cxv
| Sanaq the Indian | The Charaka | The Susruta |
|---|---|---|
|
The vapor emitted by poisoned food has the colour of the throat of the peacock . . . . when the food is thrown into fire, it rises high in the air; the fire makes a craclking sound as when salt deflagrates ..... the smoke has the smell of a burnt corpse. Poisoned drinks: butter milk and thin milk have a light blue to yellow line. |
The food is to be thrown into fire for testing . . . the flame becomes parti-coloured like the plume of a peacock. The tongue of the flame also becomes pointed; a crackling sound is emitted and the smell of a putrid corpse is perceived. ... Water, milk and other drinking liquids, when mixed with poison, have blue lines printed upon.— "Chikitsá," Ch. xxiii, 29-30. |
When poisoned food is thrown into fire, it makes crackling sound and the flame issuing therefrom is tinted like the throat of the peacock.—"Kalpa," Ch. i, 27. |
The physician, as superintendent of the kitchen, well-versed in toxicology, is essentially an Indian institution. Cf. Susruta, Kalpa, Ch. I. 6-9
Müller has pointed out the parallelism as shown above. We have, however, added to it the diagnostic test of poisoned food as
