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

A Vasti should not be applied in the night since the Doshas of the system are (generally) aggravated at this time and since the Sneha (of the Vasti ,i owing to its potency is likely to give rise to a distention of the abdomen attended with fever and heaviness of the limbs. The mouths of the internal ducts of the body remain dilated and the Doshas remain in their proper places [i.e., are not generally agitated), and the digestive fire remains surcharged with the essence of the digestive food during the day time, hence the potency (Ojas) of a Sneha-vasti employed during the day time easily spreads through the ducts of the body. An Anuvasanavasti may be applied during (the early part of) the night in summer in a case marked by a preponderance of the deranged Pitta and a (consequent) weakness of the Kapha, and an extremely parched condition of the organism, as well as in cases of the affections of Vdyu (Vata-roga). Unfavourable symptoms such as a burning sensation in the body, etc., arise from the application of a Vasti in the day time during a preponderance of the Pitta, or in summer. The physician should, therefore, make such applications in the evening (Pradosha) in such instances. 14.

Proper time for the application of the

Sneha-vasti: — A Sneha-vasti should be employed during the day in spring and winter and in the evening during summer and the rainy season, with a view to ward off the dangers due to the misapplication in the internal use of a Sneha.* It may, however, be applied at any time during the day, or in the night in a case marked by a preponderance of the deranged bodily Vayu. 15.

In the serious stage of a disease an Anuvasanaenema should bs applied after the patient has partaken

"^ See Chapter XXXI . Chikitsiui-Slhanani.

p. 615

of a second meal, having already digested his previous one. The use of a Sneha-vasti is forbidden in an empty stomach as it might otherwise send the injected fluid higher up into the intestines owing to the emptiness and cleansed * (unencumbered) state of the stomach. An application of the Anuvasana-vasti should be made just after a meal, since the application of a Vasti made during the continuance of a partially digested or undigested meal in the stomach brings on fever. An Anuvasana enema should not, hovvever, be applied after the patient had taken his meal, richly saturated or cooked with a Sneha (oil or clarified butter), since the double introduction of the Sneha into the system through the medium of food and the Vasti brings on vertigo and epilepsy. The strength and complexion of the patient suffer much by the application of an Anuvasana-vasti after he has taken a dry (Ruksha) meal containing no Sneha. A patient should, therefore, be first fed with a diet saturated with a moderate quantity of an oleaginous substance before being treated with an Anuvasana-vasti. The patient before being treated with an Anuvasana vasti should be fed with Mudgasoup "j", cow's milk and meat-essence to a quarter part X less than the quantity he can ordinarily take 16.

* Gayadasa reads " ^-!^cs||c{ " in place of "^c^cj" and explains it to mean " owing to the potency of the Sneha in traversing through the minutest channels of the body."

t Dallana explains that the Mudga soup should be taken without being mixed with any Sneha. He further says that the patient should be given Mudga-soup, cow's milk and meat -essence in accordance with the aggravation of the deranged Kapha, Pitta and Vayu respectively.

X Dallana, on the authority of the older Commentators explains that the patient should not be fed to his fill but only to three-fourths, half and one-fourth of what he can ordinarily take according to his digestive capacity.

6l6 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XXXVII.

The mode of applying a SnehaVasti : — The body of the patient to be treated with an Anuv^sana vast! should be first anointed (with a Sneha) and gently fomented with hot water. Then he should be advised to take his meal in the prescribed way and made to take a short walk. Then having passed stools and urine, he should be treated with the Sneha-vasti. The mode of applying (the apparatus) is described under that of Niruha-vasti. He should be kept silently lying on his back as long as it would take to count a hundred words (VS.k). The potency (Virja)of the injected Sneha spreads through the entire organism in the event of one's lying with outstretched limbs in the above manner after the application of a Sneha-vasti. The patient should be gently struck* three times on each of the soles and the palms of his hands and on the buttocks-f*. The (patient with his) bedding should be thrice raised (and shaken with gentle jerks). After that he should be laid on a bed stretched out at full length and be advised to speak and exert himself as little as possible and conform to a strict regimen of diet and conduct. 1719.

A quantity of S'atdhvd and Saindhava should be mixed with the Sneha (to be used in the Vasti) and (the whole compound) applied lukewarm, inasmuch as the injected Sneha would thereby easily flow back (without producing any pain and burning sensation, etc.) and dribble