Treatment of all poisons
सर्वविषचिकित्सित · चिकित्साधिकार
Opening of the nineteenth chapter, on poisons. Its first part covers guarding the king against poisoners, signs of poison in food, drinks and personal articles, first antidotes, and the kinds and signs of plant, mineral and tuber poisons.
- Topics
- 188
- PDF pages
- 478–514
Topics in this session
Headings from the book in reading order. Open a topic for its summary and the knowledge it refers to.
The author bows to Jinendra, teacher of the three worlds, worshipped by gods, men and serpent lords, bright as the moon and described as the remover of poison, and announces the section on…
A king who wants to live safely should keep near him a physician who knows all mantras and the science of poisons, is of good family, free of greed, skilled in every task, rich in dharma,…
With such a physician the king, a terror to all rival kings, overcomes every poison attack devised by enemy circles and keeps his kingdom happy for a long time.
Opening of the nineteenth chapter, on poisons. Its first part covers guarding the king against poisoners, signs of poison in food, drinks and personal articles, first antidotes, and the…
The wise physician, who knows the signs of poisoners and of poisons, should examine cooks and attendants well before placing them in a well-built, fully equipped kitchen, stay ever…
A poisoner laughs, chatters, scratches the ground, breaks grass and twigs for no reason, looks behind him in fear, and his face is dull and colourless. Poisoned food is likewise to be known…
The author promises to describe in order the signs of poison in special foods and in other articles such as seats, clothes and garlands, then their remedies, then all kinds of poison and…
One or two morsels of the food are set aside as an offering; if it is poisoned, flies that settle on it and crows that eat it soon die. Thrown into fire, poisoned food crackles and gives…
- Signs of poisoned food when served, handled and put in the mouthपरोसे हुए अन्न की परीक्षा व हाथ-मुखगत विषयुक्त अन्न का लक्षणToxicologyp. 408
The steam of poisoned food served on a plate confuses the eyes and causes severe pain in the nose and heart. Taken in the hand it feels as if the nails were splitting or falling off and…
- Signs of poisoned food in the stomach and intestinesआमाशय-पक्वाशयगत विषयुक्त अन्न का लक्षणToxicologyp. 408
Poisoned food reaching the stomach (hṛdaya, explained as the āmāśaya) causes heavy salivation, fainting, burning, pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, dullness and bloating. Reaching the intestines…
Poisoned liquids such as milk and water show many strange colours, bubbles and foam. Soup cooked from mung, urad, tuvar and similar pulses shows many blue streaks.
- Signs of poison in wine, water, curd, buttermilk and milkमद्य-तोय-दधि-तक्र-दुग्धगत विशिष्ट विष लक्षणToxicologyp. 409
Poison in wine or water shows as black streaks; poisoned curd turns white with a slight yellow tinge; poisoned milk and buttermilk show red streaks.
In a poisoned liquid a reflection looks double, distorted or does not appear at all. Poisoned dishes such as rice, bread, vegetables and dal quickly become tasteless, spread out, look…
- Poison in tooth-sticks, tongue scrapers, mouth fresheners and unguentsदंतकाष्ठ, अवलेख, मुखवास व लेपगत विष लक्षणToxicologyp. 409
A poisoned tooth-stick looks split, pierced or frayed and lacks a brush end; using it causes swelling, severe suppuration and pain in the mouth, and poisoned tongue scrapers and mouth…
Poisoned articles used on the whole body, such as scented decoction water and clothes, cause swelling and pain all over the body. A poisoned garland worn on the head makes the hair fall,…
A poisoned crown or comb produces the same signs as a poisoned garland. Poisoned wooden sandals or shoes make the feet crack and swell, become heavy and painful, and lose the sense of touch.
Poison put on the back of an elephant, horse or camel makes the animal discharge kapha from the mouth (its eyes turn red) and lose dhātu, while the rider gets eruptions and swelling on the…
- Poison in collyrium and ornaments; signs shown by birds and animalsअंजन-आभरणगत विष लक्षणToxicologyp. 410
Poisoned collyrium causes burning of the eyes, tears and even blindness; poisoned ornaments lose their shine and cause burning and small eruptions where worn. Verse 19 adds that at the…
When strong burning, cracking and swelling show that an article was poisoned, the poison is to be removed with suitable nasal medicine, collyrium, drinks and pastes and by emesis and…
Ghee processed with a decoction and paste of liquorice, sugar, ativiṣā, indralatā and the three pungents is given to the poisoned person to lick, followed by a meal of well-flavoured food…
The author promises to set out, gathered from the scripture, the kinds, signs and treatment of all poisons, briefly, in the way the earlier teachers described this vast subject.
