About the Book

The science of Botany is associated with mankind ever since the advent of the human race in the universe. The Early Indian texts go further and claim that botanical species emerged on earth three (yugas) ages earlier than the emergence of man on earth. This statement has a veiled suggestion to the fact that vegetation or plant life is an Inescapable part of human life. Soon man, who had been surrounded by the plant-life around him, discovered the various usages which he could make of plant-life, which included food values, shelters, kindling of fire and medicinal values of the same. This knowledge of the various aspects of plant-life is fully projected in the ancient Sanskrit texts, supported by archaeological evidence dating back to the Harappan Culture. The scientists have traced successfully the presence of plant-life from the pre-historic times to the Harappan and post-Harappan periods. Gradually the trees and plants were conceived to be the symbols of great personaliites like Rama, Lakşmaņa. Yudhisthira, Duryodhana and others. Even the Mahabharata has been equated with a huge tree. Then there is ample evidence of divine trees and forests, sacred trees, medicinal plants and herbs, poisonous plants and plants bearing fruits, flowers and the like. An attempt, in this work, has been made to highlight the different aspects of plant-life, based on the ancient texts, and archaeological evidence based on antiquarian remains.

The book Indeed is an extensive work of meticulous retrieval and co-relation of ornithological, zoological, botanical and ichthyological data collected from different sources.

The work also contains modern scientific terminology together with the locus classicus of different species and genera of plants, and insects which the ancient man observed and recorded them in his inimitable way.

About the Author

Shantilal Nagar, a graduate of the Punjab University, served in the curatorial capacity in the Central Asian Antiquities Museum, New Delhi, the Archaeological Museum, Nalanda, and Archaeological Section of the Indian Museum, Calcutta for a number of years. He has to his credit the scientific documentation of over fifty thousand antiquities, in these museums, representing the rich cultural heritage of the country and comprising of sculptures, bronzes, terracottas, beads, seals and sealing. ancient Indian numismatics, wood work, miniatures and paintings, textiles and Pearce collection of gems, ranging from the earliest times to the late medieval period. He was awarded, in 1987, a fellowship, for his monograph on the Temples of Himachal Pradesh, by the Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi. He has authored more than fifty books.

Preface

The human association with plants and vegetation is as old as the advent of man on earth. Indeed the texts prescribe that the vegetational growth preceded the humans on earth. This seems quite logical because no human can survive on earth without vegetation, which happens to be the primary source for the supply of oxygen, so essential for human survival. Though man at the early stages of his existence on earth was quite unaware of this aspect, yet still he made use of the trees and plants as the sources for the supply of edible fruits and shelter from wild life. Gradually he became quite familiar with plant life and found them a natural resort against the hostile forces of nature like storms, floods and other natural calamities, besides the ferocious birds and beasts.