Kautilya's Arthashastra: Book XIV, "Secret Means"
CHAPTER I. MEANS TO INJURE AN ENEMY.
IN order to protect the institution of the four castes, such measures as are treated of in secret science shall be applied against the wicked. Through the instrumentality of such men or women of Mlechchha class as can put on disguises, appropriate to different countries, arts, or professions, or as can put on the appearance of a hump-backed, dwarfish, or short-sized person, or of a dumb, deaf, idiot, or blind person, kálakúta and other manifold poisons should be administered in the diet and other physical enjoyments of the wicked. Spies lying in wait or living as inmates (in the same house) may make use of weapons on occasions of royal sports or musical and other entertainments. Spies, under the disguise of night-walkers (rátrichári) or of fire-keepers (agni-jívi) may set fire (to the houses of the wicked).
The powder (prepared from the carcass) of animals such as chitra (?), bheka (frog), kaundinyaka (?), krikana (perdix sylvatika), panchakushtha (?), and satapadi, (centipede); or of animals such as uchchitinga (crab), kambali (?), krikalása (lizard) with the powder of the bark of satakanda (Phyalis Flexuosa); or of animals such as grihagaulika (a small house-lizard), andháhika (a blind snake), krakanthaka (a kind of partridge), pútikíta (a stinking insect), and gomárika (?) combined with the juice of bhallátaka (Semecarpus Anacardium), and valgaka (?);--the smoke caused by burning the above powders causes instantaneous death.
* Any of the (above) insects may be heated with a black snake and priyangu (panic seed) and reduced to powder. This mixture, when burnt, causes instantaneous death.
The powder prepared from the roots of dhámárgava (lufta foetida) and yátudhána (?) mixed with the powder of the flower of bhallátaka (Semecarpus Anacardium) causes, when administered, death in the course of half a month. The root of vyágháta (casia fistula) reduced to powder with the flower of bhallátaka (Semecarpus A nacardium) mixed with the essence of an insect (kíta) causes, when administered, death in the course of a month.
As much as a kalá (16th of a tola) to men; twice as much to mules and horses; and four times as much to elephants and camels.
The smoke caused by burning the powder of satakardama (?), uchchitinga (crab), karavira (nerium odorum), katutumbi (a kind of bitter gourd), and fish together with the chaff of the grains of madana (?) and kodrava (paspalam scrobiculatum), or with the chaff of the seeds of hastikarna (castor oil tree) and palása (butea frondosa) destroys animal life as far as it is carried off by the wind.
The smoke caused by burning the powder of pútikita (a stinking insect), fish, katutumbi (a kind of bitter gourd), the bark of satakardama (?), and indragopa (the insect cochineal), or the powder of pútikita, kshudrárála (the resin of the plant, shorea robusta), and hemavidári (?) mixed with the powder of the hoof and horn of a goat causes blindness.
The smoke caused by burning the leaves of pútikaranja (guilandina bonducella), yellow arsenic, realgar, the seeds of gunja (abrus precatorius), the chaff of the seeds of red cotton, ásphota (a plant, careya arborea), khácha (salt ?), and the dung and urine of a cow causes blindness.
The smoke caused by burning the skin of a snake, the dung of a cow and a horse, and the head of a blind snake causes blindness.
The smoke caused by burning the powder made of the mixture of the dung and urine of pigeons, frogs, flesh-eating animals, elephants, men, and boars, the chaff and powder of barley mixed with kásísa (green sulphate of iron), rice, the seeds of cotton, kutaja (nerium antidysentericum), and kosátaki (lufta pentandra), cow's urine, the root of bhándi (hydroeotyle asiatica), the powder of nimba (nimba meria), sigru (hyperanthera morunga), phanirjaka (a kind of tulasi plant), kshíbapíluka (ripe coreya arborea), and bhánga (a common intoxicating drug), the skin of a snake and fish, and the powder of the nails and tusk of an elephant, all mixed with the chaff of madana and kodravá (paspalam scrobiculatum), or with the chaff of the seeds of hastikarna (castor oil tree) and palása (butea frondosa) causes instantaneous death wherever the smoke is carried off by the wind.
