An English Translation of the Sushruta Samhita, Vol. I: Sutrasthanam — trans. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (1907)

at liberty to exercise his own discretion in determining the omen. Similarly in a case of haemoptysis, dysentery or any morbid discharge from the urethra (Prameha j, the first interview between a messenger and a physician near a reservoir of water is an omen of happy augury, A learned physician shall tluis determine the ominous character of a messenger in connection with other diseases as well.

IVIessengers of happy augury :— A fair and handsome messenger, who is clad in clean and white garments, and belongs to the same caste or spiritual clan (Svagotraj as the patient himself, forebodes the successful termination of the disease (for which the medical aid is needed). A messenger, calling on a physician either on foot or in a bullock cart, and who is contented, intelligent, capable of acting according to the rules of decorum, time and circumstances, and is independent and original in his thoughts and ideas, and carries ornaments, and other auspicious articles about his person, is alone capable of rendering the best services in connection with the calling in of a physician. A messenger, for the first time, interviewing a physician, when the latter is complacently seated with his face towards the east, and on a clean and even ground, should be regarded as a messenger of happy augury.

Raw meat, a pitcher full of water, an umbrella, a Bramhana, an elephant, a cow, an ox and an article

Chap. XXIX. ] SUTKASTHANAM. 275

of a white colour, should be deemed auspicious sights by a physician on his way ]to the house of a patient. A mother, a cow with her calf, a small pitcher of water, a decorated virgin, fish, unripe fruits, a Svastika (a cross shaped religious insignia), sweetmeat, curd, gold, a vessel full of sun-dried rice, gems, flowers (according to certain commentators a well disposed king), a blazing fire, a horse, a swan, a peacock, a bird of the Chasha species, chantings of Vedic verses, claps of thunder, blowings of conch-shells, notes of lutes, sounds of chariot wheels, roar of lions, lowings of cows and bullocks, neighings of horses, trumpeting of elephants, cacklings of geese, hootings of owls, and the pleasant conversation of persons going to the palace of a king, should be regarded as lucky sights and sounds by a physician on his way (to the house of a patient).

Similarly, harmonious melodies of birds chirping on the boughs of healthy Kshira trees, bent under the weight of fruit, and looking gladsome with their dowry of beautiful blossoms and foliage, or notes of birds perched on the terraces of palace towers or on the tops of banner poles singing melodiously, or birds following the messenger with their songs or singing seated from the auspicious quarters of the heavens, or following him on his left, should be equally regarded as sights and notes of happy foreboding.

A bird, seated on the withered trunk of a blighted

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THR SUSHRUTA SAMHITA 1 Chap. xxix.

or thunder-blasted tree, or on a thorny knoll covered over with creepers, or on ashes or stones, or amidst ordure or husks of grain, or on dried skeletons, and singing in a harsh voice with its head turned towards the blazing or inauspicious quarter of the sky, should be deemed as portending evil.

Similarly, birds, which are possessed of names of masculine terminations are happy omens if seen on the left by a physician on his way to the house of a patient, while birds, on a similar occasion, whose names have feminine endings, are auspicious if seen bv him on the right. A dog or a jackal, seen running from the right to the left, is a hapjn- omen, and so is a mongoose or a Chasha bird if seen on the left. A hare, a serpent, or an owl, seen on either side of the road, is an inauspicious sight. The sight and the sound of a Godha or a Krikal^sha an animal of of the lizard species) are both inauspicious.

If a man, other than a messenger of inauspicious character but possessed of features alike unfavourable, should happen to cross the way of a physician, just starting on a professional call, he should be regarded as equallv indicative of evil. The sight of a vessel full of Kulutha pulse, or of husks of grain, or of stone, ashes, clay or charcoal, or of oil, is inauspicious. Similarly, the sight of a vessel filled with red mustard or witli wine other than whicli is clear and mild

Chap. XXIX. ] SUTRASTHANAM. 277

(Prasanna) should be deemed an omen of evil augury.

Similarly, the sight of a parched corpse, or of a withered tree or Pal^sha branch, is equally inauspicious. A physician, meeting a member of any of the vile or degraded castes or a blind or indigent person, or a man inimically disposed towards him, should consider the character of the disease to be unfavourable.