All things in the world are of three kinds: those with a nourishing quality, those with a destructive quality, and those with neither. Curd, ghee, milk, buttermilk, barley, shāli rice,…
Poison, honey, wine, meat and the like cause great sin and spoil life after life, so they are called destructive (vighātaka). Grass, many trees, shrubs and creepers are neither nourishing…
Even a man of good conduct, intoxicated by wine, loses his judgement, wanders about, babbles, does what should not be done, in lust approaches even his sister, daughter or mother, and eats…
The poisons are to be described one by one with their signs and properties, following the scripture. Poison is of three kinds: forest-born or immobile (vanaja, sthāvara), animal (jaṅgama)…
Immobile (sthāvara, vanaja) poison is of ten kinds according to the part in which it resides: root, leaf, flower, fruit, bark, latex (milk), exudate (gum), heartwood, mineral and tuber.
Kṛtaka, araka, aśvamāra (kaner), guñjā and others hold poison in the root; viṣadalikā (viṣapatrikā), karambha and others in the leaves; kanaka (dhatūrā), tumbikā (bitter gourd) and others…
The heartwood, exudate and bark of the cilla tree are poisonous (a variant reads billa). Arka, tilvaka (rendered lodh) and all kinds of snuhī are latex poisons. Orpiment, sulphur, realgar,…
Root poison causes delirium, fainting and udveṣṭana, explained in a footnote as a feeling as if the body were wrapped in a wet cloth. Leaf poison causes laboured breathing, yawning and…
Bark, heartwood and exudate poisons cause headache, stiffness of the mouth, blindness and excess kapha. Latex poisons cause a heavy tongue, vomiting of much froth and excessive purging.
Mineral poisons cause burning in the heart region, fainting and dryness of the mouth. All the dreadful poisons described so far are said to destroy living beings untimely, before their span…
- The thirteen tuber poisons and the signs of kālakūṭaत्रयोदशविध कंदज विष व कालकूट लक्षणToxicologyp. 415
Tuber poisons are very dreadful and of thirteen kinds: kālakūṭa, karkaṭaka, sarṣapaka, kardamaka, vatsanābha, mūlaka, puṇḍarīka, mahāviṣa, sambhā (śṛṅgī), mustaka, hālāhala, pālaka and…
A person poisoned by karkaṭaka leaps up, wanders about and laughs a great deal. Kardamaka makes both eyes yellow and causes diarrhoea and burning.
Sarṣapaka poison causes many vāta disorders, bloating, colic and eruptions. The verse assigns yellow eyes, faeces and urine and a rigid, immovable neck to vatsanābha; the commentary runs…
Mūlaka poison causes severe vomiting, hiccup, slackness of the body and unevenness of the eyes. Puṇḍarīka poison reddens the eyes and distends the abdomen.
- Signs of mahāviṣa and sambhā poisons, with mustaka and hālāhalaमहाविष-संभाविषजन्य लक्षणToxicologyp. 416
Mahāviṣa causes lumps (granthi) and severe pain in the heart; sambhā (śṛṅgī) makes the body slack and causes great swelling of the calves, thighs, abdomen and other parts. The next verse,…
Pālaka poison makes a person suddenly weak, with throat, breath and speech all obstructed. Vairāṭaka poison causes severe pain in the body and suddenly confuses the sight.
The thirteen tuber poisons described are extremely intense, of fierce potency and harmful; endowed with their ten qualities they kill a person quickly, faster than other poisons according…
Poison has ten qualities: dry, hot, sharp, quick, pervasive (spreading through the body before it is digested), indigestible, light, loosening (slackening the joints), subtle (entering the…
Dryness provokes vāta, heat provokes pitta and blood, subtlety lets poison spread through the finest parts of the body, and sharpness breaks the body parts and vital points. Pervasiveness…
A poison that has grown old and decayed, been burnt, struck by lightning, dried in strong sun, exposed to heavy frost or rain, or treated with antidotes, so that its qualities are nearly…
When provoked, dūṣīviṣa causes vomiting, loss of appetite, thirst, fever, burning, breathlessness, cough, intermittent fever, swelling, insanity, diarrhoea and abdominal disease such as…
Heading of the passage describing the seven successive stages (vega) of immobile poisoning, each with its own signs (verses 53-58).
In the first stage the tongue becomes stiff and black, and there is fainting with fear, pain in the heart region and giddiness.
