The book examines, for the first time, those threads in Indian thought that present a profile view of plants. Using texts from Vedic, Hindu, Jain and Buddhist traditions, the author argues that there is strong support in early materials that plants are thought to be alive, to be sentient, to have an interior consciousness, and to be bearers of Karma. Plants are sometimes described as sattvic, with their calmness, even-mindedness, and service to ...