Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

The two Haridras (viz., Curcuma longa and Berberis Asiatica ); Vacha {Acorus calamus ), Kushtha ( Aplotaxis auriculata ), Chitraka ( Plumbago Zeylanica ), Katurohini ( Pkrorrhiza Kurroa ), and Musta. ( Cyperus rotundus) :

Taking equal measures of these, and reducing them to pulv, mix the pulv with goat’s urine. Incinnerate the soft mass in a closed vessel.

These ashes should be drunk with water agreeably hot They enkindle the digestive fire. 182

KSHARA GUDIKA.

Four palas of ‘Sudhakanda’ (bark of Euphorbia nerrifoti a), 3 palas of the three salts (vis., ‘Saindhava,’ ‘Sanchala,’ and ‘Vit’}, a ‘kuiava’ of VSrtaku (Brinjals), 8 palas of the bark of Arka ( Calatropis gigantea ), and 2 palas of the bark of Chitraka ( Plumbago Zeylanica ) :

Incinnerating these into ashes, boluses should be made by adding the juice of Vartaku (Solanum Melongena). These boluses should be taken after meals.

These boluses quickly digest the food taken. One should take them after every meal.

They are beneficial also in cough, asthma, and piles. 183-184

They are also regarded as alleviatives of cholera, catarrh, of the nose, and chest-diseases.

Even this ‘Kshara-gudikS’ has been declared by the dark-com¬ plexioned scion of Atri’sirace.* lS5

ANOTHER KHARA.

The same drugs, in equal measures, should be reduced to pulv.

This pulv should be thrown into the ashes of Pala?a ( Butea frondosa ) boiled in cow’s urine. (The measure of the urine should

* ‘KrishnStreya’ means the dark one of Atti’s rase. Of course, it is Punarvasu that isimplied.— T.

p. 1442

CHAR AKA -SAM HIT A.

be six times that of the Palana ashes, and the boiling should go on till the measure of water is reduced to half of what is taken).

The combined product should be kept in an iron vessel till it be¬ comes consistent. The measure of a dose is about the size of a jujube, and it should be taken with water agreeably hot, or with wines, in ‘Grahani-disease.’

In fact, if one, in this disease, gets dropsical swellings, or piles, or chlorosis, one may even then take this medicine. 186-187

ANOTHER KSHARA.

Triphala (the three myrobalans), Katabhi (a variety of Sirissa, 1. e., Mimosa Sirissa), Chavya ( Piper Ckaba), the kernel of Vilwa (the fruits of ZEgle marmelos), the pulv of iron, Katurohini ( Picrorrhiza Kurroa) Musta (the tubers of Cyperus rotundas), Kushtha ( Aplotaxis auriculata), Patha ( Cissampelos kernandifolia), Hingu (assafcetida). Madhuka (liquorice), the ‘KshSra’ (ashes) of Mushkaka (otherwise called Ghantaparula, i. e., Schrebera Swietenoides), Yavakshara (the ashes of green barley shoots), Trikatu (the three acrids), Vacha (A corns calamus), Vidanga [Embelia Ribes), Pippalimula (the roots of Piper longum), ‘Sarjjika’ (carbonate of soda), Nimva ( Melia Azadirachta), Chitraka {Plumb Ago Zeylanica) Murva ( Sanseviera Zeylanica), Ajamoda (the seeds of Pimpinella involucrata ), Indrayava (the seeds of Holarrhena antidysentericd), Guduchi ( Tinospora cordifolia ), and Devadaru ( Pinus deodara) :

A ‘karshika’ (equal to 2 tolas) of each of the above should be taken and reduced to pulv.

A pala should also be taken of each of the five salts.

All these, laved with ghee and oil, should then be mixed with three ‘kudavas’ (equal to three-fourths of a seer ; in pratice a seer and half are taken) of curds,

The mass should then be incinnerated within a closed vessel. A ‘panitala’ (equal to 2 tolas) of the ashes should be taken, adding a little ghee to it. .

One. afflicted with piles born of (excited) phlegm and wind, or with ‘Grahani-disease,’ or with chlorosis, should take it.

CHARAKA-SAMHITA.

p. 1443

This medidhe cures enlarged spleen, difficulty of micturition, asthma, hiccup, cough, intestinal worms, diverse varieties of fever, waste or consumption, diarrhoea, dropsical swellings, gonorrhoea, suppression of urine, sensation of pressure on the chest, and the action of all sorts of poison on the system.

This KshSra is the foremost of those medicines that kindle the digestive fire.

When the medicine taken has been digested, the patient should then eat boiled rice with sweet juices or with milk.

This Kshara, it has been declared by the dark-complexioned one of Atri’s race, is possessed of great energy. 188-194

When the three faults are simultaneously excited (in ‘Grahanidisease’) the physician should have recourse to the five acts {viz., Swedana, Snehana, £uddhi, Langhana, and Dipana as mentioned in¬ verse 197 below).

He should also administer such ghees, and ‘ksharas,’ and ‘asavas,’ and ‘arishtas’ as are capable of increasing the strength of the digestive fire. i95

The physician, who is conversant with the attributes of particular diseases, should, in ‘Grahani-disease’ characterised by the simulta¬ neous excitement of the faults, adopt all those modes of treatment, that have been laid down for the disease as characterised by each separate fault, combining them suitably as the case may require. 196