Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c9.37

c9.37

*Vaṭikā, guṭikā*, pills and balls. *Modaka*, sweet uncooked pills. *Puṭapāka*, roasted vegetable medicines. The stuffs are turned into a ball which is enveloped in leaves, strung together and is covered with a layer of mud, whereupon the whole is roasted, then the shell is broken and the roasted medicine is given either as pill or powder, or its extract as juice with honey. *Cūrṇa*, powder, is pounded in a mortar and is strained through a piece of cloth. *Kalka*, paste of a plant bruised on a stone. *Svarasa*, natural juice which is produced in a mortar by pounding fresh plants. *Leha, lehya, avalehya*, licking substance consisting of thick extracts from plants with addition of sugar. *Yavāgū*, meal-sauce with an addition of medicinal stuff. *Ariṣṭa, āsava*, a fermented drink of honey, syrup and water with various medicinal stuffs. A variety of this is *cūrṇāriṣṭa*, which is mixed with a powder. *Kañjika*, fermented rice-gruel. *Kañjikaguḍa, kañjikalavaṇa*, mixtures with syrup and salt respectively. As for the doses in which particular medicines are mixed and the mixtures are administered, much has been borrowed by the medical works from the recipes of the Bower MS. The apothecary weights correspond in general with those mentioned in Smṛtis. The most important small weight is *guñja*-the seed corn of *Abrus precatorius*, corresponding the modern *ratti* of the apothecaries and jewellers. However, there are wide local differences¹ regarding particulars. Children are to be given smaller doses.