3.2. Medicinal Baths

Like cosmetics, bath also plays an important role in making one attractive. As per our medical scriptures, bath enhances one’s vigour and vital energy and is essential for health. Baths were of different types and were taken either in bathrooms or in rivers or in ponds. We meet with the descriptions of royal bath, nuptial bath, oil bath etc. in literature.

Atharvaveda^[1] refers to oil bath with fragrant oils. The text also alludes to women anointing their body after bath with fragrant unguents. Five kinds of balms are there recorded—Guggulu, Pīlu, Nalada, Aukṣagandhī and Pramandinī^[2].

In Ṛgveda^[3] we read of bathing pools. There in one context Uṣas is represented as having brightened limbs as a result of bathing^[4]. Agnipurāṇa^[5] insists on the importance of personal hygiene. A householder is there intended to brush his teeth with twigs and to take a bath daily. Dharmaśāstras and Smṛtis record several types of bath. According to one belief recorded in Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa^[6], one should anoint his feet and eye with unguents after bath in order to keep himself away from death.

Śāṅkhāyana-gṛhyasūtra^[7] refers to nuptial bath when a bride should take her bath in water perfumed with various herbs and fruits. Kālidāsa^[8] also describes the nuptial bath of Pārvatī. There we meet with attendants besmearing an oil prepared from tender sprouts of Dūrva grass and white mustard paste on Pārvatī’s body. For removing oil, they scrubbed her body with Lodhra powder. From Mahābhārata^[9] we get information regarding some beliefs associated with bath. Thus an oil bath is not allowed on certain days such as birth day and on 8^th and 14^th day of the month. A housewife was permitted to take her bath only after that of her husband. Likewise taking bath in the evening was restricted. Manusmṛti^[10] also mentions some taboos associated with bathing. Thus he prohibits bathing in the bathrooms. He recommends ponds, rivers, lakes, water holes and springs as bath places. A Snātaka is not permitted to bath in other’s tank. If he did so, then it is believed that one portion of the guilt of the tank’s owner will be shifted into him. Likewise he is not allowed to bath naked and should not bath during midnight or by wearing all garments or just after a meal. Similarly a student should not be employed in serving his teacher’s wife during her bath. Certain occasions when bath is needed is also listed there. Thus it is said that a sacrificer should take bath at the beginning of the ceremony. A woman after her monthly period becomes purified only after taking a bath. Similarly a bath is customary after the observation of the deficient caused by a death or birth in the family.

According to Caraka, bath not only purifies one’s body but it dispels fatigue and enhances life span. He describes the effects of bathing thus -

[...].^[11]

Royal Bath

Royal bath of kings and other aristocrats was an event which needs elaborate description. Usually in the royal places, there was a special group of attendants to give royal dignitaries a bath. These attendants were known as Snāpaka. Servants were employed for massaging the king’s body with oil and also for shampooing. Usually young boys were employed as Mallas for massaging. It was considered an art. A shampooer was called as Saṃvāhaka. At the commencement of bath, young and beautiful ladies anoint the kings body with fragrant ointments. For removing oil and cleaning the body, either pure mud or cow-dung or some other fragrant powders were used. Sometimes Phenaka, a lather giving substance also was used. Lastly the ladies give the king a bath in perfumed holy water. These waters were poured from golden pitchers accompanied with music sung by the attendants. After bath also scented pastes were besmeared on the body. Usually a special kind of unguent called Yakṣakardama was used for this purpose. It is a combination of paste of musk, sandal and saffron. Amarakośa refers to Yakṣakardama. They took their bath wearing a special kind of cloth known as Snānaśāṭī. After bath they wear white and bleached clothes.

Bathrooms in the royal palaces were posh. Bath tubs were made of gold and vessels for pouring water were made of gold, silver, crystal and sometimes with precious gems. Seat for taking bath also was made of crystal slabs. Vyāyāmabhūmi or gymnasium also was situated adjacent to the bath rooms.

We have numerous references to such royal baths. In Vālmīki-rāmāyaṇa^[12] and Mahābhārata^[13] we read of king’s bath. Vātsyāyana^[14] gives a detailed account of Nāgaraka’s bath. There it is mentioned that a Nāgaraka takes a simple bath every day, massaging and shampooing the body was performed every alternate day, while a bath using Phenaka was taken on every third day. In Mṛcchakaṭika^[15] and Saundarananda^[16], we meet with lady attendants preparing and arranging toilet articles for royal bath. Kādambarī (Kādambarī)^[17] gives an account of the royal bath of Śūdraka and Candrāpīḍa. Mānasollāsa^[18] also mentions a king’s bath in the chapter entitled Rājabhoga. In contrast to the above described royal bath, we get a picture of the bath of common folk in Bṛhatkathāślokasaṃgraha^[19]. There in one context, we read of a cowherd woman giving a bath to the hero of the story, who reached her village. There the toilet articles prepared for the hero were homely. The woman gave him a massage with butter instead of sophisticated and perfumed oils. For cleansing the body she used a paste prepared by grinding Caṇa grains. Unguents were made of natural herbs and flowers like Musta, Karbura, Lodhra etc. Instead of crystal slab, there we meet the hero sitting on a cow-dung seat to take his bath. Vessels for water were of bronze.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

VI.124.3,115.3

[2]:

IV.37.13

[3]:

X.71.7

[4]:

V.80.5

[5]:

CLV.1, CLVI.14

[6]:

XIII, 8, 4, 7

[7]:

I.11.2

[8]:

Kumārasambhava,VII.7

[9]:

XIII.21.1, 107.21, 113, 119, 77I.116.5, 7, IV.19.1, III.222.23

[10]:

IV.152, 203, 201, 82, 83, 129, 151, 45; V.109, 62, 63, 66, 76, 77, 134,135, 144; VI.24; II.245, 211

[11]:

Sūtrasthāna, 94

[12]:

II.35.21

[13]:

XIII.21.1

[14]:

I.45, 46

[15]:

Act III

[16]:

IV.26

[17]:

Śūdrakasnānavarṇana and Viśramādivarṇana of Candrāpīḍa

[18]:

II.vv.937.41, 941.43

[19]:

XX. 248-251