When a man who has kept his eyes secure with the application of ointment and medicinal water burns, on the occasion of the commencement of a battle and the assailing of forts, the roots of káli (tragia involucrata), kushtha (costus), nada (a kind of reed) and satávari (asperagus racemosus), or the powder of (the skin of) a snake, the tail of a peacock, krikana (a kind of partridge), and panchakushtha (?), together with the chaff as previously described or with wet or dry chaff, the smoke caused thereby destroys the eyes of all animals.
The ointment prepared by mixing the excretion of sáriká (maina), kapota (pigeon), baka (crane), and baláka (a kind of small crane) with the milk of kákshiva (hyperanthera morunga), píluka (a species of careya arborea) and snuhi (euphorbia) causes blindness and poisons water.
The mixture of yavaka (a kind of barley), the root of sála (achyrantes triandria), the fruit of madana (dattúra plant?), the leaves of játí (nutmeg?), and the urine of a man mixed with the powder of the root of plaksha (fig tree), and vidári (liquorice), as well as the essence of the decoction of musta (a kind of poison), udumbara (glomerous fig tree), and kodrava (paspalam scrobiculatum) or with the decoction of hastikarna (castor oil tree) and palása (butea frondosa) is termed the juice of madana (madanayoga).
The mixture of the powders of sringi (atis betula), gaumevriksha (?), kantakára (solanum xanthocarpum), and mayúrapadi (?), the powder of gunja seeds, lánguli (jusseina repens), vishamúlika (?), and ingudi (heart-pea), and the powder of karavira (oleander), akshipiluka (careya arborea), arka plant, and mrigamáríni (?) combined with the decoction of madana and kodrava or with that of hastikarna and palása is termed madana mixture (madanayoga).
The combination of (the above two) mixtures poisons grass and water when applied to them.
The smoke caused by burning the mixture of the powders of krikana (a kind of partridge), krikalása (lizard), grihagaulika (a small house-lizard) and andháhika (a blind snake) destroys the eyes and causes madness.
The (smoke caused by burning the) mixture of krikalása and grihagaulika causes leprosy.
The smoke caused by burning the same mixture together with the entrails of chitrabheka (a kind of frog of variegated colour), and madhu (celtis orientalis?) causes gonorrhœa.
The same mixture, wetted with human blood causes consumption.
The powder of dúshívisha (?), madana (dattúra plant ?), and kodrava (paspalam scrobiculatum) destroys the tongue.
The mixture of the powder of mátriváhaka (?), jalúka (leech), the tail of a peacock, the eyes of a frog, and píluká (careya arborea) causes the disease known as vishúchika.
The mixture of panchakushtha (?), kaundinyaka (?), rájavriksha (cassia fistula), and madhupushpa (bassia latifolia) and madhu (honey?) causes fever.
The mixture prepared from the powder of the knot of the tongue of bhája (?), and nakula (mongoose) reduced to a paste with the milk of a she-donkey causes both dumbness and deafness.
The proportion of a dose to bring on the desired deformities in men and animals in the course of a fortnight or a month is as laid down before.
Mixtures become very powerful when, in the case of drugs, they are prepared by the process of decoction; and in the case of animals, by the process of making powders; or in all cases by the process of decoction.
Whoever is pierced by the arrow prepared from the grains of sálmali (bombax heptaphyllum) and vidári (liquorice) reduced to powder and mixed with the powder of múlavatsanábha (a kind of poison) and smeared over with the blood of chuchundari (musk-rat) bites some ten other persons who in their turn bite others.
The mixture prepared from the flowers of bhallátaka (semecarpus anacardium), yátudhána (?), dhámárgava (achyranthes aspera), and bána (sal tree) mixed with the powder of elá (large cardamom), kákshi (red aluminous earth), guggulu (bdellium), and háláhala (a kind of poison) together with the blood of a goat and a man causes biting madness.
When half a dharana of this mixture together with flour and oil-cakes is thrown into water of a reservoir measuring a hundred bows in length, it vitiates the whole mass of water; all the fish swallowing or touching this mixture become poisonous; and whoever drinks or touches this water will be poisoned.
No sooner does a person condemned to death pull out from the earth an alligator or iguana (godhá) which, with three or five handfuls of both red and white mustard seeds, is entered into the earth than he dies at its sight.
