Hi David,
The Dharmamitra.org <http://dharmamitra.org/> site has added two new tabs to
its translation function: "English (explained)” and "English (research).” The
former will translate and then offer an explanation, and then provide sources
to support its translation. The latter will do so more intensely. I put the
sentence you provided in the latter mode, and it considers
“the term "jagrī" is likely a misspelling or variant of jīrṇa, meaning
"chronic" or "old," which is supported by the context where similar conditions
are described as chronic or long-standing.”
Here is its “research” output for the phrase, which was generated nearly
instantaneously (a remarkable tool that will change how we all are doing our
work):
Translation
Original Sanskrit: jagrī-plīhārṣa-rogān api jaṭhara-gatān
Improved English Translation: Even diseases like chronic splenic disorders and
hemorrhoids that are located in the abdomen.
Analysis and Introduction
The phrase "jagrī-plīhārṣa-rogān api jaṭhara-gatān" points to a class of
chronic internal diseases, specifically highlighting splenic disorders (plīha)
and hemorrhoids (arśa), and emphasizing their location within the abdomen
(jaṭhara). The term "jagrī" is likely a misspelling or variant of jīrṇa,
meaning "chronic" or "old," which is supported by the context where similar
conditions are described as chronic or long-standing. The api indicates "even"
or "also," suggesting these are among other significant abdominal ailments. The
provided context from Ayurvedic texts extensively lists various
gastrointestinal and abdominal diseases, frequently mentioning spleen,
hemorrhoids, and other internal disorders, often in relation to their chronic
nature or their location in the abdomen.
References from DharmaNexus
Sanskrit Parallels
The term "plīha" (spleen/splenic disorder) and "arśa" (hemorrhoids) appear
frequently in conjunction with other abdominal ailments. The suspected "jagrī"
as a variant of jīrṇa ("old, chronic") is also supported by its appearance in
similar lists of diseases.
Vāgbhaṭa: Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasūtra SA_GS40_vagaah_u:10894
<https://dharmamitra.org/nexus/db//sa/SA_GS40_vagaah_u/text?active_segment=SA_GS40_vagaah_u:10894>:
Original: udaraṃ gulmam aṣṭhīlāṃ tūṇyau śophaṃ viṣūcikām / plīhahṛdrogagudajān
udāvartaṃ ca nāśayet // // Machine Translation: it destroys abdominal tumors,
gulma, a kind of abdominal lump, hemorrhoids, inguinal swellings, edema,
cholera, splenic disorders, heart disease, anal diseases, and udavarta. Note:
Here, "plīha" appears with "gudaja" (anal diseases/hemorrhoids) within a list
of abdominal conditions.
Vāgbhaṭa: Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasūtra SA_GS40_vagaah_u:10625
<https://dharmamitra.org/nexus/db//sa/SA_GS40_vagaah_u/text?active_segment=SA_GS40_vagaah_u:10625>:
Original: plīhapāṇḍvāmayaśvāsagrahaṇīrogakāsajit / Machine Translation: It
cures spleen disorders, jaundice, asthma, Grahani diseases, and cough. Note:
Directly mentions "plīha" (spleen disorders).
Vāgbhaṭa: Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasūtra SA_GS40_vagaah_u:2457
<https://dharmamitra.org/nexus/db//sa/SA_GS40_vagaah_u/text?active_segment=SA_GS40_vagaah_u:2457>:
Original: jīrṇajvarodaragaracchardiplīhahalīmakāḥ // // jīrṇajvarodaracchardi
/ plīhānāhahalīmakāḥ / plīhapāṇḍuhalīmakāḥ vidradhis timiraṃ kācaḥ syandaḥ
pakvāśayavyathā / yoniśukrāśrayā rogāḥ koṣṭhagāḥ kṛmayo vraṇāḥ // //
yoniśukragatā rogāḥ / yoniśukrāśayā rogāḥ Machine Translation: Old fever,
abdominal distension, vomiting, Spleen disorders, jaundice, anemia, Abcess, eye
diseases, cataract, discharge, pain in the colon, Diseases of the vagina and
semen, intestinal worms and ulcers, Diseases of the vagina and semen. Diseases
of the vagina and semen. Note: "jīrṇa" (old/chronic) is directly linked to
"plīha" and other abdominal issues. The text explicitly mentions "plīhānāha"
(splenic enlargement/distension) and "koṣṭhagāḥ kṛmayo" (worms in the abdomen).
