176 
Dr. Hoernle —An instalment of the Bower Manuscript. [No. 3, 
Second Leap : Obverse. 
(Verse 12.) Hence Brahmans do not eat it, because of its having 
originated from something connected with a living body ; its evil smell 
also the learned in sacred lore declare to be due to the same cause. 
(Verse 13.) Because of the absence of salty taste they call it 
‘ Rasuna 9 ; ’ and its designation of ‘ Lasuna ’ is well-known among the 
people. What need to mention the many names by which it is called in 
the languages of different countries ? Hear only its tastes, properties, 
and powers on account of their importance for its medicinal use. 
(Verse 14.) Its taste, when eaten as well as when digested, is de" 
dared to be pungent; but when digested its taste is said by others 10 to be 
sweet; it is of light digestion. 11 as shown by its smell, and hot, as shown 
by its blood-invigorating power, and it is famed as an aphrodisiac. 
(Verse 15.) By the foremost Munis it has been declared to be, on 
account of its sour, hot and oily nature, a means of reducing the 
strength of the windy humour, and, 12 on account of its sweet and bitter 
nature, also to be, through its juiciness, a means of abating the bilious 
humour. On account of its hot, sharp, and pungent nature it is 
said by the learned to be a subduer of the strength of the phlegmatic 
humour. It was appointed by the Creator a means of removing the 
defects of these three humours 13 , in order that it should kill all diseases. 
9 Rasuna, according to popular etymology, derived from rasa ‘ taste’ and Una 
‘ without ’, which would properly produce rasona. Or the intended etymology may 
be from ra (for la, abbreviation of lavana) ‘salt’ and silna ( = sxtnya) ‘ destitute of.’ 
1° I propose to read anyaih. The MS. reading any ah yields no satisfactory 
sense. 
H Digestion is said to be of two kinds : guru or heavy (or brisk) and laghu or 
light (or sluggish). Drugs in which earth and water predominate (see note 8) cause 
heavy, while drugs in which fire, air and ether predominate, cause light digestion. 
In the latter urine and foeces are obstructed ( baddha-vinmhtra ), while in heavy 
digestion they are abundant or loose ( srishta-vinmUtra ). Purgative drugs, accord¬ 
ingly, are said to contain an abundance of earth and water, while emetics have more 
of air and fire. In light digestion the tendency is said to be upwards, in heavy, 
downwards. See Susruta I, 40, 41. 
12 The following line does not scan in the original, unless sa is omitted. I am 
doubtful as to what is intended to be said. Sa-rasataya might also be read as one 
word, but would mean the same : ‘ through its having juice’. Another difficulty is 
pitta-bhdva. There is no taste called pitta, so far as I am aware. I have trans¬ 
lated ‘ bitter,’ taking pitta to be a clerical error for tikta. 
13 Dosha, lit. ‘ defect ’, is a name for the three humours : vdta or vdyu or pavana 
‘wind’, pitta ‘bile’ and kapha or sleshman ‘phlegm’. They are called so, because 
they are (as the Charaka, p. 254, explains) the ‘ weak points’ of the bodily system, 
inherent in it by nature (prakriti-bhrita), but as natui'al constituent elements of the 
body, they belong to the supports of the body ( saHr-opakaraka ), and only become 
troublesome when they are in a state of derangement (l ikyita). 