In the second stage there are trembling, throat pain, intense burning, sweating, yawning, thirst, abdominal colic and loud gurgling of the intestines.
In the third stage of all tuber (immobile) poisons the poison reaches the stomach, causing severe pain there; the throat and palate dry up and the eyes swell and turn yellow or dark.
In the fourth stage, caused by fierce poisons, there are gurgling of the intestines, abdominal colic, hiccup and great heaviness of the head.
In the fifth stage there are splitting pains in the joints, discharge of kapha, change of complexion and provocation of all three doṣas; in the sixth stage, profuse diarrhoea, colic and…
In the seventh stage the shoulders, back and waist feel broken and breathing stops. The physician who knows the stages should identify the poison by these signs and pacify it at once.
Heading of the passage on treating immobile poisoning stage by stage (verses 59-62), followed by three antidote preparations (verses 63-67).
In the first stage the patient is made to vomit and cold water is sprinkled on the body or given to drink, and then an antidote (agada) with ghee is given; in the second stage emesis is…
In the third stage nasal medicine, collyrium and an antidote drink are given; in the fourth stage all the antidotes are given without ghee.
In the fifth stage the antidote is given with a decoction of sweet drugs; in the sixth the treatment follows that of diarrhoea, with strong nasal medicine and collyrium.
In the seventh stage sharp collyrium and pressed nasal medicine (avapīḍa) are applied, a crow's-foot incision (kākapada) is made on the head with a knife, and every other measure for…
Ghee cooked with sārivā, citraka, the three pungents, pāṭhā, pāṭalā, kiṇihī (apāmārga), turmeric, pīlu, guḍūcī and śirīṣa is said to destroy every kind of poison.
Ghee cooked with kuṣṭha, sandal, reṇukā, turmeric, devadāru, both kinds of bṛhatī, mañjiṣṭhā, priyaṅgu, viḍaṅga, nīlī, sārivā, tagara and pūtikarañja is said to overcome all fierce poisons,…
Long pepper, liquorice, saffron, kuṣṭha, dhyāmaka, tagara, lodhra, jaṭāmāṃsī, sandal, natron (sajjīkhār), guḍūcī and small cardamom are powdered and mixed with sugar and cow's ghee; eaten,…
Closing line marking the end of the description of immobile (sthāvara) poisons.
Opening line of the account of animal (jaṅgama) poisons, which in this part covers their sixteen seats, the creatures that carry them, their ten qualities, the five kinds of snakes and the…
Animal poison is very dreadful and of sixteen kinds, named after its seat in the creature: sight, breath, fangs, saliva, urine, faeces, semen, nails, wind, bile, anal region, bones, touch,…
Divine serpents carry intense poison in their sight and breath; a footnote says they live in the world of the gods and their poison spreads, with effect far away, merely by their gaze or…
Śiṃśumāra, crocodiles and other four-footed creatures, several kinds of poisonous frogs and house lizards carry poison in their teeth and nails.
Creeping creatures carry intense poison in their urine, faeces and teeth; many kinds of rats carry it in their semen; scorpions in their saliva and faeces.
Creatures with strange bodies and many feet carry poison in their touch, bite, wind and anal region; the kaṇabha and leeches carry intense poison in their bite.
The bones of creatures killed by thorn poison, of wicked snakes and of varakī and many other fish are poisonous (bone poisons), and the bile of varakī and similar fish is also intensely…
Flies, mosquitoes, bees and the like carry intense poison in their stings (śūka, stiff poisonous bristles), and the dead bodies of many kinds of minute, inconceivable poisonous insects are…
Animal poisons have the same ten qualities described for immobile poisons, and so all of them provoke all the doṣas and dhātus of the body.
Among animal poisons that of snakes is the most dreadful. Snakes are of five kinds: darvīkara (hooded), maṇḍalī (with round patches), rājīmanta (striped), vaikarañja (born of a cross…
Nothing need be said about medicines for the sight and breath poison of divine serpents; the commentary explains that no medicine pacifies it and that such serpents rage only when…
Snakes bite people, mostly out of great anger, when protecting their young, when in frenzy, from greed for food, when trodden on or knocked, when touched and from fear. A footnote gives a…
The text says a snake's bite is of three kinds: svarpita, radita (rachita) and udvihita. A svarpita bite is made with one to four venomous fangs, shows fang wounds with swelling and carries…
A bite marked with red, black or white lines, with swelling but no wound, is called radita (rachita); it is said to carry little poison, which should be removed quickly once recognised.
When the bitten person stays well, the blood is not vitiated and fang marks are seen without swelling, the bite is described as non-venomous and is called udvihita.
