The Sushruta Samhita — trans. Bhishagratna

19.

Management of the Child:— The baby

being wrapped up in silk should be laid on a bed covered with a silken sheet ; it should be fanned with the branches of a Pilu, Nimba, Vadari, or Parushaka tree. A (thin^i pad (Pichu) soaked in oil should be constantly kept on the head of the child, and its body should be fumigated with the fumes of drugs (^,^., Vac ha, mustard, etc.) potent enough to keep off the (evil) influences of demons and evil spirits. The same drugs should be tied round the neck, hands, legs and head of the infant and the floor of the lying-in room should be kept strewn over with pounded sesamum, mustard, linseed [Atasi). A fire should also be kept kindled in the chamber. Measures laid down in the chapter on the nursing of an Ulcerpatient (chapter IX. Sutra.) should be observed in the present case as well. 20.

Then on the tenth day of its birth the parents having performed the necessary rites of benediction and celebrated the occasion with suitable festivities, shall give the child a name of their own choice or one determined by its natal a^trism, etc. 21.

Lactation and selection of a wetnurse : -For the healthy gro vth of the child a wetnurse should be selected from among the matrons of its own caste (Varna\ and possessed of the followingp. 29p. 226 necessary qualifications. She should be of middle stature, neither too old nor too young (middle-aged), of sound health, of good character (not irascible or easily excitable), not fickle, ungreedy, neither too thin nor too corpulent, with lips unprotruded, and with healthy and pure milk in her breasts which should neither be too much pendulent nor drawn up. It should be carefully observed that her skin is healthy and unmarked by any moles or stains, she being free from any sort of crime (such as gambling, day-sleep, debauchery, etc.). She should be of an affectionate heart, and with all her children living.

It should be carefully observed that her skin is healthy and unmarked by any moles or stains, she being free from any sort of crime (such as gambling, day-sleep, debauchery, etc.). She should be of an affectionate heart, and with all her children living.

She should be of respectable parentage and consequently possessed of many good qualities, with an exuberance of milk in her breasts, and not in the habit of doing anything that degrades woman in life. A "Syama ' girl possessed of the aforesaid qualities makes a good wet-nurse. A child nursed at the breast of a woman with upturned or unprominent nipples is apt to be deformed (Karala) in features, while extremely pendulous (large and flabby) breasts may suffocate the child by covering its mouth and nostrils. Having chosen a wet-nurse of the commendable type, the child with its head well-washed should, on an auspicious day, be laid on her lap wrapped in a clean and untorn linen. The face of the child should be turned towards the north, while the nurse should look to the east at the time. Then, after first having a small quantity of the milk pressed out and the breast washed and consecrated with the following Mantras (incantations) the child should be made to suck her right breast. 22.

Metrical Texts :— ''O, thou beautiful damsel, may the four oceans of the earth contribute to the secretion of mjlk in thy breasts for the purpose of in^-:

Chap. X,] SARtRA STHAKAM. 227

proving the bodily strength of the child. O, thou with a beautiful face, may the child, reared on your milk, attain a long life, like the gods made immortal with drinks of ambrosia". 22.

A child nursed at the breast of any and every woman for want of a nurse of the commendable type, may fall an easy prey to disease, owing to the fact of the promiscuous nature of the milk proving incongenial to its physical temperament. The milk of a nurse not being pressed out and spelled off at the outset may produce cough, difficulty of breathing, or vomiting of the child, owing to the sudden rush of the accumulated milk into its throat choking up the channels. Hence a child should not be allowed to suck in such milk. 23.

Hence a child should not be allowed to suck in such milk. 23.

The loss or suppression of the milk in the breasts of a woman is usually due to anger, grief, and the absence of natural affection for her child, etc. For the purpose of establishing a flow in her breast, her equanimity should be first restored, and diets consisting of Sdli-rice, barley, wheat, Shashtika, meat-soup, wine (Surd\ Souviraka, sesamum-paste, garlic, fish, Kas'eruka, S'ringdtaka, lotusstalk, Viddri-kandi, Madhuka flower, S'atdzari, Nalikd^ Aldvu, and Kdla-S'dka, etc.. should be prescribed. 24.

Examination, etc., of milk :— The breastmilk of a nurse or a mother should be tested by casting it in water. The milk which is thin, cold, clear, and tinged like the hue of a conch-shell, is found to be easily miscible with water, does not give rise to froths and shreds, and neither floats nor sinks in water, should be regarded as pure and healthy. A child fed on such milk is sure to thrive and gain in strentgh and health. A child should not be allowed to take the breast of a hungry, aggrieved, fatigued, too thin, too corpulent, fevered, or a pregnant woman, nor of one in

■22S THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA . [Chap. X.

whom the assimilated food is followed by an acid reaction, or of one who is fond of incongenial and unhealthy dietary, or whose fundamental principles are vitiated. A child should not be given the breast until an administered medicine is assimilated in its organism, lest this should give rise to a violent aggravation of the pharmacological action of the medicine, as well as of the deranged Doshas (Vdyu, Pitta, etc.), and the refuse matters (Malas) of its body. 25.

IVIemorable Verses:— The Doshas (Vayu,

Pitta and Kapha) of a wet-nurse are aggravated by ingestion of indigestible or incompatible food, or of those articles which tend to derange the Doshas of the body, and hence her milk may be vitiated. A child, fed on the vitiated milk of a woman, vitiated by the deranged Doshas owing to injudicious and intemperate eating and living, falls an easy prey to physical disease, An intelligent physician in such a case should devise means for the purification of the milk as well as of the deranged Doshas which account for such vitiation (inasmuch as the medication of the child alone will not produce any satisfactory effect). 26-27.