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A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c44.s2: Kalyāṇa

A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c44.s2

Language
English

Contents

Kalyāṇa

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Kalyāṇa³⁰⁰ was the author of the Bālatantra.³⁰¹

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*Contents* The Bālatantra is a treatise in 831 verses,³⁰² arranged in fourteen chapters (paṭala). It opens with a maṅgalācaraṇa addressed to Gaṇeśa and a verse giving the name of the author, the title of the work and some of its sources.

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Chapter one (ṣoḍaśavandyāpratikāra) deals with two series of eight disorders of fertility in women and their treatment. The first series consists of four types of infertility caused by the doṣas (pitta, vāta, kapha, saṃnipāta),³⁰³ two by grahas,³⁰⁴ one type by the wrath of the gods, and one by magic.³⁰⁵ The second series describes eight types of infertile women, called tripakṣā, subhratī, sadbhā, trimukhī, vyāghriṇī, vakrī, kamalinī, and vyaktinī.

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Chapter two (sādhāraṇavandhyauṣadhakathana) is about the treatment of various unspecified types of infertility. Chapter three (puruṣavīryavṛddhikathana) contains recipes which promote male potency, recipes appeasing various disorders in men and women which prevent procreation, recipes of a vājīkaraṇa type, etc. Chapter four (garbhādhānakālarudrasnānakathana) describes rituals, including mantras, for begetting healthy offspring of the desired sex, a ritual to be performed in digging up the lakṣmaṇā plant, which, if put in the right nostril of a woman, guarantees her giving birth to a son,³⁰⁶ and elaborate rules for the rudrasnāna, i.e., a Tantric ritual,³⁰⁷ which ensures a childless couple of the birth of children. Chapter five (garbiṇīgarbharakṣākathana) is concerned with mantras and offerings to twelve gods and groups of deities³⁰⁸ protecting the expectant mother and the child in the womb during the twelve months of pregnancy. Chapter six (sukhaprasavopāyakathana) is devoted to procedures, for the greater part of a magical character, which secure an easy delivery.

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Chapters seven to eleven describe grahas³⁰⁹ who attack children, the symptoms they produce, and the ways to ward them off.³¹⁰ Chapter seven (dinagṛhitābalagrahahara) describes ten grahas³¹¹ who may assault a child during the first ten days of its life,³¹² chapter eight (māsagṛhitābalagrahahara) twelve who do so during the twelve months of its first year,³¹³ and chapter nine (varṣagṛhitābalagrahahara) sixteen grahas who prey upon a child during the first sixteen years of its life.³¹⁴ Chapter ten (dinamāsavarṣabālagrahopāyakathana) gives the names of sixteen more grahas,³¹⁵ whose attack can be expected during the first day, month or year, second day, month or year, etc.,³¹⁶ and chapter eleven (sādhāraṇa) mentions common measures against all types of grahas, besides adding nine names of grahas³¹⁷ whose attacks are seen as a punishment for offences committed during a previous life. The measures described in order to ward off attacks by grahas usually consist of offerings (bali) of a specified number of various objects³¹⁸ to be deposited in a particular quarter of the sky, accompanied by the muttering of mantras.

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The subjects of chapter twelve (jvaraharaṇopāyakathana) are: recipes which promote lactation in nursing mothers, the wet-nurse, measures which purify the milk, the treatment of some disorders especially occurring in infants (inflammation of navel, anal region, and mouth), and the therapy of fevers in children. Chapter thirteen (śītalācikitsākathana) is about the treatment of a long series of children's diseases ending with śītalā.³¹⁹ Chapter fourteen (nānāprayogakathana) deals with diseases of eyes, nose, head, and mouth, and ends with verses about antidotes and rasāyana. The order of the diseases mentioned in chapters thirteen and fourteen partially agrees with the Mādhavanidāna but makes a rather chaotic impression.

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Sources mentioned by Kalyāṇa are: Dhanvantari (13.39–41), the Prayogasāra (1.2),³²⁰ and Suśruta (1.2).

