Chapter 3 - The Application of Medicines and Mantras

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Having pulled out both the right and the left eye-balls of a cat, camel, wolf, boar, porcupine, vāguli (?), naptṛ (?), crow and owl, or of any one, two, or three, or many of such animals, as roam at nights, one should reduce them to two kinds of powder. Whoever anoints his own right eye with the powder of the left eye-ball, and his left eye with the powder of the right eye-ball can clearly see things even in pitch dark at night.

* One is the eye of a boar; another is that of a khadyota (fire-fly), or a crow, or a maina bird. Having anointed one’s own eyes with the above, one can clearly see things at night.

Having fasted for three nights, one should, on the day of the star Puṣya, catch hold of the skull of a man who has been killed with a weapon or put to the gallows. Having filled the skull with soil and barley seeds, one should irrigate them with the milk of goats and sheep. Putting on the garland formed of the sprouts of the above barley crop, one can walk invisible to others.

Having fasted for three nights and having afterwards pulled out on the day of the star of Puṣya both the right and the left eyes of a dog, a cat, an owl, and a vāguli (?), one should reduce them to two kinds of powder. Then, having anointed one’s own eyes with this ointment as usual, one can walk invisible to others.

Having fasted for three nights, one should, on the day of the star of Puṣya, prepare a round-headed pin (śalākā) from the branch of puruṣaghāti (punnāga tree). Then having filled with ointment (añjana) the skull of any of the animals which roam at nights, and having inserted that skull in the organ of procreation of a dead woman, one should bum it. Having taken it out on the day of the star of Puṣya and having anointed one’s own eyes with that ointment, one can walk invisible to others.

Whenever one may happen to see the corpse burnt or just being burnt of a Brāhman who kept sacrificial fire (while alive), there one should fast for three nights; and having on the day of the star of Puṣya formed a sack from the garment of the corpse of a man who is dead from natural causes, and having filled the sack with the ashes of the Brāhman’s corpse, one may put the sack on one’s back, and walk invisible to others.

The slough of a snake filled with the powder of the bones and marrow or fat of the cow sacrificed during the funeral rites of a Brāhman, can, when put on the back of cattle, render them invisible.

The slough of pracalāka (a bird?) filled with the ashes of the corpse of a man dead from snake-bite, can render beasts (mṛga) invisible.

The slough of a snake (ahi) filled with the powder of the bone of the knee-joint mixed with that of the tail and dung (purīṣa) of an owl and a vāguli (?), can render birds invisible.

Such are the eight kinds of the contrivances causing invisibility.

* I bow to Bali, son of Virocana; to Śambara acquainted with a hundred kinds of magic; to Bhaṇḍīrapāka, Naraka, Nikumbha, and Kumbha.

* I bow to Devala and Nārada; I bow to Sāvarṇigālava; with the permission of these I cause deep slumber to thee.

* Just as the snakes, known as ajagara (boa-constrictor) fall into deep slumber, so may the rogues of the army who are very anxious to keep watch over the village.

* With their thousands of dogs (bhaṇḍaka) and hundreds of ruddy geese and donkeys, fall into deep slumber; I shall enter this house, and may the dogs be quiet.

* Having bowed to Manu, and having tethered the roguish dogs (śunakaphelaka), and having also bowed to those gods who are in heaven, and to Brāhmans among mankind;

* to those who are well versed in their Vedic studies, those who have attained to Kailāsa (a mountain of god Śiva) by observing penance, and to all prophets, I do cause deep slumber to thee.

The fan (camari) comes out; may all combinations retire. Oblation to Manu, O Aliti and Paliti.

The application of the above mantra is as follows:

Having fasted for three nights, one should, on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month, the day being assigned to the star Puṣya, purchase from a low-caste woman (śvapāki) vilikhāvalekhana (finger nails?). Having kept them in a basket (kaṇḍolikā), one should bury them apart in cremation grounds. Having unearthed them on the next fourteenth day, one should reduce them to a paste with kumāri (aloe?) and prepare small pills out of the paste. Wherever one of the pills is thrown, chanting the above mantra, there the whole animal life falls into deep slumber.

