1Chapter 11
فصل (١١)
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Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm · draft
Book Three, chapter 11
Preparations for many aims, including lethal and poison-repelling ones
Ritter pp. 264–281 · 31 passages · 5 withheld · 7 untranslated
Ritter p. 264
2And I shall mention, of this matter, for this purpose, what I found belonging to the people, apart from the words of this spiritual man, I mean "Kīnās". Of that is the making of a marvel-working (nīranj) for binding the tongues of people from the one who holds it, and keeps their harm from him, and makes him beloved to them. That is: there is taken the tongue of a crow, the tongue of a frog, the tongue of an eagle, the tongue of a water snake, the tongue of a white dove, the tongue of a white cock and the tongue of a hoopoe, and you grind them until they become dust. Then you take a grain of jewel (jawhar), and the weight of a dāniq of silver, a dāniq of gold, a dāniq of camphor, a dāniq of borax and a dāniq of aloes, and you grind of them what will grind; then it is mixed with the first dust; then you knead it with honey in the comb and spread it on a cloth of white silk.
وانا اذكر من هذا الشأن فى هذا الغرض ما وجدته للقوم من غير كلام هذا الرجل الروحانى اعنى «كيناس» فمن ذلك صنعة نيرنج لعقد السنة الناس عن ماسكه ويمنع عنه اذيتهم ويحبّبه لهم وذلك ان يؤخذ لسان غراب ولسان ضفدع ولسان عقاب ولسان حنش الماء ولسان حمامة بيضاء ولسان ديك ابيض ولسان هدهد وتسحقها حتى تكون غبارًا ثم تأخذ حبّة جوهر وزنة دانق فضّة ودانق ذهب ودانق كافور ودانق تنكار ودانق صبر وتسحق منها ما انسحق ثم يخلط بالغبار الاول ثم تعجنها بعسل الشهد وتبسطه على خرقة ابريسم ابيض
"The people" (al-qawm) are the practitioners of this art. Kīnās is the name as printed, with Ritter's quotation marks; the identity of the figure is uncertain. jawhar here means a gem or jewel (possibly a pearl), not 'substance' in the philosophical sense of the glossary. tinkār is borax. Historical: an amulet worn by the operator; not something to make or try.
Ritter p. 265
3Then you take two hairs from between the eyes of a peacock, and likewise two hairs from between the eyes of a falcon, the liver of a hoopoe, the liver of a cock, two bones from the wing of a dove and two bones from the wing of a hoopoe; then grind them also and knead them with milk, then spread it on the aforementioned cloth. Then make an image of white wax, name it with your name, and draw on its head your name with the figure of the Sun, and on its breast your name with the figure of the Moon. Then wrap it in a cloth of white silk, then place it in the middle of that mixture and tie it with a silk thread, and hang it on your neck: you will see a wonder from its action.
ثم تأخذ وبرتين ما بين عينى طاووس وكذلك وبرتين ما بين عينى باز وكبد هدهد وكبد ديك وعظمين من جناح حمامة وعظمين من جناح هدهد ثم اسحقها ايضًا واعجنها بلبن ثم ابسطه على الخرقة المذكورة ثم اصنع صورة سمّها باسمك من موم ابيض وارسم فى رأسها اسمك مع شكل الشمس وفى صدرها اسمك مع شكل القمر ثم ضمّ عليها بخرقة ابريسم ابيض ثم ضعها فى وسط ذلك الخلط واربط عليها بخيط ابريسم وتقلّدها فانك ترى من فعلها عجبًا،
ṣūra here is a talismanic image. Historical: a worn amulet; not something to make or try.
4And I have seen, belonging to one of those skilled in this matter, on the craft of marvel-workings (nīranjāt) by means of spiritual mixtures and relations of agreement and disagreement to the portions of the planets proper to them, what I shall mention.
ورأيت لاحد البارعين فى هذا الشأن فى صناعة النيرنجات باخلاط روحانية ونسب موافقة ومخالفة لاقسام الكواكب لها ما اذكره،
Withheld
Withheld: a love charm made into food or drink, to be given to the person you want.
This is a feeding charm for love: a preparation slipped into someone's food or drink so they'll fall for you. It's left out because they eat it without knowing what it is or what it's for.
