Sushen made answer: "Hear me yet: When Gods and fiends in battle met, So fiercely fought the demon crew, So wild a storm of arrows flew, That heavenly warriors faint with pain, Sank smitten by the ceaseless rain. Vrihaspati,(959) with herb and spell, Cured the sore wounds of those who fell. And, skilled in arts that heal and save, New life and sense and vigour gave. Far, on the Milky Ocean's shore, Still grow those herbs in boundless store; Let swiftest Vanars thither speed And bring them for our utmost need. Those herbs that on the mountain spring Let Panas and Sampati bring, For well the wondrous leaves they know, That heal each wound and life bestow. Beside that sea which, churned of yore, The amrit on its surface bore, Where the white billows lash the land, Chandra's fair height and Drona stand. Planted by Gods each glittering steep Looks down upon the milky deep. Let fleet Hanuman bring us thence Those herbs of wondrous influence."Ramayana 6.230 · Ramayana · 6
Ramayana 6.230
Ramayana · translated by Ralph T.H. Griffith
Themes in this passage
Healing in other traditions
The same theme, as Christianity, Islam, Hellenism and Taoism address it.
And thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day.2 Chronicles 21:15 · Bible · 2 Chronicles
In their hearts is a disease, and Allah increaseth their disease. A painful doom is theirs because they lie.Quran 2:10 · Quran · The Cow
But Hector, from this scene of slaughter far, Raged on the left, and ruled the tide of war: Loud groans proclaim his progress through the plain, And deep Scamander swells with heaps of slain. There Nestor and Idomeneus oppose The warrior’s fury; there the battle glows; There fierce on foot, or from the chariot’s height, His sword deforms the beauteous ranks of fight. The spouse of Helen, dealing darts around, Had pierced Machaon with a distant wound: In his right shoulder the broad shaft appear’d, And trembling Greece for her physician fear’d. To Nestor then Idomeneus begun: “Glory of Greece, old Neleus’ valiant son! Ascend thy chariot, haste with speed away, And great Machaon to the ships convey; A wise physician skill’d our wounds to heal, Is more than armies to the public weal.” Old Nestor mounts the seat; beside him rode The wounded offspring of the healing god. He lends the lash; the steeds with sounding feet Shake the dry field, and thunder toward the fleet.Iliad 11.44 · Iliad · 11
It is simply by being pained at (the thought of) having this disease that we are preserved from it. The sage has not the disease. He knows the pain that would be inseparable from it, and therefore he does not have it.Tao Te Ching 71.2 · Tao Te Ching
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