The Sushruta Samhita — trans. Bhishagratna

77.

IVI rid U- Karma (softening) :— In respect of indurated and fleshless (not seated in a part of the body where flesh abounds) ulcers marked by a deranged condition of Vayu, softening measures (with the help of repeated applications of lotions and plasters composed of sweet and demulcent substances mixed with salt in a tepid or luke-warm state) and bloodletting* should be resorted to. Sprinkling (Seka) and application of clarified butter or oil prepared with the Vayu-subduing drugs should also be resorted to. yZ.

D^runa-karma:— The employment of hardening measures (Daruna-karma) is efficacious in connection with soft ulcers and in the following manner. Barks of Dhava, Priyangu, As' oka, Rohini^ Triphala, Dhdtaki flowers, Lodhra and Sarjarasa^ taken in equal parts and pounded into fine powders, should be strewn over the ulcer, i.e., the ulcer should be dusted with the same. 79.

Kshara- Karma (Potential cauterization) : — The measure of applying alkali should be adopted for thep. 257 purification of the sore of a long-standing ulcer which is of an indurated character with its margin raised higher (than the surrounding skin), and is marked by itching and a stubborn resistance to all purifying medicines. 80. Agni-Karma (actual cauterization) :— An ulcer incidental to an act of lithotomic operation allowing the urine to dribble out through its fissure, or one marked by excessive bleeding, or in which the connecting ends have been completely severed, should be actually cauterised with fire. 81 .

* Blood-letting should be resorted to in the event of any vitiated blood being found to have been involved in the case ; but in the event of a similar participation of any deranged Kapha, oils and lotions composed of the Va'yu-destroying drugs should be made use of.

81 .

Krishna- Karma : -The blackening of a white cicatrix, which is the result of a bad or defective granulation, should be made (after the complete healing up of the ulcer) in the following manner. Several Bhalld' taka seeds should be first soaked in the urine of a cow (and then dried in the sun, this process should be repeated for seven days consecutively), after which they should be kept (a week) immersed in a pitcher full of milk. After that the seeds should be cut into two and placed in an iron pitcher. Another pitcher should be buried in the ground with a thin and perforated lid placed over its mouth, and the pitcher containing the seeds should be placed upon it with its mouth downward (so that the mouths of the two pitchers might meet), and then the meeting place should be firmly joined (with clay). This being done a cow-dung fire should be lit around the upper pitcher. The oily matter (melted by the heat) and dribbling down from the Bhallataka seeds into the underground pitcher should be slowly and carefully collected. The hoofs of village animals (such as horses, etc.) and those which live in swamps (Anupas — such as buffaloes, etc.) should be burnt and pounded together into extremely fine powder. The oil (of the Bhalldtaka seeds collected as above) should then bep. 258 mixed with this powder, and applied to the white cicatrix. Similarly, the oily essence of the piths of some kinds of wood, as well as of some kinds of fruit {Phala-snehd) prepared in the manner of the Bhalldtaka oil (and mixed with the powdered ashes of hoofs) should be used for the blackening of a cicatrix. 82-83.

82-83.

PandU-karana :— The natural and healthy colour (Pdndu) of the surrounding skin should be imparted to a cicatrix which has assumed a black colour owing to the defective or faulty healing up of the sore in the following manner. The fruit of the Rohini* should be immersed in goat's milk for seven nights and, afterwards finely pasted with the same milk, should be applied to the skin. This measure is called Fandu-karana (imparting a yellow or natural skin-colour to the cicatrix). To attain the same result, the powder of a new earthen pot, Vetasa roots, S'dla roots. Sulphate of iron, and Madhuka (Yashti-madhu) pasted together with honey may be used. As an alternative, the hollow rind of the Kapittha fruit, from which the pulp has been removed, should be filled with the urine of a goat together with Kasisa (Sulphate of iron), Rockand, Tuttham (Sulphate of copper). Haritdla^ Manahsild, scrapings of raw bamboo skin, Prapunndda (seeds of Chakunde), and Rasanjana and buried a month beneath the roots of an Arjuna tree after which it should be taken out and applied to the black cicatrix. The shell of a hen's egg, Kataka^ Madhuka, (Yashti-madhu), sea-oysters and crystalsf (pearls according to Jejjata and Brahmadeva) taken in equal parts should bs pounded and pasted with

• Rohini, according to som^ co nmentators, means a kind of Haritaki ; according to others, it means Ka*u-tumbi.

I Burnt ashes of sea-oysters, and pearls etc., should be used.

Chap. I.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 2^9

the urine of a cow and made into boluses which should be rubbed over the cicatrix * 84-87.

Roma-Sanjanana— hair-producers :— The

burnt ashes of ivory and pure Rasdnjana (black antimony; pounded (and pasted with goat's milk) should be applied to the spot where the appearance of hair {Lomotpatti) is desired. An application of this plaster would lead to the appearance of hair even on the palms of the hands. Another alternative is a pulverised compound consisting of the burnt ashes of the bones, nails, hair, skin, hoofs and horns of any quadruped, over a part of the body, previously anointed (rubbed) with oil, which would lead to the appearance of hair in that region. And lastly, a plaster composed of Sulphate of iron, and tender Karanja leaves pasted with the expressed juice of Kapittha, would be attended with the same result. 88 — 90.