Susruta Samhita - Mandhata Global

Chap. I.J KALPA-STHANAM. 675
be kept clean, well lighted by means of a large number of
windows and guarded with nets and fret works (against
the intrusion of crows, etc.) None but the trusted and
proved friends and relatives should have access to the
royal kitchen, or hold any appointment therein. Highly
inflammable articles (such as hay, straw, etc.) should not
be stacked in the royal kitchen whose ceiling should be
covered with a canopy The Fire-god should be (.daily)
worshipped therein. The head or managar of ihe royal
cooks should generally possess the same qualifications
as those of a physician. The bearers and cooks in the
royal kitchen should have their nails and hair clipped
off and should bear turbans. They should be cleanly,
civil, clever, obedient, good-looking, each charged with
separate duties, good-tempered, composed in their
behaviour, well-bathed, greedless, determined, and
prompt in executing the orders of their superiors. A
physician of the royal kitchen should be very cautious
and circumspect in the discharge of his duties, since
food is the main stay of life, and the sole contributor to
the safe continuance of the body. Every one employed
in a royal kitchen such as, bearers, servers, cooks, soup-
makers, cake-maker.i tconfectionersi, should be placed
under the direct control and supervision of the physi
cian of the kitchen. 6.
Characteristic features of a poisoner
: —An intelligent physician well qualified to ascertain
the true state of one's feelings from the speech, conduct,
demeanour and distortions of the face, would be able to
discover the true culprit \poisoner) from the following
external indications. A giver of poison does not speak
nor does he answer when a question is put to him. He
swoons or breaks off suddenly in the middle of his
statement, and talks incoherently and indistinctly like a