Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s17.10

v1.c3.s17.10

Takman is a disease repeatedly mentioned in the Atharvaveda, but later not known under this name. It is the subject of five hymns¹ of the Atharvaveda, and is often mentioned elsewhere.² Weber³ first identified it with ‘fever,’ and Grohmann⁴ showed that all the symptoms pointed to that ailment.⁵ Reference is made to the alternate hot and shivering fits of the patient,⁶ to the yellow colour of the jaundice which accompanies the fever,⁷ and to its peculiar periodicity. The words used to describe its varieties are anye-dyuḥ,⁸ ubhaya-dyuḥ,⁹ tṛtīyaka,¹⁰ vi-tṛtīya,¹¹ and sadam-di,¹² the exact sense of most of which terms is somewhat uncertain. It is agreed¹³ that the first epithet designates the fever known as quotidianus, which recurs each day at the same hour, though the word is curious (lit.