Medication

Here's a short conversation between a distressed patient and a dodgy doctor.

Devanagari text:

दाहज्वरेण मे मान्द्यं वद वैद्य किमौषधम्|
पिब मद्यं शरावेण ममाप्यानय कर्परम्||

– मय

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

dAhajvareNa me mAndyaM vada vaidya kimauSadham|
piba madyaM zarAveNa mamApyAnaya karparam||

– maya

Loose translation: (Patient:) I am suffering from indigestion¹, accompanied by fever and a burning sensation. O Doctor! Pray tell, what medicine (should I take)?
(Physician:) Drink a saucer² of alcohol, and get me an entire bowl³.  

Source: Verse 2321 of the 10th century Subhaashitaavali.

1 The author uses maandya (मान्द्य) which has many meanings including "slowness" and "weakness (as of understanding, digestion, etc.)" (Monier-Williams).^↩

2 Sharaava (शराव) refers to a shallow, concave (usually earthenware) dish that looks somewhat like a watch glass, or a similarly shaped lid for a pitcher etc.; this is the origin of the Bengali word shawraa (সরা/শরা).^↩

3 Karpara (कर्पर) or Kharpara (खर्पर) usually denotes a large deep bowl used for begging (by mendicants belonging to certain orders such as the Nath community) or drinking (usually alcoholic beverages, but also blood if you are a wrathful deity or an occult practitioner), and fashioned out of pottery, a dried gourd, a coconut shell, or a human cranium! This word could also refer to a potsherd but I prefer to read it as "bowl" or "pot" here: This would mean that our doctor is not just prescribing alcohol for his patient's ailment but is also demanding the lion's share of the beverage (as part of the prescription, perhaps in addition to his fees).^↩