When, on the days of the stars of krittiká or bharaní and following the method of performing fearful rites, an oblation with a black cobra emitting froth at the shock of lightning or caught hold of by means of the sticks of a tree struck by lightning and perfumed is made into the fire, that fire continues to burn unquenchably.
* An oblation of honey shall be made into the fire fetched from the house of a blacksmith; of spirituous liquor into the fire brought from the house of a vintner; of clarified butter into the fire of a sacrificer (?);
* Of a garland into the fire kept by a sacrificer with one wife; of mustard seeds into the fire kept by an adulterous woman; of curds into the fire kept during the birth of a child; of rice-grain into the fire of a sacrificer;
* Of flesh into the fire kept by a chandala; of human flesh into the fire burning in cremation grounds; an oblation of the serum of the flesh of a goat and a man shall be made by means of a sacrificial ladle into the fire which is made of all the above fires;
* Repeating the mantras addressed to the fire, an oblation of the wooden pieces of rájavriksha (cassia fistula) into the same fire. This fire will unquenchably burn deluding the eyes of the enemies.
Salutation to Aditi, salutation to Anumati, salutation to Sarasvati and salutation to the Sun; oblation to Agni, oblation to soma, oblation to the earth, and oblation to the atmosphere.
[Thus ends Chapter I, “Means to Injure an Enemy,” in Book XIV, “Secret Means,” of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the hundred and forty-sixth chapter from the beginning.]
CHAPTER II. WONDERFUL AND DELUSIVE CONTRIVANCES.
A DOSE of the powder of sirísha (mimosa sirísa), udumbara (glomerous fig-tree), and sami (acacia suma) mixed with clarified butter, renders fasting possible for half a month; the scum prepared from the mixture of the root of kaseruka (a kind of water-creeper), utpala (costus), and sugar-cane mixed with bisa (water-lily), dúrva (grass), milk, and clarified butter enables a man to fast for a month.
The powder of másha (phraseolus radiatus), yava (barley), kuluttha (horse-gram) and the root of darbha (sacrificial grass) mixed with milk and clarified butter; the milk of valli (a kind of creeper) and clarified butter derived from it and mixed in equal proportions and combined with the paste prepared from the root of sála (shorea robusta) and prisniparni (hedysarum lagopodioides), when drunk with milk; or a dose of milk mixed with clarified butter and spirituous liquor, both prepared from the above substances, enables one to fast for a month.
The oil prepared from mustard seeds previously kept for seven nights in the urine of a white goat will, when used (externally) after keeping the oil inside a large bitter gourd for a month and a half, alter the colour of both biped and quadruped animals.
The oil extracted from white mustard seeds mixed with the barley-corns contained in the dung of a white donkey, which has been living for more than seven nights on a diet of butter, milk and barley, causes alteration in colour.
The oil prepared from mustard seeds which have been previously kept in the urine and fluid dung of any of the two animals, a white goat and a white donkey, causes (when applied) such white colour as that of the fibre of arka plant or the down of a (white) bird.
The mixture of the dung of a white cock and ajagara (boa-constrictor) causes white colour.
The pastry made from white mustard seeds kept for seven nights in the urine of a white goat mixed with butter-milk, the milk of arka plant, salt, and grains (dhánya), causes, when applied for a fortnight, white colour.
The paste, prepared from white mustard seeds which have been previously kept within a large bitter gourd and with clarified butter prepared from the milk of valli (a creeper) for half a month, makes the hair white.
* A bitter gourd, a stinking insect (pútikíta), and a white house-lizard; when a paste prepared from these is applied to the hair, the latter becomes as white as a conch-shell.
When any part of the body of a man is rubbed over with the pastry (kalka) prepared from tinduka (glutinosa) and arishta (soap-berry), together with the dung of a cow, the part of the body being also smeared over with the juice of bhallátaka (semecarpus anacardium), he will catch leprosy in the course of a month.
(The application of the paste prepared from) gunja seeds kept previously for seven nights in the mouth of a white cobra or in the mouth of a house-lizard brings on leprosy.
External application of the liquid essence of the egg of a parrot and a cuckoo brings on leprosy.
