formally invoked the spirit of the aforesaid tree, which bears no white flowers) the physician should fell it on the day following,—reciting the Mantra which reads as:—"O thou possessed of mighty virtues, O thou endued with fiery potency, may thy potency never decrease or vanish. Stay here, O thou blissful one, execute my work, and after the performance thereof thou shalt be at liberty to ascend to the heavenly regions."
Then having performed the Homa ceremony with thousands of white and red flowers, the physician should cut the wood of the abovesaid tree into small pieces and put them in a place protected from the wind. Then having placed pieces of unslaked limestone over them, the physician should burn them to ashes with the lighted faggots of dried sesamum plants. Then after the fire has fairly burnt itself out, the ashes of the limestone and the Ghantá-párula wood should be separately collected and stored. Similarly the wood as well as the leaves, roots and fruits of Kutaja, Palásha, Ashva-karna, Páribhadra, Vibhitaka, Áragvadha, Tilvaka, Arka, Snuhi, Apámárga, Pátalá, Naktamála, Vrisha, Kadali, Chitraka, Putika, Indra-Vriksha, Ásphotá, Ashvamáraka, Saptachchhada, Agnimantha, Gunjá, and the four species of Koshátaki, should be burnt down to ashes.
