Chapter CCVIII - Aphrodisiacs, Love, charms, etc.

Hari said:— Om, Gam Ganapatayé Svaha (obeisance to the lord of the Ganas). By eight thousand times repeating this Mantram, and by tying up the tuft of hair on one’s crown in a knot subsequent to that, one is sure to come victorious out of a royal court of justice and to be a favourite with kings. O Rudra, a thousand and eight libations of clarified butter containing black sesame should be cast in the fire with the recitation of this opulence-giving (Ganapati) Mantra for acquiring a mastery over the minds of kings and ladies.

Having fasted, and worshipped the lord of impedimenta under the auspices of the eighth or the fourteenth day of a lunar month, one should cast a thousand and eight oblations of sesame and white mustard seeds in fire, whereby one would be invincible in battle, and all the inmates of the world would be brought under one’s control. Having tied up the tuft of hair on his crown into a knot after eight thousand and eight hundred times repeating the Mantram sacred to this divinity, a man would return victorious from a royal court or tribunal. The man, who repeats the Hrinkara Mantra appended with a Visarga, each morning, by psychically projecting and locating it in the forehead of a woman, is sure to bring her under his control.

By psychically projecting and locating the same Mantram in the reproductive organ of a woman, one can make her mad with amorous propulsions. He, who in a pure and tranquil mind casts ten thousand libations of clarified butter in fire by repeating this Mantram, is sure to bring a woman under his control at the first sight. A Tilaka mark composed of realgar, saffron, ox-gall and Patrakam pasted together and put on his forehead by a man enables him to fascinate the members of the softer sex. A Tilaka mark composed of white Aparajita, Bhringaraja, Vacha and Sahadeva pasted together and put on his forehead by a man enables him to charm the three worlds. A Tilaka mark composed of fishes’ gall and ox-gall pasted together and put on his forehead by a man with the tip of his left small finger, enables him to fascinate the three worlds. A Tilaka mark composed or oxgall treated with her catamenial blood in the manner of a Bhabana and impressed on her forehead by a woman enables her to fascinate a man at the first sight.

O thou supreme deity, a fumigation of the body with the vapours of a (burning) fumigating compound composed of Nageshvaram, Shaileyam, Tvak, Patram, Haritaki, Chandanam, Kushtham, red Shali and small Ela pounded together gives a man the power of fascination. O thou supreme deity, O thou beloved of Parvati, let a man, during an act of sexual congress, take his own seed, and smear the left leg of the woman therewith with his left hand, whereby he is sure to bring her under his control. O thou supreme deity, the application of a plaster composed of pigeon’s dung and rock-salt pasted together with honey by a man, before an act of coitus, to his own reproductive organ, enables him to bring the woman under his control. Take five red flowers of different species, and Priyangu, equal in weight with these flowers; and paste them together. The plastering of his reproductive organ with this paste, before an act of sexual union, gives a man the power of fascinating the woman.

A plaster composed of Ashvagandha, Manjistha, Malati-flowers and white Sarshapa pasted together and applied as the preceding one makes its applier endeared of women. Kakajangha roots taken with milk prove curative in pulmonary consumption. By regularly taking a compound of Ashvagandha, Nagavala, Mashapulse and treacle, an old man may be young over again. O Rudra, powders of Triphala and iron, taken with honey, relieve the type of Gastralgia known as Parinama Shula. Use of boiled water containing alkalis made of burnt Shambuka (a species of mollusc) shells, or of the ashes of a burnt stag-horn through the vehicle of clarified butter, proves efficacious, O Shiva, in cases of aching (neuralgic) pain at the chest and back. O thou bull-ensigned deity, water boiled with Hingu, Sauvarchalam, Shunthi, and Mahaushadham relieves all forms of colic. Apamarga roots taken with sea-brine cures all forms of indigestion and colic. O Rudra, O thou blissful one, sprouts of a Vata tree rubbed with the washings of rice should be administered for the purpose of curing any form of dysentery. A half Karsha measure of Ankata roots taken with the washings of rice relieves all forms of dysentery. A compound consisting of Maricham, Shunthi, twice as much as Maricham, and Kutaja-bark, twice as much as Sunthi, taken with treacle, tends to alleviate all forms of dysentery.

O Shiva, pills composed of Haridra, Tandulam, Apamarga, Trikatu, and the roots of white Aparajita pasted together with Siktham, undoubtedly alleviate all forms of cholera. A compound consisting of Trikatu, Triphala, Shilajatu, and Haritaki pounded together, and taken with honey, proves curative, O Shankara, in all forms of urinary complaints (Meha). Take one Palam of Manah-Shila, one Palam of Maricham, and one Palam of Sinduram; pound them together and keep them soaked in a Prastha measure of sesame oil and the milky exudations of Arka plants in a copper vessel. Dry this compound in shade; this compound, as well as rocksalt taken with the milky exudations of a Snuhi plant, would be found to be highly efficacious in relieving all forms of colic (and neuralgic pain as well.) Take Trikatu, Triphala, Alaktam(?), sesame oil, Realgar, Nimva leaves, Jati flowers, goat’s milk, Shankha-nabhi, Chandana, and goat’s urine, mix them together and make the mass into a stick. An application of this stick, pasted with water, to the eyes in the manner of a collyrium, cures loss of vision, cataract, and kindred occular affections. Powders of Vibhitaka seeds taken with honey relieve all forms of asthma; a compound of Triphala, Pippali and rock-salt pounded together and taken with honey proves beneficial in all forms of fever, cough, catarrh, asthma (bronchites) and Pthisis. Soak Deva-daru powders with goat’s urine, and dry them in shade, do this twenty-one times in succession; the application of this medicine to the eyes in the manner of a collyrium proves curative in night-blindness, Loss of vision, and falling off of the eye-lashes. O Rudra, a compound consisting of Pippali, Ketakam, Haridra. Amlakam and Vacha pounded together and applied to the eyes with the addition of milk proves beneficial in all forms of occular affections. O Shiva, roots of Shigru and Kakajangha kept in the mouth or chewed together tend to relieve all diseases of the teeth.