The Role of Vṛkṣāyurveda of Surapala in Environmental Protection

India has a rich cultural heritage that venerates mountains, rivers, and plants. Since Vedic philosophy, people have been encouraged to protect the environment by cultivating awareness of living and inanimate things. The environment is not an incidental thing to the people. It is integral and deeply intertwined with their daily lives. This research will be conducted based on the problem of how ancient India recognised the importance of environmental protection. Ancient India was concerned with environmental protection, and those theories appear to be increasingly important to humans today. The Vṛkṣāyurveda (the science of plant life) of Surapala highlights several aspects of interconnectedness to convey a significant message about humans and plants, including the importance of trees, merits and demerits of trees planted near the residence, soil, propagation, method of planting, nourishment of trees, treatments for trees, pleasure gardens, detection of underground water, and plant indicators for crop and animal production etc. A glance at the eighth verse of the text gives us a great understanding of bringing the four-fold fruits of dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa by growing trees and their protection. Furthermore, verse no. 22 indicates that if one plants various trees that are useful for fruits and flowers, they would be rewarded with a thousand cows and adorned with jewels. This paper intends to highlight the teachings of environmental protection by Surapala in his treatise of Vṛkṣāyurveda by understanding the science of plant life. Secondary sources related to the field will also be examined in this qualitative research, and the data will be analysed using particular methods.