Kathasaritsagara (the Ocean of Story)
by Somadeva | 1924 | 1,023,469 words | ISBN-13: 9789350501351
This is the English translation of the Kathasaritsagara written by Somadeva around 1070. The principle story line revolves around prince Naravāhanadatta and his quest to become the emperor of the Vidhyādharas (‘celestial beings’). The work is one of the adoptations of the now lost Bṛhatkathā, a great Indian epic tale said to have been composed by ...
Notes on poison detectors
Note: this text is extracted from Book II, chapter 10:
“And that Daitya maiden gave him a ring that destroyed the effect of poison. [...] Bāhuśālin then went and said to the chamberlain: ‘My friend here possesses a ring that counteracts the effects of poison, and also healing spells’”
Poison detectors are of various kinds. Sometimes they were objects which could be worn, as in the text, but more often the presence of poison would cause some noticeable effect on an adjacent object.
Thus peacocks’ feathers become ruffled, opals turn pale and Venetian glass shivers at the approach of poison. Cups of rhinoceros horn cause the drink to effervesce, if it contains poison.
The German abbess and mystic St Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) says (Subtleties, vi, 7) that the heart of a vulture split in two, dried before a slow fire and in the sun, and worn sewn up in a belt of doeskin makes the wearer tremble in the presence of poison.
In describing his palace, Prester John says the gates are of sardonyx mixed with cornu cerastis (horn of the horned serpents), and so prevent the secret introduction of poison.
Thomas of Cantimpré tells us that a stone from the head of a toad is an amulet against poison.
Finally in the Middle Ages the sign of the cross was supposed to detect poison. —n.m.p.