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

VsCr^hi Kalpa :— A Tula measure of the powders of Varsihi-bulbs should be taken in an adequate dose (everyday) by mixing it with honey and stirring it with milk A meal of bjilei rice with clarified butter and milk should be taken after it had been digested and the patient should be advised to observe a regimen of diet and conduct (Pratishedha) as laid down before (in conncctio-n with the foregoing elixirs). By using it a man is enabled to witness a hundred summers and does not feel any fatigue after sexual excesses. A quantity of this powder should be mixed with milk and boiled (according to the rules of Kshirapdka). When sufficiently cooled, the milk should be churned and the clarified butter produced therefrom should be taken after the medicine had been digested. A

* Suffering from consumption and hcemoptysis. — D. R.

520 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XXN'II.

continuous use of the medicine for a month enables a man to live up to a good hundred years. 9.

A decoction should be made by boiling together the pith of the Vijaka^ (Pita Sdla) and the roots of the Agni-mantlia with which a Prastha measure of Mdshapulse should be duly cooked. When the Masha-pulse is sufficiently boiled, an Aksha measure of powdered Chitraka roots and the expressed juice of the Amalaka weighing a fourth part of the J/^^/z^-pulse should be added to it, and the whole compound should be removed (from the oven) at the close of the cooking. When cooled down this compound should be taken in adequate doses with honey and clarified butter after consecrating it a thousand times with appropriate Mantras. Persons seeking longevity and a stronger or improved range of vision should take this and they should be advised to take iheir meals without any salt. The meal, after the digestion of the medicine, should consist of bailed rice and a copious quantity of clarified butter and should be taken with unsalted Mudga, and Amalaka soup or with milk alone. A continuous use of either of these two medicines for three consecutive months would make a man's eye-sight as keen and foresighted as that of a Suparnat and enable him to witness a hundred summers in the full vigour of health, strength and manhood.": 10.

* Dallana recommends one Pala weight of Vijaka Sara and Agnimanlha to be boiled in an Adhaka measure of water which should be reduced to one half for the preparation of the decoction.

t Suparna is the king of birds and is said to be the most keensighted.

X Dallana says that some commentators do not read this, since they do not consider it to be a part of the original text. Jejjata also has not read this.

Chap. XXVII.] CHTKTTSA STHAXAM. 521

Memorable Verse :— The use of Sana (seeds)

boiled with milk and taken also with milk guards against the loss of flesh and prevents the body from suffering any decay. 1 1.

Thus ends the Twenty-seventh Chapter of the Chikiisita Sihanam in the Sus'ruta Samhita which deals with eh'xirs and rejuvenalors,

p. 66

CHAPTER XXYIIL

Now we shall discourse on the elixirs and remedial agents which tend to improve the memory and invigcrate the mental faculties as well as to increase the duration of human life (lYIedhayushkamiyam Rasayanam). i.

^vctavalguja-Rasayana :--The fruit (seeds) of the white Avalguja should be dried in the sun and theii reduced to a fine powder. This powder should be stirred with (an adequate quantity of) treacle and placed in an earthen pitcher which previously contained clarified butter (Sncha-kumbha). The pitcher should then be kept buried in a heap of paddy for seven days after which it should be taken out and its contents given in convenient doses every mornii^g before sunrise to a person, seeking improvement cf memory and longevity, after his system has been thoroughl)' cleansed ;Avith proper emetics and purgatives, etc.). Hot water should then be drunk. After taking the medicine, th: patient should enter his room in accordance with the rules laid down in connection with the Bhall^taka-Vidhdna. After the digestion of the medicine, the patient should be advised to take a cold bith and to partake in the evening of a meal of well-cooked S'dli or Shashtika rice with ^boiled) milk sweetened with sugar. This medicine continuously taken in this manner for six months would make the life of its user sinless, and extend it in the full glow of health and vigour and in the sound enjoyment of a vigorous memory and of all his intellectual faculties to a hundred green summers. 2.