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198 :
śramaņa, Vol 58, No. 2-3/April-September 2007
The English version of this stanza is "you go to Mendhika where a certain mistress named Revati has cooked two pumpkins into a certain preparation for my use. I cannot make use of that. However she has got the pulp of 'Bījorā' fruit which is used as a medicine for the disease of 'Mārjāra Vāyu'. Go and get that for
my use."
There are three disputable words in the above quotation. कवोय, मज्जार and कुक्कुडमंसए. These words are used in connection which medicinal purpose and their meanings should, therefore, be determined with the aid of dictionaries of medical words and as these dictionaries are mostly written in Sanskrit, we should also try to know their Sanskrit equivalents.
कवोय = सं० कपोत. कुक्कुड = सं० कुक्कुट.
मज्जार = सं० मार्जार. = HA. 04410= 1. A fruit named 4x4a.26
2. 964105461 - white pumpkin.
The commentator has preferred the latter meaning because the colour of the white pumpkin is similar to that of 417 i.e. pigeon and it has been common practice with the writers to use the same word for an animal or a vegetable if the external appearance, properties or other qualities of both are almost similar, e.g. HRLIGT= 1. Eggs of a fish.
2. Sugar (because its external appearance and the size of its crystals are similar to those of the eggs of a fish). 3G CHUY= 1. Ears of a mouse.
2. A vegetable whose leaves resemble the ears of a mouse shape.
HGo, opet, force, 95 and many more can be cited in support of the above practice.