The pastry or decoction prepared from priyála (chironjia sapida or vitis vinifera ?) is a remedy for leprosy.
Whoever eats the mixture of the powders of the roots of kukkuta (marsilia dentata), kosátaki (duffa pentandra), and satávari (asparagus racemosus) for a month will become white.
Whoever bathes in the decoction of vata (banyan tree) and rubs his body with the paste prepared from sahachara (yellow barleria) becomes black.
Sulphuret of arsenic and red arsenic mixed with the oil extracted from sakuna (a kind of bird) and kanka (a vulture) causes blackness.
The powder of khadyota (fire-fly) mixed with the oil of mustard seeds emits light at night.
The powder of khadyota (fire-fly) and gandúpada (earth-worm) or the powder of ocean animals mixed with the powder of bhringa (malabathrum), kapála (a pot-herb), and khadira (mimosa catechu), and karnikára (pentapetes acerifolia), combined with the oil of sakuna (a bird) and kanka (vulture), is tejanachúrna (ignition powder).
When the body of a man is rubbed over with the powder of the charcoal of the bark of páribhadraka (erythrina indica) mixed with the serum of the flesh of mandúka (a frog), it can be burnt with fire (without causing hurt).
The body which is painted with the pastry (kalka) prepared from the bark of páribhadraka (erythrina indica) and sesamum seeds burns with fire.
The ball prepared from the powder of the charcoal of the bark of pílu (careya arborea) can be held in hand and burnt with fire.
When the body of a man is smeared over with the serum of the flesh of a frog, it burns with fire (with no hurt).
When the body of a man is smeared over with the above serum as well as with the oil extracted from the fruits of kusa (ficus religiosa), and ámra (mango tree), and when the powder prepared from an ocean frog (samdura mandúki), phenaka (sea-foam), and sarjarasa (the juice of vatica robusta) is sprinkled over the body, it burns with fire (without being hurt).
When the body of a man is smeared over with sesamum oil mixed with equal quantities of the serum of the flesh of a frog, crab, and other animals, it can burn with fire (without hurt).
The body which is smeared over with the serum of the flesh of a frog burns with fire.
The body of a man, which is rubbed over with the powder of the root of bamboo (venu) and saivála (aquatic plant), and is smeared over with the serum of the flesh of a frog, burns with fire.
Whoever has anointed his legs with the oil extracted from the paste prepared from the roots of páribhadraka (erythrina indica), pratibala (?), vanjula (a kind of ratan or tree), vajra (andropogon muricatum or euphorbia), and kadali (banana), mixed with the serum of the flesh of a frog, can walk over fire (without hurt).
* Oil should be extracted from the paste prepared from the roots of pratibala, vanjula and páribhadraka, all growing near water, the paste being mixed with the serum of the flesh of a frog.
* Having anointed one's legs with this oil, one can walk over a white-hot mass of fire as though on a bed of roses.
When birds such as a hamsa (goose), krauncha (heron), mayúra (peacock) and other large swimming birds are let to fly at night with a burning reed attached to their tail it presents the appearance of a fire-brand falling from the sky (ulká).
Ashes caused by lightning quench the fire.
When, in a fireplace, kidney beans (másha) wetted with the menstrual fluid of a woman, as well as the roots of vajra (andropogon muricatum) and kadali (banana), wetted with the serum of the flesh of a frog are kept, no grains can be cooked there.
Cleansing the fire place is its remedy.
By keeping in the mouth a ball-like piece of pilu (careya arberea) or a knot of the root of linseed tree (suvarchala) with fire inserted within the mass of the ball and wound round with threads and cotton (pichu), volumes of smoke and fire can be breathed out.
When the oil extracted from the fruits of kusa (ficus religiosa) and ámra (mango) is poured over the fire, it burns even in the storm.
Sea-foam wetted with oil and ignited keeps burning when floating on water.
The fire generated by churning the bone of a monkey by means of a bamboo stick of white and black colour (kalmáshavenu) burns in water instead of being quenched.
There will burn no other fire where the fire generated by churning, by means of a bamboo stick of white and black colour, the left side rib-bone of a man killed by a weapon or put to the gallows; or the fire generated by churning the bone of a man or woman by means of the bone of another man is circumambulated thrice from right to left.
