Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

This ghee , administered as drink, ointment, and snuff, quickly cures Insanity that is born of vitiated faults or that is accidental, as also remittent fever, and epilepsy. 59-6 1

* In practice, one prastha, which is equal to 2 seers of ghee, is doubled ; i. e. , 4 seers of ghee are taken. So also two adhakas of cow’s milk and urine are taken, equivalent to .16 seers of milk and 16 seers of urine. .A manik? of honey, being doubled, is equal to -i 6 palas,— T.

1 6l

12 J2

CHAR A KA-SAMHITA .

Even this is the composition of ‘Lagunâdya Ghrita/

Of fresh or uninjured Lagunas (garlics), divested of husk, take -half a Tula (equal, that is, to 50 ‘palas’ or six seers and a quarter).

Of the ten roots take half this measure (i. e., 25 palas). These "should be boiled in 2 adhakas of water (equal to 16 seers).* 62

When a fourth of it only remains in the vessel, it should be taken down.

To it should then be added a prastha of ghee (this is doubled in practice). The same measure of the expressed juice of garlics also is to be added.

Half that measure should next be added of the expressed juice of each of these, viz., Kola ( Zizyphus jujubd), Mulaka (garden radish), •Vrikshamla ( Zingiber cassumunar),\ Mstulunga ( Citrus medico, ), ginger, Dadimamla (sour pomegranates), Sura (wine), whey, and sour KSnjika.

Boiling all these together, the paste of the following drugs should then be added, viz., the triple fruits (*. e., the three myrobalans), Daru (otherwise called Devadaru, i. e., Pinus deodara), Lavana (Saindhava salt), Vyosha (i. e., the three acrids, viz., dry ginger, the fruits of Piper ■ longum, and black pepper), Dipyaka (otherwise called Vanayamani, i. e., Cnidium diffusum , syn. Seseli Indicum), Yamani ( 'Ptychotis Ajowan ), Chavya ( Piper chaba ), assafcetida, and Amlavetasa ( Rumex vesicarius). Half a pala of the paste of each of these should be the measure.

'Having boiled all these together once more, the result will be a ghee that cures deep-seated pains, abdominal tumours, piles, and diseases of the stomach, abcesses, chlorosis, enlarged spleen, diseases of the genital organs of women, fever, and worms.

This medicine cures also all diseases born of wind and phlegm, and all kinds of Insanity. 63-66

■* Double the quantity, i. e., 32 seers, is taken in practice.— T.

t The name stands for many kinds of acid fruits, such as hog-plums, tamarind, the county sorrel, &c. Here, Gangadhara explains, it stands for Mahada or Vanadraka.— T,

CHARAKA-SAMHITA.

I27£

Even this is the composition of the second kind of ‘Lagunadya Ghrita.’

Ghee boiled with assafcetida, Hinguparni {Balanites Roxburghii), Kayastha (the fruits of Phyllanthus Emblica) and Vayastha (chebulic tnyrobalans),

Or ghee boiled with chebulic myrobalans, assafcetida, and' Choraka {Andtopogon acicularis ), is beneficial in Insanity.

Or, old ghee boiled by itself, or ghee boiled with all these, should be given to the patient to drink.*

Administering a good dose unto the patient, he should be con¬ fined in a hole or a chamber.

In treating the Insane, the physician should, in especial, cause him to take old ghee. For old ghee is capable of checkiug all the three faults, and in consequence of its particular sanctity, it is capable of freeing the patient from the influence of evil spirits and astral conjunctions. 67-69

Old ghee becomes superior in respect of its virtues and effects in consequence of the place (and vessel) in which it is kept Its taste becomes pungent and bitter.

Ghee that is ten years old becomes possessed of a keen scent. 7°

That ghee which (in consequence of age) assumes the aspect of a solution of lac, becomes possessed of very cooling properties. It becomes capable of dispelling all kinds of evil spirits and astral influences.

Ghee that is older is regarded as highly sanctified. Such ghee is the foremost of purgatives. 7t

There is nothing which ghee that is a hundred years old cannot

* ‘Boiled with all these it is difficult to understand what is meant by ‘all these’. Gangadhara thinks that ‘all these’ or ‘those’ (ebhih) has reference to the ingredients of Kalyanaghrita. This is a very far-fetched interpretation. It seems to me that the reading ‘ebhih’- is incorrect.— T.

p. 1274

CHARAKA-SAMHITA

effect. Such ghee , only seen, of touched, or smelt, dispels aff cala¬ mities caused by evil spirits and malignant astral conjunctions.

Such ghee is especially' beneficial to persons afflicted with epilepsy and InSahity. 72

If the physician fails to make the patient quiet by administering these medicines internally, he should then administer them in the form of collyria, unguents, plasters, and cerebral purgatives. 73