A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c46.1253

v3.c46.1253

The subjects dealt with in these chapters are: (1) ṛṣyādimudrābījapinḍasamjñāpadādimantragaṇavidhi, on mantraśāstra; (2) dhyānavidhi; (3) (mantra)viniyogavidhi, i.e., rules on the application of mantras for various purposes, many of which belong to the realm of ṣaṭkarman, such as śānti, puṣṭi, rakṣā, vaśya, ākarṣaṇa, vijaya, uccāṭana, etc.; 838 among the diseases to be counteracted mention is made of jvara, rājayakṣman, prameha, mahodara, gulma, śūla, masūrikā, visarpikā, and raktasrāva, as well as of disorders occurring in domestic animals (3.12–16); (4) nāgopadravādilakṣaṇavidhi, on the five types of poison (4.3cd–4ab), 839 the eight chiefs of the nāgas (divyoraga; 4.6 and 8–19), and the four classes of ordinary (prākṛta) snakes (darvīkara, maṇḍalin, rājila and vaitaka; 4.7 and 20–26ab), 840 their bites, the characteristics of these bites and their symptoms (4.41–62), and finally the seven stages of the effect of poisons (viṣavega; 4.63–68); (5) viṣasamhārādimantrayantraprayogavidhi, on counteracting the effects of poisons by means of mantras and yantras; (6) sarpakrīḍālakṣaṇavidhi, on the localizations of snake-bites (6.1–7), the collection of drugs (6.8–19), the attraction of serpents into one’s presence by magic formulae (nāgākṛṣṭi; 6.20–35), their eradication (uccāṭana; 6.36–48), and other forms of ‘play’ (krīḍā) with serpents; (7) on mantras destroying the effect of snake venom; (8) darvīkaraviṣacikitsā, on the bites of darvīkara snakes, their symptoms and treatment; (9) maṇḍaliviṣacikitsā, the same with respect to maṇḍalin snakes; (10) rājilaviṣacikitsā, the same with respect to rājila snakes; (11) mūṣikacikitsā, on the bites of rats and their treatment; (12) viṃśatividhanānāviṣacikitsā, on the treatment of the bites of the twenty kinds of spiders (12.1–11ab), the bites of scorpions (12.11cd–17ab), asses, horses, tigers, bears, cats, etc., (12.21cd–42), sthāvaraviṣa (12.43–58), dūṣīviṣa (12.59–60), hemaviṣa (12.61), and bhallātakaviṣa (12.62); 841 (13) abhiṣekayantradhāraṇavidhi, on consecration and the worship of yantras.