6Mixtures of a marvel-working by fumigation, for love, likewise: there is taken of the blood of a white dog the weight of one mithqāl, and of its brain likewise, and two mithqāls of the brain of a gazelle, and two mithqāls of human blood; they are combined by melting, then one fumigates with them, for they arouse the spiritual power (rūḥāniyya) of love.
اخلاط نيرنج بدخنة فى الحبّ كذلك يؤخذ من دم كلب ابيض زنة مثقال ومن دماغه كذلك ومثقالان دماغ ظبية ومثقالان دم انسان تجمع بالذوب ثم يدخّن بها فانها تهيّج روحانية الحبّ،
Historical belief: a fumigation burned by the operator to act on another person's will without their consent.
Ritter p. 266
Withheld
Withheld: another love charm made into food, to be fed to the person you want.
A second feeding charm for love, same idea as the one before it. It's left out for the same reason: the person eating it isn't told.
8A marvel-working by smoke, causing love: the brain of a white dog, one mithqāl; the brain of a vulture, one mithqāl; the blood of a cheetah, half a mithqāl; the brain of a gazelle and human blood, of each two mithqāls; it is combined by melting, as we have mentioned, with one mithqāl of mandrake seed, and one fumigates with it.
نيرنج دخان محبّب دماغ كلب ابيض مثقال ودماغ نسر مثقال ودم فهد نصف مثقال ودماغ ظبية ودم انسان من كل واحد مثقالان يجمع بالاذابة كما ذكرنا مع مثقال حبّ يبروح ويدخّن به،
yabrūḥ is the mandrake. Historical belief: a fumigation burned by the operator to act on another person's will without their consent.
Withheld
Withheld: a recipe meant to make someone fall in love by slipping a preparation into their food or drink.
This passage is one of the book's 'marvels' done through food, here meant to stir up love in another person. It works by giving that person something in what they eat or drink without them knowing. Because it's about dosing someone without their knowledge, we've left out the ingredients and the method under the project's harm policy.
10A marvel-working by smoke, causing love: there is taken the blood of a cock, the blood of a cheetah and the rennet of a hare, of each half a mithqāl; human blood, one mithqāl; they are combined by melting, and half a mithqāl of euphorbium is added to them, and one fumigates with them. This mixture effects union and spreads the spiritual power of love.
نيرنج دخان محبّب يؤخذ دم ديك ودم فهد وانفحة ارنب من كل واحد نصف مثقال دم انسان مثقال تجمع بالاذابة ويضاف اليها نصف مثقال فربيون ويدخّن بها، فهذا الخلط يفعل التأليف ويبسط روحانية الحبّ،
Historical belief: a fumigation burned by the operator to act on another person's will without their consent.
Withheld
Withheld: a charm made into food, fed to someone to make them hate another person.
This is the reverse of the love charms: a preparation fed to someone so they turn against a person. It's left out because it's given without their knowledge.
12A marvel-working by smoke, causing hatred: the blood of a cat, two mithqāls; the brain of a kite, and its blood, and the blood of a fox, of each one mithqāl; seed of faqd, two mithqāls. The bloods and the brains are combined by melting, as we have mentioned, and the faqd seed is thrown on them, ground, for they separate the spiritual power of those who love one another.
نيرنج بدخان مبغّض دم سنور مثقالان دماغ حدأة ودمها ودم ثعلب من كل واحد مثقال حبّ فقد مثقالان تجمع الدماء والادمغة بالاذابة كما ذكرنا ويطرح عليها حبّ الفقد مسحوقًا فانها تفرّق روحانية المتحابّين،
faqd is probably the chaste tree. Historical belief: a fumigation burned by the operator to sow enmity between other people without their consent.
Withheld
Withheld: a second food charm for causing hatred, fed to someone without their knowledge.
Another hatred charm of the same kind as the one before it. Left out for the same reason: someone is fed it without knowing.
Ritter p. 267
Not translated
Not translated: two pages of Book III, chapter 11, the chapter of preparations for many aims, including lethal ones. Ritter pp. 267–268.
This chapter is the book's harm-heavy one: its entries are compounded preparations grouped by purpose, including ones the chapter itself describes as sickening or killing. Each is a short recipe naming substances and weights. Under the project's rule — no poisons, no narcotics, nothing given to a person without their knowledge — these pages would be withheld whether or not anyone translated them. No one has translated these pages: the translation model's safety screen declined them twice, the second time under an instruction to withhold every preparation in full. Nothing was routed around it. Reading them passage by passage to describe them more closely was stopped for the same reason, so this note rests on the chapter's structure and its table-of-contents title, not on a reading of the pages.
