An English Translation of the Sushruta Samhita, Vol. II — trans. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (1911)

Utsadana-Kriya (Elevation) :— Medicated plasters (consisting of Apdtndrga, As'vagandhd, etc.) and medicated clarified butter (prepared with the same drugs should be used in ulcers (due to the aggravated Vayu and marked by the absence of any secretion, and affecting a considerably smaller area or depth of flesh, as well as in those (due to the deranged and aggravated Pitta and) seated deep into the flesh, for the purpose of raising up Infilling up) the beds or cavities thereof. Meat of carni256 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. tChap. 1.

vorous animals should be taken in the proper manner by the patient, inasmuch as meat properly partaken of in a calm and joyful frame of mind adds to the bodily flesh of its partaker. ^6.

Avasadana (destruction of super-growths) : — Proper drugs or articles (such as sulphate of copper, etc.) powdered and pasted with honey should be applied for destroying the soft marginal growths of an ulcer found to be more elevated than the surrounding surface of the affected locality. 77.

lYI rid U- Karma (softening) :— In respect of indurated and fleshless (not seated in a part of the body where flesh abounds) ulcers marked by a deranged condition of Vayu, softening measures (with the help of repeated applications of lotions and plasters composed of sweet and demulcent substances mixed with salt in a tepid or luke-warm state) and bloodletting* should be resorted to. Sprinkling (Seka) and application of clarified butter or oil prepared with the Vayu-subduing drugs should also be resorted to. 78.

Daruna-karma:— The employment of hardening measures (Daruna-karma) is efficacious in connection with soft ulcers and in the following manner. Barks of Dhava, Priyangu, As' oka, Rohini, Triphala, DJidtaki flowers, LodJira and Sarjarasa, taken in equal parts and pounded into fine powders, should be strewn over the ulcer, i.e., the ulcer should be dusted with the same. 79.

Kshara- Karma (Potential cauterization): — The measure of applying alkali should be adopted for the

* Blood-lettinT should be resorted to in the event of any vitiated blood being found to have been involved in the case ; but in the event of a similar participation of any deranged Kapha, oils and lotions composed of the Vayu-dcstroying drugs should be made use of.

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purification of the sore of a long-standing ulcer which is of an indurated character with its margin raised higher (than the surrounding skin), and is marked by itching and a stubborn resistance to all purifying medicines. So. Agni- Karma (actual cauterization) :— An ulcer incidental to an act of lithotomic operation allowing the urine to dribble out through its fissure, or one marked by excessive bleeding, or in which the connecting ends have been completely severed, should be actually cauterised with fire. 8i .

Krishna- Karma : -The blackening of a white cicatrix, which is the result of a bad or defective granulation, should be made (after the complete healing up of the ulcer) in the following manner. Several Bhalld' taka seeds should be first soaked in the urine of a cow (and then dried in the sun, this process should be repeated for seven days consecutively), after which they should be kept (a week) immersed in a pitcher full of milk. After that the seeds should be cut into two and placed in an iron pitcher. Another pitcher should be buried in the ground with a thin and perforated lid placed over its mouth, and the pitcher containing the seeds should be placed upon it with its mouth downward (so that the mouths of the two pitchers might meet), and then the meeting place should be firmly joined (with clay). This being done a cow-dung fire should be lit around the upper pitcher. The oily matter (melted by the heat) and dribbling down from the Bhallataka seeds into the underground pitcher should be slowly and carefully collected. The hoofs of village animals (such as horses, etc.) and those which live in swamps (An upas — such as buffaloes, etc.) should be burnt and pounded together into extremely fine powder. The oil (of the Bhallataka seeds collected as above) should then bep. 33 i258 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. tChap. I.

mixed with this powder, and applied to the white cicatrix. Similarly, the oily essence of the piths of some kinds of wood, as well as of some kinds of fruit {Phala-snehd) prepared in the manner of the Bhalldtaka oil (and mixed with the powdered ashes of hoofs) should be used for the blackening of a cicatrix. 82-83.