Anandakanda 1.14

Āk, 1, 14
<Poison; the origin of poison>
Śrī Bhairavī:
All has been heard by me, O Lord: every divine rejuvenation therapy. / Speak also of the origin, varieties, use, and results of poison.

Śrī Bhairava:
When the Ocean of Milk was being churned using Mount Mandara as a churning stick / by the Siddhas, Kinnaras, Guhyendras, Piśācas, Uragas, Rākṣasas,

all the gods beginning with Brahmā on one side, and the chiefs of Danujas, / the mighty and valorous Daityas, on the other;

then jewels arose, beginning with Kaustubha, the wish-fulfilling cow, / the wish-fulfilling tree, Mahālakṣmī, and the great elephant Airāvata,

Uccaiḥśravas as well as the Moon, Dhanvantari the best of physicians, / the nectar of immortality, and divine creepers bestowing divine accomplishments.

Then, from the mouth of the king of serpents, exhausted by the whirling of Mandara, / a flame of poison arose, fierce and terrifying to the worlds.

It sank into the Ocean of Milk, and through intense churning once more, / kālakūṭa, the great poison, arose, resembling Yama at the end of an aeon.

Seeing it resembling the fire of cosmic dissolution, the gods, terrified then, / came into my presence, praising [me] with distressed minds:

“O Lord, supreme over all, protect [us], O protector of those who take refuge!” / Uttering such praise in many ways, those gods and asuras [prayed].

Making a smiling face, I then drank the kālakūṭa; / whatever remained here and there arose in many forms upon the earth:

in some places in the form of roots, in some places in the form of bark, beloved, / in some places in the form of leaves, and in some places in the form of water.

Thus of many kinds did the dispersed poison become here and there. / Among them, the bulb-poisons are the best: eighteen poisons, beloved.

<Poison: ten kinds>
I shall describe the divisions in order: kālakūṭa, dardura, / hālāhala, meṣaśṛṅga, mohada, granthi, karkaṭa,

raktaśṛṅgī, haridra, and kesara is remembered as the tenth. / These ten kinds of poisons must not be used in rejuvenation therapy.

<Poison: eight kinds>
Śvetaśṛṅgī, vatsanābha, sarṣapa, śṛṅgī, vāluka, / mustaka, saktuka, and the eighth, O goddess, is kardama.

Eight kinds are declared which should be employed in rejuvenation therapy. / Kālakūṭa shines like a crow's beak, resembling a frog.

Dardura is blue-colored, resembling hālāhala poison; / meṣaśṛṅgī has the appearance of a ram's horn; mohada, furthermore,

has a red and blue luster, O goddess; granthika is knotted; / karkaṭa has a tawny hue; raktaśṛṅgī is a great poison,

blackish-tawny and red in appearance; haridra resembles turmeric; / kesara has the appearance of lotus filaments. Thus are the ten kinds.

Śvetaśṛṅgī has the appearance of an elephant's tusk; vatsanābha is pale white; / sarṣapa is marked with dots having the shape of mustard seeds;

śṛṅgī should be known to have the shape of a horn; vāluka has the form of sand; / mustaka has the shape of nutgrass; saktuka is white in color;

kardama, O goddess, has the shape of beeswax, the highest poison. / When the poison pieces are broken, dots are seen within them

which are white, red, yellow, and black, corresponding in order to the brahmins and other [castes]: / the white ones in rejuvenation therapy, the red ones in subjugation and mercury work,

the yellow ones in minor rites, and the black-colored ones in eradication rites. / Poison used properly is nectar, O goddess; improperly used, it becomes poison.

Therefore, poison should be taken properly, never improperly; / poison is equal in potency to mercury, mica, gold, and kānta iron.

<Purification of poison>
One should bind [it] in a cloth smeared with red mustard oil; / after three days, taking it out along with an equal amount of borax,

one should grind it into a fine powder, and it becomes purified. / Used in disease and rejuvenation therapy, it bestows alchemical perfection, O fair-faced one.

<Poison rejuvenation therapy>
With body purified by purgation and the like, eating wholesome food, one should become a consumer of poison. / It should be consumed gradually in amounts of a mustard seed, a large mustard seed,

a mung bean, a grain of rice, barley, a māṣa bean, with the measure of a guñjā as the upper limit. / Consumed with sugar, that poison becomes nectar.

Pungent, sour, and salty flavors are to be avoided; exercise, heat, sunlight, and the like, / as well as oil and foodstuffs prepared with mustard, are to be avoided in poison rejuvenation therapy.

Cow's milk, ghee, buttermilk, unctuous curd, and sugar,
[as well as] sweet-tasting substances should be consumed; otherwise, it becomes a cause of disorders.

<Complications of poison and their treatment>
When consumed in [proper] measure, O beloved, poison becomes ambrosia;
if it should be taken in excess, even ambrosia turns into poison.

If it is taken in excess through negligence, then bouts occur:
in the first bout there is distress, and tremor in the second;

in the third, thirst and a burning sensation; in the fourth, impairment of mobility;
in the fifth, foaming at the mouth occurs; in the sixth, collapse of the neck;

in the seventh, inability to rise; and in the eighth, death occurs.
Therefore, a remedy must be performed immediately, O fair-faced one.

Poison that slightly exceeds the [prescribed] dose produces diverse diseases:
confusion, loss of memory, colic, and severe vomiting and diarrhea;

loss of voice, stammering, a burning sensation, and also dizzy vision;
ear pain, dyspnea, cough, and other disorders arising from the vāta humor.

When signs of an overdose are seen on the body, O beloved,
then one niṣka of borax, and also four times as much ghee,

should be drunk to avert that; or taṇḍulīyaka with water;
or one niṣka of marrow from the fruit of the putrajīva tree with water;

or two paṇas by measure of tuttha with human urine; or turmeric,
or vacā, or devadālī, or sarpākṣī, or sārbuṇī,

paṭolī, [or] giriparṇī, individually with human urine, conquers poison.
Enclosed with the four syllables lāṃ, yāṃ, vāṃ, hāṃ, the Gāruḍa [mantra]:

Arresting, stupefying, expelling, and deprival of venom likewise:
With this mantra, "lāṃ proṃ lāṃ", arresting [is performed].
Having consecrated a pot of cold water, one should pour the water over the poisoned person's head;
the poison does not advance.
With this stupefying mantra, "yāṃ proṃ yāṃ", one should blind the peacock of the poisoned person.
With this expelling mantra, "vāṃ proṃ vāṃ", having consecrated a stick of arka or a stick of dhuttūra wood, and touching all the limbs of the poisoned person, one should expel the poison.
With this deprival of venom mantra, "hāṃ proṃ hāṃ", in order to deprive of venom, one should wipe all the limbs of the poisoned person with the stick; he becomes well.
If the poison has been digested in the body, O beloved, vomiting until pitta appears [is prescribed];

purgation up to the expulsion of undigested matter must be carried out; eating the root of taṇḍulīyaka,
one should consume meat with ghee: it removes the defect of poison.

One who takes the previously stated dose is liberated from grave disease;
O goddess, by the regimen of six months, senescence and graying hair are shattered;

by use for a year, one lives as long as the moon, sun, and stars.
The rejuvenation therapy with poison should be applied in early winter, late winter, and spring;

in summer, the rainy season, and autumn it must never be used.
Those plagued by the vāta humor, the elderly, pregnant women, those afflicted by hunger, thirst, heat, and journeying,

eunuchs, those emaciated by disease, those excessive in the pitta humor and anger,
and consumptives are never suitable for rejuvenation therapy with poison.