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 Astrology 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@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@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 Kālacakra-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