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A commentary in Hindī (mixed with Rājasthānī) on the Bālatantra was written by Vācaka Dīpacandra, the author of Laṅghanapathyanirṇaya (eighteenth century); its title is Bālatantrabhāṣāvacanikā or Bālatantragranthavacanikābandha.³²¹ Dīpacandra mentions the following authors and works as sources of Kalyāṇadāsa: Ātreya, Bhāvaprakāśa, Bheda, Caraka, Hārīta, Saṃnipātakalikā, Suśruta, Toḍarānanda, Vāgbhaṭa, Vaidyakasāroddhāra, Vaidyavinoda, Vaṅgasena, Yogacintāmaṇi, Yogaratnāvalī, and Yogaśata.³²²

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*Special features*

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Kalyāṇa's work shows a great deal of Tantric influence in its descriptions of rituals and in the use of mantras.³²³ Magical elements abound in the therapeutic measures described,³²⁴ which explains the frequent use of substances like excrements, hairs, nails, horns, etc., of various animals. The more remarkable is the almost complete absence of substances and formulae derived from iatrochemistry. Kalyāṇa's materia medica consists for a very large part of medicinal plants and some minerals known from the classical āyurvedic texts. Moreover, his recipes are usually relatively simple.

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Mercury is prescribed once only (3.2), opium twice (3. 56 and 59), and the seed capsule of the opium-poppy (khasaphala) once only (3.54), while Cannabis is completely absent.

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Some remarkable names of plants are: kṣuraka (3.45),³²⁵ putramañjārikā (2.22–23), ratnamālā (1.46), rudrajatā (12.89),³²⁶ śivalingī (2.22),³²⁷ and tejanī (12.87).³²⁸

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Noteworthy in the field of nosology are the second series of types of infertile women in chapter one³²⁹ and the occurrence of a disease called kṣudraśītalikā (13.90).

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*The author*

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At the end of his treatise (14.27–29), Kalyāṇa claims to be a son of Mahīdhara, a devotee of Lakṣmīnṛsiṃha, and a grandson of Rāmadāsa, a paṇḍita of Ahicchatra³³⁰ lineage and a devotee of Rāmacandra. Kalyāṇa's father, Mahīdhara, is generally considered to be the author of that name, together with his son Kalyāṇa and other learned brāhmaṇas, composed the Mantramahodadhi.³³¹ Mahīdhara, however, mentions in his genealogy that he was a son of Phāṇubhaṭṭa,³³² a devotee of Rāma, and a grandson of Ratnākara, an Ahicchatra brāhmaṇa of Vatsagotra. He adds that he is devoted to

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Narahari,³³³ that he left his birthplace and moved to Vārāṇasī.³³⁴ If Rāmadāsa³³⁵ were a second name of Phāṇubhaṭṭa, who was a devotee of Rāma, the chief author of the Mantramahodadhi was indeed the father of the author of the Bālatantra.³³⁶

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*Date*

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Kalyāṇa mentions that he completed his treatise in a Śiva temple in the year 1587/88.³³⁷

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*Kavikaṇṭhahāra*

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Kavikaṇṭhahāra,³³⁸ son of Vaidya Trilocana Kavicandra,³³⁹ wrote the Prayogaratnākara.³⁴⁰ The author was patronized by prince Rāmacandra and lived in the sixteenth or seventeenth century.³⁴¹

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The work begins with the description of the processing of rasas and uparasas, followed by a section on the medicinal uses of animal and vegetable products, but it is chiefly concerned with therapy. The arrangement of the diseases agrees with that of Mādhava.

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Sources quoted are Bhīmaparākrama, Garga, Maheśvara, Pradyumna, Rasaratnadīpa, and Suśruta. The author puts himself sometimes in opposition to the Southern school (pāścātyāḥ) and also mentions a Western school (pāścātyāḥ).³⁴² The Prayogaratnākara is frequently quoted in the Saṃdehabhañjanī, a compilation on the preparation of medicines, printed at Berhampore in 1868.³⁴³

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*Kṣemaśarman*

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The Kṣemakutūhala by Kṣemaśarman[^344, 345] is a book on cookery and dietetics for use at the royal court.

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*Contents*

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The treatise consists of about 1,100 verses arranged in twelve chapters (utsava). Chapter one (vaṃśavarṇana) describes, after two introductory verses, the genealogy of the author (3–18), the composition of the book and its merits (19–22), its contents (23–35), technical terms employed in preparing food (36–50), weights and measures (50–51), rules for the ratio between water and the other ingredients in various dishes (52–58), and rules for the preparation of a rasālā and a pāna (59–60). Chapter two (mahānasapayogopakaraṇapraśaṃsana) deals with the royal kitchen, its lay-out and its utensils (8–25), and with protection of the king from poison (25–39). Chapter three (vaidyāhārasūpākarapraśaṃsana) describes the qualities of a good physician and cook, and gives general rules to be observed when taking food (1–52). Chapter four (ṛtulakṣaṇacaryāpraśaṃsana) gives the behavioural rules during the various seasons (1–38), and chapter five (dinacaryāpraśaṃsana) those to be observed during the parts of day and night (1–94). Chapter six (māṃsapraśaṃsana) is about meat dishes (1–214) and chapter seven (matsyamāṃsapraśaṃsana) about fish courses (1–36). Chapter eight (ṣaḍvidhaśākapraśaṃsana) deals with the six types of vegetables and their medicinal qualities (1–207), while chapter nine (piṣṭānnaḳtprakārapraśaṃsana)

