(The application of the paste prepared from) gunja seeds kept previously for seven nights in the mouth of a white cobra or in the mouth of a house-lizard brings on leprosy.

The ball prepared from the powder of the charcoal of the bark of pílu (careya arborea) can be held in hand and burnt with fire.

When any part of the body of a man is rubbed over with the pastry (kalka) prepared from tinduka (glutinosa) and arishta (soap-berry), together with the dung of a cow, the part of the body being also smeared over with the juice of bhallátaka (semecarpus anacardium), he will catch leprosy in the course of a month.

A DOSE of the powder of sirísha (mimosa sirísa), udumbara (glomerous fig-tree), and sami (acacia suma) mixed with clarified butter, renders fasting possible for half a month; the scum prepared from the mixture of the root of kaseruka (a kind of water-creeper), utpala (costus), and sugar-cane mixed with bisa (water-lily), dúrva (grass), milk, and clarified butter enables a man to fast for a month.

Whoever bathes in the decoction of vata (banyan tree) and rubs his body with the paste prepared from sahachara (yellow barleria) becomes black.

(When the shoes are smeared over with) the pith, marrow or sperm of the birds, syena, kanka, káka, gridhra, hamsá, krauncha, and vichiralla, (the traveller wearing them) can walk a hundred yojanas (without any fatigue).

Cleansing the fire place is its remedy.

When the body of a man is smeared over with the serum of the flesh of a frog, it burns with fire (with no hurt).

The fire generated by churning the bone of a monkey by means of a bamboo stick of white and black colour (kalmáshavenu) burns in water instead of being quenched.

The body of a man, which is rubbed over with the powder of the root of bamboo (venu) and saivála (aquatic plant), and is smeared over with the serum of the flesh of a frog, burns with fire.

The body which is painted with the pastry (kalka) prepared from the bark of páribhadraka (erythrina indica) and sesamum seeds burns with fire.

[Thus ends Chapter II, "Wonderful and Delusive Contrivances," in Book XIV, "Secret Means,” of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the hundred and forty-seventh chapter from the beginning.]

When a man makes a journey, wearing the shoes made of the skin of a camel, smeared over with the serum of the flesh of an owl and a vulture and covered over with the leaves of the banyan tree, he can walk fifty yojanas without any fatigue.

The paste prepared from the powder of the rib-bone of náraka (?), a donkey, kanka (a kind of vulture), and bhása (a bird), mixed with the juice of water-lily, is applied to the legs of bipeds and quadrupeds (while making a journey).

The powder of másha (phraseolus radiatus), yava (barley), kuluttha (horse-gram) and the root of darbha (sacrificial grass) mixed with milk and clarified butter; the milk of valli (a kind of creeper) and clarified butter derived from it and mixed in equal proportions and combined with the paste prepared from the root of sála (shorea robusta) and prisniparni (hedysarum lagopodioides), when drunk with milk; or a dose of milk mixed with clarified butter and spirituous liquor, both prepared from the above substances, enables one to fast for a month.

Sulphuret of arsenic and red arsenic mixed with the oil extracted from sakuna (a kind of bird) and kanka (a vulture) causes blackness.

External application of the liquid essence of the egg of a parrot and a cuckoo brings on leprosy.

Ashes caused by lightning quench the fire.

The fat or serum derived from roasting a pregnant camel together with saptaparna (lechites scholaris) or from roasting dead children in cremation grounds, is applied to render a journey of a hundred yojanas easy.

By keeping in the mouth a ball-like piece of pilu (careya arberea) or a knot of the root of linseed tree (suvarchala) with fire inserted within the mass of the ball and wound round with threads and cotton (pichu), volumes of smoke and fire can be breathed out.

The oil extracted from white mustard seeds mixed with the barley-corns contained in the dung of a white donkey, which has been living for more than seven nights on a diet of butter, milk and barley, causes alteration in colour.

There will burn no other fire where the fire generated by churning, by means of a bamboo stick of white and black colour, the left side rib-bone of a man killed by a weapon or put to the gallows; or the fire generated by churning the bone of a man or woman by means of the bone of another man is circumambulated thrice from right to left.

The mixture of the dung of a white cock and ajagara (boa-constrictor) causes white colour.

Whoever eats the mixture of the powders of the roots of kukkuta (marsilia dentata), kosátaki (duffa pentandra), and satávari (asparagus racemosus) for a month will become white.

The powder of khadyota (fire-fly) and gandúpada (earth-worm) or the powder of ocean animals mixed with the powder of bhringa (malabathrum), kapála (a pot-herb), and khadira (mimosa catechu), and karnikára (pentapetes acerifolia), combined with the oil of sakuna (a bird) and kanka (vulture), is tejanachúrna (ignition powder).

The powder of khadyota (fire-fly) mixed with the oil of mustard seeds emits light at night.

The pastry or decoction prepared from priyála (chironjia sapida or vitis vinifera ?) is a remedy for leprosy.

Whoever has anointed his legs with the oil extracted from the paste prepared from the roots of páribhadraka (erythrina indica), pratibala (?), vanjula (a kind of ratan or tree), vajra (andropogon muricatum or euphorbia), and kadali (banana), mixed with the serum of the flesh of a frog, can walk over fire (without hurt).

When the body of a man is rubbed over with the powder of the charcoal of the bark of páribhadraka (erythrina indica) mixed with the serum of the flesh of mandúka (a frog), it can be burnt with fire (without causing hurt).

When the body of a man is smeared over with the above serum as well as with the oil extracted from the fruits of kusa (ficus religiosa), and ámra (mango tree), and when the powder prepared from an ocean frog (samdura mandúki), phenaka (sea-foam), and sarjarasa (the juice of vatica robusta) is sprinkled over the body, it burns with fire (without being hurt).

When birds such as a hamsa (goose), krauncha (heron), mayúra (peacock) and other large swimming birds are let to fly at night with a burning reed attached to their tail it presents the appearance of a fire-brand falling from the sky (ulká).

When the body of a man is smeared over with sesamum oil mixed with equal quantities of the serum of the flesh of a frog, crab, and other animals, it can burn with fire (without hurt).

When, in a fireplace, kidney beans (másha) wetted with the menstrual fluid of a woman, as well as the roots of vajra (andropogon muricatum) and kadali (banana), wetted with the serum of the flesh of a frog are kept, no grains can be cooked there.

The oil prepared from mustard seeds previously kept for seven nights in the urine of a white goat will, when used (externally) after keeping the oil inside a large bitter gourd for a month and a half, alter the colour of both biped and quadruped animals.

When the oil extracted from the fruits of kusa (ficus religiosa) and ámra (mango) is poured over the fire, it burns even in the storm.

Sea-foam wetted with oil and ignited keeps burning when floating on water.

The sun-stone (ayaskánta) or any other stone (will break to pieces) when wetted with the serum of the flesh of the animals kulinda (?), dardura (?), and khárakíta (?).

The oil prepared from mustard seeds which have been previously kept in the urine and fluid dung of any of the two animals, a white goat and a white donkey, causes (when applied) such white colour as that of the fibre of arka plant or the down of a (white) bird.

The paste, prepared from white mustard seeds which have been previously kept within a large bitter gourd and with clarified butter prepared from the milk of valli (a creeper) for half a month, makes the hair white.

The pastry made from white mustard seeds kept for seven nights in the urine of a white goat mixed with butter-milk, the milk of arka plant, salt, and grains (dhánya), causes, when applied for a fortnight, white colour.

The body which is smeared over with the serum of the flesh of a frog burns with fire.