Suśruta: Suśrutasaṃhitā SA_GS40_susruta:11118
<https://dharmamitra.org/nexus/db//sa/SA_GS40_susruta/text?active_segment=SA_GS40_susruta:11118>:
Original: arśāṃsi grahaṇīdoṣamānāhaṃ viṣamajvaram/ kaṭhyūrupṛṣṭhakoṣṭhasthān
vātarogāṃśca nāśayet// Machine Translation: It cures hemorrhoids, grahani
dosha, atisara, irregular fever, and vata disorders located in the hip, thigh,
back and abdomen. Note: Explicitly mentions "arśāṃsi" (hemorrhoids) and
"koṣṭhasthān" (located in the abdomen/chest).
Vāgbhaṭa: Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasūtra SA_GS40_vagaah_u:614
<https://dharmamitra.org/nexus/db//sa/SA_GS40_vagaah_u/text?active_segment=SA_GS40_vagaah_u:614>:
Original: grahaṇīpāṇḍukuṣṭhārśaḥśophaśoṣodarajvarān / hanti gulmakṛmiplīhnaḥ
kaṣāyakaṭuvātalaḥ // // Machine Translation: It cures grahani, jaundice,
leprosy, hemorrhoids, edema, wasting, abdominal tumors and fever. It destroys
gulma, worms, and spleen, and is astringent, pungent, and agitating to vata.
Note: Connects "arśa" (hemorrhoids) and "plīhna" (spleen) with "udara"
(abdominal tumors).
Vāgbhaṭa: Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasūtra SA_GS40_vagaah_u:12501
<https://dharmamitra.org/nexus/db//sa/SA_GS40_vagaah_u:12501>: Original:
jaṅghorupādatrikapṛṣṭhakoṣṭhahṛdguhyaśūlaṃ gurutāṃ vibandham /
gulmāśmavardhmagrahaṇīgudotthāṃs tās tāṃś ca rogān kaphavātajātān // //
gulmāśmavardhmagrahaṇīvikārāṃs / tāṃs tāṃś ca rogān Machine Translation: It
cures pain in the calves, thighs, feet, back, abdomen, heart, and genitals,
heaviness, and constipation. And all the diseases arising from phlegm and wind,
such as abdominal tumors, urinary calculi, enlarged spleen, and hemorrhoids.
Abdominal tumors, urinary calculi, enlarged spleen, and various disorders,
Note: "koṣṭha" (abdomen) and mentions of "enlarged spleen" and "hemorrhoids"
are present.
Ugrāditya: Kalyāṇakāraka SA_GS40_kalyanakaraka:2420
<https://dharmamitra.org/nexus/db//sa/SA_GS40_kalyanakaraka/text?active_segment=SA_GS40_kalyanakaraka:2420>:
Original: pītbā sauvīramiśraṃ kṣapayati yakṛdaṣṭīlagulmāgnimāṃdyaṃ /
kāsordhvaśvāsaśūlāvamathujaṭharakukṣyāmayārśaplihādīn // Machine Translation:
When drunk mixed with Sauvira, it destroys liver, spleen, gulma, and
indigestion. Cough, upward and downward breathing, pain, vomiting, abdominal
distension, stomach disorders, hemorrhoids, spleen disorders, etc. Note: This
passage includes "jaṭhara-kukṣyāmaya" (abdominal/stomach disorders), "arśa"
(hemorrhoids), and "plihādīn" (spleen disorders, etc.). This is a very strong
parallel for the entire phrase.
svātmārāma: svātmārāma: haṭhayogapradīpikā SA_MB_hathayogapradiipikaaHK:1868
<https://dharmamitra.org/nexus/db//sa/SA_MB_hathayogapradiipikaaHK/text?active_segment=SA_MB_hathayogapradiipikaaHK:1868>:
Original: gulmaplīhādikān rogān jvaraṃ pittaṃ kṣudhāṃ tṛṣām // viṣāṇi
śītalīnāma kuṃbhikeyaṃ nihaṃti hi // // Machine Translation: Gulma, enlarged
spleen and other diseases, fever, bile, hunger and thirst, This Kumbhaka named
Sheeta-li destroys poisons. Note: Mentions "gulmaplīhādikān rogān" (gulma,
splenic and other diseases).
