The Bower Manuscript 10

10

II. Fol. 8: Bower manuscript
One should cook [it] slowly over a gentle fire; and having known it to be well cooked, one should store it, thoroughly strained. // 214
Whatever diseases arise in the body from phlegm and wind humours,
for them this foremost ghee is prescribed for regular use. // 215
[Named] Mūlaka Ghee: 6 verses.
A wise physician should boil one hundred [bulbs] of garlic in a droṇa of water,
and take down the decoction when reduced to a fourth part. // 216
With that decoction the physician should cook an āḍhaka measure of ghee,
and while it is cooking he should add these ground paste-ingredients: // 217
a karṣa measure of plumbago root, and a karṣa measure of long pepper,
and there should be a karṣa measure of wild pepper, as well as a pala measure of ginger; // 218
and half a pala measure of the five salts, and [half a pala measure] of amlavetasa,
likewise there should be a pala measure of rāmaṭha, which is asafoetida. // 219
When cooked, thoroughly strained, one should store it well guarded.
Then one should drink the [proper] dose at the [proper] time; hear from me [the diseases] in which it is beneficial: // 220
in wind-induced gravel, in sciatica, in wind-gulma, in enlargement of the spleen and abdomen,
for those [suffering] from excessive pallor due to wind and phlegm humours, in hemorrhoids, and then in fistula-in-ano; // 221
one should give [it] to those suffering from disease in one limb,
as well as to those suffering from disease in all limbs.
For this garlic-based ghee was indeed devised by the two Aśvins. // 222
The ghee named Āśvina Garlic [Ghee]: 7 verses.
One should cook ghee in tenfold water until the water is exhausted;
then emblic myrobalan likewise is to be cooked in tenfold water. // 223
When this is reduced to a tenth part, one should cook a prastha measure of ghee [in it].
Then one should cause one emaciated by fever to drink a dose according to strength. // 224
This clarified butter destroys all fevers and is revered by Brahmā;
used for a long period, it becomes
a tonic promoting strength. // 225
The Āśvina ghee destroying fever: 3 verses.
One should take twenty emblic myrobalans, twenty chebulic myrobalans,
and twenty belleric myrobalans; and there should be a pala measure of trāyamāṇā; // 226
likewise there should be a pala measure of tiktarohiṇī and of guḍūcī;
boiled in half a kaṃsa measure of water, reduced to a fourth part, // 227
one should put on the fire this choice scum of ghee with a kuḍava measure [of decoction].
There one should throw in these fresh substances made into paste: // 228
half a pala measure of long peppers and half a pala measure of trivṛt,
a fourth part [of a pala measure] of kampillaka, and there should be ten [fruits of] nicula. // 229
That, cooked and strained, is to be drunk, destroying jaundice and chlorosis,
for those suffering from gulma, scrotal enlargement, urinary disorder,
in edema, for those suffering from skin disease, // 230
for penile disease, abdominal enlargements, in upward movement of wind and in fevers,
and for diseases caused by incompatible foods, this Siddhottara Ghee is wholesome. // 231
The ghee named Siddhottara: 6 verses.
One should take eight handfuls of roots of dantī and plumbago,
twenty heavy chebulic myrobalans, and six pala measures of devadāru, // 232
neem, kadamba, varaṇa, cassia, punarnavā,
and the bark of ciribilva are traditionally taught to be six pala measures each. // 233
Gathering the two sets of five roots, measured at an āḍhaka each,
one should boil them in a droṇa of lake water over a gentle fire. // 234
One should take down that decoction when reduced to a fourth part.
One should cook it in an āḍhaka measure of ghee and add these ground ingredients: // 235
long pepper, long pepper root, wild pepper, and black pepper;
and one should throw in one karṣa measure each of the five salts. // 236
This clarified butter of Dhanvantari is the destroyer of all diseases;
[it cures] the five manifest gulmas, and the eight abdominal enlargements, // 237
edema, consumption, hemorrhoids, and the twenty-one urinary disorders;
it enkindles weak digestive fire and overcomes skin diseases of various kinds. // 238
And whatever poison there may be from snakes, rats, and artificial poisons;
there is no restriction on all foods, and it nourishes one's own body. // 239
This clarified butter of Dhanvantari is foremost, revered by Brahmā;
employing it properly, one attains supreme success. // 240
[The ghee of] Dhanvantari: 9 verses.
There should be sandalwood, and uśīra, padmaka, kuruvindaka;
one should add an equal amount of trāyamāṇā, as well as candana-śārivā, // 241
likewise prativiṣā, and there should be tāmalakī;
the physician should cook a prastha measure of ghee in fourfold water. // 242
For that, drunk, is beneficial for those suffering from urinary disorder, and in internal hemorrhage and phthisis;
for hemorrhoids, loose stools, and in jaundice it is beneficial; // 243
it dispels digestive disorders and skin diseases of embodied beings;
this clarified butter, destroying poison, resembles nectar and is wholesome. // 244
The Āśvina ghee destroying poison: 4 verses.
Plumbago, trivṛt, and black trivṛt, one pala measure each,