In a very timid person, the touch of a snake's body or a slight hurt from it can make vata provoked by fright produce swelling; this is called sarpangabhihata and is said to be non-venomous.
Darvikara snakes are described as hooded, bearing marks of an umbrella, plough, moon, wheel, swastika or goad on the head, fast-moving and quick to anger, with vata predominating in body…
Mandali snakes are described as covered with many-coloured circular patches, slow-moving, very long (and thick), with very hot poison, living on the ground.
Rajimanta snakes are described as marked with colourful straight and oblique stripes, with shining bodies, some reddish, and with kapha predominating in body and poison.
The text says darvikara poison provokes vata, mandali poison provokes pitta and rajimanta poison provokes kapha.
- Doshas provoked by vaikaranja poison and signs of a darvikara biteवैकरंज के विष से दोष प्रकोप व दर्वीकर दष्टलक्षणToxicologyp. 426
Vaikaranja snakes, born of a union of two kinds, are said to have poison that provokes two doshas. A person bitten by a darvikara shows all the signs of provoked vata.
A mandali bite shows pitta signs such as burning and a rajimanta bite shows kapha signs. Having identified the snake from these signs, the physician should remove the poison with suitable…
In darvikara poisoning the text lists seven stages: the poison blackens the blood, then affects the flesh, then causes heaviness of the eyes and headache, then reaches the abdomen and…
In mandali poisoning the blood turns yellow in the first stage; in the second the flesh is affected, eyes and face turn pale and the mouth bitter; then come thirst, high fever and intense…
In rajimanta poisoning the blood turns reddish and slimy, then the flesh turns very pale, then saliva flows profusely, then come neck stiffness and severe headache, then speech stops, then…
- How long poison stays in the bite and why there are seven stagesदंश में विष रहने का काल व सप्तवेगकारणToxicologyp. 428
The text says poison stays at the bite for at most 450 matra units of time, then, carried by vata, passes from one dhatu to the next, each passage making one stage, so there are exactly…
For a bite on a hand or foot the text says to tie the limb tightly four finger-breadths above the bite, cut out the bitten flesh and let the blood out; where tying is impossible the place…
The text says all poisons, even those that medicines cannot remove, yield to mantras, so the physician should first protect life quickly with mantras and afterwards apply medicines.
One of the veins above and below the bite is tied and pierced with an instrument to let blood; if the poison has spread through the whole body, a vein of the panchanga (hands, feet or…
Once the spoilt blood is removed, the text says all the poison quickly goes; the patient is then bathed in cold water and afterwards given medicines with curd, ghee and milk.
- Stage-wise treatment of darvikara poisoningदर्वीकर सर्पों के सप्तवेगों में पृथक् पृथक् चिकित्साMethodp. 430
For darvikara poisoning the text prescribes, stage by stage, letting blood with an instrument, a drink of antidote, nasal medicine and collyrium, thorough emesis, cold water and cold pastes…
- Stage-wise treatment of mandali and rajimanta poisoningमंडली व राजीमंत सर्पों के सप्तवेगों की पृथक्-पृथक् चिकित्साMethodp. 430
For mandali poisoning: a shallow incision to let blood in stage 1, antidote mixed with ghee then prompt emesis in stage 2, emesis again in stage 3, and the darvikara measures for the rest.…
When a wound made by an arrow or similar weapon discharges black blood, is itself black and burning, and foul-smelling flesh falls away in pieces, it is to be known as digdhaviddha, a wound…
If a wounded person turns dark, is overcome by fainting, suffers heat and fever, and black flesh keeps falling from the wound, the text says one should know that poison has been put into…
The moist, rotting, foul flesh is removed, the spoilt blood drawn out with leeches, the patient purified and treated with cold decoctions of milky-sap trees, and a paste of cold…
Equal parts of manjishtha, licorice, trivrit, devadaru, grapes, the two turmerics, bharangi, the three pungents, vidanga, asafoetida and salt are powdered, mixed with ghee and kept in a…
Patha, asafoetida, triphala, the three pungents, parpataka, ajamoda, chitraka, rock salt, vida salt, vidanga and black salt are powdered, mixed with cow ghee and kept in a horn; used for…
Sthauneyaka, devadaru, both sandalwoods, both drumsticks, guggulu, talisa, kuta, nara, kutaja, ugra (ajwain), arka, chitraka, black salt, kushtha, kutki and the three pungents are powdered,…
Talisa, large cardamom, vidanga, kushtha, vida salt, rock salt, bharangi, asafoetida, indravaruni, apamarga, patha, patola, vacha and the flowers of arka, karanja, vajra, surasa, bhallataka…
