Hindu Medicine c7.298

c7.298

Another instance of the relation of name and nature is offered in the explanation of the origin and malignant character of spiders with their poisonous sting; they are said to have come into existence out of the drops of sweat which fell from the forehead of the primeval saint, Vasiṣṭha. This holy hermit once became incensed against the king Viśvāmitra, when the latter tried to carry away his most precious belonging, a divine cow, out of whose udder could be milked everything its owner might wish for. Drops of the saint's perspiration, while he was glowing with wrath, fell on grass freshly cut (lūna) by the holy man. Suśruta tells this story (V, 8) in order to explain why the poisonous insects are called as they are, having received the name “ lūta,” “ spider,” from the grass upon which they came into existence as manifestations of deadly anger.