൧൧. ക്ഷാരപാകവിധ്യധ്യായഃ

Meaning of the commentary

Shastra means instruments such as the mandalagra; anushastra means substitutes such as bamboo. Fire and leeches are the other two substitutes whose methods remain to be described. Each of these three receives a separate chapter because of its importance: leeches are important, fire more important and kshara most important in the present ranking. The commentator promises to explain later why the statement that fire is superior to kshara does not contradict this. Cutting, opening and scraping are not possible with fire or leeches in the same manner; this accounts for the present preference for kshara. Its action against the three doshas will be explained through the combination of multiple medicinal substances. Special application includes its particular use in pittaja arshas.

Meaning of the commentary

Gara is explained as artificially compounded poison; others interpret it as dushivisha. Agnisanga means a condition in which, through which or because of which digestive agni becomes obstructed or subdued. It therefore includes vata-kapha disorders such as grahani, visuchika, alasaka and vilambika. Sharkara is explained as an ashmari broken into fragments by vata.

Meaning of the commentary

'The other' means pratisaraniya kshara, the externally applied kind. Some manuscripts omit the initial statement of its three strengths; others read 'now, wishing to prepare the other kind', with 'atha' serving as an auspicious opening. Girisanuja means growing on a mountain; other interpreters take it to indicate jangala country. A variant says 'being clean and fasting'. The tree must be unharmed by worms, forest fire, poison and similar causes. Asita-mushkaka is identified as the black-flowered mokshaka, excluding white-flowered and other forms. Adhivasana means a ritual offering accompanied by a mantra. Some readers insert an invocation asking the tree, whose potency is associated with fire, to retain its strength, remain to accomplish the speaker's task, and afterwards go to the world of the gods, together with an offering of a thousand white and red flowers. The commentator notes that this passage is not read in the nibandhas. Another reported ritual directs a clean, attentive person to approach facing east, make offerings in the four directions, and with joined hands ask the beings inhabiting the tree to leave because it will be cut the following day for the benefit of others. Parched grain, incense, sura and asava are offered. In the morning, if no abnormal sign is seen, the tree is felled with its top to the east or north after mist and darkness have cleared and the sun has risen to the specified yuga height. This version is said also to occur in Bhoja. 'On the next day' is glossed directly. Dividing and splitting mean first making many pieces and then splitting those again. A variant instead directs preparation in the morning only if no abnormality or extraordinary portent is seen: a broken branch illustrates the former, a rain of blood the latter. Niciti means wood placed in successive layers; those reading citi explain it as the burning place. Ignition with sesame stalks is said to increase potency. Some readings explicitly insert sudha stones here. Bhasmasharkara is explained as ash clumped together like gravel by sap released from burning moist wood. It is collected separately because ordinary ash makes the kshara liquid whereas the concretions are later added to the preparation. Another reading mentions both katasharkara and bhasmasharkara: its interpreters identify the former as unburnt sudha stones and the latter as lime stones burnt with the kshara materials. 'The same method' carries forward the sheltered location, stacking and sesame-stalk ignition, and the plants beginning with kutaja are likewise taken from jangala country. Although their treatment resembles that of mushkaka, the separate burning instruction is explained as indicating a larger proportion of mushkaka ash. Others understand it to show that mushkaka alone can produce kshara. Palasha is kimshuka. Ashvakarna is described as an eastern plant called gandhamunda, resembling pippala. Paribhadraka is identified by one view as devadaru and by another as the familiar thorny, red-flowered tree of that name. Tilvaka is said to be known by its own name. Indravriksha is another kutaja: kutaja has a male form with large fruits, white flowers and smooth leaves, and a female form with small fruits and stalks and dusky-red flowers. Asphota is identified as sariva; koshataki as ghoshaka, with large-fruited, small-fruited, yellow-flowered and white-flowered kinds. The inclusion of roots, fruits, leaves and branches applies separately to each named plant. Some readers present the whole plant list as a compound. The drona of ash is explained as a mixture of two parts mushkaka ash and one part ash from kutaja and the other plants. Six dronas of water establishes a sixfold liquid-to-ash proportion, which the commentator extends to other kshara preparations. The urine alternative refers to the Dundubhisvaniya Kalpa passage describing cow urine; the same sixfold proportion is inferred there. Twenty-one filtrations means twenty-one passages through cloth. Stirring means keeping the liquid moving. The clear, reddish, sharp and slimy qualities are initially said to appear when one third of the liquid remains. The further filtration separates the ash paste; a variant explicitly directs discarding the ash residue. The reserved kudava is here interpreted as eight palas, and one and a half kudavas as twelve palas. Other interpreters do not accept this doubling. The reserved liquid is for quenching and grinding the mineral additions. Another interpretation treats the wording as specifying the quantity of each addition: a kudava or one and a half kudavas each. Katasharkara is identified here as gangeshthi; the earlier alternative identifications of katasharkara and bhasmasharkara are also acknowledged. Kshirapaka is identified as jalashukti. The heated materials are put into the reserved kshara liquid in an iron vessel. The proportions of the added materials are disputed. One account takes unspecified proportions to mean equal shares, here eight palas of each of the four materials, giving thirty-two palas in all. It regards this as compatible with the phrase concerning two dronas and eight palas and as indicating an addition of one sixteenth. Others take eight palas as the combined amount, two palas of each material. The commentator rejects that view on the ground that shankhanabhi must retain its principal role; the proportions attributed to Vishvamitra and Bhoja are rejected on the same ground. The concluding discussion supplies differing accounts of reduction and measurement rather than one undisputed calculation. Elders are said to understand the mention of two dronas as establishing a one-third remainder, and the six dronas of starting water are calculated as 1,536 palas. A subsequent account places the required clear, reddish and slimy qualities at a one-sixteenth remainder, ninety-six palas. Other interpreters reject application of a fixed one-quarter or similar reduction rule here: cooking should continue slowly until the characteristic colour and other qualities of kshara appear. For ninety-six palas of kshara liquid, an addition amounting to one quarter, made from equal portions of katasharkara and the other materials, is also reported.