Ritter p. 269
Not translated
Not translated: two pages of Book III, chapter 11, the chapter of preparations for many aims, including lethal ones. Ritter pp. 269–270.
This chapter is the book's harm-heavy one: its entries are compounded preparations grouped by purpose, including ones the chapter itself describes as sickening or killing. Each is a short recipe naming substances and weights. Under the project's rule — no poisons, no narcotics, nothing given to a person without their knowledge — these pages would be withheld whether or not anyone translated them. No one has translated these pages: the translation model's safety screen declined them twice, the second time under an instruction to withhold every preparation in full. Nothing was routed around it. Reading them passage by passage to describe them more closely was stopped for the same reason, so this note rests on the chapter's structure and its table-of-contents title, not on a reading of the pages.
Ritter p. 271
Not translated
Not translated: two pages of Book III, chapter 11, the chapter of preparations for many aims, including lethal ones. Ritter pp. 271–272.
This chapter is the book's harm-heavy one: its entries are compounded preparations grouped by purpose, including ones the chapter itself describes as sickening or killing. Each is a short recipe naming substances and weights. Under the project's rule — no poisons, no narcotics, nothing given to a person without their knowledge — these pages would be withheld whether or not anyone translated them. No one has translated these pages: the translation model's safety screen declined them twice, the second time under an instruction to withhold every preparation in full. Nothing was routed around it. Reading them passage by passage to describe them more closely was stopped for the same reason, so this note rests on the chapter's structure and its table-of-contents title, not on a reading of the pages.
Ritter p. 273
Not translated
Not translated: two pages of Book III, chapter 11, the chapter of preparations for many aims, including lethal ones. Ritter pp. 273–274.
This chapter is the book's harm-heavy one: its entries are compounded preparations grouped by purpose, including ones the chapter itself describes as sickening or killing. Each is a short recipe naming substances and weights. Under the project's rule — no poisons, no narcotics, nothing given to a person without their knowledge — these pages would be withheld whether or not anyone translated them. No one has translated these pages: the translation model's safety screen declined them twice, the second time under an instruction to withhold every preparation in full. Nothing was routed around it. Reading them passage by passage to describe them more closely was stopped for the same reason, so this note rests on the chapter's structure and its table-of-contents title, not on a reading of the pages.
Ritter p. 275
Not translated
Not translated: two pages of Book III, chapter 11, the chapter of preparations for many aims, including lethal ones. Ritter pp. 275–276.
This chapter is the book's harm-heavy one: its entries are compounded preparations grouped by purpose, including ones the chapter itself describes as sickening or killing. Each is a short recipe naming substances and weights. Under the project's rule — no poisons, no narcotics, nothing given to a person without their knowledge — these pages would be withheld whether or not anyone translated them. No one has translated these pages: the translation model's safety screen declined them twice, the second time under an instruction to withhold every preparation in full. Nothing was routed around it. Reading them passage by passage to describe them more closely was stopped for the same reason, so this note rests on the chapter's structure and its table-of-contents title, not on a reading of the pages.
Ritter p. 277
19The making of the Indian bead which the kings of India use. It is among the rare things they possess, and it is what wards off the assault of poisons and their snares. Its making is that one takes the pupils of ten eyes of stags and the pupils of ten eyes of vipers or malignant snakes, and their weights are to be equal, whether the number be more or less, and the like of the weight of one of them from the forehead of the fish [reading uncertain].
صنعة الخرزة الهندية التى يستعملونها ملوك الهند وهى من غريب ما لديهم وهى الدافعة عادية السموم ومكائدها وعملها ان يؤخذ حدق عشر اعين ايايل وحدق عشر اعيُن افاعى او حيّات خبيثة وتكون اوزانها بالسواء زادت العدة او نقصت ومثل وزن احدهما من جبهة الحوت
An amulet worn against poisons, not taken internally. Historical; not a remedy to try. jabhat al-ḥūt ('forehead of the fish') is doubtful as printed.
20All of that is ground, each by itself; then, after drying it, it is sifted through a silk cloth, then gathered and ground well, and placed in a narrow-mouthed glass flask. Then one takes one part of citron acid and one part of radish juice, the part being eight dirhams, and one takes the weight of a dirham of white, clean spider's web and a dirham of [word uncertain: kiyya]; the web is cut up and thrown, with the mastic, into the two liquids mentioned, and left in them two days and two nights.
