A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c44.s49.66

v3.c44.s49.66

The Bṛhadyogatarangiṇī differs from the Yogatarangiṇī in many respects. A chapter on embryology and anatomy is added (2). The chapter on weights and measures gives at the end a verse from Matimukura. Chapter four, identical with chapter three of the Yogatarangiṇī, refers to a number of sources. Chapter five, on snehapāna, longer than the corresponding chapter of the Yogatarangiṇī, mentions some sources (Śārṅgadhara, Caraka, Yogaratnāvalī, Vaidyālaṃkāra, and Matimukura). Chapters six to twelve resemble chapters eleven to fifteen of the Yogatarangiṇī, but some are somewhat longer. Chapters thirteen and fourteen are additions, concerned with the royal kitchen. Chapter fifteen, on the regimen during the seasons, differs from the corresponding chapter (81) at the very end of the Yogatarangiṇī; the descriptions of the seasons do not tally and their order is dissimilar.⁵⁴⁹ Chapter sixteen, on prepared foods (siddhānna), 550 is an addition again, as well as chapters seventeen on dinacaryā, eighteen on rātricaryā, and nineteen on rasa, vīrya, vipāka, and prabhāva. Chapters twenty to thirty-seven form a nighaṇṭu, they contain, usually without describing a drug and giving its synonyms, 551 enumerations of the medicinal properties of numerous articles of food and drugs; the subjects of these chapters are: dugdha, dadhi, takra, navanīta, ghṛta, taila, madya, ikṣu, madhu, śalyādi, phala, śāka, māṃsa, harītakādi, vaṭādi, śuṇṭyādi, and karpūrādi. Chapters added are thirty-eight on definitions of articles of drugs (pācanādi), 552 thirty-nine on incompatible articles of food (viruddhāhāra), and forty on eighteen groups of drugs (rāsnādigaṇa). Chapters forty-one to forty-three on rasaśāstra (alchemy) are much more elaborate than the corresponding chapter (17) of the Yogatarangiṇī. The seven kañcukas of mercury and the disorders caused by them are described according to the Bauddhasarvasva; their names are mṛd, pāṣāṇa, jala, kālī, kāpālikā, śyāmā, and kapālikā (42.13–15ab). 553 The twenty saṃskāras of mercury, as mentioned in the Śivāgama, are enumerated (42.18): pataśāraṇa, 554 sammardana, mūrchana, utthāpana, sveda, 555 pātana, bodhana, niyamana, dīpana, mukhakaraṇa, jāraṇa, saviḍā, māna, garbhadṛti, rañjana, vedhana, bahirdṛti, sāraṇa, krāmaṇa, and māraṇa. The uparasas listed are (43.1–2): gandhaka, vajra, vaikrānta, sūndūra, bola, 556 gairika, samudraphena, khaṭikādvaya, 557 śambūka, tārkṣyaja, kāsīsa, kāntapāṣāṇa, varāṭī, śukti, hiṅgula, kaṅkuṣṭha, 558 śaṅkha, bhūnāga, ṭaṅkaṇa, 559 and śīlājatu. Four minor gems are enumerated: muktā, vidruma, śaṅkha and rājāvarta (43.82). Chapter forty-four on ariṣṭajñāna is for its larger part an addition, consisting of quotations from the Upasāgara and Rasamañjarī; it also deals with the prognosis by means of one's shadow (chāyāpuruṣa), in the same words as in chapter fourteen of the Yogatarangiṇī. Chapters forty-five to fifty-three are about the various forms of parīkṣā, as chapters twelve to sixteen of the Yogatarangiṇī are; the subjects are partly differently and more elaborately described than in the Yogatarangiṇī; vastraparīkṣā is omitted, but, on the other hand, varṇa- and svaraparīkṣā have been added. Chapter fifty-four, on some ariṣṭas, is an addition. The same applies to chapter fifty-five on the most auspicious times for collecting drugs and about the parts of the day, etc., on which a drug should be given to patients from particular diseases; dosages are also mentioned. Chapter fifty-six, also added, is concerned with the signs indicating an increase or decrease of the doṣas, dhātus, and malas.