Following the same procedure, one should separately bury in cremation grounds three white and three black dart-like hairs (śalyaka) of a porcupine. When, having on the next fourteenth day taken them out, one throws them together with the ashes of a burnt corpse, chanting the above mantra, the whole animal life in that place falls into deep slumber.

* I bow to the goddess Suvarṇapuṣpī and to Brahmāṇī, to the god Brāhma, and to Kuśadhvaja; I bow to all serpents and goddesses; I bow to all ascetics.

* May all Brāhmans and Kṣatriyas come under my power; may all Vaiśyas and Śūdras be at my beck and call.

Oblation to thee, O Amile, Kimile, Vayujāre, Prayoge, Phake, Kavayuśve Vihāle, and Dantakaṭake, oblation to thee.

* May the dogs which are anxiously keeping watch over the village fail into deep and happy slumber; these three white dart-like hairs of the porcupine are the creation of Brāhma.

* All prophets (siddha) have fallen into deep slumber. I do cause sleep to the whole village as far as its boundary till the sun rises. Oblation!

The application of the above mantra is as follows:

When a man, having fasted for seven nights and secured three white dart-like hairs of a porcupine, makes on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month oblations into the fire with 108 pieces of the sacrificial firewood of khadira (mimosa catechu) and other trees, together with honey and clarified butter, chanting the above mantra, and when, chanting the same mantra, he buries one of the hairs at the entrance of either a village or a house within it, he causes the whole animal life therein to fall into deep slumber.

* I bow to Bah, the son of Vairocana, to Śambara, acquainted with a hundred kinds of magic, Nikumbha, Naraka, Kumbha, Tantukaccha, the great demon;

* to Armālava, Pramīla, Maṇḍolūka, Ghatodbala, to Kṛṣṇa with his followers, and to the famous woman, Paulomī.

* Chanting the sacred mantras, I do take the pith or the bone of the corpse (śavasārikā) productive of my desired ends—may Salaka demons be victorious; salutation to them; oblation!—May the dogs which are anxiously keeping watch over the village fall into deep and happy slumber.

* May all prophets (siddārthāḥ [siddhārthāḥ?] [siddhārtha]) fall into happy sleep about the object which we are seeking from sunset to sunrise and till the attainment of my desired end. Oblation!

The application of the above mantra is as follows:

Having fasted for four nights and having on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month performed animal sacrifice (bali) in cremation grounds, one should, repeating the above mantra, collect the pith of a corpse (śavasārikā) and keep it in a basket made of leaves (patrapauṭṭalikā). When this basket, being pierced in the centre by a dart-like hair of a porcupine, is buried, chanting the above mantra, the whole animal life therein falls into deep slumber.

* I take refuge with the god of fire and with all the goddesses in the ten quarters; may all obstructions vanish and may all things come under my power. Oblation!

The application of the above mantra is as follows:

Having fasted for three nights and having on the day of the star of Puṣya prepared twenty-one pieces of sugar candy, one should make oblation into the fire with honey and clarified butter; and having worshipped the pieces of sugar candy with scents and garlands of flowers, one should bury them. When, having on the next day of the star of Puṣya unearthed the pieces of sugar candy, and chanting the above mantra, one strikes the door-panel of a house with one piece and throws four pieces in the interior, the door will open itself.

Having fasted for four nights, one should, on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month, get a figure of a bull prepared from the bone of a man, and worship it, repeating the above mantra. Then a cart drawn by two bulls will be brought before the worshipper, who can (mount it and) drive in the sky and all that is connected with the sun and other planets of the sky.

O Ghaṇḍālī, Kumbhi, Tumba, Kaṭuka, and Sāragha, thou art possessed of the bhaga of a woman, oblation to thee!

When this mantra is repeated, the door will open and the inmates fall into sleep.

