The Bower Manuscript 2

2

Homage to the Tathāgatas. Furnished with the chief formulations formerly composed by the great seers,
I shall declare an epitome of perfected recipes, named Nāvanītaka by name.
Whatever is beneficial for men and women afflicted with diverse diseases,
and whatever is beneficial for children, all that will be declared here.
It increases the joy of physicians who delight in concise methods,
and, through its abundance of recipes, accords with the mind of one familiar with detailed accounts.
The first chapter declared here is of powdered recipes;
the second is of clarified butter drinks, the third is called that of sesame oils;
the fourth is named 'composite' for the treatment of diverse diseases;
the fifth is of enema recipes; then the procedure for rejuvenators;
and the seventh is of gruels; the eighth is called aphrodisiac;
the ninth is of eye salves, and the tenth is hair dyeing;
the eleventh is called the preparation of chebulic myrobalan here;
the twelfth shall be of bitumen, the thirteenth of Plumbago zeylanica;
the fourteenth here is accepted as pediatrics;
and the fifteenth is to be known by the wise as the treatment of barren women;
and the sixteenth is considered the treatment of fortunate women.
Thus these sixteen chapters are to be known as the Nāvanītaka.
One should never give this to a sonless man, nor to one without brothers under any circumstances;
it is my opinion that no presentation should be made to one who is not a pupil.
Flacourtia cataphracta leaf, black pepper, dry ginger, and long pepper,
with parts increasing in order, and cinnamon and cardamom each in a half part;
and here white sugar is to be added eight times the long pepper.
That powder removes cough, dyspnea, and loss of appetite, and stimulates relish for food;
it dispels heart disease, anemia, impaired digestion, consumption, cough, spleen disorder, and fever;
it cures vomiting, diarrhea, and phantom tumor, and normalizes obstructed wind humour. Thus [ends] the powder named Tālīsaka.
Bishop's weed, tamarind, dry ginger, Garcinia pedunculata,
pomegranate, and sour jujube—one should prepare a karṣa measure each of these;
coriander, black salt, cumin, and cinnamon leaf each in half-karṣa measures;
one hundred [fruits] of long pepper, and two hundred of black pepper;
and one should powder four pala measures of sugar together.
Cleansing the tongue, pleasant to the heart, that powder stimulates relish for food;
it dispels heart pain, spleen pain, and pain in the flanks, and cures constipation and abdominal distension;
it removes cough and dyspnea, is astringent, and dispels disorders of impaired digestion and hemorrhoids. Thus [ends] the powder named Ṣāḍava.
[…] raisin, long pepper, dry ginger,
l不懂 [taken as] a linctus with citron juice and honey destroys dyspnea.
Puffed grain, …, eye salve, and berries of long pepper
combined with the fresh juice of Albizia lebbeck flowers is supreme in removing dyspnea.
Licorice, black pepper, Clerodendrum serratum, raisin, and Inula racemosa;
a confection combined with honey and clarified butter prevents hiccup and dyspnea.
A peacock's quill, a stag's horn, and the shoulder[-bone] of a blackbuck, soaked in clarified butter
and burnt inside a sealed crucible—the dyspneic person should lick that with honey and clarified butter.
Powder of coral, conch shell, and three myrobalans, soaked in honey and clarified butter,
and long pepper and red ochre—this linctus prevents hiccup.
Hemp seed, coral, and red ochre—one should cause [the patient] to lick them
with honey and clarified butter in hiccup, as well as the ash of bones of a donkey, camel, and horse;
or one should drink castor oil mixed with the scum of Vāruṇī wine;
for the relief of hiccup and dyspnea, an unctuated person should drink an evacuant.