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is about fermented dishes (samdhānaka; 1–11) and various kinds of vaṭaka (12–56). Chapter ten (pakvānnapraśaṃsana) deals with a long series of dishes (1–144), and chapter eleven (kṣudrabodhavastupraśaṃsana) with appetizers (1–29). Chapter twelve (gorasapānakādipraśaṃsana) describes the qualities of milk and other dairy produce, as well as drinks (pānaka), to which are added behavioural rules to be observed after finishing a meal (1–121), verses on the author’s genealogy (122–124), and some concluding verses (125–127).

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The author mentions (1.21) that he wrote his work after consulting the Gaurīmata, Caraka, Vāgbhaṭa, Bhīmasūkti, Hārīta, Suśruta, and Ravisiddhapāka. Authorities referred to in the body of the text are Caraka (3.17), Gaurīmata (2.7), Hārīta (3.17), Naḷa (11.14), and Suśruta (3.17).

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The Kṣemakutūhala is quoted in Vācaka Dīpacandra’s Laṅghanapathyaniṛṇaya and Rājeśvaradatta Miśra’s Svasthavṛttasamuccaya.

Special features

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The Kṣemakutūhala contains such a large number of interesting technical terms that only a few of these can be mentioned. Seven types of pāka are distinguished: bharjana, taḷana, 346 sveda, pacana, kvathana, tāndūra and puṭapāka (1.37–41). The terms vesavā-ra, kāsamarda, karāla and uddhūlana are used in the sense of condiment (1.42–50).

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Noteworthy among the dishes described are, e.g., aṅgārakarkarī (10.80–81), 347 barbara (10.126–127), candrahāsā (10.87), harisā (6.60–61), 348 jalebī (10.122–125), 349 karcarī (6.48–49), kāsāra (10.138–141), 350 parpaṭa (6.39–40), 351 samosā (6.131–135), 352 sevikā (10.142–144), 353 tāhaḍī (6.43–44), 354 taradvaṭī (10.113–115), and veṭikā (10.82–84). 355

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Remarkable names of plants are bhairaṇḍa (8.91–92), caceṇḍa (8.42), ḍhehikā (8.185–186), gaulāla (5.34, 39 and 47), 356 kohaḍa (8.101–102), makhāṇa (10.98), 357 poyikā (8.114–117), teṇṭī (8.60–61), ṭiṇḍisa (8.46–47), and viṣāṇa (8.81–82).

The author

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The genealogy of Kṣemaśarman, 358 as recorded in the introductory verses, is as follows. He descended from Dvijarāja, a Sannāha(-brāhmaṇa) of the Bharadvājakula, father of the physicians Dharmadhara and Rāma. The latter was the father of Yati who had six sons: Yaśorāja, Mahārāja (a famous physician who served Śakeśvara), Prahlāda, Kāmarāja, Hrādani, 359 and Tripurāri. Hrādani, who had studied Caraka, Suśruta and Vāgbhaṭa, had five sons: Manmatha, Jayaśarman, Vāmadeva, Paṇḍita and Sūryadāsa. Manmatha, a physician, had two sons, who were also physicians: Kṣemaśarman and Mallinātha. Kṣemaśarman, our author, was an expert in various sciences and served king Vikramasena. Kṣemaśarman’s mother, Sītā, of the Nimbaśākhikula, became a satī after her husband’s death. Kṣemaśarman’s teacher was Sūryadāsa, the youngest brother of his father. One of the last verses of the Kṣemakutūhala (12.123) mentions the names of the six sons of Kṣemaśarman: Gopāla, Śivapāla, Mādhavarāya, Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa.

Date

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The date of completion of the Kṣemakutūhala is given in a verse at the end of the work (12.127) 360 as the thirteenth day of the bright half of Kārttika in the year 1605 of the Vikrama era, i.e., A.D. 1549.

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