A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v2.c34.334

v2.c34.334

Oils fats, milks—Bi-bhautic quasi-compounds, with Ap as energiser :—Oleaginous substances ( आज्यतैलादयः स्नेहाः ) are divided by Udayana into (1) oils, derived from vegetables, (2) butters derived from milk, and (3) fats derived from animals. The medical schools, as we have seen, recognise animal oils as distinguished from vegetable oils. Vegetable fats ( e.g. विड़ङ्गघृत ) are also mentioned. Váchaspati in the Tátparyyatíká contends that mustard oil has not the flavour and smell characteristic of the true oils ( sesamum, linseed etc. ), and is classed with the latter by convention. Judged by the flavour test, A´mikshá (the casein substance formed by mixing milk-curd with hot boiled milk) is to be classed with milk substances. So also Takra, whey,—but Vájina, the thin fluid that is left after the A´mikshá ( casein substance ) is separated, cannot be classed as milk. It may be added that the milks and curds as well as oils and fats derived from different species of vegetables or animals are supposed to differ in their ultimate structural arrangement, and therefore in kind; but Vallabha thinks that the ghees ( clarified butters ) prepared from different kinds of milk are of the same kind; in other words, the milks and curds are ‘polymeric’, the ghees ( clarified butters ), ‘isomeric’, using these terms, as before, in a loose general sense.........तैजसत्वमानां बीजक्षीर-मांसयोनित्वात्। अतएव नारिकेलस्नेहस्यापि तैलत्वं रसादि- सारूप्यादपि तु घृतव्यपदेशश्च। Udayana, Kiranávalí, पृथिवीनिरूपणम्। Vallabha notes that ghees do not differ in kind, as milks (and curds) do:—अतो माहिषगव्यादिदुग्धेषु दधिवत् घृतादिषु जातिभेदएवास्तामिति चेन्न।—Vallabha, Lílávatí. Compare Váchaspati, II, 2, 65:—आज्यतैलादीनां जातिस्तु गन्धेन वा रसेन वा व्यज्यते। अतएव न सार्षपादीनां तैलत्वमस्ति। तद्व्यञ्जकयोर्गन्धरसयोरभावात्। भाक्तस्तु तैलशब्दयोगः। क्षीरजातिरपि रसव्यङ्ग्यैव। अतएवामिच्छायाः क्षीरत्वम्। न तु वाजिनस्य तद्व्यञ्जकस्य रसभेदस्य वाजिनेऽभावात् आमिच्छायां च भावात्।