يسحق كل ذلك على حدة ثم بعدَ تجفيفها ينخل بحريرة ثم يجمع ويسحق سحقًا جيّدًا ويوضع فى قارورة زجاج ضيّقة الفم ثم يؤخذ جزء من حمّاض اترنج وجزء من عصارة فجل والجزء ثمانية دراهم ويؤخذ زنة درهم نسج العنكبوت ابيض نقى ودرهم كية يقطع النسج ويلقى مع المصطكى فى المائين المذكورين ويترك فيهما يومين وليلتين
kiyya is unclear as printed; the sentence that follows speaks of mastic (al-muṣṭakā), which it apparently denotes. Historical; not a remedy to try.
21Then it is strained gently and poured onto the pupils; then the head of the flask is sealed well, and it is buried in a straw fire until the pupils dissolve and become like oil and mix with the liquid. Then it is left in that fire until the two liquids mentioned are used up and nothing remains but the weight of the pupils, and kneading and rounding become possible.
ثم يصفّى برفق ويصبّ على الحدق ثم يسدّ رأس القارورة جيّدًا وتدفن فى نارية التبن حتى ينحلّ الحدق وتصير بمنزلة الدهن ويختلط بالمائية ثم يترك فى تلك النارية حتى تفنى المائيتان المذكورتان ولا يبقى الا وزن الحدق ويتمكن العجن والاستدارة
nāriyyat al-tibn: the heat of burning straw.
22Then it is placed inside an eggshell and turned until its roundness is firm, and another shell is closed over it, and it is returned to that fire until it congeals a little. Then it is pierced with a fine hole, then wrapped in a cloth of silk and placed inside a round cake of dough and baked in an oven, or put into the crop of a bird and the bird roasted; this is done with it so that it may harden and become a hard stone. Then a thread is passed into it and it is hung on the upper arm; the kings of India hang it [on themselves].
ثم توضع فى جوف قشر بيضة وتدار حتى يستحكم استدارتها ويطبق عليها قشر آخر وتعاد لتلك النارية حتى تنعقد قليلًا ثم تثقب ثقبًا دقيقًا ثم تلفّ فى ثوب ابريسم وتوضع جوف قرص عجين وتخبز فى تنور او تجعل فى حوصلة طائر ويشوى الطائر يفعل بها هكذا كى تصلب وتكون حجرًا صلبًا ثم يدخل فيها خيط وتعلق فى العضد يعلّقونها ملوك الهند
23The action of this bead is that, when poison is present in food or drink or perfume or other than that, that bead twitches, moves, shakes and sweats. This is well known among them, and it is among the wonders that the Indians have.
وفعل هذه الخرزة ان السمّ اذا حضر فى طعام او شراب او طيب او غير ذلك فان تلك الخرزة تختلج وتتحرّك وتضطرب وتعرق، وهذا مشهور عندهم وهو من عجيب ما للهند،
Ritter p. 278
24The first inventor of this bead was Kanka the Indian; he was one of their kings and of their learned men. He it is who built the city of Manf and made in it palaces for his daughters, and placed in those palaces idols that whistle and give voice by devices of their making. He it is who made a temple in which are the images of the stars, on the right of this city, and made in it wonders that are mentioned in the histories of India.
والمخترع لهذه الخرزة اوّلاً كان «كنكة» الهندى وكان من ملوكهم وعلمائهم وهو الذى بنى مدينة منف وجعل فيها قصورًا لبناته واودع تلك القصور اصنامًا مصفرة مصوّتة بحِيَل صنعها، وهو الذى عمل هيكلًا فيه صور الكواكب على يمين هذه المدينة وعمل فيها عجائب هى مذكورة فى اخبار الهند،
Manf is Memphis in Egypt. ṣuwar here: images.
25He is the discoverer of the amicable numbers, and their matter is now of rare renown and their action wondrous. These numbers, when placed on food or drink or other than that which two persons use, bring about amity between them; and if they are drawn on a stick and bread or something eaten is stamped with them, and you eat it with whomever you wish, great love will appear from him; and if you draw them on your garment, it will not part from you, and likewise goods on a journey.
