The Compendium of Bheḷa 1.18

In the land of Gandhāra, the royal sage Nagnajit, granter of the path to heaven, / clasped the feet of Punarvasu, son of Candrabhāga, and asked:

“I have no fear of women, nor of weapons, nor of servants, / except from administrations of poison; so be my refuge in this matter.”

Being thus addressed, the great sage, the best among speakers, / expounded knowledge regarding administrations of poison to that royal sage:

“Hear from me as I describe the tainted signs / of the fourfold food and drink when mixed with poison.

It appears repulsive, frothy, with a broken surface; / that which turns white quickly, and flies do not settle upon it.

And the smoke arising from it turns greyish-blue, red, black, or yellowish; / a discerning person should recognise that food as tainted.

Blue, yellow, and black streaks resembling a rainbow appear / in the middle of all wines and whatever other beverages are consumed.

When an unguent is tainted, his skin becomes thick; / it incurs every mishap, and his flesh becomes sodden.

A poisoned garland has faded flowers, and appears withered and black; / strewn with a powdered mixture, it becomes as if covered in dust.

Body hair falls away, and the scalp burns as if scorched; / touching the beard is painful, and his head hair becomes matted.

A tainted collyrium produces pain and itching; / tears flow exceedingly, and he sees darkness.

In the fault of [tainted] smoke there is diarrhea, extreme head pain, / burning sensation, splitting pain, and improper perception of smell;

he does not perceive tastes correctly, and he is agitated as if churned by a fire-drill. / One should observe all these as the signs of [poisoned] smoke.

When a garment is tainted, the symptoms are: he feels pricked as if by needles, / burns, sweats, faints, and even sinks down.

When an ornament is tainted, burning, sweating, and itching arise; / it causes discoloration of the limbs, and it appears lusterless on its own.

Sitting upon a tainted seat, a man becomes bewildered and falls down; / he collapses with swollen testicles and is unable to stand up;

and his thighs tremble from using a tainted seat. / When a bed is tainted, the sign is numbness, and it itches intensely;

and uneven sweat flows all around through the hair pores; / pricked again and again, he imagines the bed to be covered with vermin.

Fair weather seems like foul weather, and foul weather seems like fair weather, / and the ground seems tainted around its borders, from using a tainted parasol.

A tainted razor causes discoloration of appearance; / he sheds sweat in the cold season, and becomes afflicted with cold in summer.

He trembles and suffers pain, and his speech falters; / his lips tremble, lose color, and become rough.

When the two shoes are tainted, itching arises; / the soles of the feet sweat and tingle.

Now here, O King, one should recognize these signs in someone who has drunk poison, / or who has been burned by poison, or who has been pierced by a poisoned arrow:

The man suffers cramps in his limbs, trembles, and is in distress; / his throat also shivers, and he spits repeatedly without making a sound.

His tongue becomes stiffened, as though pricked by sharp spikes; / he is unable to speak and finds no comfort.

The edge of his hair falls out, and his nails turn dusky; / his thumbs and fingers become black along with the soles and palms.

The body of the poisoned living being becomes pale; / he becomes incapacitated, like a chariot broken in battle.

Therefore, a physician skilled in the sixteen antidotes should apply treatment, / endowed with modesty, of noble birth, knowing dharma, and farsighted.

And provisions should be maintained for him properly gathered in the house, / which are proclaimed in therapeutics as beneficial for pacifying poison. Thus spoke the venerable Ātreya. Thus ends the eighteenth chapter in Bheḷa. Chapter nineteen. Now we shall explain the chapter on blood according to rule, so said the venerable Ātreya.