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

The Padnia has a bitter and sweet taste, is cooling in its potency, and subdues the deranged Pittam and Kapham. The Kumuda has a sweet taste, and is shmy, demulcent, pleasing and cooling in its potency. The two varieties of the same species known as the Kuvalayam and the Utpalam, slightly differ from the preceding varieties in their properties. The Sindhuvaram is renowned for its virtue of destroying the Pittam. The Mallika and Malati flowers have a bitter taste and subdue the Pittam owing to their sweet scent. The Vakulas, like the Patala flowers, are sweet smelling and pleasant, their pleasing and odoriferous property instantaneously permeates the whole system. The Xagam (flower), lik.e the Kumkumum, is antitoxic and subdues the Pittam and Kapham. The Champakam is curative in cases of haemoptysis. It is both cooling and heat-making in its potency and subdues the deranged Kapham. The Kinshukam, like the Kurantakam, subdues the

Kapham and Pittam. 66

p. 522

A flower should be understood as possessed of the same properties which are natural to the tree or plant on which it grows. The (tehder stem) of the Madhu-Shigru is pungent in taste and subdues the deranged Kapham.

The Kshavaka, the Kulechara, and the tender sprouts of Vansha^ etc., generate the deranged Kapham, and tend to increase the discharge of stool and urine.

Metrical Texts : — The Kshavakam helps the germination of worms in the intestines. It is slimy and sweet in taste, and tends to increase the secretions of the internal organs. It generates the Vfiyu and does not inordinately increase the Pittam and Kapham in the body. The tender sprouts of Venu generate Kapham and are sweet in taste and digestion. The}' can be but imperfectly digested and produce the Vayu in the organism. They ha-se a slightly astringent taste and tend to produce a state of extreme parchedness in the system.

The Udbhida Group :— Mushrooms are generally found to grow on stacks of straw (Paiala), or are seen vegetating on the stems of bamboo (^Venu) or sugar-cane (Ikshu , or as sprouting up from beneath tlie surface of the ground (Udbhida), or growing on a heap of decomposed cow- dung (Karisha.) Of these, those which grow on stacks of (decomposed) straw

Chap. XLVI. ] SUTRASTHANAM. ^23

(Palalam) are sweet in taste and digestion and tend to produce a state of dryness in the organism. They subdue the three'deranged humours of the body. Those which vegetate on the stems of sugar-canes (Ikshujam) have a sweet pungent taste. They leave an asti'ingent after-taste in the mouth and are cooh'ng in their potency. Mushrooms growing on decomposed cowdung (Karisha) should be regarded as possessed of properties similar to those of the preceding class. They aggravate the Vayu, are heat-making in their potency, and have an astringent taste. Those which vegetate on the stems of bamboos (Venuja) have an astringent taste and tend to enrage or aggravate the bodily Vaj^u. ^Mushrooms which grow on the ground (Bhumija) are heav}' of digestion and do not inordinately generate the V^yu, their tastes varying according to the soil they grow on.

Pinya'ka Group : — The* Pinyaka {levigated pov,'deror cake of linseed or mustard pressed in an oil-mill), the Tilakalka (the levigated powder of sesamum of which the oil has been similarly pressed out), and the Sthunika-shuska-Shaka (leaves and stems of plants pasted and made into pills or balls) tend to enrage all the deranged humours.

IVIctrical Texts: — Sthunika balls are long retained in the stomach in an undigested state, thus giving rise to a distension of that organ, and

^24 '^HP: SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. xlm.

tend to enrage or aggravate the bodily Vayu. Moist Sindakis are the (leaves and stems of the Mulaka, etc. slightly boiled and pasted with pungent and aromatic spices and then made into balls.) There' are two kinds of Sindakis the dr}-- and the moist. They generate the Ysiyu and are appetising, and tend to impart a greater relish to food. All sweet or palatable potherbs are purgative and heavy of digestion, produce a state of dryness in the organism, are generally indigestible and long retained in the stomach in an undigested state, causing it to distend. They are marked with a shade of the astringent in their taste.

or flowers, leaves, fruits, stems and bulbs, each succeeding one is hea^ ier (of digestion) than the one immediately preceding it in the order of enumeration. Potherbs and leaves of edible plants which are found to be rough or pu.trified or worm-eaten, as well as those growing on an improper or incongenial soil, or making their appearance in an unnatural season of the year, should be rejected as unfit for use. This ends the description of the Pushpa-shakas.