Hindu Medicine c7.237

c7.237

One of the special duties implied in the responsibilities of this appointment is to safeguard the despot against the possibility of being poisoned, a peril from which he is rarely free. There is a special lesson (Su. V, 1) dealing with the control by daily supervision of the royal kitchen and the dishes served the king. It contains a catalogue of the symptoms by which poison may be detected in food-stuffs; it describes the expressions of uneasiness and cunning through which cooks or servants may betray upon their features their wicked intentions. The details of this chapter correspond to the rules laid down in the "Treatise on Policy and Statecraft" (Kauṭilya Arthaśāstra I, 21) on how to safeguard the king from the plots and dangers of all kinds that threaten him always and everywhere.