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

anoint (the body) and the decoction of Soma-vnlka for bathing (Pari sheka). The same should be prescribed on the tenth day, and from thence the skin becomes firm. The eleventh and twelfth day should be passed in the same way. From the thirteenth till the sixteenth day (both the days inclusive) the body should be washed with the decoction of Somavalka. New teeth wellformed, symmetric^il, strong, hard and as clear as a diamond or crystal or ruby would appear on the seventeenth and eighteenth days. Gruels (Yavagu) prepared with old S'dli-rice and milk should form his diet till the twenty-fifth day. After that period well boiled S' AH rice should be taken in the morning and evening with milk. Fixed, glossy and coral coloured fingernails resembling the new rising sun in lusture and possessed of auspicious marks would be found to be growing after the lapse of that period and hair begin to grow, the skin would assume the soft hue of a blue lotus (Nilotpala), Atasi flower or of a ruby stone. After a month the hair should be shaved and a plaster composed of Us'ira, Chandana and black sesamum applied to the scalp, and the patient should take a milk-bath. This would lead to the growth of deep bee-black curls of hair in the course of a week. 7-B. Then the patient should be allowed to stir out from the inmost chamber only to re-enter it again after a stay of a Muhurta (forty-eight minutes) in the outer chamber. Thenceforth Valai taila (described before) should be used in anointing (Abhyanga) his body ; pasted barley in rubbing (Udvartana) ; tepid milk in washing (Parisheka) it ; and a decoction of Aja-karna in rubbing (Utsddana) the dirt of. Similarly well water (scented) with Vs'ira should be used for the purpose of bathing (Snana) ; Sandal pastes as unguents (Anulepana) and the expressed

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juice of the A'malaka should be invariably mixed with any kind of Yusha or supa (he may take\ Soup and black sesamum seeds boiled with milk and Yashtiinadhu should be used (in the preparation of the food). These rules of diet and conduct should be observed for ten consecutive days. 7 C.

The patient should stay in the second (outer) chamber for a second ten days. Then he should be made to come out and enter the third outmost) chamber (veranda) and to remain there for ten days with a quiet control over the mip.d and should be allowed to take a short exposure to the sun and wind during this period (of ten days). He should then be made to re enter again the inner compartment. 7 D.

The patient should not contemplate himself in a mirror during this time owing to his enhanced personal beauty and renounce all passions and anger for a further period of ten days. This rule holds good in respect of all kinds of Soma ; but there is this distinction that the Soma plants which are found to trail upon the ground or grow as small shrubs or in bushes should (themselves) be taken (instead of their expressed juice being drunk) and a dose of these would be four Mushtis* and a half. 7.

The expressed juice of the Ams'umdn '^Soma) should be pressed and taken in a golden pot and that of the Chandramdh (Soma) in a silver one. By its use a man is sure to develop the eight godly powers t and is thus able to imitate the god Is'dna. The expressed juice of a Soma plant belonging to any other species should be

• A Mushti measure is equal to eight Tolas.

t The eight godly powers, according to some authorities, are : —

^^dtPTT ??ii%fTT ^?nfH: ht^tw iTf%Tr rrar 1

536 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XXIX.

taken in a copper or an earthen pot or in a (pot prepared of a) piece of red-coloured and stretched skin. A member of any of the three twice-born castes but none of the S'udra class is privileged to drink this ambrosial elixir (Soma\ In the fourth month (of taking it) and under the auspices of a full moon a Soma-drinker should be allowed to stir out of his chamber with the auspiciousi rites done unto him and to resume the daily avocations of his life after he had worshipped the Brdhmanas in a holy place. 8.

IVIctrical Texts : -The use of the (expressed juice of a) Soma plant, the lord of all medicinal herbs is followed by rejuvenation of the system of its user and enables him to witness ten thousand summers on earth in the full enjoyment of a new (youthful) body. Such a person b2ars a charmed life against fire, water, poison and weapon and develops a muscular energy in his limbs which would be in no way inferior to the combined strength of a thousand excited (rutted) elephants, of the Bhadra class (which are the most ferocious and irresistible) in their sixtieth year. Equipped with such an excellent physique, he cai easily and without any opposition cross the Kshiroda (ocean) and go up to the abode of S'akra (the king of the gods) and roam to the extreme confines of Uttara (northern) Kuru or to any other place he likes. He is invested with a beauty of frame which belongs to Kandarpa (the god of love) and his complexion (lustre) vies with the beams of the full moon. The presence of such a beautiful man gladdens the hearts of all, and the entire Veda with all their allied branches* of knowledge

* The allied branches of the study of the Vedas are six in num They are :— fji'^ w^ ^T^T^ 1%^ ^^^ "^W. |

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