* When the paste prepared from the animals such as chuchundari (musk-rat), khanjaríta (?) and khárakíta (?), with the urine of a horse is applied to the chains with which the legs of a man are bound, they will be broken to pieces.
The sun-stone (ayaskánta) or any other stone (will break to pieces) when wetted with the serum of the flesh of the animals kulinda (?), dardura (?), and khárakíta (?).
The paste prepared from the powder of the rib-bone of náraka (?), a donkey, kanka (a kind of vulture), and bhása (a bird), mixed with the juice of water-lily, is applied to the legs of bipeds and quadrupeds (while making a journey).
When a man makes a journey, wearing the shoes made of the skin of a camel, smeared over with the serum of the flesh of an owl and a vulture and covered over with the leaves of the banyan tree, he can walk fifty yojanas without any fatigue.
(When the shoes are smeared over with) the pith, marrow or sperm of the birds, syena, kanka, káka, gridhra, hamsá, krauncha, and vichiralla, (the traveller wearing them) can walk a hundred yojanas (without any fatigue).
The fat or serum derived from roasting a pregnant camel together with saptaparna (lechites scholaris) or from roasting dead children in cremation grounds, is applied to render a journey of a hundred yojanas easy.
* Terror should be caused to the enemy by exhibiting these and other wonderful and delusive performances; while anger causing terror is common to all, terrification by such wonders is held as a means to consolidate peace.
[Thus ends Chapter II, "Wonderful and Delusive Contrivances," in
Book XIV, "Secret Means,” of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the
hundred and forty-seventh chapter from the beginning.]
CHAPTER III. THE APPLICATION OF MEDICINES AND MANTRAS.
HAVING pulled out both the right and the left eye-balls of a cat, camel, wolf, boar, porcupine, váguli (?), naptri (?), crow and owl, or of any one, two, or three, or many of such animals as roam at nights, one should reduce them to two kinds of powder. Whoever anoints his own right eye with the powder of the left eye and his left eye with the powder of the right eye-ball can clearly see things even in pitch dark at night.
* One is the eye of a boar; another is that of a khadyota (fire-fly), or a crow, or a mina bird. Having anointed one's own eyes with the above, one can clearly see things at night.
Having fasted for three nights, one should, on the day of the star, Pushya, catch hold of the skull of a man who has been killed with a weapon or put to the gallows. Having filled the skull with soil and barley seeds, one should irrigate them with the milk of goats and sheep. Putting on the garland formed of the sprouts of the above barley crop, one can walk invisible to others.
Having fasted for three nights and having afterwards pulled out on the day of the star of Pushya both the right and the left eyes of a dog, a cat, an owl, and a váguli (?), one should reduce them to two kinds of powder. Then having anointed one's own eyes with this ointment as usual, one can walk invisible to others.
Having fasted for three nights, one should, on the day of the star of Pushya, prepare a round-headed pin (saláká) from the branch of purushagháti (punnága tree). Then having filled with ointment (anjana) the skull of any of the animals which roam at nights, and having inserted that skull in the organ of procreation of a dead woman, one should burn it. Having taken it out on the day of the star of Pushya and having anointed one's own eyes with that ointment, one can walk invisible to others.
Wherever one may happen to see the corpse burnt or just being burnt of a Bráhman who kept sacrificial fire (while alive), there one should fast for three nights; and having on the day of the star of Pushya formed a sack from the garment of the corpse of a man who has died from natural causes, and having filled the sack with the ashes of the Bráhman's corpse, one may put on the sack on one's back, and walk invisible to others.
The slough of a snake filled with the powder of the bones and marrow or fat of the cow sacrificed during the funeral rites of a Bráhman, can, when put on the back of cattle, render them invisible.
The slough of prachaláka (a bird?) filled with the ashes of the corpse of a man dead from snake-bite, can render beasts (mriga) invisible.
The slough of a snake (ahi) filled with the powder of the bone of the knee-joint mixed with that of the tail and dung (purísha) of an owl and a váguli (?), can render birds invisible.
Such are the eight kinds of the contrivances causing invisibility.
* I bow to Bali, son of Virochana; to Sambara acquainted with a hundred kinds of magic; to Bhandírapáka, Naraka, Nikumbha, and Kumbha.
