The Sushruta Samhita — trans. Bhishagratna

20-23.

The good effects of Sneha-pana :—

The blcsiings which attend a person who has duly taken a Sneha are improved digestive capacity, regular and satisfactory motions of the bowels, a growth of all the vital principles of the body, strength and firmness of the organs, improvement of complexion, a delayed old age and the enjoyment of a hundred summers on earth. The application of a Sneha is potent enough to increase the strength and the digestive capacity of a weak person suffering from impaired digestion, and a person having his health and digestive capacity recouped (by the use of a Sneha) does not yield to the evil effects of errors of diet. 54-55.

Thus ends the Thirty-first Chapter in the Chikilsita Sthdnam of the Sus'iuta Samhitd which deals with the treatment of the diseases where oleaginous medicines are useful.

CHAPTER XXXII.

Now we shall discourse on the medical treatment by measures of fomentations, diaphoretic measures, etc.

(Svcda-vacharaniya). i.

Sveda* (calorification, fomentation, diaphoretic measures, etc.) may be divided into four groups such as, the application of direct heat (Tapa-sveda), fomentation (Ushma-sveda\ poulticing (Upandha sveda) and the application of heated fluids (Drava-sveda). All kinds of diaphoretic measures (Sveda) belong to one or the other of these groups. 2.

Tapa-SVeda:— Of these the TApa-sveda consists in repeatedly applying heat to (any affected part of the body of) a patient made to lie down (on a bed) with the help of the palm of the hand, a piece of brass, an Indian saucer, a piece of baked clay or sand, or a piece of cloth after heating them over a fire of Khadira wood, etc. 3.

UShma-SVeda : — A piece of stone, brick, iron, or baked clay should be made red-hot and sprinkled over with water or with sour gruel (Kanjika). The affected part of the body should be covered with (cotton plugs soaked in) Alaktakaf and then fomented with

* The Sanskrit term "Sveda" is not properly rendered by the terms fomentations, diaphoretic measures or any other such word or phrase. Sveda is used to mean the application of heat in any possible way— it may be to cause or not to cause perspiration. Vapour baths, hot water baths, applications of warm poultices, etc., are also included in the meaning of the term Sveda. We have, however, for convenience sake, used the term fomentation as a synonym of Sveda in general.

Vapour baths, hot water baths, applications of warm poultices, etc., are also included in the meaning of the term Sveda. We have, however, for convenience sake, used the term fomentation as a synonym of Sveda in general.

t Jejjata reads "^^jf^^^TTfrtfect" instead of "dAlsikcti^MR^f^ci" and explains that the cotton plug soaked in Alaktaka should be made wet and placed over the affected part before applying the fomentation.

Chap. XXXII. ] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 559

the above-named (heated) articles. As an alternative, a metal saucer containing milk, curd, Dhdnydmla, meatsoup and a decoction of the tender leaves of the Vdyusubduing plants (jointly or separately) should be heated over a fire. The mouth of the saucer should be covered (with a piece of blanket or such other cloth)* and the affected part of the body should be fomented with the vapours rising therefrom. As an alternative, another pitcher should be placed with its mouth downward over the mouth of the above pitcher (containing the abovenamed heated articles). Then an aperture should be made in the side of the upper pitcher and a pipe to the shape of an elephant's trunk should be inserted into it. The affected part of the body should then be fomented with the vapour escaping through that pipe. 4.

Metrical Texts :— The mode of applying heat to a patient suffering from any disease or affection of the bodily Vayu (disease of the nervous system, etc.,") is as follows : — He should be first anointed with oil, etc.,"^ and wrapped up in a thick cloth. He should then be made to sit in an easy posture. Heat should then be applied through a pipe shaped as an elephant's trunk. The advantage of this mode of fomentation is that the entire body of the patient may be easily fomented without causing him any serious trouble. The pipe should be made half a Vydmaf in length with three bends or turnst in its body to resemble t A Vyama is the length measured by the outstretched hands of a man.

* The mouth of the pitcher should be covered only to mitigate and regulate the heat.

t The reasons for bending the tube are to make the fomentation delightful, in consequence of the vapour not passing in a straight course.

560 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XXXII.

the trunk of an elephant * The use of a pipe made of the materials (such as Kus'a, Kds'a, etc.) used in the making of a Kilinji (basket) and resembling the trunk of an elephant in shape is only recommended for the purposes of Sveda iheat-application). 5.

5.

A plot of ground commensurate with the length of the patient's body should be dug and heated with fire of Khadira wood and then sprinkled over with milk, water and Dhanyamla. The heated ground should be then covered with a layer of leaves (of the Vayu-subduing plants) and the patient should be made to lie down full stretched upon the (bed of) leaves and thereby fomented.f As an alternative, a stone slab should be heated and the fomentation (Sveda) should be applied similarly to the patient by making him lie down upon it after the ashes and cinders have been removed |. As an alternative, the patient should be seated inside a chamber with four doors (one on each side) and fomented by lighting up a good blazing fire (of Khadira wood) at all the doors (simultaneously §. Another alternative is that the patient should be laid on a mattress (made of Kus'a, Kds'a^ etc.) or on a similar bed as before and fomented with the fumes of duly boiled paddy (and Mdshapulse, etc.) kept under the same mattress. In the same manner, Sveda (fomentation) might be applied with the help of heated co.v-dung, ashes, husks of paddy, weeds, etc. 7.

Upan^ha-Sveda (Poulticing) -.—The roots of the Vdyu-subduing drugs should be pasted together

* This is called the " Nstdi-Sveda ". t This is called the " Karshu-sveda ". X This is called the " As'ma-ghana-sveda ". § This is called the «' Kuti-Sveda".

p. 561

with Amla (Kanjika) and mixed with an abundant quantity of rock-salt and of Sneha (clarified butter, etc.). The paste should be heated and applied lukewarm to the affected part. Th^ pastes of the drugs included within the Kdkolyddi, the Elddi or the Suras ddi groups as well as a paste of mustard seed, sesamum or linseed, or Kris'ara', Paiyasa (porridge) Utkairika^, or Ves'ava^ra, or the drugs of S'dlvana* (as described under the treatment of Vdta-Vy^dhi) should be similarly applied (lukewarm to the affected locality) folded in a piece of thin linen. This is what is called the Upanaiha-Sveda. 8.