Traditional Botanical Knowledge in Ancient India

Abstract

To lead a comfortable life man tried to learn the secrets of plants and their utility. In ancient times the Indian sages lived in forests and acquired knowledge from surrounding vegetation. They also observed activities of birds, reptiles, cattle and tried to correlate them with several natural phenomena. There are sufficient indications to show that agriculture, medicine and horticulture science developed to a great extent during ancient period in India. In modern times it is observed that the great contributions made by Indian scholars in the field of plant science are either being ignored or not duly acknowledged. In the present paper an attempt has been made to mention such contributions in the field of plant science, made by ancient Indian scholars, much before the inventions of modern science.