* I bow to Devala and Nárada; I bow to Sávarnigálava; with the permission of these I cause deep slumber to thee.
* Just as the snakes, known as ajagara (boa-constrictor) fall into deep slumber, so may the rogues of the army who are very anxious to keep watch over the village;
* With their thousands of dogs (bhandaka) and hundreds of ruddy geese and donkeys, fall into deep slumber; I shall enter this house, and may the dogs be quiet.
* Having bowed to Manu, and having tethered the roguish dogs (sunakaphelaka), and having also bowed to those gods who are in heaven, and to Bráhmans among mankind;
* To those who are well versed in their Vedic studies, those who have attained to Kailása (a mountain of god Siva) by observing penance, and to all prophets, I do cause deep slumber to thee.
The fan (chamari) comes out; may all combinations retire. Oblation to Manu, O Aliti and Paliti.
The application of the above mantra is as follows:--
Having fasted for three nights, one should, on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month, the day being assigned to the star of Pushya, purchase from a low-caste woman (svapáki) vilikhávalekhana (finger nails?). Having kept them in a basket (kandolika), one should bury them apart in cremation grounds. Having unearthed them on the next fourteenth day, one should reduce them to a paste with kumári (aloe ?) and prepare small pills out of the paste. Wherever one of the pills is thrown, chanting the above mantra, there the whole animal life falls into deep slumber.
Following the same procedure, one should separately bury in cremation grounds three white and three black dart-like hairs (salyaka) of a porcupine. When, having on the next fourteenth day taken them out, one throws them together with the ashes of a burnt corpse, chanting the above mantra, the whole animal life in that place falls into deep slumber.
* I bow to the goddess Suvarnapushpi and to Brahmáni, to the god Bráhma, and to Kusadhvaja; I bow to all serpents and goddesses; I bow to all ascetics.
* May all Bráhmans and Kshattriyas come under my power; may all Vaisyas and, Súdras be at my beck and call,
Oblation to thee, O, Amile, Kimile, Vayujáre, Prayoge, Phake, Kavayusve, Vihále, and Dantakatake, oblation to thee.
* May the dogs which are anxiously keeping watch over the village fall into deep and happy slumber; these three white dart-like hairs of the porcupine are the creation of Bráhma.
* All prophets (siddha) have fallen into deep slumber. I do cause sleep to the whole village as far as its boundary till the sun rises. Oblation!
The application of the above mantra is as follows:--
When a man, having fasted for seven nights and secured three white dart-like hairs of a porcupine, makes on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month oblations into the fire with 108 pieces of the sacrificial fire-wood of khadira (mimosa catechu) and other trees together with honey and clarified butter chanting the above mantra, and when, chanting the same mantra, he buries one of the hairs at the entrance of either a village or a house within it, he causes the whole animal life therein to fall into deep slumber.
* I bow to Bali, the son of Vairochana, to S'atamáya, S'ambara, Nikumbha, Naraka, Kumbha, Tantukachchha, the great demon;
* To Armálava, Pramíla, Mandolúka, Ghatodbala, to Krishna with his followers, and to the famous woman, Paulomi.
* Chanting the sacred mantras, I do take the pith or the bone of the corpse (savasárika) productive of my desired ends--may S'alaka demons be victorious; salutation to them; oblation!--May the dogs which are anxiously keeping watch over the village fall into deep and happy slumber.
* May all prophets (siddhártháh) fall into happy sleep about the object which we are seeking from sunset to sunrise and till the attainment of my desired end. Oblation!
The application of the above mantra is as follows:--
Having fasted for four nights and having on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month performed animal sacrifice (bali) in cremation grounds, one should, repeating the above mantra, collect the pith of a corpse (savasárika) and keep it in a basket made of leaves (pattrapauttaliká). When this basket, being pierced in the centre by a dart-like hair of a porcupine, is buried, chanting the above mantra, the whole animal life therein falls into deep slumber.
* I take refuge with the god of fire and with all the goddesses in the ten quarters; may all obstructions vanish and may all things come under my power. Oblation.
