The Garuda Purana

by Manmatha Nath Dutt | 1908 | 245,256 words | ISBN-13: 9788183150736

The English translation of the Garuda Purana: contents include a creation theory, description of vratas (religious observances), sacred holidays, sacred places dedicated to the sun, but also prayers from the Tantrika ritual, addressed to the sun, to Shiva, and to Vishnu. The Garuda Purana also contains treatises on astrology, palmistry, and preci...

Chapter CCVII - Various other medicinal Recipes (continued)

Hari said:—Plasters of Rajani and the ashes of plantain bark pasted together with water, or one part of Kushtham and two parts of Pathya taken with hot water relieve an aching pain about the waist and sacrum. Abhaya taken with water, or Pippali taken with sugar, cures rectal hæmorrhoids. Cook a Ghritam with powders, and the expressed juice, of Atarushakam leaves. Plasters of this Ghritam are highly beneficial in cases of rectal hæmorrhoids. Potions of Triphala-decoctions taken with Guggulu will bring about the cure in a case of fistula in ano. The cream (surface layer) of milk curd cooked in combination with Ajaji and Shringaveram and taken with salt removes strangury.

Solutions of sugar and Yava-Ksharam (impure carbonate of potash) prove remedial in strangury and suppression of urine. Make a collyrium with the excreta of a Khanjana, Shobhanjanan, and the foam of a horse’s mouth over the fire of a cremation ground. By applying this collyrium to his eyes, a person remains invisible to the celestials, not to speak of purblind human beings.

Plasters of burnt barley corn pasted with sesame oil relieve the burning sensation in cases of scald or burn. Plasters of Lajjalu and Sharapunkha pasted together with clarified butter relieve the heat in cases of scald or burn. These plasters should be applied by reciting the mystic formula running as, Om Namo Bhagavate, Tha, Tha, Chhindi Chhindi Jvalanam, Prajvalitam Nashaya Nashya, Hrum Fut. Nirgundi-roots tied round the wrist destroy fever. A root of white Gunja divided into seven pieces and tied round the arms of a patient undoubtedly cures rectal hæmorrhoids. Smearing of the body with a plaster composed of Vishnukranta pasted with goat’s urine gives an immunity from the attacks of thieves and tigers.

All magical acts may be practised with the help of a Brahma-dandi root. Triphala-powders taken with clarified butter relieve all forms of cutaneous affections. Powders of Punarnava, Vilva and Pippali pounded together and taken with clarified butter remove cough, hic-cough and asthma; administered to women they facilitate conception.

The foregoing drugs, cooked in combination with milk or clarified butter and taken with the same adjuncts, acquire a splendid spermatopoetic property. Take Vidanga, Madhukam, Patha, Mansi, Sarjarasam, Haridra, Triphala, Apamarga, Manah-Shila, Audumvara, and Dhataki. Pound them together and reduce this pulverised compound to the consistency of a paste with the addition of sesame oil. By plastering their own reproductive organs with this paste, a man and a woman become extremely enamoured of each other. The lubrication of the organs should be followed by the recitation of a mystic formula running as, Namasté Isha Vardaya akarshini, Vikarshini Mugdha svaha (obeisance to the god who is the grantor of boons, obeisance to the goddess who attracts draws and fascinates every creature). Such enamoured pairs shall rub the palms of their hands with a compound of the seeds of Punarnava, Amrita, Durva, Kanakam, and Indravaruni, pasted together with the expressed juice of Jatika. The killing of Rasa (mercury) consists in rubbing the mineral with the seeds of the foregoing drugs pasted together with the expressed juice of Jati as described in the preceding line, and then in boiling it in a closed crucible.

Milk taken in combination with honey and clarified butter arrests the advent of premature old age. Copper, burnt in combination with honey, clarified butter, treacle and the expressed juice of Karavella, is soon converted into silver. Now hear me describe the method of converting a base metal into gold. A Palam weight of lead burnt in combination with a Palam weight of yellow Dhustura flower and twigs of Langalika is easily converted into pure gold. By burning Dhustura oil in a lamp, while seated in Samadhi Yoga, a Yogin can remain invisible even to the sky-scaling divinities. A clay figure of a bull, moulded in the attitude of killing a frog, O Shankara, will commence to bellow as a living one, on being fumigated with the vapours of the aforesaid Dhustura oil.

Mustard oil burned in a lamp tends to destroy fire-flies. Fireflies and mustard oil burnt together in a lamp will produce a glaring light like a conflagration. Burn down the powders of the cropse of a dead rat; plaster any part of the body with this burnt powder, and it will be found to be burnt in its turn, which may be alleviated with plasters or potions of pasted sandal wood. O Shiva, by personally applying a collyrium to the eyes of an infuriated elephant, a man is sure to win a victory in battle and turn out a valorous hero.

By retaining the skin of a Dundubha snake in his mouth, a person can stay under water as confortably as on land. By smearing his body with a compound of the teeth, bones and eyes of a crocodile pasted with the blood and fat of that animal, a person may comfortably stay under water. By smearing his body with a compound consisting of the eyes of a crocodile, the heart of a tortoise and the bones of a rat pasted together with rat’s lard and that of a porpoise, a man can stay under water as easily as in a chamber of his own house.

Powders of iron taken with whey prove curative in jaundice. Roots of Tanduliyakam and Gokshuram, pasted together and administered through the medium of milk, cure chlorosis and affections of the mouth. Jati roots or Kola roots, taken with whey, reileve indigestion. Kusha roots or Vakuthi roots taken with Kanjikam relieve diseases of the teeth. Roots of Indra-Varuni taken with water exercise an antitoxic virtue; the roots of Surabhika prove remedial to diseases of the nervous system.

Plasters of Gunja-powders pasted with Kanjikam and applied to the scalp prove remedial to diseases of the head (cephalagia). By a taking a compound (decoction) of Vala, Ativala, and Yashti, sweetened with the addition of Sugar and honey, even a sterile woman is sure to conceive.

A plaster composed of white Aparajita roots, Pippali and Shunthi, pasted together with water and applied to the scalp, proves curative in Cephalagia (head-ache). O thou blissful one, Gunja-roots pasted with Kanjikam and applied to the scalp, relieve headache. Aratnika roots boiled with water impart a pleasant colour to the palate.

Decoctions of clustered sprouts of Nirgundika prove curative in scrofula. Ashes of burnt Ketaki leaves taken with treacle, or Sharapunkhas taken with whey, cure splenic enlargement. Exudations of Matulunga taken with treacle and clarified butter relieve the type of colic (Gastralgia) due to the actions of the deranged Vayu, and Pittam. Decoctions of Shunthi taken with Sauvarchala and Hingu prove antidotal to diseases of the heart.

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