A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c48.s2.17

v3.c48.s2.17

Chapter six (viṣopaviṣādisādhanādhyāya; 125 verses and some prose passages) deals with poisonous substances. Its subjects are: the origin of poisons (1–9ab); the names of poison, the eight saumya and ten ugra poisons deriving from bulbous and tuberous plants (9–10); the eight poisonous substances used in medicine (saumya), their characteristics and properties (11–19); the ten poisonous substances not to be employed in medicine (ugra) and their characteristics (20–34ab); the nine vegetable poisons distinguished by some authorities and the localities where they are found (34cd–40);⁵ the colours of the four groups of poisons: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra (41–42); the properties of the poisons (43–47ab), their purification (47cd–61) and employment in medicine (62–79); the symptoms of poisoning and its eight stages (80–86); the treatment of poisoning and the mantras to be employed (87–107); the minor poisons (upaviṣa), seven or nine in number (108–111);⁶ the purification of some upaviṣas: lāṅgalī, guñjā, viṣamuṣṭi, jepāla, dhūrtabīja, ahiphena and bhaṅgā (112–116); the preparation of viṣataila (117–118); the formula of viṣavajrapāṭarasa (119–120) and lavaṇabhedisudhānidhirasa (121–122), to be used as antidotes; the preparation of two alkaline fluids (kṣāra) (123–125).