The application of the above mantra is as follows:--
Having fasted for three nights and having on the day of the star of Pushya prepared twenty-one pieces of sugar-candy, one should make oblation into the fire with honey and clarified butter; and having worshipped the pieces of sugar-candy with scents and garlands of flowers, one should bury them. When, having on the next day of the star of Pushya unearthed the pieces of sugar-candy, and chanting the above mantra, one strikes the door-panel of a house with one piece and throws four pieces in the interior, the door will open itself.
Having fasted for four nights, one should on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month get a figure of a bull prepared from the bone of a man, and worship it, repeating the above mantra. Then a cart drawn by two bulls will be brought before the worshipper who can (mount it and) drive in the sky and tell all that is connected with the sun and other planets of the sky.
O, Chandáli Kumbhi, Tumba Katuka, and Sárigha, thou art possessed of the bhaga of a woman, oblation to thee.
When this mantra is repeated, the door will open and the inmates fall into sleep.
Having fasted for three nights, one should on the day of the star of Pushya fill with soil the skull of a man killed with weapons or put to the gallows, and, planting in it valli (vallari ?) plants, should irrigate them with water. Having taken up the grown-up plants on the next day of the star of Pushya (i.e., after 27 days), one should manufacture a rope from them. When this rope is cut into two pieces before a drawn bow or any other shooting machine, the string of those machines will be suddenly cut into two pieces.
When the slough of a water-snake (udakáhi) is filled with the breathed-out dirt (uchchhvásamrittika?) of a man or woman (and is held before the face and nose of any person), it causes those organs to swell.
When the sack-like skin of the abdomen of a dog or a boar is filled with the breathed-out dirt (uchchhvásamrittika) of a man or woman and is bound (to the body of a man) with the ligaments of a monkey, it causes the man's body to grow in width and length (ánáha),
When the figure of an enemy carved out of rájavriksha (cassia fistula) is besmeared with the bile of a brown cow killed with a weapon on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month, it causes blindness (to the enemy).
Having fasted for four nights and offered animal sacrifice (bali) on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month, one should get a few bolt-like pieces prepared from the bone of a man put to the gallows. When one of these pieces is put in the feces or urine (of an enemy), it causes (his) body to grow in size (ánáha); and when the same piece is buried under the feet or seat (of an enemy), it causes death by consumption; and when it is buried in the shop, fields, or the house (of an enemy), it causes him loss of livelihood.
The same process of smearing and burying holds good with the bolt-like pieces (kílaka) prepared from vidyuddanda tree.
* When the nail of the little finger (punarnavam aváchínam ?) nimba (nimba melia), káma (bdellium), madhu (celtis orientalis), the hair of a monkey, and the bone of a man, all wound round with the garment of a dead man.
* Is buried in the house of, or is trodden down by, a man, that man with his wife, children and wealth will not survive three fortnights.
* When the nail of the little finger, nimba (nimba melia), káma (bdellium), madhu (celtis orientalis), and the bone of a man dead from natural causes are buried under the feet of,
* Or near the house of, a man or in the vicinity of the camp of an army, of a village, or of a city, that man (or the body of men) with wife, children, and wealth will not survive three fortnights.
* When the hair of a sheep and a monkey, of a cat and mongoose, of Bráhmans, of low-caste men (svapáka), and of a crow and an owl is collected,
* And is made into a paste with fæces (vishtávakshunna), its application brings on instantaneous death. When a flower garland of a dead body, the ferment derived from burning corpse, the hair of a mangoose,
* And the skin of scorpion, a bee, and a snake are buried under the feet of a man, that man will lose all human appearance so long as they are not removed.
Having fasted for three nights and having on the day of the star of Pushya planted gunja seeds in the skull, filled with soil, of a man killed with weapons or put to the gallows, one should irrigate it with water. On the new or full moon day with the star of Pushya, one should take out the plants when grown, and prepare out of them circular pedestals (mandaliká). When vessels containing food and water are placed on these pedestals, the food stuffs will never decrease in quantity.
When a grand procession is being celebrated at night, one should cut off the nipples of the udder of a dead cow and burn them in a torch-light flame. A fresh vessel should be plastered in the interior with the paste prepared from these burnt nipples, mixed with the urine of a bull. When this vessel, taken round the village in circumambulation from right to left, is placed below, the whole quantity of the butter produced by all the cows (of the village) will collect itself in the vessel.
