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@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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