The Sushruta Samhita — trans. Bhishagratna

weight of the aforesaid drugs should be kept in an ironpitcher well covered and preserved inside a room for a fortnight. After this period it should be cooked with (an adequate quantity of) oil and with the expressed juice* of the Bhringardja and (a decoction of) Triphald. For the purpose of ascertaining the proper cooking of the oil, a (white) feather of a Valaka icrane) should be dipped into it, and satisfactory preparation should be judged from the deep blue colour imparted to the feather. The oil should be then preserved in a blackiron pitcher for a month, Used as anointments, this oil arrests a premature greyness of the hair. 18.

The flowers of the S'airiya, Jambu, Arjuna and of the Kds'mari, sesamum, Bhringa-rdja-SQQds, mangostones, Punarnavd, \ mud, Kantakdri^ Kdsisa, marrow of the seeds of Madana, Triphald, powdered iron, Rasdnjana, Yashti-madhu^ Nilotpala, Sdrivd, and Madayanti\ should be pasted together with the decoction of the Sara (pith) of the Vijaka. It should then be mixed with seven Prastha measures of the decoction of the Sara of Vijaka and preserved for ten days in a covered iron vessel. This compound should then be carefully cooked with an A'dhaka measure of Vibhitaka-oil and again preserved in a new iron-pitcher for a month. Then after cleansing the system of the patient, the oil thus prepared t According to Dallana, the reading would have b^en "T|7f^^," i.e., the two kinds of Punarnavd.

X One Karsha measure of each of the aforesaid drugs should be taken.

508 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XXV 2t According to Dallana, the reading would have b^en "T|7f^^," i.e., the two kinds of Punarnavd.

X One Karsha measure of each of the aforesaid drugs should be taken.

508 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XXV should be used as errhines (Nasya) and in anointing the head, and the patient should be advised to live on diet consisting of Mdsha-pulse, or of Kris' ard. In the course of a month, it imparts a (deep black) gloss like that of a black bee, or that of Rasdnjana to the hair and makes it grow thick and curly. It cures baldness, arrests the susceptibility of the system to an attack of premature decay, removes the wrinkles of the face, and invigorates the sense-organs in the performance oj their proper and respective functions. This oil should not be given to a man who does not wish to use it, nor to an indigent person, to an ungrateful wretch, nor to an enemy. 19.

Treatment of Vyanga, etc. i-^Ldkshd,

Rodhra, the two kinds of Haridrd, Manahs'ildy Haritdla^ Kushtha, Ndga (lead), Gairika, Varnaka^ Manjishthd, Vacha, Saurdshtra-mrittikd^ Pattanga, Gorochand, Rasdnjafia, bark of Hemdnga (Champaka), the tender leaves of Vata, Kdliya-Kdshtha, Padmakdshtha, the filaments of a lotus, both red and white chandana, Mercury'^ and the drugs of the Kdkolyddi group should be pasted together with milk. The paste, thus prepared, as well as lard, marrow, wax, clarified butter, milk, and a decoction of the drugs of the Kshira trees should be cooked together. This medicated clarifie d butter, is the best of all the unguents that may be applied to the face. It cures the most difficult cases of Vyanga and Nilika, and removes all tans, specks, marks, moles, eruptions, etc., from the face. It imparts smoothness to the wrinkled skin, gives a healthy plumpness and bloom to the cheeks, and makes the face as beautiful as a lotus.

* This is the first time that we come across the mention and use of "Pdrada" (Mercury) in the Sus'ruta Samhita.— Ed.

It should be recommended to kings and to the ladies of the royal court, as well as to persons of the same rank. It acts as a good remedy for cutaneous affections (Kushtha), and may be as well applied in cases of Vipadika. The use of a cosmetic compound consisting of powdered Haritaki, leaves of Nimba, the bark of man^Oy stems of the pomegranate, and the flowers and leaves of Madyantikd pasted together, imparts a god-like effulgence to the complexion of a man. 20-21.