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

Shana weights of powdered Triphala pulp, and three Shana weights of powdered Vidanga, Pippali and Yavakshara, mixed and pounded together, should be licked with honey and clarified butter, or they should be made into a confection with treacle for purgative purposes. The medicine does not entail any strict regimen of diet and conduct. It is one of the most effective remedies (of our pharmacopoeia) and proves curative in Gulmas, enlargement of the spleen, cough, Halimakam ( chlorosis ), non-relish for food and in diseases due to the action of the deranged Kapham and Vayu. A wise and intelligent physician should administer purgative medicines through the vehicles of clarified butter, oil, milk, Mad3'a (wine) cow's urine, meat essence, or through the expressed juice of drugs, or through articles of food, or in forms of electuar}'. The six kinds of purgatives are the milky exudations, expressed juices, pastes, decoctions, cold infusions and powders of medicinal drugs or herbs, and each of these preceding factors should be deemed stronger than the one immediately following it in the order of enumeration.

Thus ends the forty-fourth Chapter of the Sutrasthinam in the Sushruta SamhitS, which treats of the choice of purgatives.

p. 53

CHAPTER XLV.

Now we shall discourse on the Chapter, which deals with the rules to be observed in respect of liquid substances in general (Drava-Dravya-Vidhimadhyaryam).

Water Group : — Atmospheric, or rain water is possessed of a non-patent taste. It is ambrosial in its nature, pleasant and beneficial to life. It is enlivening,* invigorating or strength-giving, f refrigerent, frigorific, antipyrotic_, anti-hypnotic, and conquers vertigo, drowsiness and fits of fainting. It is most wholesome to the human body. After having fallen upon the surface of the earth it acquires one of the six different tastes according to the nature of its receptacle such as, a river, or a Xada (a river with a masculine name), a pond, a tank (Vapi) i, a Kupa §, a Chunti \\, a fountain, an Artesian spring a Vikira 1, fallow land (Kedar), or a pond covered over with a growth of aquatic plants

* Enlivens ihe body during fits of fainting and such like cases.

+ Imparts strength to the exhausted or emaciated frames.

J A tank or a large well with its sides protected by buttresses of masonry work.

§ A well with flights of masonry steps descending to its bottom.

II An ordinary well, unprotected by buttresses and unpro\-ided with steps.

If A flow of subterranean water dug out of a bed of sand.

p. 419

(Palvala). Certain authorities maintain that heavenly or atmospheric water having fallen on a red, brown, grey, yellow, blue or white coloured soil, respectively assumes a sweet, acid, saline, pungent, bitter or an astringent taste. But the theory is not a soTind one in as much as the comparative predominance of the attributes of the five material principles in a particular soil determines the taste of the water contained therein. Water, contained or collected in a soil marked by a predominance of the attributes of earth-principle, acquires an acid and saline taste. Water, contained in a soil marked by a predominance of the attributes of fire, acquires a bitter and pungent taste. Water, contained in a soil marked by a predominance of the attributes of air, acquires an astringent taste. The sky is devoid of all tastes, and hence, the water contained in a soil, which is largely possessed of the specific attributes of that element, is characterised by the absence of any taste whatever. Only the last named kind should be used for drinking purposes where atmospheric water would not be available.

Atmospheric water (Antariksha Jalam), in its turn, may be divided into four classes such as, rain water, hail water, frost water or dew, and snow water, of which the first is the best for its lightness. Rain water may be divided into two classes such as the Gangam and the Samudram,

^20 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XLV.