Mahabharata Ramayana Kamasutra
The references below are a few rather arbitrary selections from extensive literature, provided because they were easily available. I hope to add to these in the future from other sources.
In the cases of the Mahabharata and Ramayana the quotations that can be found are for rather vague descriptive passages, rather than accounts of how particular features were constructed.
The beginning of this book contains details of the construction of the new city of Indraprastha by the Pandavas, and the building of Maya's assembly hall in it.
Narasimhan's translation; While details are sketchy, the following details of Maya's assembly hall can be seen; a large hall, containing a tank with fish and tortoises. Other rooms also contained ponds with lotuses in them. (This would mean that the lotuses were growing in the dark; perhaps one should assume that the word 'room' implied any enclosed space, with or without roofs?) Among these ponds were the one which Duryodhana mistook for a polished floor and fell into, and the crystal one that he mistook for water. Carved and artificial plants were used for architectural ornament.
Buck's translation; Maya's assembly hall is described here also, but possibly from other verses. Full grown trees were transplanted to 'parks in the courtyards'. Songbirds were put in the trees. Ponds were filled with fish and flowers. The palace was made cool in the heat and warm in the cold. It goes on to describe the pools that deceived Duryodhana.
In the earlier part of this book there are descriptions of the city of Ayodhya. It is said to be on level ground, with the houses built so close to each other that there were no gaps visible between them. It is also said to be full of parks and mango groves.
The account of the exile of Rama contains several descriptions of ashramas in the forest. These include the ashrama group in the Dandaka forest, and a description of the ashrama of Agastya. In every case there are references to lotus pools surrounded by tall trees. These themes are repeated in later descriptions of ashramas.
There is also a description of the forest retreat built by Lakshmana for the group accompanying Rama. This includes references to lotus pools, a river visible in the near distance, mountains visible in the far distance, flowering trees, and birdsong.
These details are from an electronic text of Burton's translation, which can be found on G. N. Reddy's site at http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1961. I believe that this text is now out of copyright. The details were found by a search of the text for the keywords 'garden' and 'flower'. I have not read the text (no, really I haven't!)
The first parts of this work (Sadharana), include the following recommendations for the citizen to follow;
that the citizen should study "Gardening; knowledge of treating the diseases of trees and plants, of nourishing them, and determining their ages". The citizen should have a house surrounded by a garden. As for the use of the garden, it is said that "In the garden there should be a whirling swing and a common swing, as also a bower of creepers covered with flowers, in which a raised parterre should be made for sitting. ".
No further details of the garden are given. The going to gardens as a pursuit for the afternoon is also recommended, though as the activities to be enjoyed in the garden include cockfighting and ramfighting, it may be that the term translated as garden has not brought over the original sense.
The citizen is to study the use of flowers for various purposes, including adorning the body and the house. The citizen is also to study the art of making artificial flowers. Many recommendations are made for the use of flowers for scent in the house, but without always specifying the flowers. It would imply that either there was a cutting garden available, or a plentiful supply of fragrant flowers collected from the wild.
Bathing as a social occupation is recommended, using ponds which have been built in on all sides. One could see this as a precursor to the buliding of formal outdoor baths and of stepwells.
In the section on the duties of a virtuous woman, (Bharyadhikarika ), she is recommended to do the following in the absence of her husband;
' surround the house with a garden …In the garden she should plant beds of green vegetables, bunches of the sugar cane, and clumps of the fig tree, the mustard plant, the parsley plant, the fennel plant, and the xanthochymus pictorius. Clusters of various flowers such as the trapa bispinosa, the jasmine, the jasminum grandiflorum, the yellow amaranth, the wild jasmine, the tabernamontana coronaria, the nadyaworta, the china rose and others, should likewise be planted, together with the fragrant grass andropogon schaenanthus, and the fragrant root of the plant andropogon miricatus. She should also have seats and arbours made in the garden, in the middle of which a well, tank, or pool should be dug. '
In addition there are many recommendations to use flowers for decorating the house, the person, and for using flowers as minor gifts.
In the footnotes to the section on courtesans (Vaisika), Burton makes the following observations (expanding on some points in the text).
'On the completion of a vow a festival takes place. Some trees, such as the Peepul and Banyan trees, are invested with sacred threads like the Brahman's, and on the occasion of this ceremony a festival is given. In the same way when gardens are made, and tanks or temples built, then also festivals are observed. '
The section on adornments, accessories, recipes et.c., at the end of the book (Aupamishadika ), contain references to numerous specific plants which are used in their preparation. Many of the plant names have been translated by Burton into latinized forms; these may not always be botanically correct. A good many or most, of the uses of the plants are in recipes for aphrodisiacs. I quote just one here;
'The seed of the long pepper along with the seeds of the sanseviera roxburghiana, and the hedysarum gangeticum plant, all pounded together, and mixed with milk, is productive of a similar result. '
Last modified 15-Oct-2002