Verse 7.217

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

तत्रात्मभूतैः कालज्ञैरहार्यैः परिचारकैः ।
सुपरीक्षितमन्नाद्यमद्यान् मन्त्रैर्विषापहैः ॥ २१७ ॥

tatrātmabhūtaiḥ kālajñairahāryaiḥ paricārakaiḥ |
suparīkṣitamannādyamadyān mantrairviṣāpahaiḥ || 217 ||

There he shall eat the food that has been thoroughly tested by such servants as are his own very self, as are conversant with the peculiarities of time, and are uncorruptible,—with such sacred texts as are destructive of poison,—(217)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘There’—in the inner apartment.

‘Who are his own very self’,—i.e. who are as watchful of his safety as he himself would be.

‘Who are conversant with the peculiarities of time’— who know what food and drink to give at what age and under what conditions.

‘Uncorruptible’— who cannot be alienated; thoroughly trustworthy.

‘Servants’—physicians and others.

The food shall be first ‘tested’—i.e. tasted by them; and then he shall eat it.

The ‘testing’ shall be done by expert physicians by means of fire, the partridge and such other things. If poison has been mixed with the food, it becomes discolored upon drying, which shows its impurity; and when poisoned food is thrown into the fire, it loses its odour, or becomes too sour; there is a discolouring in the flame of the fire also; and if birds are given the food, they suffer in various ways; e.g. the Kokila dies at the mere sight of poisoned food; the Jīvaka becomes withered, by merely looking at poison; the eyes of the Chakora (partridge) become destroyed,—and the Muṣka (?) begins to perspire.

He shall also repeat over suspected food those sacred texts that are believed to be destructive of poisons.—(217)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 160).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Viṣṇudharmottara (Vīramitrodaya-Rājanīti, p. 161).—‘He shall touch no food or bed or clothes or ornament until it has been tested.’

Viṣṇu (3.85).—‘He shall not taste any food that has not been tried before.’

Kāmandaka (7.9).—‘The King should always be careful regarding his conveyances, beds, seats, drinks, eatables, garments and ornaments and everything else. He should shun these, even if the slightest suspicion of their being poisoned is present.’

Do. (7.11, et. seq.).—‘Bhṛṅgarāja, Śuka and Sārikā emit distressful notes at the sight of a venomous serpent. At the sight of poison, the eyes of the Chakora lose their natural hue; the Krauñca is visibly intoxicated; and the Kokila, becoming mad, perishes. At the sight of poison, a feeling of languor always takes possession of creatures.’

Examining, by means of one of those methods, his eatables, the King shall eat them.

In order to test the rice offered to him, the king shall at first throw some of it on fire, and then some to the birds and watch the effects. If there is poison in the rice the flame and fumes will assume a blue colour and there will be crackling sounds; and the birds eating the rice will die. Curry contaminated with poison soon becomes juiceless and vapid; when decocted, it yields blue spume, and then its flavour, etc., are destroyed; etc., etc., etc.’

Śukranīti (1.653-657).—‘For fear of poisons the king should examine his food through monkeys and cocks. At the very sight of poisoned food, drakes begin to limp, bees to hum, peacocks to dance, cocks to crow, cranes to get intoxicated, monkeys to pass stools, rats to become excited, birds to vomit. Thus is the food to be examined.’