Life in Ancient India as Depicted in Jain Canons

SR No.: 011077
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jagdishchandra Jain
Publisher: New Book Company
Publication Year: 1947
Total Pages: 429
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 16 MB

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LIFE IN ANCIENT INDIA
humpback (khujiya), dropsy (udarı), dumbness (mūya), swelling (süniva), over-appetite (giläsanı), trembling (vevar), disablement (pidhasappz), elephantiasis (szlivaya) and diabetes (madhumeha). 48
The following are mentioned as the causes of diseases. Over-eating. eating unwholesome food, over-sleeping, over-walking, checking calls of nature, travelling, irregularity of food, and indulgence in sexual intercourse.40
Meat and wine were freely prescribed as diet by physicians 50 The practice of using skin with or without hair saloma-nilloma) for the sain monks and nuns is pretty old and is referred to in the Brhatkalpa sūtra. It is laid down that if a nun suffered from flatulence (uddhavāla) or from paralysis (dhanuggāha), or from piles or from acute pain, or her hand or foot was dislocated, or her whole or a part of the body was affected by 'wind', she was made to lie down on a skin " Similarly, if her waist or hand was affected by rheumatism (vāla) the skin of a hyena (taraccha) was wrapped around the affected part, and if she were bitten by a dog she was made to lie down on a tiger skin (dīvicamma). In the same way the hairless skin was prescribed for the Jain monks, who suffered from bad leprosy (galantakodha), piles, kacchu or kuilibha (a kind of leprosy).64 Droppings of a ram and cow urine were used to cure leprosy known as pāmā 55 The leg of a vulture was tied to cure paralysis (vāyu); the teeth and the nails of the bear and the hair of the ram were also used for similar purposes $6 Then gosīsa sandal was used to cure leprosy full of maggots (kimikuttha)."
The drinking of urine (moya) was another old practice described in the Brhatkalpa sūtra.58 The Jain monks and the nuns drank each other's (annamannassa) urine to cure snake bite, cholera and fever The mud
48 6.1. 173 Gf the list in the Viva (1, p 7) asthama (sāsa), cough (hasa), lever (jara), inflamation (dāha), intestinal colic (kucсhıs üla), fistula (bhagandara), piles (arisā), indigestion (ayiraa), optic neuralgia (dafthis üla), cerebral neuralgia (muddhas ūla), loss of appetite (ahăraya), pain in th eye (acchuveyana), pain in the ear (kannaveyanā), itches (handu), and dropsy (nyara) The Jambu (Su 24, p 120) adds family disease (kularoga), village disease (gama), country disease (mandala), pain in the lips (ofthaveyana), pain in the nose (nakkaveyanā), toothache (dantareyanā), jaundice (panduroga), intermitent fever coming at the interval of one, two, three or four days (egáhra , beāhia, teāhia, cautthāhia), obsession by Indra (Indaggaha), paralysis (dhanuggaha), obsession by Skanda (khandaggaha), Kumāra (kumāraggaha), heartache (hıyayas ūla), stomachache (poffasüla) vaginal pain, (jonis üla), and pestilence (märı), also Nisi cũ II, p 737 f Jiva 3, P 153 , Bhag (Abhaya ), 3 6, p 363, also cf Law B, C, History of Pali Literature, p. 281. Also see Mahābhārala, III 230, 44 ff 49 Tha 9 667 Compare ten causes of disease in the Milındapanha, p 135 60 Cf. Viva 7, Naya 6, 80, cf also Mahāvagga, VI, 10 2 where in the cace of a disease not human, Buddha allowed them the use of raw flesh and blood ol 3 3-6Bha 3839-41. 69 Brh Bhå 3816-18 58 Kacchu is also mentioned in the Dhammapada A. I, p 299.
Brh Bhā. 3839-40 68 Ogha. p 134 a. 58 Ibid. p 134 a ; also Pinda. Nir. 48 ff. 17 Ava. cū p 133. 88 5. 37. 60 In Buddhist texts in case of snake biting four kinds of filth were given : dung, urines, ashes and clay ; Mahdvagga, VI. 14.6.
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