Gatekeeper gods; Skanda in Buddhism

[Dominik Wujastyk]

On Sat, 17 Jul 1999, Nobumi Iyanaga wrote:

> There are also some dhaara.nii suutra, in which Skanda is named among
> a group of demons who make children ill; but this Skanda is a bad
> demon, not the good protector of the Law like the Chinese "Weituo"...

The Skanda who makes children ill is described in the uttaratantra of the
Susrutasamhita, and also in the Revatikhanda of the Kasyapasamhita.  The
latter text is translated and discussed in my book _The Roots of Ayurveda_
(Delhi: Penguin, 1998).  I have also discussed the subject of Skanda and
demonic attack in the medical context in two articles recently.

Dominik Wujastyk, "Demons of disease", in _Holistic Health and Medicine_
(Calicut: Univ. of Calicut and Arya Vaidya Sala, 1998). [These details may
not be perfect; I'm doing it from memory.]

--- , "Miscarriages of justice: demonic vengeance in classical Indian
medicine", in _Religion, health, and suffering_, edited by John Hinnells
and Roy Porter (London, New York: Kegan Paul International, 1999).

All the best,
Dominik

--
Dr Dominik Wujastyk,                FAX:        +44 171 611 8545
Wellcome Institute for              URL:        http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgadkw/
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