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

* See Chapter XXXV, Para. 7, Chikitsita Slhana.

t Charaka's description of the pipes, (Chapter V, S'lokasthana) corresponds closely to that of Sus'ruta, except in the case of Priyogika pipe, where Charaka's reading is somewhat ambiguous. There it may be construed to mean thirty-six as well as forty-eight fingers. Jatu-karna, however, explicitly asserts forty-eight fingers to be the length of the pipe in question. Vrinda is in a fix, and solves the difficulties by explaining that in cases of an aggravation of Kapha and an abundance of Doshas, the Jenglh of the pipe should be thirty-six fingers.

p. 655

with a Sneha (clarified butter^ etc). It should then be attached to one end of the pipe (Nctra) and lighted. The patient should sit in an easy and comfortable posture, maintain a cheerful frame of mind and carefully inhale the medicinal fumes with his eyes cast down straii^ht towards the ground. 5.

IVIetrical Texts :— The fumes should be first inhaled through the mouth and then through the nostrils; whether inhaled through the mouth or the nostrils they should be invariab'y exhaled through the mouth. Inhaled through the mouth, they should not by any means be exhaled through the nostrils, as such a course (of exhaling through the nostrils) would act wrongly and impair the eye-sight. 6.

The fumes i^Dhumai should be specially inhaled through the nostrils, in connection with a Prayogika inhalation, while they may be inhaled both through the mouth and the nostrils in Snehana-Dhuma. They should be inhaled through the nostrils alone in an act of Vairechana inhalation and through the mouth only in the two remaining cases (Vamaniya and Kaphaghna . 7.

IVIode of inhalation :— in an act of Prayogika inhalation, the stick (Varti 1 should be dried in shady places protected from the wind. The stem of the S'ara weed inside the Varti should then be removed. The Varti should then be lighted with a live charcoal and fixed to the end of the pipe (^Netra) and then the patient should be asked to inhale the fumes. The same method should be followed in respect of Snehana and Vairechana ones. In the other cases of smoking (Ksksaghna and Va'mauiya) the fumigating drugs (Varti) should be placed over a bed of smokeless burning charcoal contained in an earthen saucer. Another saucer furnished with an aperture at its top or middle should be fitted over the former saucerp. 656 and the inhaling pipe should be fitted into this aperture, and the fumes should be inhaled (through the mouth). On the subsidence of the fumes the remaining portion of the stick should be cast into the fire and the patient should continue to inhale the fumes till the complete elimination of the aggravated Doshas from his organism. This is the rule and means of inhalation (Dhuma-pdna). 8.

Prohibitive Cases : — Any kind of smoking (Dhuma-pana) is forbidden to a person afflicted with anger, fear, bereavement, fatigue, and in a heated state of the boJy and after fasting. It is also forbidden in cases of poisoning, haemorrhage (Rakta-pitta), alcoholism, swooning, burning sensation of the body, thirst, jaundice, dryness of the palate, vomiting, headdisease, eructation, Timira, urinary complaints (Prameha), abdominal enlargement with dropsy (Udara), inflation of the abdomen and Urddha vata, and in respect of infants, old and enfeebled persons, as well as of those treated with purgatives and Asthapana-vasti. It is also forbidden to enciente women, those suffering from insomnia or a parched condition of the body as well as to those suffering from any kind of cachexia or from Urah kshata. An act of inhaling (smoke) is also prohibited after taking a potion of honey, clarified butter, curd, and milk, fish, wine or gruel (Yavagu) as well as during the continuance of a small quantity of Kapha in the organism. 9.

lYIetrical Text :— Medicated fumes inhaled in an improper season {^uiz., in the above-mentioned prohibited cases) bring on vertigo, fainting fits, diseases of the head and serious injury to the eyes, ears, nose and the tongue. 10.

Time of Smoking :— The first three kindsof inhalations should be resorted to at the close of the

Chap. XL.] CHIRITSA STHANAM. 657