EAP810/22/9

Titles in original script:

நூல் 1: மச்சமுனி- 800நூல் 2: தலைப்பு இல்லை (வைத்தியம்);

The manuscript of composed of two texts related to medicine. It is in extremely bad condition, very damaged by rodents.

Text 1- The text is formed of 45 leaves, numbered from 1 to 65. It is entitled ‘Maccamuṉi- 800’, but contains only 300 verses.

The text explains the method of extracting juice from leaves for preparing medicinal products and describes medicinal material such as Indigofera aspalathoides (civaṉār vēmpu); copper (cempu toṭṭi), iron (urukku toṭṭi), arsenic (poṉ aritāram); rat poison (eli pāṣāṇam); and rejuvenating medicines (kaṟpaṅkaḷ). It exposes how to neutralise (māraṇam) the eight metals (aṭṭa lōka). It explains some formulations of medicines, mostly complex:

Dried plant powder: Akatīcar cūraṇam;

Calcined red salt: Nīlakaṇṭa centūram, Ceruvākkiṉi centūram, Vaṅkaraca centūram, Apiraka centūram, Kānta centūram, Navalōka centūram, Raca centūram, Aṭṭa lōka centūram, Aya centūram and Kārīya centūram;

Calcined white salt: Vaḻalai paṟpam, Aya paṟpam, Tāmira paṟpam, Raca paṟpam, Jeyavīra paṟpam, Aritāra paṟpam, Ayakānta paṟpam, Taṅkam paṟpam, Veḷḷi paṟpam, Pavaḷa paṟpam, Vajjira paṟpam, Kōmētaka paṟpam, Puṣparāka paṟpam and Vaiṭūriya paṟpam; Turucu kuru; Veṅkala cuṇṇam;

Pills: Āṉanta vairavaṉ;

Stone-like medicines: Aritāra kattu and Veṅkāra kaṭṭu.

The text describes the method of preparing (vaippu) mercuric chloride (vīram), ferrous sulphate (pēti), arsenic salts (veḷḷaipāṣāṇa, kauri and aritāra), and soap stone (cavukāra) in order to use them for medical purposes. It explains the synthesis of inorganic (caṭṭi vaippu) and specifies the skills required to prepare medicines (kaipākaṅkaḷ).

Additionally, the text focuses on esotericism, notably mesmerism (vaciyam) and hypnotism (kaṇkaṭṭu). It provides the formulation of a collyrium to change appearance (urumāṟa mai).

Text 2- The text contains 6 leaves which come from diverse texts written in prose. Some leaves provide the formulation of an electuary (lekiyam) to improve potency (tātu puṣṭi) and a calcinated alkaline medicine (paṟpam) for treating hens; and methods of preparing some medicines (maruntu ceimuṟaikaḷ). Others explain the diverse measurements (aḷavukaḷ) of raw materials used in medicinal formulations (carakkukaḷ). Lastly some leaves are related to mantiram, including mālā mantiram which is specific to acquire desired things.

Size of the manuscript: 21.8cm x 3.8cm. The 45 palm leaves of the text 1 are numbered in Tamil from 1 to 65. The second text contains 6 leaves without number. The manuscript is in good state, slightly damaged by rodents