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

Chap. XXVIIL] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 523

In cases of Kushtha, jaundice and abdominal dropsy (Udara\ the medicine should be prepared by stirring (the powdered seeds of) the Krishnd* (black Avalguja) with the urine of a cow (instead of with treacle) and given to the patient in doses of half a Pala weight every morning after the sun has ceased to look red.-f* In the afternoon the patient should be made to partake of a meal of boiled rice with clarified butter and unsalted A'malaka soup. A continuous use of this medicine in the aforesaid manner for a month would improve the memory and intellectual faculties of the user, and enable him to witness a hundred summers on earth in the full enjoyment of sound health. Chitraka rcots^ and Rajani ''turmeric) may be used in the same manner and for similar purposes with this distinction that the dose of the Chitraka-voot preparation should be two Pala measures (instead of half a Pala as laid down in regard to the foregoing compounds). The rest are identical with the above. 3.

IVIanduka-parni Rasayana: The Doshas

of the system of a person should be first thoroughly cleansed (with the help of proper emetics and purgatives, etc.), and he should be advised to undergo the prescribed diet of v^eya, Yavagu, etc , in their proper order) He should be further advised to enter his chamber in the prescribed manner (and to remain there during the entire

• Jejjala explains "Krishna" to mean Pippali. But both Gayi and Dallana explain it to mean the black Avalguja. It should be mentioned, here, thai Dallana recommends the roots of black Avalguja, but we think that its seeds should be taken. — Ed.

t Before sunrise. — D. R.

X The roots of the Chitraka with black flowers should be taken.— Dallana.

524 Tllli SUSIIRUTA SAMIIITA. [Chap. XXVIII.

course of the treatmcnti. An adequate dose cf the expressed juice of the Manduka-parni should then be stirred with milk, and should be taken after consecrating it by reciting the proper Mantras a thousand times. A potion of milk may then be taken immediately after. After it had been fully digested a meal of cooked barley grains with milk should then be partaken of; or (the expressed juice of Manduka-parni) with an admixture of sesamum seeds followed by a potion of milk. A meal of boiled rico with milk and clarified butter should then be taken after the digestion of the medicine and should be continued for three months in succession. This would ensure a long life of a hundred years in the full vn'gour of retentive memory and intellectual faculties, and would impart a god-like effulgence to the complexion. As an alter native, the patient should fast three days and take only the expressed juice of Manduka-parni for these three days. After this period he should live on milk and clarified butter only, or he should be made to take a Vilva measure (of the paste of Manduka-parni) stirred with milk for ten consecutive days which would ensure a life of a hundred years in the full enjoyment of his intellectual faculties. 4.

Brahmi Rasayana : —Having had the Doshas of the system duly cleansed (with proper emetics and purgatives, etc.\ a person (wishing to undergo a treatment of Rasayana^ should be advised to take the prescribed diet of (Peya. Yav^gu, etc., in their proper order*, and should be made to enter his room (Agara). He should then take the expressed juice of the Brahmi in an adequate dose after consecrating the juice a thousand times with the proper Mantras. After the medicine had been fully digested he should be advised

Chap. XXVIII.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. $2^

to take in the evening Yavagu (gruel) without any salt ; or with boiled milk in the event of his being habituated to its use, A continuous use of the medicine for a week improves the memory, leads to the expansion of the intellectual faculties and imparts a celestical glow to the complexion. In the second week of its course it revives old and forgotten memories in the user and adds to his proficiency in the writing out of any book to be written. In the third week it enables a man to reproduce from memory as many as one hundred words if twice heard or read at a single sitting". In the same manner a (further) use of the drug for twenty-one days removes all inauspicious features whether of the body or of the mind, the goddess of learning appears in an embodied form to the (mind of the) user, and all kinds of knowledge come rushing into his memory. A single hearing is enough to make him reproduce {verdattm from memory a discourse however lengthy, and he is enabled to live for five hundred years. 5.

Brahmi Ghrita :— Two Prastha measures of the expressed juice of th : Brahmi and one Prastha measure of clarified butter should be cooked with one Kudava measure of Vida?iga seeds, two Pala weight of each of Vacha and Trivrit, and twelve (in number) of each of Haritaki, Amalaka and VibJiitaka well pounded and mixed together. When properly cooked, the (prepared) Ghrita should be carefully preserved in a covered pitcher. It should then be taken in adequate doses as in the preceding manner. The patient should be advised to take meals of boiled rice, clarified butter and milk, after the medicine had been fully digested. Under its use worms and vermin would be expelled (from their unsuspected seats in the organism) and creep out of the upper, lower and lateral parts of the body.