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264
HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
porridge made of haridra (turmeric, or curcuma, a yellow plant), daubs him from head to foot both with the remnants of the porridge and (additional porridge) from which he has not eaten, (places him upon a couch), ties the (three birds) mentioned in the mantra 1 by their left legs to the foot of the couch, and washes (the patient) off (upon the birds). 19. He makes the patient step forward (after having first given him a stirred drink, mantha, in accordance with the paribhasha at Kaus. 7, 18). 20. He makes (the patient) address (with the hymn) the chattering (birds). 21. Having glued together with lac the hairs from the breast of the red bull) and getting them covered with gold (the patient ties that on as an amulet).'
Sayana in his introduction defines the purpose of the hymn as against heart disease and jaundice, hridrogakamiladirogopa santaye; Kesava advances a broader construction, according to which it cures in addition epilepsy and fainting (vismaya ?), apasmara-vismaya-hridroga-kamalakarohinakani bhaishagyani. Adalbert Kuhn, in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XIII, 113 ff., has assembled from Greek, Roman, and Teutonic sources notions and practices analogous to those elaborated by Kausika. The principle that the yellow disease belongs by right to yellow objects, birds, and plants, is there again applied practically, with a touch, here and there, of similia similibus curantur. In addition to Kuhn's translation we note Weber's, Ind. Ştud. IV, 415 ff.; cf. also Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 343; Bergaigne et Henry, Manuel Védique, pp. 134-5; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 388; Wise, Hindu System of Medicine, 247 ff. (espe
The suka, ropanâkâ, and hâridrava mentioned in st. 4. Sâyana, in his introduction, sukakâshthasukagopîtanakâkhyânâm pakshinâm. Dârila defines haridravah by haridravarnâs kitakâh. Kesava, sukah kashtha(mu)sukam (1) ka gopitilakam ka. They seem to refer respectively to the parrot, the thrush, and the yellow wagtail, all doubtless birds prevailingly yellow. The yellow jaundice of the patient, accentuated by his coat of yellow curcuma, is washed down upon the yellow birds, where it belongs. Cf. the notes on st. 4, and the introduction to VII, 116.
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