Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c13.s3.23

c13.s3.23

Meat and wine were freely prescribed as diet by physicians ⁵⁰ The practice of using skin with or without hair (saloma-nilloma) for the Jain monks and nuns is pretty old and is referred to in the Brhatkalpa sūtra. It is laid down that if a nun suffered from flatulence (uddhavāta) or from paralysis (dhanuggāha), or from piles or from acute pain, or her hand or foot was dislocated, or her whole or a part of the body was affected by ‘wind’, she was made to lie down on a skin ⁵¹ Similarly, if her waist or hand was affected by rheumatism (vāta) the skin of a hyena (taraccha) was wrapped around the affected part, and if she were bitten by a dog she was made to lie down on a tiger skin (divicamma).⁵² In the same way the hairless skin was prescribed for the Jain monks, who suffered from bad leprosy (galantakodha), piles, kacchu⁵³ or kilibha (a kind of leprosy).⁵⁴ Droppings of a ram and cow urine were used to cure leprosy known as pāmā ⁵⁵ The leg of a vulture was tied to cure paralysis (vāyu) ; the teeth and the nails of the bear and the hair of the ram were also used for similar purposes ⁵⁶ Then gosīsa sandal was used to cure leprosy full of maggots (kimikuttha).⁵⁷