Meaning of the commentary

The place should be free from both wind and sunlight and should not be crowded. The reference to Agropaharaniya includes its arrangements concerning an auspicious date, karana, time and lunar mansion. Instruments, sharp instruments, kshara, fire, shalaka and related materials are to be nearby. Examination establishes the appearance of the disease. The commentary associates rubbing with a pitta-affected area, scraping with a vata-affected area whose skin is numb and hard, and superficial incisions with a kapha-affected area where itching and swelling predominate. Application with a shalaka follows these preparations. Some read 'having placed the kshara' instead of 'one should apply the kshara.' Vak here means the utterance of a short syllable. The expression 'the measure of one hundred' indicates that a preparation which produces its burning action in that interval has the stated qualities. Some read 'exactly one hundred' and explain that the interval should be neither longer nor shorter. The commentary next mentions a passage beginning 'equal to a lotus leaf' that would specify application thickness and duration according to dosha; it states that some teachers do not read that passage and that it has not been reproduced in full because it was unavailable.

Meaning of the commentary

The commentary explains the question as asking how fiery kanjika can calm kshara, which is comparable to fire. In interpreting the answer, the commentator rearranges the relation of the taste terms: among the five tastes attributed to kshara, salty is predominant and pungent is secondary. Some instead accept pungent as predominant. The commentator rejects that interpretation, arguing that people use salt when eating sour substances to obtain sweetness, and that kshara is included in the salty group rather than the pungent group. An objection cites the earlier statement that kshara is pungent because fiery drugs predominate in it. The response is that its salty character is already established by its placement in the salty group, while that statement additionally establishes its pungency. The description 'sharply salty in taste' refers to kshara. The concluding comparison is with fire inundated by water.

Meaning of the commentary

The commentary contrasts the great benefit of proper use with the great harm of improper use. It connects death separately with each of the preceding comparisons: the result resembles death caused by poison, fire, a weapon or a thunderbolt. Like poison, it is said to spread painful effects throughout the body and kill; like fire, to cause blisters and similar injury; like a weapon, to cut sira and other structures; and like a thunderbolt, to cause immediate death. Thus four comparisons are explained.