EAP810/23/4

Titles in original script:

நூல் 1: கருவூரார் பலதிரட்டுநூல் 2: கருவூரார் சாத்திரம- 32நூல் 3: தலைப்பு இல்லை (விஷ மாற்று மருந்து)நூல் 4: வால்மீகர் நாடி சாத்திரம- 32நூல் 5: சத்தியாருடம்;

The manuscript contains 5 short texts related to medical knowledge. A few palm leaves are lightly damaged by larvae.

Text 1-The text is composed of 6 palm leaves presenting selective verses of the Karuvūrār Palatiraṭṭu. The verses concern raw material such as potassium nitrate (veṭiyuppu), mercury (cūtam), and various poisonous substances used in medicine (pāṣāṇam), iatrochemical processes such as combination of gold and copper (taṅka cempu), and the formulation of Cūtava eṇṇey. Some verses describe magical black pastes used as eye liner (añcaṉam, mai) and magical tricks to distract people (vēṭikkai vittaikaḷ).

Text 2- The text, composed of 8 palm leaves, is a part of the Karuvūrār Cāttiram-32. It reveals the methods of preparing medicines with metals which were kept secret by siddha practitioners in the past. By disseminating this knowledge, the text aims clearly to break the secrecy in which siddha tradition is embedded.

Text 3- The text, incomplete, contains a single palm leaf presenting an eye salve (kalikkam) used for detoxifying poison, a medicine to treat scorpion stings (tēḷ koṭṭu), as well as the dosage of raw materials used in the medicinal formulations and the method of preparation.

Text 4- The text, entitled Vālmīkar Nāṭi Cāttiram-32, is made of 6 palm leaves on which 33 verses are written in antāti verses (the last word of the first line and the first word of the next line are similar); it is complete. The focuses on pulse for which it describes the method of examining them (nāṭi kāṇum vitam), the diseases occurring from the imbalance of the three pulses (vāta-pitta-cilēttuma onṟōṉṟu kalantāl), anemia resulting from the derangement of pitta humour (pitta pāṇṭu), and swelling of hands and leg caused by humoural imbalance (kaikāl vīkkam).

Text 5- The text, Cattiyārūṭam by Akattiyar, is composed of palm leaves numbered from 1 to 17, on which 85 verses are written; the text is incomplete. On the one hand, it provides information on poison bites and antidotes according to types of snake (pāmpiṉ vakkaikaḷ), and on the categories of medicines to treat poisoning, such as a electuary (lēkiyam), pills (māttirai), a wax-like medicine (kuḻampu), fomentation (ottiṭal), a powder medicine for external application (pūcal tūḷ), a black paste used as eye liner (palavitamāṉa mai), and nasal medicine (naciyam).

On the second hand, the text presents some medicinal formulations with the quantity of raw materials: Nīlakaṇṭa curaṇam; Cittāntamaṇi lēkiyam; Kōṭēḷi eṇṇey; Akōra ruttira añcaṉam and Kīri añcaṉam; Cuṭukāṭu mīṭṭāṉ kuḷikai and Navaniti kuḷikai; Cittānta īsvari māttirai and Pāṇāti pīri māttirai; Caṅkara vairavaṉ uruṇṭai and Uyir tarum cañcīvi uruṇṭai; Pañcapāṇa kuḻampu, Kuṭōri kuḻampu, Matakiri kuḻampu, Cañcīvi kuḻampu and Makiḻ kuḻampu.

Size of the manuscript: 25,7cm x 3,8cm. The 6 palm leaves of the text are numbered 1 to 4 and 9 (there is an introductive leaf), of the text 2, 11 to 17, of the text 3, 1 to 6 qnd of the text 5, 1 to 17. The text 3 has a leaf without number. The leaves are lightly affected by larvae.