Pakadarpana of Nala

Description

Pakadarpana of Nala The mass. of Pākadarpaņa, procured from the Saraswati Bhavan Libraryof Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi, contains 24 folios. There is no full stop or coma to separate one verse from another. Having seen the subject matter, we have divided the whole manuscript in eleven chapters (Pariccheda). In every chapter, we have put the serial number of the slokas. Though, the Pakadarpaņa of Nala is published with Hindi translation which lacks many verses are to be included. It seems that the editor has not consulted the original manuscript.

Rendering of the Sanskrit Texts has been done in Hindi and English both. Parsing (anvaya) of every śloka is given in order to make the reading easy and lucidly accurat. Various notes of geograhical importance have been appended. Efforts have been made to identify all the pot-herbs and their Botanical names are also included.

First chapter is very lengthy and deals. The setup of the works along with various preparations of vegetables covering leaves and fruits both. It deals with five categories of food, pulses, rice and meat. Chapter second deals with the six seasons, regimens to be observed therein, animals and birds to be used as food in various seasons. Third chapter is devoted to the special preparations known as Bhakşyarāja and other dishes 16 containing egg. Fourth chapter is devoted to the preparations of PAYASA (modern khir) made of garlic and wheat-corns. This chapter also includes soft beverages like phalapuspa pānaka. The colophone also mentions the well known preparation Rasālā. Fifth chapter presents the process, preparation varieties and properties of soft beverage and they were kept in Pūgapațța (a cloth pasted with the scum of betal nut) instead of glass wares of golden or silver pots. Chapter six narrates the process and properties of various soups (yüşa). Seventh chapter deals with process & properties of Ghrtännapāka, Śāyannapāka with tamarind, Kaitarya, mustard and curd. In chapter eight, there is a description of lickable preparations of mango etc. with process and properties. Chapter nine deals with the process of cooling, fragranting and making the delicious. Chapter ten describes the process of preparations and properties of Kṣīrapāka. It is different from modern Khira in which a very small quantity of rice is mixed and cooked. Here, milk is condensed on fire. The last eleventh chapter describes the process of preparing curd from milk.