ATHARBA VEDA 01.24

Kanda 1/Sukta 24 (Leprosy Cure)

Asuri Vanaspati Devata, Brahma Rshi

1.     Suparno jåtah prathamastasya tvam pittamå- sitha.

Tadåsuri yudhå jitå rupam cakre vanaspatin.

First born, first cure, is Suparna, the sun. You, O earth and moon, O Rajani, receive the life energy of the sun. That wonderful life energy, Asuri, received from interaction of the sun, moon and earth through photo synthesis, creates the many forms of herbs and trees.

2.     Åsuri cakre prathamedam kilåsabhesajamidam kilåsanåsanam.

Aninasat kilåsam sarupåma- karattvacam.

That wonderful life energy, Asuri, forms and creates this herbal remedy for skin leprosy, this destroyer of skinny white, this Sarupa. It certainly destroys leprosy and makes the skin uniform in colour.

3.     Sarupå nåma te måtå sarupo nåma te pitå.

Sarupakrttvamosadhe så sarupamidam krdhi.

O herb, Sarupa, the earth, uniform and unifunctional, is your mother. Uniform and unifunctional surely is your father, the sun. You too are uniform and unifunctional in action. As such, make the skin of this patient uniform in colour.

4.     Shyåmå sarupaNkarani prthivyå adhyudbhrtå.

Idamu su pra sådhaya punå rupåni kalpaya.

Shyama, maker of uniform colour and function of the patient’s skin, born and sustained of the earth, cure this patient. Create and re-create the form and colour of the skin, the same uniformly, again and again.

Note: In the Vedic tradition herbs and medicines are not dead materials. They share the same vitality of the cosmic spirit and energy which all of us share. They are a part of the living cosmic organism. Hence the Vaidic physician talks to them as living energy. Secondly, everything from cosmic energy and the sun to a herb and a drug is uniform. Disintegrate presences such as diseases are malfunctions which are results of local imbalances. Hence the remedy is called Sarupa, uniform and unifunctional. The cosmic energy, the sun, the earth, the herbs, you and I, all are Sarupa in the healthy state. When the health is disturbed, the Sarupa medicine restores the ‘sarupa’, uniformity. Further, Suparna, Asuri, Sarupa, Shyama, Rajani, Savarani, all these are names of herbs in Ayurveda.