Over the last three or four decades, ideas from the west, which are termed ‘agro-ecology’ or ‘organic farming’ or ‘bio-dynamic agriculture’ or ‘holistic farming’ have found in the Bharat decades ago.
The spiritual and scriptural underpinnings of the activities, which we have only recently started to call ‘agriculture’, but which held much greater meaning as ‘varta’ and the more familiar ‘Krishi’, because of their inherent connection to ‘annadana’.
Read part I here. It was the railways – seen by the early administration of Independent India as having been bestowed by the British crown – that led to the…
The Kamandakiya Nitisastra, which was studied closely by Mahamahopadhyay Pandurang Vaman Kane, compiler of the magisterial ‘History of Dharmasastra’, has this to say about rastra, the territory of the state:…
Conversant as much with the panchabhutas as with the needs of Ayurveda, ancient India’s farmers fulfilled the role seen for them by rishi Kashyapa: nurturers of abundance and upholders of the principle of sharing. Rahul Goswami writes about the Agriculture in Ancient India, as we celebrate National Farmers’ Day today.
Specializes in research and documentation of the knowledge systems and practices of India, with a special focus on environment and agriculture. A domain expert in the Asia region for UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention.