Tibetan Parallels
Tibetan texts also contain extensive lists of diseases, including those
affecting the internal organs and abdomen, often mentioning tumors/enlargements
(སྐྲན་, skran) which can encompass splenic issues, and hemorrhoids (གཞང་འབྲུམ་,
gzhaṅ 'brum). The concept of "chronic" or "old" diseases is also present.
yan lag brgyad pa'i snying po bsdus pa zhes bya ba (aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā-nāma)
BO_T13_D4310:242a-26
<https://dharmamitra.org/nexus/db//bo/BO_T13_D4310/text?active_segment=BO_T13_D4310:242a-26>:
Original:
ལུས་ཚ་ཚད་འཁྲུ་མང་ལ་ནད་ཁྲག་མཁྲིས་དང་༎་སྙིང་ནད་སྐྱ་རྦབ་མི་བཟད་རིམས་དང་ནི་༎་སྐྲན་བཅས་གཅིན་འགགས་མིག་སེར་ལ་སོགས་པ་༎་མཁྲིས་པ་ལས་གྱུར་ནད་ནི་ཐམས་ཅད་འཇོམས་༎
Machine Translation: For those with hot body, frequent diarrhea, blood and
bile disorders, heart disease, severe edema, and contagious fevers, tumors,
urinary obstruction, jaundice, and so on, all diseases arising from bile are
conquered. Note: "སྐྲན་" (skran) refers to tumors, which can include splenic
enlargements.
yan lag brgyad pa'i snying po bsdus pa zhes bya ba (aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā-nāma)
BO_T13_D4310:199a-6
<https://dharmamitra.org/nexus/db//bo/BO_T13_D4310/text?active_segment=BO_T13_D4310:199a-6>:
Original:
།་མ་ཞུ་ལུད་པ་དབུགས་མི་བདེ་༎་ཡི་ག་འཆུས་དང་སྐྲན་མཆིན་པ་༎་ཕོ་བ་སྙིང་ནད་སྐྱ་རྦབ་འཇོམས་༎
Machine Translation: It conquers indigestion, phlegm, dyspnea, loss of
appetite, tumors, and liver disorders, stomach disorders, heart disease, and
ascites. Note: Again, "སྐྲན་" (skran) for tumors/growths, often associated with
internal organs like the spleen or liver.
yan lag brgyad pa'i snying po zhes bya ba'i sman dpyad kyi bshad pa
(aṣṭāṅgahṛdayanāmavaiḍūryakabhāṣya) BO_T13_D4311-2:176a-17
<https://dharmamitra.org/nexus/db//bo/BO_T13_D4311-2/text?active_segment=BO_T13_D4311-2:176a-17>:
Original:
གཞན་ཡང་ལུད་པ་རྣམ་པ་ལྔ་དང་།་ཟད་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ནད་དང་།་དབུགས་མི་བདེ་བ་དང་།་སྐྱིགས་བུ་དང་།་རིམས་མི་བཟད་པ་དང་།་སྐྲན་དང་།་གཅིན་ནད་དང་།་ཕོ་བའི་ནད་དང་།་གཞང་འབྲུམ་དང་།་སྙིང་ནད་དང་།་ཡི་ག་འཆུས་པ་དང་།་ཆམ་པ་རྣམས་ལ་ཕན་ཏེ་།
Machine Translation: Furthermore, it cures the five types of phlegm disorders,
wasting diseases, asthma, hiccups, contagious fevers, tumors, urinary
disorders, stomach disorders, hemorrhoids, heart disease, It is beneficial for
loss of appetite and for treating colds. Note: This text lists both "སྐྲན་"
(skran - tumors, referring to internal growths like splenic enlargements) and
"གཞང་འབྲུམ་" (gzhaṅ 'brum - hemorrhoids) alongside stomach disorders
(ཕོ་བའི་ནད་, pho ba'i nad). This is a strong parallel.
