Ancient oriental methods of caring for trees: A study on the methods of Vṛkṣāyurveda described in Agnipurāṇa

Abstract

Though human survival depends on various environmental factors, man, being insensitive, abuses environment in various enterprises such as food production by means of deploying environmentally harmful methods focusing on the multitude of harvest. In contrast, vṛkṣāyurveda (ancient medical science for trees) teaches us to achieve the same target in harmony with the environment, which the present paper addresses. This science is, of course, a branch of Indian Āyurveda (the science of life) and has useful references in Agnipurāṇa – one of eighteen Purāṇa texts – where we come across a good account on eco-friendly methods of cultivating. This paper is mainly based on the relevant portion of Agnipuṛāṇa regarding one of the chaotic issues in the modern era, that is, the scarcity of food with no artificial fertilizers and chemicals as they would cause numerous health problems like cancer, blood sugar, and low expectancy of lifespan. This issue is to be resolved by substituting eco-friendly methods in food production and this makes vṛkṣāyurveda to be indispensable in this respect. In the Agnipurāṇa there is a mythical aspect of expounding auspicious and inauspicious results of trees. It further comprises treatments and methods of maintaining tress as they can produce many fruits, many sprouts, and to be grown a healthy plant and so on. By explaining them all this paper provides a detailed analysis of ancient knowledge on trees as to be applicable in modern circumstances leading to a healthy society.