Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s2.46

v2.c4.s2.46

Balāsa is the name of a disease mentioned several times in the Atharvaveda¹ and occasionally later.² Mahīdhara³ and Sāyaṇa⁴ interpret the term as ‘consumption.’ Zimmer⁵ supports this view on the ground that it is mentioned⁶ as a kind of Yakṣma, makes the bones and joints fall apart (asthi-sraṃsa, paruḥ-sraṃsa),⁷ and is caused by love, aversion, and the heart,⁸ characteristics which agree with the statements of the later Hindu medicine.⁹ It is in keeping with a demon of the character of consumption that Balāsa should appear as an accompaniment of Takman.¹⁰ Grohmann,¹¹ however, thought that a ‘sore’ or ‘swelling’ (in the case of fever caused by dropsy) was meant. Bloomfield¹² considers that the question is still open. Ludwig¹³ renders the word by ‘dropsy.’