Having fasted for three nights, one should, on the day of the star of Puṣya, fill with soil the skull of a man killed with weapons or put to the gallows, and planting in it vallī (vallari?) plants, should irrigate them with water. Having taken up the grown-up plants on the next day of the star of Puṣya (i.e. after 27 days), one should manufacture a rope from them. When this rope is cut into two pieces before a drawn bow or any other shooting machine, the string of those machines will be suddenly cut into two pieces.

When the slough of a water-snake (udakāhi) is filled with the breathed-out dirt (ucchvāsamṛttikā?) of a man or woman (and is held before the face and nose of any person), it causes those organs to swell.

When the sack-like skin of the abdomen of a dog or a boar is filled with the breathed-out dirt (ucchvāsamṛttikā) of a man or woman and is bound (to the body of a man) with the ligaments of a monkey, it causes the man’s body to grow in width and length (ānāha).

When the figure of an enemy carved out of rājavṛkṣa (cassia fistula) is besmeared with the bile of a brown cow killed with a weapon on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month, it causes blindness (to the enemy).

Having fasted for four nights and offered animal sacrifice (bali) on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month, one should get a few bolt-like pieces prepared from the bone of a man put to the gallows. When one of these pieces is put in the faeces or urine (of an enemy), it causes (his) body to grow in size (ānāha); and when the same piece is buried under the feet or seat (of an enemy), it causes death by consumption, and when it is buried in the shop, fields, or the house (of an enemy), it causes him loss of livelihood.

The same process of smearing and burying holds good with the bolt-like pieces (kīlaka) prepared from vidyuddaṇḍa tree.

* When the nail of the little finger (punarnavam avācīnam?), nimba (nimba melia), kāma (bdellium), madhu (celtis orientalis), the hair of a monkey, and the bone of a man, ail wound round with the garment of a dead man,

* is buried in the house of, or is trodden down by, a man, that man with his wife, children and wealth will not survive three fortnights.

* When the nail of the little finger, nimba (nimba melia), kāma (bdellium), madhu (celtis orientalis), and the bone of a man dead from natural causes are buried under the feet of,

* or near the house of, a man, or in the vicinity of the camp of an army, of a village, or of a city, that man (or the body of men), with wife, children, and wealth will not survive three fortnights.

* When the hair of a sheep and a monkey, of a cat and mongoose, of Brahmans, of low-caste men (śvapāka), and of a crow and an owl is collected,

* and is made into a paste with faeces (viṣṭāvakṣuṇṇa), its application brings on instantaneous death. When a flower garland of a dead body, the ferment derived from a burning corpse, the hair of a mungoose,

* and the skin of a scorpion, a bee, and a snake are buried under the feet of a man, that man will lose all human appearance so long as they are not removed.

Having fasted for three nights and having on the day of the star of Puṣya planted guñja seeds in the skull, filled with soil, of a man killed with weapons or put to the gallows, one should irrigate it with water. On the new or full moon day with the star of Puṣya, one should take out the plants when grown, and prepare out of them circular pedestals (maṇḍalikā). When vessels containing food and water are placed on these pedestals, the foodstuffs will never decrease in quantity.

When a grand procession is being celebrated at night, one should cut off the nipples of the udder of a dead cow and burn them in a torchlight flame. A fresh vessel should be plastered in the interior with the paste prepared from these burnt nipples, mixed with the urine of a bull. When this vessel, taken round the village in circumambulation from right to left, is placed below, the whole quantity of the butter produced by all the cows (of the village) will collect itself in the vessel.

On the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month combined with the star of Puṣya, one should thrust into the organ of procreation of a dog, or heat an iron seal (kaṭalāyasīm mudrikā), and take it up, when it falls down of itself. When, with this seal in hand, a collection of fruits is called out, it will come of itself (before the magician).

* By the power of mantras, drugs, and other magical performances, one should protect one’s own people and hurt those of the enemy.

[Thus ends Chapter III, “The Application of Medicine and Mantras,” in Book XIV, “Secret Means” of the Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya. End of the hundred and forty-eighth chapter from the beginning.]