A History of Indian Medical Literature v2.c33.39

v2.c33.39

19 This fumigation has to be carried out with drugs that are rakṣoghna (driving away all evil influences). White mustard seeds (gaurasarṣapa) are one of the ingredients of the dhūpa; see on the uses of (gaura)sarṣapa for protection and purification: Ca.Śa.8.47 and 50; Manusmṛti 5.120; P.K. Gode (1935b) and (1959). See on fumigation in Indian medicine: L.S.B. Bisht, N.B. Brindavanam and G.P. Kimothi (1988). Dalhaṇa remarks that fumigation also serves to drive away black flies that might be attracted to and lay their eggs in the wound. 20 These mantras give protection against kṛtyā (sorcery) and evil beings (rakṣas), consisting of nāgas, piśācas, gandharvas, ancestral ghosts (pitaraḥ), yakṣas and rākṣasas (5.21; compare Su.Sū.1.8, where they are called grahas). The term kṛtyā occurs several times, for example at Su.Sū.6.19 (see Dalhaṇa's comments). See also A.h.U.5.13; 39.53; A.s.Sū.8.78. See on kṛtyā: W. Caland (1967): 132–136; S.A. Dange (1987): 951; T. Goudriaan (1978) and (1986); V. Henry (1988); S.K. Lal (1979); P.C. Sahoo (1987); A.M. Shastri (1969): 188; N.J. Shende (n.d.): 179–180, (1985): 162–167; K.G. Zysk (1985): 179 and 253. See on the personified Kṛtyā: S.K. Lal (1980): 41–49. Many deities, should protect a particular constituent or function of the human organism, are mentioned in the mantras: Agni should protect the tongue, Vāyu the prāṇas, Soma the vyāna, Parjanya the apāna; the lightning should protect the udāna, the thunder the samāna; Indra Balapati should protect the bala, Manu the manyās and the mati, the gandharvas the desires (kāma), Indra the sattva, Varuṇa the prajñā, the ocean the navel (nābhimanḍala), Sūrya the eyes, the quarters of the sky the ears, Candramas the manas, the nakṣatras rūpa, the nights chāyā, the waters retas, the herbs the hairs, ākāśa the openings of the body, Vasundharā the body, Vaiśvānara the head, Viṣṇu parākrama, Puruṣaśreṣṭha pauruṣa, Brahmā the ātman, Dhruva the eyebrows. 21 Compare Ca.Sū.6 (see the references). Compare Su.Ci.24.102–109. 22 These units of time are absent from the Carakasaṃhitā. 23 See S. Srinivasan (1979): 124. Compare Pālakāpya III.7 (p.401): the time required to pronounce two short syllables. 24 Fifteen nimeṣa make a kāṣṭhā. Compare Āyurvedasūtra 9.13–14: eighteen mātrā (= nimeṣa) make a kāṣṭhā. Pālakāpya and Vāgbhaṭa (A.s.Sū.4.4) agree with Suśruta. See also S. Srinivasan (1979): 124. 25 Thirty kāṣṭhā make a kalā. Vāgbhaṭa (A.s.Sū.4.4) and Pālakāpya agree. See on kalā: J. Gonda (1965a): 119–120; S. Srinivasan (1979): 124–125. 26 Twenty kalā and one-tenth of a kalā make a muhūrta. Cakra mentions that this is the opinion of Aupadhenava and others; he adds that Bhoja's statement that twenty kalā make a muhūrta and Bhāluki's view that thirty kalā make a muhūrta are based on scribal errors (lipidoṣa). Dalhaṇa says that the commentaries (nibandha) reject the opinion that a muhūrta consists of thirty kalā. Pālakāpya, however, records that thirty kalā make a muhūrta. See on muhūrta: H. Jacobi (1920); P.V. Kane V.1, 537–543; S.S. Lishk and S.D. Sharma (1980); A.A. Macdonell and A.B. Keith (1967); A. von Rospatt (1995): 96, n.214 and 99, n.218; Satya Prakash (1965): 466–468; S.D. Sharma and S.S. Lishk (1979); S. Srinivasan (1979): 126; A. Weber (1983b). A muhūrta is usually regarded as a period of forty-eight minutes. 27 Thirty muhūrta make a day and a night. 28 See on Indian divisions of time: A.L. Basham (1954): 504; M.R. Bhat (1992): I, 8; T. Hayashi (1995): 109–113; P.V. Kane V.1, 475–477; W. Kirfel (1967): 333–335; S. Srinivasan (1979): 118–161. The divisions of time are found in many works; Rājaśekhara's treatise on poetics, the Kāvyamīmāṃsā, for example, deals with them at the beginning of its chapter on the seasons (18.1). See on Indian time-measuring instruments: S.R. Sarma (1994); S. Srinivasan (1979): 125–126.