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

Chap. XXX.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 543

from roots (and has no bulb) and is furnished with five red-coloured leaflets as soft as a piece of linen and which always point towards the sun (change their direction with the progress of that luminary in heavens) An Oshadhi plant of the Brahma-Suvarchala' species, is gold-coloured, abounds in milky juice, resembles a lotus plant in appearance, grows by the side of water {i.e., in marshy lands) and spreads in all directions. An Oshadhi plant of the Mahfii-S'ravani speciesbears flowers like a Nilotpala and collyrium coloured fruit. The stem of the Kshupa (bushy) plant measures an Aratni and the leaf two fingers in length. It is gold-coloured and abounds in milky juice. An Oshadhi plant of the S'ravani species, possesses all the preceding features, (of the Maha-s'rdvani) but is tinged with a yellow colour. The Oshadhi known as the Golomi and the Ajalomi are hairy and bulbous (in their origin). A Vegavati Oshadhi plant puts forth leaves from its roots ; its leaves are severed like those of a Hamsapddi creeper, and move about violently (even in the absence of any wind\ or it resembles a Samkha-pushpi creeper in all its features, looks like the cast-off skin of a snake and grows at the end of the rainy season {i.e., in autumn). 9.

Mode of culling the above drugs :—

The first seven of the all -healing Oshadi plants enumerated above should be culled by reciting the following Mantra : —"We appease thee with the holy energy and dignity of Mahendra, Rdma, Krishna and of the Brdhmanas and of cows. Exert your beneficial virtues for the good of mankind". The intelligent one should consecrate all these Oshadhis with this Mantra. The lazy, the impious, the ungrateful and the unbelieving invariably fail to see and secure the Soma plants, or the drugs possessed of similar virtues. The gods after havingp. 544 drunk the celestial ambrosia to their fill cast the residue to the Somas and kindred plants as well as to the moon, the lord of the Oshadhis. lo-A.

Their habitats : —The Brahma-suvanhald species (of the Oshadhis) is found to grow in and about the waters of the great river Indus and the lake Devasunda. The Adityaparnini species may b? had in those two regions at the end of winter, and Gonasi and Aj'agari at the beginning of the rains. The Karenu^thQ Kanyd, the Chhatrd, the Ati-chchhatrd, the Golomi, the Aj'a-lomi, and the Mahd-s'rdvani varieties of the Oshadhis are found (in spring) in the lake of KshudrakaManasa in Kashmir. The Krishna-sarpdkhyd and the Gonasi species also are found in that locality during the spring. The S'veta-kdpoti species is white coloured and is found to grow on the ant-hills which cover a space of three Yojanas on the other (viz_, the western) side of the river Kaus'iki and to the east of the Sanjayanti. The Oshadhi of the Vegavati species grows on the Malaya hills and on the Nala-setu. lO-B.

Any one of these Oshadhis should be taken after a fast under the auspices of the full-moon in the month of Kdrtika. The regimen of diet and conduct is the same as laid down in connection with Soma-Rasa'yana and the results have been already described to be the same, loC.

The common habitats of all the

Oshadhis :— The Soma as well all the other Oshadhi plants may be had on (the summits of) the Arvuda mountains whose cloud-rending summits are the favourite haunts of the gods and which abound in holy pools and fountains frequented by the gods, the Siddhas and the holy Rishis, and whose large hollow caves are reverberated with the thundering roars of

Chap. XXX.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 545

lion and which are moated on all sides by swift coursing rivers, whose waters are perpetually tossed by sportive elephants of the forests and whose brows are effulgent with the lustres of various brilliant metals imbedded in their hearts. lo.

These ambrosial plants (as well as other drugs) are to be sought in the rivers, the holy forests and hermitages, as wdl as in lakes and on hills, since this world is a bed of gems and is known to hold priceless treasures in all places ii.

Thus ends the Thirtieth Chapter of the Chikitsita Sthanam in the Sus'ruta Samhita which deals with the tonic remedies which have the power of removing the mental and physical dis'resses.

p. 69

CHAPTER XXXI.

Now we shall discourse on the medicinal uses (both internal and external) of the Snchas*, i.e., oleaginous substances (Snehaupayogika-Chikitsita). i.