Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c15.15

c15.15

§ 95. Poisons and Antidotes :-The knowledge of poisons and antidotes (*kalpa*) forms one of the eight main subjects of medicine. According to Viṣṇu 3.88 the king should not take the food until it is ascertained by experiment whether it contains poison. According to Su 5.1 (cf. AS 1.8) these trials consist of various experiments on animals by giving them the food prepared for the king. If it is poisonous, crows, flies and other animals fall to the ground, the cuckoo becomes hoarse, the crane becomes mad, the parrot groans, the peacock rejoices, the monkey excretes, the eyes of a partridge change their natural colour by simply looking at the poison. Danger also threatens the king by the death-bringing embrace of a poisonous maiden (*viṣakanyā*) according to Su 5.1.6, a superstition which is particularly known from the drama Mudrārākṣasa and is also transferred to the European literature¹. Therefore, it is the chief duty of the court-physician to protect the king from poisoning, and the inspection of the cooking house (*mahānasa*) is especially entrusted to him. A poisoner can be recognised by his speech and gestures. The special cultivation of toxicology can be explained partly on such grounds partly by the frequency of poisonous serpents and dangerous insects.