The Sushruta Samhita — trans. Bhishagratna

^irO-Vircchana:— Powders of the S'iro-Virechana drugs* or any Sneha cooked with those drugs-|- should be employed in the event of there being an accumulation of Kapha (mucus) in the region of the palate, throat, or head of a patient, as well as in cases of an aversion to food, head-ache, heaviness of the head, Pinasa (coryza), Ardhdvabhedaka (hemicrania), worms, Pratis'y^a (catarrh), loss of the faculty of smell, hysteric convulsion (Apasm^ra) and in similar other diseases of the super-clavicular regions due to the action of the deranged Kapha. 19,

These two kinds of Nasya (snuffs) should be administered before meals. To a patient affected with diseases of Kaphaja origin they should be administered in the morning, while one suffering from any Fittaja complaint should use them at noon and one t Sifikantha Datta, commentator of Vrinda, says that Gayi reads fljf|f^^iT?«Jff%fT ^%^^ etc., from which it is evident that he prescribed only the Sneha cooked with the S'iro-Virechana drugs as S'iro- Virechana Nasya.

* The S'iro-Virechana drugs are Pippali, Vidanga, S'igru, Siddharthaka, Apamarga, etc. See Sutrashana, Chapter XXXIX.

Chap. XL.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 66 1

afiflicted with any distemper of the deranged Vs^yu should use them in the afternoon.* 20.

Before the application of a S'iro-Virechana (errhine) the patient should be asked to cleanse his mouth with a tooth-twig and by smoking. Then the regions of the neck, cheek and forehead should be fomented and softened with the application of heated palms, the patient himself being laid on his back in a dustless chamber not exposed to the sun and the wind. His head should be kept a little hung back with his arms and legs fully stretched out and expanded and a compress should be tied over the eyes. Then the physician should lift up with the fore-finger of his left hand the tip of the nose of the patient and slowly drop with his right hand a continuous jet of (medicated) Sneha into the cleansed channels of the (patient's) nostrils. The oil to be so used should be made lukewarm (D. R. —made lukewarm in the sun) and kept in a golden, silver, copper, or earthen receptacle or in an oyster shell and poured down into the nostrils of the patient by means of an oyster shell (D. R.— pipe) or (by pressing)

a cotton plug (soaked in that oil). Care should be taken that the oil does not get into the eyes (while being poured into the nostrilsVf 21.

R.— pipe) or (by pressing)

a cotton plug (soaked in that oil). Care should be taken that the oil does not get into the eyes (while being poured into the nostrilsVf 21.

Metrical Texts : -The patient should refrain from shaking his head or indulging in a fit of anger or

* In respect of healthy patients, the Nasya should be administered at noon in winter, in the morning in spring and autumn, and in the afternoon in summer, while in the rainy season, they should be administered at a time when the sun would be visible in the sky. — Vriddha- Vdgbhata.

t The commentator of Vrinda adds two more conditions— z;/^., the patient should be made to pass stools and urine before the application of the Nasya and that the Nasya should be applied at a time when the sky would be free from clouds.

p. 662

speaking, sneezing or laughing at the time of any oily snuff (Sneha-Nasya) being administered unto him, as it may otherwise badly interfere with its reaching down to the desired spot or may bring on an attack of cough or coryza (catarrh) or any affection of the head or of the eyes. 22.

Doses of a Sneha-Nasya :— Eight drops of oil trickling down the two upper phalanges of the forefingers should be regarded as the proper quantity for the smallest (lit. — first) dose. A Sukti measure (thirtytwo drops) is the intermediate (lit— second) dose and a PAni-Sukti measure (sixty-four drops; is the highest (lit. — third) dose. These are the three doses (of Sneha- Nasya) which should be dertermined in proportion to the strength of the patient and of the disease under treatment. An oily snuff should never be swallowed. 23.

Metrical Text :— An oily snuff (Sneha-Nasya) should be hawked in so as to flow along the girths (Sringcitaka) of the nostrils and immediately spit out (by the patient), without retaining it in the mouth for a moment, as it may otherwise (irritate the mucous membranes of the throat, etc., and) aggravate the local Kapha. 24.

24.

The region of the neck and the cheeks, etc., of the patient should be fomented again after the use of the oily snuff (^Sneha-Nasya) and the patient should be made to smoke, and partake of a meal not composed of any phlegmagogic articles (Anabhishyandi). He should then be advised as to regimen of conduct, etc. (to be subsequently observed). Washing the head, exposure to the sun, dust and smoke, the use of any intoxicating liquor or of any other liquid or oleaginous substance, indulgence in a fit of anger and excessive driving, etc., are strictly prohibited (after the application of Sneha-Nasya). 25,

p. 663

Effects of proper, excessive, or deficient application of aSneha-Nasya

(IVI. — T.) : — The effects of proper and excessive applications of (oily) snuffs will now be described. Lightness of the head, sound and refreshing sleep, the state of being easily awakened, alleviation of the disease, hilarity of the mind and a gladsome activity of the sense-organs in performing their respective functions, are the symptoms which attend a proper and satisfactory application (of an oleaginous medicinal snuff). Salivation, heaviness of the head, and dulness of the sense organs are the symptoms which result from an excessive application of a Sneha (Nasya) and the remedy in such cases consists in employing the parching measures or medicines. A case of deficient application (of a Sneha-Nasya) is marked by the functional derangements of the sense-organs* and a dryness (Rukshatd) of the system without any indication of the amelioration of the disease. The remedy, in such cases, consists in a fresh application of the (oleaginous) snuff. 26.

The proper doses of an oleaginous errhine (Siro- Vireka) should be four, six or eight drops in accordance with the strength (of the disease and of the patient under treatment), 27.

The fra r.ers of the Ayurveda have particularly classified the effects of the application (of a Sneha-Nasya) into three classes, viz., proper or satisfactory, deficient and excessive. The head being satisfactorily cleared (by the satisfactory application (of an oleaginous errhine) is marked by a sense of lightness in the head, clearness of the channels (of the mouth, throat, nostrils, etc.),

*Gayi's reading, according to Dallana, as well S'rikantha's reading is "^jcftajlJW*' which means the functional derangement of the local V^yu,

p. 664