وهو المستنبط للاعداد المتحابّة وامرها من الشهرة الآن غريب وفعلها عجيب، وهذه الاعداد اذا وضعت على طعام او شراب او غير ذلك مما يستعمله شخصان تألّف ما بينهما وان رسمت فى عود وطبع بها خبز او مأكول واكلته مع من شئت ظهر من ودّه عظيمًا وان رسمتها على ثوبك لم يفارقك وكذلك المتاع فى السفر
Historical belief: an operation to act on another person's will without their consent. The food is ordinary; the operative element is the written numbers.
26The smaller number of them is [numeral figure] and the larger number [numeral figure]. The working with them is that you draw the larger number and the smaller number in the ghubār script, and give the smaller number to whomever you wish, and you yourself eat the larger; for the smaller obeys the larger by an elegant occult property. It is used in raisins and pomegranate seeds and fruit like them, as a count, not as drawing. I am one of those who have tested this and confirmed its truth.
والعدد الصغير منها [رقم] والعدد الاكبر [رقم] والعمل بها ان ترسم العدد الاكبر والعدد الاصغر برسم الغبار وتعطى من شئت العدد الاصغر وتأكل انت الاكبر فان الاصغر يطيع الاكبر بخاصّية ظريفة ويستعمل فى الزبيب وحبّ الرمّان واشباهها من الفاكهة عددًا لا رسمًا وانا ممن امتحنت ذلك ووقفت على صحّته،
Ritter prints the two numbers as numeral figures, not reproduced here. rasm al-ghubār: the ghubār ('dust') numerals. Historical belief: an operation to act on another person's will without their consent.
27He is the one who made for the people in Egypt twelve festivals, a festival for each month, and made a house with statues going round in it which cure all ailments, and he engraved on the head of each statue what it is good for. The people benefited by that for a time, because they used to go to those statues in their sicknesses and ask them for healing, and they would heal them.
وهو الذى عمل للناس بمصر اثنى عشر عيدًا لكل شهر عيد وصنع بيتًا تدور به تماثيل تبرئ من جميع العلل ونقش على رأس كل تمثال لما ذا يصلح فانتفع الناس بذلك زمانًا لأنهم كانوا يقصدون تلك التماثيل فى امراضهم ويسألونهم الشفاء فيشفونهم،
tadūru bihi: 'go round in it' or 'surround it'; the sense is uncertain.
28He had made for the people an idol in the form of a smiling woman, and no anxious person would look directly at this image but he would smile and forget his anxiety. So the people would come to it and go round about it, until after a time they came to worship it.
وكان قد اتخذ للناس صنمًا على صورة امرأة متبسّمة فكانت هذه الصورة لا يباشرها بالنظر مهموم الا تبسّم ونسى همّه فكان الناس يأتونها ويطوفون حولها حتى انهم صاروا بعد ذلك بزمان الى عبادتها،
29He had also made in this city an image of copper which had two wings that it had spread
وقد كان ايضًا صنع فى هذه المدينة صورة من نحاس لها جناحان قد نشرتهما
Ritter p. 279
Not translated
Not translated: two pages of Book III, chapter 11, the chapter of preparations for many aims, including lethal ones. Ritter pp. 279–280.
This chapter is the book's harm-heavy one: its entries are compounded preparations grouped by purpose, including ones the chapter itself describes as sickening or killing. Each is a short recipe naming substances and weights. Under the project's rule — no poisons, no narcotics, nothing given to a person without their knowledge — these pages would be withheld whether or not anyone translated them. No one has translated these pages: the translation model's safety screen declined them twice, the second time under an instruction to withhold every preparation in full. Nothing was routed around it. Reading them passage by passage to describe them more closely was stopped for the same reason, so this note rests on the chapter's structure and its table-of-contents title, not on a reading of the pages.
Ritter p. 281
Not translated
Not translated: two pages of Book III, chapter 11, the chapter of preparations for many aims, including lethal ones. Ritter pp. 281–282.
This chapter is the book's harm-heavy one: its entries are compounded preparations grouped by purpose, including ones the chapter itself describes as sickening or killing. Each is a short recipe naming substances and weights. Under the project's rule — no poisons, no narcotics, nothing given to a person without their knowledge — these pages would be withheld whether or not anyone translated them. No one has translated these pages: the translation model's safety screen declined them twice, the second time under an instruction to withhold every preparation in full. Nothing was routed around it. Reading them passage by passage to describe them more closely was stopped for the same reason, so this note rests on the chapter's structure and its table-of-contents title, not on a reading of the pages.