A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c46.12

v3.c46.12

The treatise consists of 760 verses,¹⁹ arranged in eleven chapters (prakaraṇa),²⁰ and has been composed in the form of a dialogue between king Ṛtuparṇa and king Nala.²¹ The latter, who has adopted the name of Bāhuka after his encounter with the serpent king Karkoṭaka, offers his services as an expert in cookery to king Ṛtuparṇa, who then asks him questions on the origin of his knowledge. Nala begins telling the story of his journey to Damayantī’s svayaṃvara and his meeting a group of four gods, the four guardians of the quarters of the sky, also going there. These gods promise to grant him four boons if he is willing to act as their messenger. After Nala’s acceptance and deliverance of the message to Damayantī, Indra bestowed on Nala the faculty of making himself invisible, Agni that of controlling fire, Yama the expertise in cookery, and Varuṇa the faculty of controlling the watery element.²² Having listened to Nala’s narrative, Ṛtuparṇa requests him to expound his knowledge of the culinary art (1.1–22). Nala complies and proceeds with giving detailed answers to Ṛtuparṇa’s questions.