Chinese Parallels
Chinese medical texts from Buddhist contexts also provide similar enumerations
of diseases, often including internal masses/tumors and anal issues.
不空羂索神變真言經 第1卷 (T20 1092_001) ZH_T20_1092_012:0287b29_10
<https://dharmamitra.org/nexus/db//zh/ZH_T20_1092/text?active_segment=ZH_T20_1092_012:0287b29_10>:
Original: 風濕疥癬惡瘡毒腫。 癰腫痔病癩病頭痛。 喉腫口瘡眼耳鼻舌。 齒唇心腹痃癖痲痢。 Machine Translation:
Rheumatism, scabies, malignant sores, poisonous swellings, boils, hemorrhoids,
leprosy, headaches, throat swelling, mouth sores, eye, ear, nose, and tongue
diseases, teeth, lips, heart, abdomen, hypochondriac pain, and dysentery. Note:
"痔病" (zhì bìng) means hemorrhoids. "心腹痃癖" (xīnfù xiánpǐ) refers to diseases of
the heart and abdomen, with "xiánpǐ" often describing hypochondriac pain or
abdominal masses.
佛母大孔雀明王經 第1卷 (T19 0982_001) ZH_T19_0982_003:0438b22_14
<https://dharmamitra.org/nexus/db//zh/ZH_T19_0982/text?active_segment=ZH_T19_0982_003:0438b22_14>:
Original: 又諸惡病：
疥癩瘡癬、痔漏癰疽、身皮黑澁、飲食不消、頭痛半痛、眼耳鼻痛、脣口頰痛、牙齒舌痛、及咽喉痛、胸脅背痛、心肚腰胯、及脾膝痛、手足四支、及隱密處痛、瘦病乾消、遍身疼痛，如是等痛，亦不能違越，皆得遠離。
Machine Translation: Moreover, all evil illnesses: Itches, scabies, sores,
hemorrhoids, boils, and the skin becomes dark and rough, food and drink are not
digested, headaches, half-body pain, pain in the eyes, ears, nose, lips, mouth,
cheeks, teeth, tongue, and throat, pain in the chest, sides, back, heart,
stomach, waist, hips, and knees, pain in the hands, feet, four limbs, and
private parts, emaciation, wasting, and pain all over the body - such pains
cannot violate or transgress, and one will be able to be far away from them.
Note: "痔漏" (zhìlòu) refers to hemorrhoids/fistulas. "脾膝痛" (pí xī tòng) includes
spleen pain. "心肚腰胯" (xīndù yāokuà) includes heart and abdomen.
達摩多羅禪經 第1卷 (T15 0618_001) ZH_T15_0618_002:0315c09_14
<https://dharmamitra.org/nexus/db//zh/ZH_T15_0618/text?active_segment=ZH_T15_0618_002:0315c09_14>:
Original: 提賴似果，揵大似癰，盡在腹內。 Machine Translation: The tirya resembles a fruit,
and the khanda resembles a boil, both being inside the abdomen. Note:
Explicitly mentions internal abdominal growths ("腹內," fùnèi - inside the
abdomen).
Further References
The secondary literature provided does not directly reference the specific
phrase "jagrī-plīhārṣa-rogān api jaṭhara-gatān" or its immediate components.
Most of the high-relevance scores are for texts containing words that are
graphically similar to parts of the phrase (e.g., "jātam" for "jagrī," "jīvite"
for "jagrī," or "jaga" for parts of "jagrī"). While these do not provide direct
semantic insight into the phrase, their high relevance scores suggest a
phonetic or orthographic similarity that the search algorithm picked up. The
lack of direct hits in secondary literature highlights that this specific
phrasing might be less common or uniquely used in the primary text. The primary
text analysis, particularly from Vāgbhaṭa and Ugrāditya, remains the most
valuable source for interpreting this medical term.
Best wishes,
Dan
> On Aug 5, 2025, at 11:55 PM, David and Nancy Reigle via INDOLOGY
> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>
> jagrī-plīhārṣa-rogān api jaṭhara-gatān
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
[email protected]
https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
