[INDOLOGY] the medical term jagrī?

[David and Nancy Reigle]

Thank you, Nagaraj, for this clarification. It now seems that we must look
for jagrī as meaning jalodara rather than as meaning "liver." There are
only two Tibetan translations of the *Kālacakra-tantra* and its
*Vimalaprabhā* commentary in use for the last several centuries: the Shong
ston revision of the 'Bro translation, and the Jonang revision of the Shong
ston revision. Their translation of jagrī is dmu chu, which does
specifically mean ascites, the accumulation of fluid in the abdominal area,
as does jalodara. Indeed, the Shong ston translation of the *Vimalaprabhā* has
dmu chu (jagrī) glossed as chu'i lto ba (jalodara), which is a literal
translation of jalodara, "water (chu) belly (lto ba)." The early Kālacakra
master Bu ston (1290-1364) here annotated chu'i lto ba as dmu chu. The
Jonang translation simply translated jalodara as dmu chu rather than as
chu'i lto ba, making it a straightforward synonym of jagrī. Here are the
*Vimalaprabhā* texts:

jagrī-plīhārṣa-rogān api jalodarādīn
dmu chu skran dang gzhang 'brum nad rnams dag kyang ste chu'i lto ba la
sogs pa rnams (Shong ston)
dmu chu skran dang gzhang 'brum nad rnams dag kyang ste dmu chu la sogs pa
rnams (Jonang)

The meaning of dmu is given by the late Dr. Yeshi Dönden, former personal
physician to the Dalai Lama, as:
"*dmu:* protrusion of the stomach due to an accumulation of water there."
(*The Ambrosia Heart Tantra*, volume 1, translated by Jhampa Kelsang, p.
104. Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives,1977)

Likewise, the *Tibetan-English Dictionary of Tibetan Medicine and Astrolog*y
defines dmu chu as:
"dmu.chu Dropsy of the internal organs (Ascites), Skt. jalodara."
(by Dr. Tsering Thakchoe Drungtso & Mrs. Tsering Dolma Drungtso, revised
and enlarged edition, 2005)

So jagrī was understood as meaning jalodara, both according to the Sanskrit
*Vimalaprabhā* and its Tibetan translations by Shong ston/'Bro and by the
Jonang translators.

Best regards,

David Reigle
Colorado, U.S.A.


On Fri, Aug 8, 2025 at 11:20 PM Nagaraj Paturi <nagarajpaturi at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Jalodara refers to Ascites. Ascites being one of the consequences of
> Cirrhosis of Liver gives a connection between Jalodara and Liver, Yakrut.
>
> Jalodara is not Edema in general. It is an accumulation of fluid in
> Udara,  Jala + Udara.
>
> On Sat, Aug 9, 2025 at 1:48 AM David and Nancy Reigle via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> There is one important weakness with the "liver" hypothesis for jagrī.
>> The *Vimalaprabhā* commentary almost certainly glosses jagrī as
>> jalodara, "edema." This is not as clear in the Sarnath printed edition,
>> which has: jagrī-plīhārṣa-rogān api jalodarādīni. The phrase "jagrī-plīhārṣa-rogān
>> api" is quoted from the *K**ā**lacakra-tantra*, with the commentary
>> adding jalodarādīni. However, the two very old palm-leaf manuscripts of
>> the *Vimalaprabhā* show that the reading is actually jalodarādīn rather
>> than jalodarādīni. Thus: jagrī-plīhārṣa-rogān api jalodarādīn. These
>> plural accusatives are objects of the verb hanti. The neuter jalodarādīni
>> could be understood as adding edema to liver, etc. But the masculine
>> jalodarādīn is almost certainly glossing the masculine compound instead
>> of adding something more. So it is glossing the first word of the compound,
>> jagrī, as meaning jalodara.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> David Reigle
>> Colorado, U.S.A.
>>
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>
>
> --
> Nagaraj Paturi
> Kulapati | Vice-Chancellor, INDICA
>
>
>
>
>
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