Such a description of the cell is not possible without a microscope. This means that the author of Vriksh Ayurveda, must have had the knowledge of the microscope thousands of years ago. At that time, no one in the west knew about it. This was the scientific vision of Vriksh Ayurveda. If it is considered to be written even in 200 AD, then let us see as to when the west gained knowledge about the microscope and botany. It was only about 200 or 300 years ago and they have been acknowledged as great scientists and our country, which had this knowledge ages back, was called the country of snakes and snake charmers! We need to contemplate on how many years it must have taken to carry out the research and then acquire such a deep scientific foresight, because in no other country has botany been studied so long ago and in such detail as in India. However, our scholars of botany do not have this in the textbooks because they do not know Sanskrit. Whether they know the language or not, if in the future, they make Sanskrit compulsory for the science students, then the path to the history of science in this country will be wide open. How can anyone who does not know Sanskrit learn about Vriksh Ayurveda?
Similarly, page 163 of the famous book Scientific Heritage of India contains a classification of trees as done by Charak, Sushrit and Sage Parashar, etc. This too shows the progress of India in the field of botany.
Charak'sclassification?In Charak Samhita, by Charak, vegetation has been classified in four different ways:
1. Trees?Which bear fruit without bearing flowers e.g. goolar, jackfruit, etc.
2. Vegetal?Those that bear fruit after the flower e.g. mango, guava, etc.
3. Medicinal?Those fruits which fall off after ripening and becoming dry, e.g. wheat, barley, gram, etc.
4. Veerudh?which have tendrils or fibres, e.g. creepers, climbers, shrubs, etc.
Similarly, trees have also been classified according to their uses:
1. Roots?Whose roots, in comparison to other parts of the plant, are more important. They are 16 in number.
2. Fruits?Whose fruits are more useful. There are 19 varieties of plants that come under this category.
Sage Charka has divided edible plants into seven categories:
1. Bristle crop?Those that have bristles or hair on them like wheat, barley, etc.
2. Pod crop?Which belong to the legume family and which have pods like beans, peas, green lentil, black gram, arhar, etc.
3. Leafy vegetables?Spinach, fenugreek, bathua etc.
4. Fruit?Different fruits.
5. Green vegetables?Various vegetables like bottle gourd, torai (cridged gourd), etc.
6. Food and diet?Sesame, spices, etc. which are used in food.
7. Ikshu (sweet juice) category?Sugar cane and its familes.
Sushruta'sclassification- Sushruta classified vegetables into ten categories:
1. Root- radish, etc.
2. Leaf-Whose leaves are used.
3. Thorny leafless shrubs-whose sprouts are used, like bamboo shoots.
4. Front part-Cane, etc.
5. Fruit-All fruit bearing plants.
6. Kaand-kooshmaand (pumpkins), etc.
7. Adhiroodh (flexible)-creepers, vines, etc.
8. Skin or bark-matulung cinnamon, etc.
9. Flowers-Kachnaar, etc.
10. Fungi-Mushrooms.
Sage Parashar'sclassification-Maharshi Parashar classified flower bearing plants into families like pod plants, pipeelika catkins ganeeya, swastika ganeeya, tripundak ganeeya, mallika ganeeya and koorch ganeeya. What is amazing is that the modern botanical classification matches Sage Parashar'sclassification. For example, let us see the shamiganeeya (leguminous) classification:
Sami tu tundamandala
Vishamvidalasmrita
Panchamuktadalaishchaiva
yuktajaalakarurnitaih
Dashabhih keshrairvidyat sami
pushpasya lakshanam
Samee simbiphala gyeya parshva beeja
bhavet sa
Vakram vikarnikam pushpam shukaakhya
pushpameva cha
Etaishcha pushpabhedaistu bhidyante
samijatayah.
?(Vriksh Ayurveda-pushpaangsootradhyaya)
(This book is available with Ocean Books (P) Ltd. 4/19 Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi-110 002.)
Shameeganeeya – Leguminous
According to Parashar – Modern recognition
Tundamandal – Flowers hypogamus
Visham vidal – Unequal corolla lobes
Pancha muktadal – Five true petals
Yukta jaalika – Synsephalous corolla
Dasha prikesar – Ten stamens
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