Pālakāpya

Pālakāpya

Pālakāpya is the ṛshi who taught the Gaja-Āyurveda, the Āyurveda of elephants, to the king of Aṅga. The Agni Purāṇa names him twice at the close of its teaching on healing: once when Dhanvantari finishes the kalpas that conquer death, and again when Agni Deva names the teachers of the sciences of animals, Śālihotra for horses and Pālakāpya for elephants. Between these it gives his own teaching, spoken to Lomapāda: the marks of good elephants, the treatment of their diseases, and their food and care, so that the king’s elephants may be strong and victorious in battle.

Teacher of the Gaja-Āyurveda

Dhanvantari closes his account of the mṛtyuñjaya kalpas, the preparations that conquer death and give long life, by saying that Pālakāpya taught the Gaja-Āyurveda to the king of Aṅga. At the end of the Gavāyurveda, the science of cows, Agni Deva says again: Śālihotra taught the Aśva-Āyurveda, the science of horses, to Suśruta, and Pālakāpya taught the Gaja-Āyurveda to the king of Aṅga.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 286, 292

The marks of elephants

Pālakāpya said: “O Lomapāda, I will tell you the gaja-lakshaṇas (marks of elephants) and gaja-cikitsā (the treatment of elephants).”

  • Elephants with long trunks that take long breaths have endurance.
  • Those with twenty or eighteen nails, and that give out mada in the cold season, are excellent.
  • Elephants whose right tusk is raised high, whose trumpeting is like the sound of a cloud, with broad ears and fine spots on the skin, should be gathered.
  • Short elephants and those without the marks should not be gathered. Female elephants that are pārśva-garbha (as printed), and elephants that are dull or maddened, should not be kept.
  • The seven good marks are varṇa (colour), sattva (spirit), bala (strength), rūpa (form), kānti (lustre), saṃhanana (a compact body) and java (speed). An elephant with these seven conquers enemies in battle.

Elephants give great glory to the camp and the army, and kings seek victory through elephants.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 287

The treatment of elephants

Pālakāpya then gave the treatment for each disease:

  1. In fever of every kind, anuvāsana (an oily enema) is given.
  2. Bathing after rubbing with ghee and oil destroys vāta disease.
  3. In pāṇḍu-roga (pallor), cow’s urine, turmeric and ghee are given.
  4. In kalabandha, the body is rubbed with oil and bathed, and the elephant is made to drink madirā with the five salts.
  5. To an elephant that faints, a mouthful of vāyu-viḍaṅga, triphalā, trikaṭu and rock salt is fed, with water and honey to drink.
  6. In headache, rubbing with oil and nasya (medicine through the nose) are advised.
  7. In diseases of the feet, treatment begins with poultices with oil, followed by cleansing with a kashāya (decoction).
  8. To an elephant that trembles, the meat of partridge and quail, mixed with long pepper and black pepper, is fed.
  9. In atisāra (loose bowels), a ball of unripe bilva, lodhra, dhātakī and sugar is fed.
  10. When the trunk is diseased, ghee with salt is given as nasya.
  11. In utkarṇaka, a gruel made with long pepper, dry ginger and cumin, and the juice of vārāhī-kanda, is given.
  12. An oil made with daśamūla, horse gram, sour substances and kākamācī, used with black pepper, destroys gala-graha (seizure of the throat).
  13. In painful urination, surā with the eight salts and ghee is given to drink, or a decoction of trapusha seeds.
  14. In skin disease, a decoction of nimba or of vṛsha is given.
  15. For worms in the bowel, cow’s urine and vāyu-viḍaṅga are advised.
  16. To heal wounds, water boiled with śṛṅgī, bekakaṇa (as printed), grapes and sugar is advised; meat juice too is good.
  17. In loss of appetite, rice of green gram with vyosha (the three pungents) is good.
  18. A medicated fat made with trivṛt, vyosha, citraka, dantī, arka, śyāmā, milk and gaja-pippalī removes gulma (abdominal swellings).
  19. Every kind of abscess the elephant physician destroys by incision, draining, rubbing with oil, drinking of fat and anuvāsana.
  20. For colic of every kind, in the first part of the day, balls of viḍaṅga, indrayava, asafoetida and the two kinds of turmeric are given.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 287

Food and care

  • Barley and sugarcane increase the strength of elephants; dry grass disturbs the elements of the body.
  • For a weakened elephant, milk kindles the digestive fire, and cooked meat juice is good.
  • Fumigation with pungent things, fish, viḍaṅga, salt, kośātakī, milk and turmeric makes the elephant victorious.
  • Long pepper, rice grains, oil, mādhvīka and honey put into the eye are stimulating.
  • An eye-salve of sparrow and pigeon droppings, a milky tree and liquor is liked by elephants; with it on its eyes the elephant crushes the enemy in battle.
  • Blue lotus, mustā and tagara ground in rice-water and put on the eyes give the highest cooling and calm.
  • When the nails grow, they are cut. Every month the elephant is rubbed with oil. Where elephants lie down, there should be dust of dried dung. In autumn and the hot season, sprinkling them with ghee is good for them.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 287

Sources

  • Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 286–287, 292