Agnipurana 286
English (machine translation) 286
- Language
- English
Contents
286.1
I shall tell you, O Romapāda, the characteristics and treatment of elephants: / Those having long trunks, deep breathing, and great endurance are praised.
286.2
Those with twenty or eighteen nails, whose rut flows in the cold season, / whose right tusk is elevated, and whose trumpeting resembles a cloud,
286.3
and whose ears are broad with skin dotted with tiny speckles— / these should be kept; dwarf elephants and those that are crooked should not be kept.
286.4
Elephants pregnant sideways and dull elephants [are likewise avoided]. / Color, temperament, strength, form, luster, compactness, and speed:
286.5
An elephant established in these seven virtues conquers enemies in battle. / Elephants are the supreme splendor of the camp and of the army.
286.6
Victory for kings depends upon elephants alone. / An unctuous enema must be administered in all forms of pākala fever;
286.7
a decoction cooked with ghee and oil [is given], and a stall free from wind [is maintained]. / And treatment must be performed on the shoulders, O kings, according to the keeper.
286.8
In jaundice, cow's urine with both turmerics and ghee [is prescribed], O twice-born; / in constipation, pouring [warm water] over one smeared with oil is recommended,
286.9
along with vāruṇī liquor mixed with the five salts for drinking.
286.9.p1
[Footnote]
286.9.p2
[Variant reading note: "1 Dhanvantari said" in manuscript ña.]
286.9.p3
[Variant reading note: "2 mardanāḥ" in manuscript ña. / Page 61]
286.9_2
Mouthfuls prepared with viḍaṅga, triphalā, the three pungents, and rock salt
286.10
should be fed to the elephant in swoons, and honey and water should be given to drink. / An ointment and nasal medication are praised for headache.
286.11
An oily poultice applied to elephants cures diseases of the feet; / thereafter, cleansing with a paste and decoction is prescribed.
286.12
One should feed an elephant suffering from tremors with the broths / of peafowl, francolins, and quails mixed with long pepper and black pepper.
286.13
Tender bilva, lodhra, and dhātakī along with white sugar: / the elephant should eat [this] bolus for the destruction of diarrhea.
286.14
In stiffness of the trunk, nasal administration of ghee mixed with salt should be given. / Gruel prepared with long pepper, ginger, cumin, and nut grass
286.15
should be given in stiffness of the ears, as well as boar broth. / Cooked with the ten roots, horse gram, sour gruel, and black nightshade,
286.16
oil mixed with pungent spices cures the affliction of throat spasms. / One should make [the elephant] drink ghee in clear liquor with eight ground salts.
286.17
In retention of urine, a decoction of cucumber seeds [is given]; / in skin diseases, the elephant should drink a decoction of nimba or vāśā.
286.18
Cow's urine and viḍaṅga are recommended for intestinal worms. / Milk boiled with ginger, long pepper, grapes, and sugar
286.19
is a drink that cures wounds and wasting; likewise meat broth is beneficial. / Boiled rice with mung beans mixed with the three pungents is praised in loss of appetite.
286.20
Trivṛt, the three pungents, agni, danti, arka, milky syāmā, and gajapippalī: / an oil prepared with these removes abdominal tumors; likewise another [preparation]:
286.20.p1
[Page 62]
286.21
By means of purgation, liquefaction, massage, unctuous drinks, and unctuous enemas, / one should completely remove all arising swellings.
286.22
One should have [the elephant] drink sixty-day rice with autumn mung bean soup; / likewise a plaster made of tender bilva is praised in flatulence.
286.23
Viḍaṅga, indrayava, asafoetida, pine, and the two turmerics: / one should administer balls [of these] in the morning to alleviate all colicky pains.
286.24
Among their primary foods are sixty-day rice, vrīhi rice, and winter rice; / barley and wheat are middling, and the rest are inferior for the elephant.
286.25
Barley and likewise sugarcane increase the strength of elephants. / Dry fodder aggravates the bodily humors of elephants.
286.26
For an elephant depleted of rut, drinking milk is praised; / meat broth boiled with digestive ingredients is likewise beneficial.
286.27
Crow and dog, both; a raven, an owl, and a monkey, / combined with honey, become a bolus [to be given] in battle in great danger.
286.28
Pungent fish, viḍaṅga, alkali, koṣātakī, milk, / and turmeric: this fumigation brings victory to an elephant.
286.29
Long pepper, broken rice, oil, mādhvīka wine, and honey: / this wash for the eyes is praised as stimulating.
286.30
Dung of a sparrow and of a pigeon, / and dung of milky trees: a clear collyrium is desired.
286.30.p1
[Footnote]
286.30.p2
[Variant reading note: "1 mudgayūṣeṇa" in ja. and ña.]
286.30.p3
[Variant reading note: "2 madāya hi" in ña.]
286.30.p4
[Variant reading note: "3 kṣīravṛkṣakarīrāḥ" in ña. / Page 63]
286.31
One whose eyes are smeared with this works slaughter in battle. / Blue water lilies and fragrant cyperus grass with tagara,
286.32
ground with rice water, provide the supreme cooling for the eyes. / In overgrowth of the nails, clipping the nails and sprinkling with oil is done monthly.
286.33
Its bedding area should be made of dry dung and dust; / and in autumn and summer, sprinkling with ghee is desired.
286.33.p1
Thus in the great Purāṇa of Agni, the two hundred and eighty-sixth chapter, named "The Treatment of Elephants."
286.33.p3
Now, the two hundred and eighty-seventh chapter:
286.33.p4
The Essence of Horsemanship
Other recensions (1)
- Agnipurāṇa (Nag Publishers edition, Delhi) — Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Agnipurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit