[INDOLOGY] Kalapattana, black men, and some medical terms

[Dominik Wujastyk]

In the chapter of the medical *Śārṅgadharasaṃhitā* about prognostication
from dreams (śubhāśubhasvapnaparīkṣā), dreams about black people are
mentioned.

atha śubhāśubhasvapnaparīkṣā tatra duḥsvapnalakṣaṇāni

svapneṣu nagnānmuṇḍāṃśca raktakṛṣṇāmbarāvṛtān vyaṅgāṃśca
vikṛtān*kṛṣṇān*sapāśānsāyudhānapi badhnato nighnataścāpi dakṣiṇāṃ
diśamāśritān mahiṣoṣṭrakharārūḍhānstrīpuṃso yastu paśyati sa svastho
labhate vyādhiṃ rogī yātyeva pañcatām 16

If a healthy person sees any of the following kinds of men or women in a
dream, then he will become sick, and if already sick, he will pass away:
naked people, bald people, people dressed in red and black clothes,
cripples, misshapen people, blacks, people with snares or weapons,
people tying up or murdering others, people located in a southerly
direction, or riding buffaloes, camels, or donkeys.



--
Professor Dominik Wujastyk* <http://ualberta.academia.edu/DominikWujastyk>
Singhmar Chair in Classical Indian Society and Polity
Department of History and Classics <http://historyandclassics.ualberta.ca/>
University of Alberta, Canada

<https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/goog_1525257691>
​sas.ualberta.ca​


On 12 October 2016 at 02:10, Dagmar Wujastyk <d.wujastyk at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Martin,
>
> Regarding *vānti* and *chardi*:* vānti* seems to only be used in later
> medical texts, Śārṅgadharasaṃhitā (13th/14th century) onwards, and is also
> found in iatrochemical (alchemical) texts. In the Śārṅgadharasaṃhitā, it
> occurs in the context of a metallic preparation, which, if prepared
> according to rule, will not produce* vānti*. So, here the difference is
> between vomiting as a reaction to poisoning and vomiting as a disease
> category (chardi is used in the latter sense in the Śārṅgadharasaṃhitā). My
> impression (this was a very quick look) is that* vānti *and* chardi*
> otherwise are interchangeable.
>
> Re kāsapittātisāra: it should divide into kāsa (cough - there are
> different kinds of kāsa, it's a category of disease) and pittātisāra, flux
> caused by pitta (one of three humoral substances, or doṣas). Pittātisāra
> already occurs in the Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā.
> Then, it should be pittakāmalā, kāmalā (something like jaundice) caused by
> pitta.
>
> Very best,
> Dagmar
>
>
>
> On 11 October 2016 at 16:14, Martin Gansten <martin.gansten at pbhome.se>
> wrote:
>
>> The *Hāyanasundara*, a seemingly fairly late astrological text (quoted
>> by Balabhadra in the early 17th century) in simple, inelegant Sanskrit,
>> contains some phrases that I am not quite sure about. First, in a
>> description of the joint results of the sun and moon, there are the
>> following stanzas:
>>
>> varṣasvāmī yadā sūryas [...] yadi candramasā yutaḥ [...]
>> śvetakrayāṇakāl lābho viśeṣāt kalapattanā | (some MSS read kalapattanam)
>> śayanāśanavastrādi miṣṭānnasvādubhojanam ||
>> saudhotsaṅgasthito gītanṛtyalolupamānasaḥ |
>> strīvatsalaḥ sugandhāḍhyo rātrau sukhitacetasaḥ ||
>>
>> I don't know what to make of kalapattana/-ā: is it the name of a place
>> (reading -āt), as the second member suggests, and if so, where? Or does it
>> refer to a type of merchandise, or to something else entirely?
>>
>> Second, the description of the joint results of the sun and Venus lists a
>> number of medical conditions. The underlined phrases are particularly
>> problematic:
>>
>> ravir atha sitadṛṣṭaḥ saṃyuto vā jvarārtir bhavati śirasi pīḍā *chardir*
>> apy eti *vāntim* |
>> bhavati jaṭharaśūlaṃ *kāsapittātisārai* ripubhayam atha cintā sthānato
>> bhraṃśam eti ||
>> yadāgneyadiśo lābhaḥ *pittakāmaladadrutāḥ* |
>> galaḥ śuṣyati śukreṇa ravir dṛṣṭo yuto yadi ||
>>
>> What might the difference be between chardi and vānti, both of which seem
>> generally to mean 'vomiting' but are apparently differentiated here? And
>> how are the compounded names of medical conditions best understood?
>>
>> Finally, the text refers repeatedly to 'black men' (asita-mānava,
>> kṛṣṇa-manuja). I have never seen these or similar terms used of
>> dark-skinned Indians. Does it seem reasonable to assume that they are used
>> here to refer to people of African origin, and if so, what (if anything)
>> does that tell us of the likely date and place of the text?
>>
>> I should be grateful for any comments or suggestions.
>>
>> Martin Gansten
>>
>>
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