Equal parts of manjishtha, licorice, both drumsticks, turmeric, lac, realgar, orpiment, ingudi, cardamom and renuka are powdered, mixed with the urines (the commentary: eight kinds) and the…
Aparajita, budharakarnika, apamarga, shleshmataka, katphala, kantakari, meghaninadika (the commentary: palasha), brihati, ankola and nili are powdered, mixed in the juice of bitter gourd…
Having given formulas for all vata and kapha poisons, the text now gives very cooling ones for pitta poisons: sariva, jatamamsi, raisins, clove, cinnamon, shyama, somalata, shallaki,…
The antidote formulas are smeared on the flute, conch, pataha, bheri and mridanga drums, and their sound is said to free poisoned, nearly dead people of poison. A footnote adds that when…
As semen spread through the body reaches its channels on the sight or touch of the beloved, the poison spread through a snake's body comes quickly to the tips of its fangs when it is angry;…
Experts in toxicology are said to call poison very hot and sharp, so cold measures such as cold-water bathing benefit the poisoned person. Insect poison, however, is cold, increases kapha…
A person with abdominal distension who repeatedly passes stool like raw flesh and coloured like orpiment, drips froth from the mouth, and whose heart fire does not burn properly after…
Bites received at anthills, temples, cremation grounds, under milky trees, at twilight, at crossroads, at the rise of kulika or under dreadful asterisms such as Bharani and Magha, bites…
- Further incurable signs; poisons of other creatures; wild animal bitesसर्पदष्ट के असाध्यलक्षणPrognosisp. 436
No weal from a whip, no blood from a cut, no gooseflesh from cold water, a wick of kapha from the mouth, bleeding from upper and lower passages and loss of sleep mark an incurable…
- Incurable signs of poison from fierce animals; dread of waterहिंसक प्राणिजन्य विष का असाध्य लक्षणPrognosisp. 437
If those bitten by fierce animals act like the biting animal, see its form in a mirror, lamp, sunlight or water, and are terrified by the sound, touch or sight of water (jalatrasa), these…
Rats of many kinds are said to carry fierce poison in their semen. Where it falls, where something touched by it touches, or where their teeth or nails wound, the blood is spoilt and edged…
Those bitten by rats are given emesis and purgation according to the provoked dosha with aragvadha, madanaphala, ankola and koshataki; afterwards a powder of kushtha, nili, kantakari, white…
One prastha of ghee is cooked by rule with one prastha each of curd and milk, four parts of a decoction of snuhi, arka, white arka, gojihva, aragvadha, kutaja, kantakari and karanja, and a…
Very poisonous insects of many kinds are said to arise from the urine, faeces, corpses, semen, blood and eggs of snakes, and others by spontaneous generation in poisonous plants and sharp…
Where spiders and other poisonous insects bite, the blood is spoilt by the mild, moderate or strong poison and the doshas are provoked, producing round patches, swollen pimples, lumps,…
People who unknowingly eat insect bodies mixed in their food develop diseases with many severe complications; they are to be treated with the formulas given for dushivisha (latent poison),…
The roots, bark and leaves of about fifty plants (arka, ankola, chitraka, white oleander, musta, the milky and astringent trees and many others) are burnt to ash; the ash is mixed with six…
Various alkalis, cow urine, salts, the three pungents, all aromatic substances and all kinds of flowers, dried and powdered, are mixed with ghee and jaggery into the preceding alkali…
When the strong antidotes have removed the poison, the body heat settles, the senses become clear, appetite returns and stool and urine pass normally; these are the signs of being free of…
A poisoned person avoids day sleep, sexual intercourse, much exercise, much sun and anger, and also oil, horse gram, sesame, liquor, sour gruel, buttermilk and sour things; in strong…
When the poison from bites of many kinds of poisonous insects, spiders and the like reaches a fierce stage it can kill, so the poisoned wound is incised with an instrument and treated with…
The closing verse says this work is like a drop drawn from the great ocean of scripture that came from the mouth of the Jina, with all substances and principles as its waves and the means…
- Colophon of chapter 19इत्युग्रादित्याचार्यविरचिते कल्याणकारके चिकित्साधिकारे सर्वविषचिकित्सितं नाम एकोनविंशः परिच्छेदः।Editorialp. 442
The colophon closes the nineteenth chapter, named Sarvavishachikitsita (treatment of all poisons), in the treatment section of the Kalyanakaraka composed by Ugradityacharya; the Hindi…