On Jan 12, 6:33 pm, "Anand Kumar Bhatt" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Here are some pictures from Wilkepedia on the poison arrow frog and some
> other relevant objects.
> akbhatt
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 3:21 AM, Rupi SHAH <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Hi, It was a nice article. my reading has been same about Vishkanya. Al
> > though i have not read the books you mentioned.
> > There are poisanous mashrooms in Europe. People go mashroom-hunting in
> > months of september to november. And they have to be bevare of these
> > poisanous mashrooms.
> > Thanks,
> > regards,
> > Rupi
>
> > --- En date de : *Dim 11.1.09, Anand Kumar Bhatt <[email protected]>*a
> > écrit :
>
> > De: Anand Kumar Bhatt <[email protected]>
> > Objet: [indiantreepix:7466] poison arrows and Vishkanyas
> > À: "indiantreepix" <[email protected]>
> > Date: Dimanche 11 Janvier 2009, 16h05
>
> > 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.
> Dear Mr Anand,
Your analysises are wonderful.
*Lord Krishna was mistakenly killed by a hunter called Bhalka (See
temple at Bhalka-- 3 Km away from Veraval on way to Somnath), this was
due to Tara's (wife of Bali) curse to Ram.
* Sankhyia is dried poison of King Cobra, regularly taken in very
small quantity, by Hindu Saints to remain comfortable during severe
winter & to avoid hunger pangs (Tapobhumi Narmada :Vol-VI).
* Vishkanyas are Copulated with men suffering from syphillis & then
presented to enemies.
Thanks
Col DS Chatterjee
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> > --
> > Anand Kumar Bhatt
> > A-59, B.S.F.Colony, Airport Road
> > Gwalior. 474 005.
> > Tele: 0751-247 2233. Mobile 0 94253 09780.
>
> --
> Anand Kumar Bhatt
> A-59, B.S.F.Colony, Airport Road
> Gwalior. 474 005.
> Tele: 0751-247 2233. Mobile 0 94253 09780.
>
> RadheShyam.jpg
> 86KViewDownload
>
> aconite-1.jpg
> 78KViewDownload
>
> curare_strychnos toxifera-1.jpg
> 67KViewDownload
>
> Poison dart frogs-1.jpg
> 55KViewDownload- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
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