Chapter 298 - The treatment for the poison due to snakes such as the Gonasa

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Fire-god said:

1. O Vasiṣṭha! Listen to me! I shall describe to you the treatment for (the poison due to) gonasa and others (snakes). Hrīṃ, hrīṃ oblations to the stainless bird! A charmer would remove the poison due to maṇḍalin (a kind of snake) by eating the betel leaf (after consecrating it with the above mantra).

2. Garlic, asafoetida, kuṣṭha, agni, dried ginger, pepper and long pepper (are remedies) for poison. The milk of snuhī and clarified butter from the cow would remove the poison due to a class of snakes called ahi, when it is drunk for a fortnight.

3. When one is bitten by (the snake called) rājila, he should drink pepper with rock-salt. Clarified butter, honey and cow-dung water (taken) with purītaki would remove poison.

4-6a. Thick milk and clarified butter together with pepper should be drunk with honey. Pepper, dried ginger and long pepper, the feather of a peacock, the bone of a cat and the hair of a mongoose in equal parts should be powdered after soaking with the milk of a goat. Fumigation (with the above powder) would remove all kinds of poisons. The hair (of mongoose), nirguṇḍī, and kola with same proportion of garlic burnt with the leaf of (the plant) muni and boiled with sour gruel (could be used for fumigation to remove poison).

6b-7. Rats are of sixteen kinds. One should drink the juice of cotton together with oil (to remove the poison due to them). The phalinī flower will also destroy the affliction due to the rats. Eating of molasses together with nāgara would also remove that poison and the loss of appetite.

8-11a. There are twenty ways of treating (this poison). The group (of remedies) for removing the poison due to a spider etc.: padmaka, pāṭalī, kuṣṭha, uśīra, sandal, nirguṇḍī, śārikā and śelu should be made into a paste and applied for affliction due to the spider. The leaves of guñjā, nirguṇḍī and aṅkola, dried ginger, the two kinds of turmeric, the kernel of karañja made into a paste and applied (would also remedy that poison). Listen to me! (I shall describe) the remedy that would remove the poison due to a scorpion. A paste of the mixture of mañjiṣṭhā, sandal, dried ginger, pepper, long pepper and the flowers of śirīṣa and the white water-lily used in four ways such as ointment and the like would remove (the poison due to) a scorpion.

11b-12. Oṃ obeisance to Lord Rudra! Civi! Civi! Cut! cut! Kiri! kiri! Break! Cut with the sword! Pierce with the spear! Severe with the disc! Oṃ hrūṃ phaṭ. When (the herb) is given after the repetition of the (above) mantra, it would destroy the poison due to an ass and others (animals). The three myrobalans, uśīra, musta water, māṃsī, padmaka and sandal being drunk together with goat’s milk would remove the poison due to an ass and others (animals).

13. Five parts of śirīṣa (together with) dried ginger, pepper and long pepper would remove the venom due to the centipedes. The neck of the śirīṣa and its kernel would remove the poison due to a rat.

14-15. The dried ginger, pepper and long pepper together with clarified butter and made into a paste with the root of long pepper would remove the poison. (A mixture of) alkali, dried ginger, pepper and long pepper, vacā, asafoetida, viḍaṅga, rocksalt, ambaṣṭha, atibala and kuṣṭha would remove the venom due to all insects. A combination of yaṣṭi, dried ginger, pepper and long pepper, treacle and milk would remove the poison due to a dog.

16-18. Oṃ, obeisance to Subhadrā! Oṃ, obeisance to Suprabhā! You have been told by Brahmā that you should absorb the seed of the herbs which are taken by people without (adhering to) the instructions. After having made obeisance to them and the herbs later, the barley grains should be scattered with the fist. This mantra should be repeated ten times. Then obeisance should be made to that herb. (One should say) “I lift you, the one looking upwards" and take the herb.

19-21. “Obeisance to the lion among men (eminent man)! Obeisance to the cowherd! O Kṛṣṇa! You yourself have admitted that one (who takes your name) will not be defeated in battle”. May the medicine be successful for me! Obeisance to Vaidūrya mother! O Gaurī! Protect me therein from all venoms! O Gāndhāri! O Cāṇḍāli! O Mātaṅgini! Oblations to the illusive energy of Hari! This is the mantra to be used before (administering) the medicine in the case of a vegetable poison. If there is burning sensation after taking a medicine, the patient should be made to drink cold water together with the root of lotus; ghee and honey should be taken if poison persists even then.