On the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month combined with the star of Pushya, one should thrust into the organ of procreation of a dog or heat an iron seal (kataláyasam mudrikam) and take it up when it falls down of itself. When, with this seal in hand, a collection of fruits is called out, it will come of itself (before the magician).
* By the power of mantras, drugs, and other magical performances, one should protect one's own people and hurt those of the enemy.
[Thus ends Chapter III, “The Application of Medicine and Mantras,”
in Book XIV, “Secret Means,” of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the
hundred and forty-eighth chapter from the beginning.]
CHAPTER IV. REMEDIES AGAINST THE INJURIES OF ONE'S OWN ARMY.
WITH regard to remedies against poisons and poisonous compounds applied by an enemy against one's own army or people:--
When the things that are meant for the king's use, inclusive of the limbs of women, as well as the things of the army are washed in the tepid water prepared from the decoction of sleshmátaki (sebesten or cordia myk), kapi (emblica officinalis), madanti (?), danta (ivory), satha (Citron tree), gojigi (gojihva ?--elephantophus scaber), visha (aconitum ferox), pátali (bignonia suave olens), bala (lida cardifolia et rombifolia), syonáka (bignonia indica), punarnava (?), sveta (andropogon aciculatum), and tagara (tabernæmontana coronaria), mixed with chandana (sandal) and the blood of salávriki (jackal), it removes the bad effects of poison.
The mixture prepared from the biles of prishata (red-spotted deer), nakula (mongoose), nílakantha (peacock), and godhá (alligator), with charcoal powder (mashíráji), combined with the sprouts (agra) of sinduvára (vitex trifolia), tagara (tabernæmontana coronaria, varuna) (teriandium indicum), tandulíyaka (amaranthus polygamus), and sataparva (convolvulus repens) together with pindítaka (vangueria spinosa) removes the effects of the mixture of madana.
Among the decoctions of the roots of srigála (bignonia indica), vinna (?), madana, sinduvára (vitex trifolia), tagara (tabernæmontana coronaria), and valli, (a creeper ?), any one or all mixed with milk removes, when drunk, the effects of the mixture of madana.
The stinking oil extracted from kaidarya (vangueria spinosa) removes madness.
The mixture prepared from priyangu (panic seed) and naktamála (galedupa arborea) removes, when applied through the nose, leprosy.
The mixture prepared from kushtha (costus) and lodhra (symplocus) removes consumption.
The mixture prepared from katuphala (glelina arborea), dravanti (anthericum tuberosum), and vilanga (a kind of seed) removes, when applied through the nose, headache and other diseases of the head.
The application of the mixture prepared from priyangu (panic seed), manjishtha (rubia manjit), tagara (tabernæmontana coronaria), lákshárasa (the juice or essence of lac) madhuka (?), haridrá (turmeric), and kshaudra (honey) to persons who have fallen senseless by being beaten by a rope, by falling into water, or by eating poison, or by being whipped, or by falling, resuscitates them.
The proportion of a dose is as much as an aksha (?) to men; twice as much to cows and horses; and four times as much to elephants and camels.
A round ball (mani) prepared from the above mixture and containing gold (rukma) in its centre, removes the the effects due to any kind of poison.
A round ball (mani) prepared from the wood of asvattha (holy fig tree) growing wound round with the plants such as jívantí (a medicinal plant), sveta (andropogan aciculatum) the flower of mushkaka (a species of tree), and vanadáka (epidendrum tesseloides), removes the effects due to any kind of poison.
* The sound of trumpets painted with the above mixture destroys poison; whoever looks at a flag or banner besmeared with the above mixture will get rid of poison.
* Having applied these remedies to secure the safety of himself and his army, a king should make use of poisonous smokes and other mixtures to vitiate water against his enemy.
[Thus ends Chapter IV, "Remedies against the Injuries of One's Own Army," in Book XIV, "Secret Means," of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the hundred and forty-ninth chapter from the beginning. With this, ends the fourteenth Book “Secret Means,” of the Arthasástra of Kautilya.]
From: Kautilya. Arthashastra. Translated by R. Shamasastry. Bangalore: Government Press, 1915, 495-514.