INTRODUCTION. 15 



W^nrrar Tailapdha or medicated oils. Id preparing these, 

 sesamum oil should be used unless otherwise specified. Sesamum 

 oil, before be'ng boiled with medicinal substances, is coloured and 

 purified as follows :— "First of all it is heated to deprive it of any 

 water that may be mixed with it ; then the following substances 

 are steeped in it for twenty-four hours, viz., madder one sixteenth 

 part in weight of the oil, turmeric, wood of Symphcos rncemosa 



i), tubers of Cy per its rotundu* (mustaka) 



la) 



shoots of Pandanus odoratissimus (ketrtki), each one sixty-fourth 

 part in weight of the oil. These ingredients in fine powder should 

 be soaked in the oil, with the addition of an eiual quantity of 

 water for a day. The mixture should then be boiled till the water 

 is evaporated, and finally strained. To the oil thus prepared, 

 medicinal substances, in the form of paste, decoction, etc., are 

 added in the same proportions as for the preparation of ghritapdl-a. 

 They are then boiled together till the watery parts are all 

 evaporated. When cool, the oil is strained throi 

 separate the solid particles. Some medicinal oils, and especially 



those used in the treatment of nervous diseases, rheumatism, etc., 



are subjected to a third process of boiling with various aromatic 

 and fr^grint substances. This is called the Gandlia pdka or boiling 

 for rendering the oil fragrant. The following substances, or as 

 many of them as are available, a^e used for scenting medicated oils, 

 namely, cardamoms, cinnamon, cloves, fenngreek seeds, saffron, 

 leaves of Cinnamomam Tamala, white sandal wood, aloes wood, 

 jatarnansi root, Curcuma Zedoaria (saff), Cypervs rotund tis (mustalifi), 

 hahhola (an aromatic seed,) resin olPinus longifolius (gandhavtrajd), 

 storax, long pepper root, root of Andropogon muricatus (vsira), naklii 

 (Unguis odoratus)* pouch of civet cat (JcJiattdsi), camphor, musk, 

 Permelia perlata (saileya), root of Aplotaxis auriculata (Jcushta), 

 seeds of Abelmosclius moschatus (latdkasturi), etc. 



This nalchi according" to Rnmphius who describes ten kinds of the odori- 

 ferous onyx which serve as the basis of the principal perfumes in the Indian 

 Islands, (Herb. Amb. ii. c. 17) is the operculum or lid of the shells of Purpura 

 and Murex. This being flat and something like a nail explains the origin of its 

 name, — RoyWs Antiquity of Hindu Medicine, page 144. 



