Amarakoshodghatana of Kshirasvamin (study)
by A. Yamuna Devi | 2012 | 77,297 words | ISBN-13: 9788193658048
This page relates ‘Miscellaneous (2): Varieties of poison (Vishabheda)’ of the study on the Amarakoshodghatana of Kshirasvamin (in English) which represents a commentary on the Amarakosha of Amarasimha. These ancient texts belong the Kosha or “lexicography” category of Sanskrit literature which deals with the analysis and meaning of technical words from a variety of subjects, such as cosmology, anatomy, medicine, hygiene. The Amarakosa itself is one of the earliest of such text, dating from the 6th century A.D., while the Amarakoshodghatana is the earliest known commentary on that work.
Miscellaneous (2): Varieties of poison (Viṣabheda)
[Viṣabhedāḥ (I. 7. 111; p. 59)]
Nine varieties of poison are listed in Amarakośa as:
- kākola,
- kālakūṭa,
- hālāhala,
- saurāṣṭrika,
- śauklikeya,
- brahmaputra,
- pradīpana,
- dārada and
- vatsanābha.
Kṣīrasvāmin gives the differences between them. The most poisonous of these are–
(a) Kālakūṭa–
It is so called as it is black in colour or because it causes immediate death–
kālasya varṇasya kūṭotra kālakūṭaḥ mṛtyusaṃbandhī vyājo vā ||
(b) Hālāhala–
According to Kṣīrasvāmin, it is so called as it drains the stomach–
Kṣīrasvāmin also remarks that in usage both hālāhala and hālahala are found and he gives citations from Kāvyālaṅkāra and Bhartṛhari's Śṛṅgāra śatakam–
lakṣye hālāhalo hālahalaśca yathā—
snigdhaṃ bhavatyumṛtatulyamaho kalatraṃ hālāhalaṃ viṣamivāpaguṇaṃ tadeva (Kāvyālaṅkāra IV. 2. 7),kāmamapāyi mayendriyakuḍairyadyāpi duṣkṛtahālahalaughaḥ yathā vā—
madhu tiṣṭhati vāci yoṣitāṃ hṛdaye hālahalaṃ mahāviṣam |
A Viṣavaidya or Jāṅgalika is one who cures the effects of poison. Kṣīrasvāmin adds, that according to Bhāguri, viṣabhiṣak is another word in the same sense.