and establishing the organized agricultural settlements and townships.
Ancient Indians put high value on conservation and rejuvenation of forests. Sustainability was ingrained in the thought processes of early Indians, as evident from the teachings of Vedas.
The Atharva Veda 12.1.11 hymn, the safety of human being related to the healthy characteristics of planet earth.
“O Earth! Pleasant be thy hills, snow-clad mountains and forests; O numerous coloured, firm and protected Earth! On this earth I stand, undefeated, unslain, unhurt.”
Another hymn from Atharva Veda (12.1.35) explains man’s concern on getting the resources from mother earth without damaging it.Buy a agriculture at karnataka
“Whatever I dig out from you, O Earth! May that have quick regeneration again; may we not damage thy vital habitat and heart.”
Ancient Indians not only knew about flora but also knew how to take care of the well-being of the trees, impact on human race and the role they had to play to preserve-maintain-conserve the forests. In some sense, the notion of forestry and its management and its attribution to western world and its evolution as an environmental science by them since the late 17th and 18th century can be laid to rest by understanding the various texts.