The Sushruta Samhita — trans. Bhishagratna

The body should be washed with tepid milk on that day and plastered with a paste of sesamum, Yashtimadhu and sandal wood, and milk (only) should be given him to drink. 7-A.

On the morning of the eighth day, the body should be washed with milk, and plastered with sandal paste, and potions of milk should be prescribed for him after which the patient should be advised to leave his bed of dust and lie down on one covered with a piece of Kshauma cloth. From now the muscles of the body begin to show signs of fresh and vigorous growth, the skin becomes cracked, and the teeth, nails and hair begin to fall off. On and from the ninth day the rnedlcinal oil known as A.nu-Taila should be used to

p. 554

On and from the ninth day the rnedlcinal oil known as A.nu-Taila should be used top. 554 anoint (the body) and the decoction of Soma-valka for bathing (Pari sheka). The same should be prescribed on the tenth day, and from thence the skin becomes firm. The eleventh and twelfth day should be passed in the same way. From the thirteenth till the sixteenth day (both the days inclusive) the body should be washed with the decoction of Soma-valka. New teeth well-formed, symmetrical, strong, hard and as clear as a diamond or crystal or ruby would appear on the seventeenth and eighteenth days. Gruels (Yavdgu) prepared with old S'dli-rice and milk should form his diet till the twenty-fifth day. After that period well boiled S'dli rice should be taken in the morning and evening with milk. Fixed, glossy and coral coloured fingernails resembling the new rising sun in lusture and possessed of auspicious marks would be found to be growing after the lapse of that period and hair begin to grow, the skin would assume the soft hue of a blue lotus (Nilotpala), Atasi flower or of a ruby stone. After a month the hair should be shaved and a plaster composed of Us'ira, Chandana and black sesamum applied to the scalp, and the patient should take a milk-bath. This would lead to the growth of deep bee-black curls of hair in the course of a week. 7-B. Then the patient should be allowed to stir out from the inmost chamber only to re-enter it again after a stay of a Muhurta (forty-eight minutes) in the outer chamber. Thenceforth Vala^ taila (described before) should be used in anointing (Abhyanga) his body ; pasted barley in rubbing (Udvartana) ; tepid milk in washing (Parisheka) it ; and a decoction of Aja-karna in rubbing (Utsddana) the dirt of. Similarly well water (scented) with Us'ira should be used for the purpose of bathing (Sndna) ; Sandal pastes as unguents (Anulepana) and the expressedp. 535 juice of the A'malaka should be invariably mixed with any kind of Yusha or supa (he may take). Soup and black sesamum seeds boiled with milk and Yashtimadhu should be used (in the preparation of the food). These rules of diet and conduct should be observed for ten consecutive days. 7 C.

Soup and black sesamum seeds boiled with milk and Yashtimadhu should be used (in the preparation of the food). These rules of diet and conduct should be observed for ten consecutive days. 7 C.

The patient should stay in the second (outer) chamber for a second ten days. Then he should be made to come out and enter the third ^outmost) chamber (veranda) and to remain there for ten days with a quiet control over the mind and should be allowed to take a short exposure to the sun and wind during this period (of ten days). He should then be made to reenter again the inner compartment. 7 D.

The patient should not contemplate himself in a mirror during this time owing to his enhanced personal beauty and renounce all passions and anger for a further period of ten days. This rule holds good in respect of all kinds of Soma ; but there is this distinction that the Soma plants which are found to trail upon the ground or grow as small shrubs or in bushes should (themselves) be taken (instead of their expressed juice being drunk) and a dose of these would be four Mushtis* and a half. 7-

The expressed juice of the Ams'umdn ^Soma) should be pressed and taken in a golden pot and that of the Chandramdh (Soma) in a silver one. By its use a man is sure to develop the eight godly powers t and is thus able to imitate the god Is'^na. The expressed juice of a Soma plant belonging to any other species should be t The eight godly powers, according to some authorities, are : —

* A Mushti measure is equal to eight Tolas.

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536 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XXIX.

taken in a copper or an earthen pot or in a (pot prepared of a) piece of red-coloured and stretched skin. A member of any of the three twice-born castes but none of the S'udra class is privileged to drink this ambrosial elixir (Soma\ In the fourth month (of taking it) and under the auspices of a full moon a Soma-drinker should be allowed to stir out of his chamber with the auspiciousi rites done unto him and to resume the daily avocations of his life after he had worshipped the Brahmanas in a holy place. 8.