A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c13.133

v1.c13.133

It begins with a story on the first appearance⁴⁸⁹ of this disease. During the first age of the world (ādikāla) the sacrificial animals were not killed, but only taken hold of. Later, after Dakṣa's sacrifice,⁴⁹⁰ the animals began to be consecrated (prokṣaṇa)⁴⁹¹ with their own consent (abhyanujñāna), in the sacrificial rites (kratu) of the sons of (Vaivasvata) Manu, called Nariṣyant, Nābhāga, Ikṣvāku, Nṛga, Śaryāti,⁴⁹² etc. Still later, Ṛṣabha⁴⁹³ started sacrificing cattle, because other animals were not available for his prolonged soma ritual (dīrghasattra).⁴⁹⁴ This made all creatures grief-stricken, and, when the meat of these cattle was consumed, all creatures began, because of their mental affliction and, consequently, by an impaired digestive fire, to suffer from diarrhoea, due to the properties of this inauspicious (aśasta) food (19.4).