A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s31: The Mānasollāsa ascribed to Someśvara

A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s31

Language: English

v3.c43.s31.t1 Special features — 12 parts
v3.c43.s31.t2 The author and his date — 16 parts

The Mānasollāsa ascribed to Someśvara

v3.c43.s31.1

The Mānasollāsa 1402 or Abhilāṣitārthacintāmaṇi, 1403 an encyclopaedic work, ascribed to king Someśvara, 1404 contains sections which pertain to medicine.

Contents The Mānasollāsa is a voluminous text of one hundred chapters (adhyāya), arranged into five groups of twenty chapters each (viṃśati or prakaraṇa). It was composed for use by the king and the members of the royal court, and deals with all aspects of daily life. Only those parts of the work which relate to human medicine will be discussed here. 1405

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The first viṃśati has some verses on foods and drinks to be avoided by a king (abhakṣyavarjanādhyāya: 45–52). 1406 It also contains a chapter that is largely devoted to medicine (dīnānāthārthabhṛtyapoṣaṇādhyāya: 135–304). Its main part (vaidyaka: 135–292) is about the treatment of various internal diseases, amongst which fever predominates (jvara: 145–199), 1407 while some verses on surgery are appended to it (285–290). The prescriptions contain well-known vegetable drugs. This section on therapy is followed by a short list of synonyms of some medicinal substances (auṣadhinighaṇṭu: 292–300).

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The second viṃśati has an interesting section on rasāyana (10–51), 1408 verses on the qualities required in a cook (sūdalakṣaṇa: 134–137) 1409 and a physician (vaidyalakṣaṇa: 138–145), ¹⁴¹⁰ a short section on alchemy, especially auri- and argentifaction (dhātuvāda-rasāyana: 377–394), ¹⁴¹¹ and a section on gems (403–536). ¹⁴¹²

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¹⁴¹⁰ [text of the note]

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¹⁴¹¹ [text of the note]

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¹⁴¹² [text of the note]

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The third viṃśati, which deals with enjoyments (upabhoga) of the king, describes the residences (gṛha; 906–926), ¹⁴¹³ baths (snāna; 927–953), ¹⁴¹⁴ footwear (pādukā; 954–958), ¹⁴¹⁵ ointments (vilepana; 980–1008), ¹⁴¹⁶ clothing (vastra; 1009–1041ab), ¹⁴¹⁷ garlands (mālya; 1041cd–1048ab), ¹⁴¹⁸ ornaments and jewels (bhūṣa; 1048cd–1132ab), ¹⁴¹⁹ seats (āsana; 1132cd–1150), ¹⁴²⁰ chowries (cāmara; 1151–1160), ¹⁴²¹ foods (annabhoga; 1342–1600) ¹⁴²² and drinks (pānīyabhoga; 1601–1629), ¹⁴²³ which are suitable to a royal person. It adds verses on betel chewing (tāmbūla; 959–979), ¹⁴²⁴ ointments for the feet (pādābhyaṅga; 1630–1638), ¹⁴²⁵ vehicles (yāna; 1639–1659), ¹⁴²⁶ parasols (chattra; 1660–1669), ¹⁴²⁷ couches (śayyā; 1670–1696), ¹⁴²⁸ incenses (dhūpa; 1697–1712), ¹⁴²⁹ and rules for his contacts with women (yoṣita; 1713–1820). ¹⁴³⁰

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¹⁴¹³ [text of the note]

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¹⁴¹⁴ [text of the note]

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¹⁴¹⁵ [text of the note]

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¹⁴¹⁶ [text of the note]

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¹⁴¹⁷ [text of the note]

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¹⁴¹⁸ [text of the note]

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¹⁴¹⁹ [text of the note]

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¹⁴²⁰ [text of the note]

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¹⁴²¹ [text of the note]

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¹⁴²² [text of the note]

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¹⁴²³ [text of the note]

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¹⁴²⁴ [text of the note]

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¹⁴²⁵ [text of the note]

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¹⁴²⁶ [text of the note]

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¹⁴²⁷ [text of the note]

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¹⁴²⁸ [text of the note]

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¹⁴²⁹ [text of the note]

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¹⁴³⁰ [text of the note]

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The fourth viṃśati contains verses on wondrous feats (camatkāravinoda: 1433–1493), and the fifth verses on alcoholic drinks and the way they should be consumed (madirāpānakrīḍā: 426–514). ¹⁴³¹

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¹⁴³¹ [text of the note]

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The Mānasollāsa is one of the sources of Basava’s Śivatattvaratnākara.

Special features

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Interesting terms are daka (1.170) ¹⁴³² and lāvaṇika (1.171). ¹⁴³³ The auṣadhanighaṇṭu gives some names of medicinal plants current in Karṇāṭaka. ¹⁴³⁴ The main ingredients of the prescriptions in the rasāyana section are śālmalī, hastikarṇī, muṇḍī, śvetabrahmavṛkṣa, and amarī. ¹⁴³⁵ A king should make use of the vātātapika method of rasāyana, since the kuṭīprāveśika method is not suited to him.

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¹⁴³² [text of the note]

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¹⁴³³ [text of the note]

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¹⁴³⁴ [text of the note]

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¹⁴³⁵ [text of the note]

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A disease called jalagraha (2.41) ¹⁴³⁶ and the disorder known as lūtā (2.42) are mentioned in the rasāyana section.

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¹⁴³⁶ [text of the note]

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Some dishes, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, described in the section on annabhoga of viṃśati three are: ¹⁴³⁷ aṅgārapolikā (1382), antraśuṇṭhaka (1493), bhaḍitraka (1465), bhūṣikā (1481), cakkalikā (1436, 1437, 1439, 1441), ghārikā (1403), ghosaka (1393), ghṛtakarkaṭa (1542), idarikā (1401), karpūramāgiṇī (1563), kāsāra (1387), kaṭakarṇa (1396), kavacaṇḍī (1456), khārakhaṇḍa (1534), kośalī (1482), kṛṣṇapāka (1475), majjikā (1573), nandyāvarta (1539), pāhalikā (1385), pañcavarṇī (1491), polikā (1383), pūrabhaṭṭāka (1484), puryala (1461), sohalā (1384), śuṇṭhaka (1435, 1436, 1447, 1458), utkvāthita (1509), upakhaṇḍaka (1515), varṇaśuṇṭhaka (1501), varṣolaka (1417), and vaṭṭimaka (1487).

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¹⁴³⁷ [text of the note]

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Noteworthy names of vegetables in the same section are: amlaharidrakā (1563), amlapattrī (1552), ¹⁴³⁸ kuhirī (1557), māgiṇī (1563), maruka (1551), ¹⁴³⁹ nandana (1555), śeḍhaka (1552), vanamāgiṇī (1563), and vaṭṭāṇa (1393).

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¹⁴³⁸ [text of the note]

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¹⁴³⁹ [text of the note]

Cites (2)

Śivatattvaratnākara — Basappa Nāyaka 1684, Sanskrit
Mānasollāsa (Abhilaṣitārthacintāmaṇi) — Someśvara III, Sanskrit

A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s31: The Mānasollāsa ascribed to Someśvara

Contents

The Mānasollāsa ascribed to Someśvara

Special features

The author and his date

Cites (2)