A History of Indian Medical Literature v4.c63.557

v4.c63.557

49 A variant of this word is hatthoḍī (22.16); see 22.16 for a description. 50 An implement used for straining (cālana; 22.15). See on sieves (cālani): Rasajalanidhi I, 13–14. 51 Probably the same as the chinnaka (22.15); the chinnī is an iron instrument employed for splitting pieces of metal. 52 An instrument for pounding metals, used in combination with the ghana (2.9). 53 Probably the same as the ghaṇī (22.17). 54 A pair of tongs; two types are mentioned, formed like the beak of a parrot and that of a crow. 55 A large pair of tongs. 56 This list is more or less, in conformity with the title of chapter three (anukramaṇikā), a table of contents of the Rasasāra. 57 The extraction of an essence of an uparasa (6.6) and the preparation of a druti (8.15) also take twenty-one days. Other operations have to be repeated twenty-one times (8.57). 58 The correct reading is kānta, which is mentioned a number of times in this chapter. 59 This may be (manaḥ)śilā. 60 This series of uparasas is very unusual. A closely related series is enumerated at 2.1 and 6.2cd–3ab: vaikrānta, sasyaka, tāpya, darada, rasaka, giri, vimalā, kāntaka. 61 See 7.10. Caura is a frequent term; see, for example, 7.5 and 11; 9.14; 11.7, 9, 12, 13. 62 Kharparikā designates zinc in this context. Kharpara and kharparikā are synonyms of rasaka in many treatises. 63 Quoted in the Rasakāmadhenu (I.3.34–35ab). 64 Quoted in the Rasakāmadhenu (I.3.35cd–36). 65 Rasasāra 11.15–18: rā; 11.16 and 21: rirī. Rā is one of the synonyms of gold (see Rasakāmadhenu II.1.69ab). 66 Compare, for example, Rasahṛdaya 6.11–12. 67 The fat of the animal called chucchundarī. 68 Either the menstrual fluid or, more probably, the female equivalent of the male seed, believed to be secreted at the time of intercourse. See on the use of this fluid in Śākta rituals: F.A. Marglin (1982): 309–310. 69 Śata-, sahasra-, lakṣa-, koṭi-, dhūma-, sparśa-, avalokana-, and śabdavedha. 70 Powdered bricks. 71 This may be the same as nirjīvabandha. 72 Mercury becomes vedhin (able to transmute other metals) when it is freed from the avasthās. 73 Adding too large an amount of grāsa. 74 Adding a deficient amount of bīḍa. 75 Adding too large an amount of bīḍa. 76 Quoted in the Rasakāmadhenu (I.4.12–14ab). 77 This ahiphena of the Rasasāra is distinct from opium, also called ahiphena. The Rasasaṃketakalikā expresses the alternative view referred to. See the quotations on the subject in the Rasakāmadhenu (I.4.77–81). 78 Examples are the heart of an owl (20.16), a black pigeon (20.21), and a black cat (20.23); see, in particular, 20.26–28, where a series of animals (called siddhadravya) is enumerated. 79 This may not be a plant name. Variously interpreted: a bright yellow substance prepared from the bile of cattle (MW); a bezoar (W. Ainslie, 1826: I, 35–37). Compare VŚS (gorocana). See on bezoar: Hobson-Jobson; B. Laufer (1967): 525–528; Moodeen Sheriff (1978): 68–71.