Hi, Anand ji, A wonderful reading!!! 2009/1/11 Anand Kumar Bhatt <[email protected]>
> This is the sequel to Poisonous Plants of India. Hope you will like it. > Best wishes, > akbhatt > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > *Poison Arrows and Vishkanyas* > > > > Krishna was sitting under a peepal tree. He was old and tired. Some say > he was 120+ at that time, but in any case he must have been in late eighties > at that time. He had lost everything. His kingdom was under the sea > (Tsunami?), and the womenfolk of his community were snatched away by robbers > right under the eyes of Arjun, his dearest friend, as he could not string > his bow Gandiv: he had become so feeble in old age. And then his clan in a > drunken brawl had been entirely annihilated. He sat with his sole turned up. > And this was mistaken by a bahelia (A person who hunts for a living) for a > deer or any other small animal, and he shot an arrow. Well, that killed > Krishna who had won the battle of Kurukshetra. Why should he have did of a > simple arrow shot in a non-vital organ. Well, it is said that it was a > poison arrow, and very soon the blood took the lethal poison to different > parts of the body, and he could not be saved. One can say that otherwise > also Krishna had nothing to look forward to, and the death at that juncture > was the most appropriate ending to the great tragedy of Mahabharat . > > > > One has also read in Mahabharat and elsewhere about amogh astras > (invincible weapons). In 1500 B.C. what could they be? It was certainly not > agnibaan as it was already known. Arrow-head made of some hard metal, > sharpened like a razor? Or, what my guess is (yes, it is all a guesswork) > that it was poison arrow with venom which did not have an antidote. Lakhman > became unconscious when hit by a strange new weapon of Meghnad. It could be > a poison whose only antidote was the Sanjivani herb. A natural corollary > is that all the weapons which one got with great difficulty from some deity > who had developed it were arrows with arrowheads or darts slaked in a venom > for which there was no known antidote aailable. It is interesting to note > all such prized weapons were arrows, and not mace or sword. It had to be > a sharp projectile, capable of covering some distance. > > > > Poison arrows have been used in South America, Africa and Asia. The venom > was either animal-derived or plant-derived. In South America, tribals dipped > the blowgun darts in the poison made from the skin of three species of > Phyllobates, a genus of poison dart frogs. The poison is collected by > roasting the frogs over fire. > > > > Plant-derived poisons are generally known as curare. Greeks and Trojans > used poison arrows and spears during the Trojan war. Alexander faced poison > arrows during his conquests in India, and maybe he died of a festering wound > caused by such an arrow (in his thigh, I think). Curare is a generic term > for arrow-poisons that contain D-tubocurarine. This is found in the bark of > the trees strychnos toxifera, S. guianensis, chondrodendron tometosum or > sciadotenia toxifera. This is muscle-relaxant, paralyzing the respiratory > system and thus bringing about asphyxiation. In Africa arrow poison is made > from Nerium oleander.In the jungle areas of Assam and other north eastern > states, Burma and Malaysia poison arrows are widely used and the poison > is Antiaris toxicana strychnos and strophathus geneara. Aconite is used by > Minaro tribe in Ladakh for hunting Ibex, and also by the Bhutia and Lepchas > of Sikkim and Assam. > > > > So as you see, in olden times, even the so-called advanced people like > Greeks and Indians used poison arrows. And it was of course very commonly > used by various tribes all over. > > > > And now to Vishkanyas. I am afraid I didn't get enough material on it. > Beautiful girls were chosen from very young days to be Vishkanyas. They were > given snake venom in small doses from the childhood, which was gradually > increased. An adult girl was made to be bitten by venomous snakes, maybe > more than once in the day and gradually her body became so venomous that > conjugal or salivary contact with her proved fatal to the partner. Somewhere > I read that the girls were administered sankhia (which I think is arsenic). > But arsenic is not that instantaneous in its effect. Somewhere I also > read that the vishkanyas die after once biting the targeted person. It is > difficult to believe, because human body should not behave like that of a > bee and a snake can bite any number of times. I remember a novel by Acharya > Chatursen Shastri in which a Vishkanya was able to kill a number of people > in one night of 'orgy'. But that was fiction. Chanakya is reputed to have > used vishkanyas for killing the enemies of Chandragupta. Somebody advised > that I would get a lot of material in 'Chandrakanta Santati' by Devakinandan > Khatri. I got the novel. It is in 6 parts, and needs some patience to go > through. If I learn something, I will certainly let you know. > > > > We talked about the snake venom and snake bite, so it is worthwhile knowing > about poisonous snakes of India in a few sentences. So far as I remember > there are very few poisonous snakes: cobra, king cobra, viper and Krait. > They have venom glands and it is injected through their specialized teeth > (fangs) in a syringe-like action to the prey or the being defended against. > A combination (polyvalent) anti venom is available (or should be available) > in the hospitals which acts against almost all the snake venom. According to > Daniel, death occurs quickly in cobra and krait poisoning, and delayed in > viper bites. But if in the bite any vein is ruptured death may occur within > 15 minutes in either case. > > > > People cry hoarse now against biological warfare, battles are waged, > kingdoms fall and rulers hanged. But use of poison to kill one's enemies has > been there from pre-historic days. Not that there is any justification for > either. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > > > > > -- > Anand Kumar Bhatt > A-59, B.S.F.Colony, Airport Road > Gwalior. 474 005. > Tele: 0751-247 2233. Mobile 0 94253 09780. > > > > -- With regards, J.M.Garg "We often ignore the beauty around us" Creating Awareness about Indian Flora & Fauna: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1 For learning about our trees & plants, please visit/ join Google e-group (Indiantreepix) http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "indiantreepix" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
