The Sushruta Samhita — trans. Bhishagratna
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i.
iSvctavalguJa-RassTyana :— The fruit
(seeds) of the white Avalguja should be dried in the sun and then reduced to a fine powder. This powder should be stirred with (an adequate quantity of) treacle and placed in an earthen pitcher which previously contained clarified butter (Sneha-kumbha). The pitcher should then be kept buried in a heap of paddy for seven days after which it should be taken out and its contents given in convenient doses every morning before sunrise to a person, seeking improvement of memory and longevity, after his system has been thoroughly cleansed ^with proper emetics and purgatives, etc.). Hot water should then be drunk. After taking the medicine, th? patient should enter his room in accordance with the rules laid down in connection with the Bhallataka-Vidhdna. After the digestion of the medicine, the patient should be advised to take a cold bith and to partake in the evening of a meal of well-cooked S'dli or Shashtika rice with (^boiled) milk sweetened with sugar. This medicine continuously taken in this manner for six months would make the life of its user sinless, and extend it in the full glow of health and vigour and in the sound enjoyment of a vigorous memory and of all his intellectual faculties to a hundred green summers. 2.
Chap. XXVIIL] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 523
In cases of Kushtha, jaundice and abdominal dropsy (Udara), the medicine should be prepared by stirring (the powdered seeds of) the Krishn^i* (^black Avalguja) with the urine of a cow (instead of with treacle) and given to the patient in doses of half a Pala weight every morning after the sun has ceased to look red.f In the afternoon the patient should be made to partake of a meal of boiled rice with clarified butter and unsalted A'malaka soup. A continuous use of this medicine in the aforesaid manner for a month would improve the memory and intellectual faculties of the user, and enable him to witness a hundred summers on earth in the full enjoyment of sound health. Chitraka rootsj: and Rajani (turmeric) may be used in the same manner and for similar purposes with this distinction that the dose of the Chitraka-xoo\. preparation should be two Pala measures (instead of half a Pala as laid down in regard to the foregoing compounds). The rest are identical with the above. 3.
lYIanduka-parni Rasayana: The Doshas preparation should be two Pala measures (instead of half a Pala as laid down in regard to the foregoing compounds). The rest are identical with the above. 3.
lYIanduka-parni Rasayana: The Doshas of the system of a person should be first thoroughly cleansed (with the help of proper emetics and purgatives, etc.), and he should be advised to undergo the prescribed diet of vPeyd, Yavdgu, etc . in their proper order) He should be further advised to enter his chamber in the prescribed manner (and to remain there during the entire
•Jejjata explains "Krishna" to mean Pippali. But both Gayi and Dallana explain it to mean the black Avalguja. It should be mentioned, here, that Dallana recommends the roots of black Avalguja, but we think th.^t its seeds should be taken. — Ed.
t Before sunrise. — D. R.
X The roots of the Chitraka with black flowers should be taken. —
Dallana.
524 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. LChap. XXVIII.
course of the treatment). An adequate dose of the expressed juice of the Manduka-parni should then be stirred with milk, and should be taken after consecrating it by reciting the proper Mantras a thousand times. A potion of milk may then be taken immediately after. After it had been fully digested a meal of cooked barley grains with milk should then be partaken of; or (the expressed juice of Manduka-parni) with an admixture of sesamum seeds followed by a potion of milk. A meal of boiled rice with milk and clarified butter should then be taken after the digestion of the medicine and should be continued for three months in succession. This would ensure a long life of a hundred years in the full vigour of retentive memory and intellectual faculties, and would impart a god-like effulgence to the complexion. As an alternative, the patient should fast three days and take only the expressed juice of Manduka-parni for these three days. After this period he should live on milk and clarified butter only, or he should be made to take a Vilva measure (of the paste of Manduka-parni) stirred with milk for ten consecutive days which would ensure a life of a hundred years in the full enjoyment of his intellectual faculties. 4,
4,
Br^hmi Rasayana : -Having had the Doshas of the system duly cleansed (with proper emetics and purgatives, etc.), a person (wishing to undergo a treatment of RasayanaJ should be advised to take the prescribed diet of (Pey^. Yavdgu, etc., in their proper order), and should be made to enter his room (Ag.4ra). He should then take the expressed juice of the Brathmi in an adequate dose after consecrating the juice a thousand times with the proper Mantras, After the medicine had been fully digested he should be advised
Chap. XXVIII.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 525
to take in the evening Yavdgu (gruel) without any salt ; or with boiled milk in the event of his being habituated to its use. A continuous use of the medicine for a week improves the memory, leads to the expansion of the intellectual faculties and imparts a celestical glow to the complexion. In the second week of its course it revives old and forgotten memories in the user and adds to his proficiency in the writing out of any book to be written. In the third week it enables a man to reproduce from memory as many as one hundred words if twice heard or read (at a single sitting'. In the same manner a (further) use of the drug for twenty-one days removes all inauspicious features whether of the body i r of the mind, the goddess of learning appears in an embodied form to the (mind of the) user, and all kinds of knowledge come rushing into his memory. A single hearing is enough to make him reproduce {verbatim from memory a discourse however lengthy "), and he is enabled to live for five hundred years. 5.
Brahmi Ghrita :— Two Prastha measures of the expressed juice of th>; Braihmi and one Prastha measure of clarified butter should be cooked with one Kudava measure of Vidanga seeds, two Pala weight of each of Vacha and Trivrit, and twelve (in number) of each of Haritaki, Amalaka and Vibhitaka well pounded and mixed together. When properly cooked, the (prepared) Ghrita should be carefully preserved in a covered pitcher. It should then be taken in adequate doses as in the preceding manner. The patient should be advised to take meals of boiled rice, clarified butter and milk^ after the medicine had been fully digested. Under its use worms and vermin would be expelled (^from their unsuspected seats in the organism) and creep out of the upper, lower and lateral parts of the body.
$26 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XXVIII.