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

The vapours arising from poisoned food when served for use give rise to a pain in the cardiac region and produce headache and restlessness of the eyes. As an antidote, a preparation of Kushtha, Rdtnatha i^asafoetida), Nalada and honey mixed together should be used as an Anjana (along the eye-lids) and a medical compound of the same drugs should be snuffed into the nostrils. A plaster composed of S'irisha. turmeric, and sandal pasted together or simply a sandal paste should be used over the region of the heart in such cases rr.

A poison affecting the palms of the hands, produces a burning sensation in them and leads to the falling off of the fingernails. The remedy in such cases consists in applying a plaster of S'yamd*, Indra, Gopa so^na and Utpala pasted together. 12.

Poisoned food partaken of through ignorance or6/8 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA t<^hap. I. folly, produces a stone-like swelling and numbness of the tongue, a loss of the faculty of taste and a pricking burning pain in that organ attended with copious mucous salivation. The measures and remedies already laid down in connection with the treatment of cases of poisonous vapours as well as those to be hereinafter described in connection with the use of a poisoned tooth twig should be adopted. 13.

* Some explain "S'lramd" as "S'yim^-lata*; others explain it as "Priyangu". Dallana explains "Indra" to mean "Indra-Varuni", "Gopa" lo mean "Sariva" and "Soma" to mean "Guduchi". Others, however, take "Indra-Gopa" as one word and explain it to mean a kind of insect known by that name, and they take "Soma" to mean *'Soma-lata" in the ordinary sense of the word.

Food mixed with poison, when it reaches the Amas'aya (stomach), gives rise to epileptic fits, vomiting, dysenteric stools (Atisara), distention of the abdomen, a burning sensation, shivering and a derangement of the sense-organs. Under such circumstances an emetic consisting of Madana, Aldvu, Vimhi and Kos'dtaki pasted together and administered through the medium of milk, curd and Udasvit (Takra) or with rice-washings should be understood as the proper remedy. 14.

Food mixed with poison, if it reaches the Pakvds'aya (intestine?), gives rise to a burning sensation (in the body), epileptic fits, dysenteric stools (Atisdra), derangements of the organs of sense-perception, rumbling sounds in the abdoman and emaciation, and makes the complexion (of the sufferer) yellow. In such a case a purgative composed of clarified butter and Nilini fruits should be the first remedy. As an alternative, remedies to be described lateron (in the next chapter) in connection with the effects of DusM-Visha (slow chemical poison) should be adopted and used, saturated with milk-curd (Dadhi) or honey. 15,

All liquid substances such as wine, milk, water, etc., if anywise poisoned, are found to be marked with variegated stripes on their* surface and become coveredp. 679 over with froth and bubbles. Shadows are not reflected in such (poisoned) liquids and if they ever are, they look doubled, net-like (porous) thin and distorted. 16.

* The colours of the different poisoned articles vary in each case and this is elaborately described by Vagbhata in his Samhita,

Preparations of potherbs, soups, boiled rice and cooked meat are instantaneously decomposed, and become putrid, tasteless and omit little odour when in contact with poison. All kinds of food become tasteless, smellless and colourless when in contact with poison. Ripe fruit, under such conditions, is speedily decomposed and the unripe ones are found to get prematurely ripe. 17—18.

If the tooth-twig be anyway charged with poison its brush-like end is withered and shattered and if used gives rise to a swelling of the lips and the tongue and about the gums. In such a case, the swollen part should be first rubbed (with any leaf of rough fibre) and then gently rubbed with a plaster composed of Dhdtaki flowers Pathyd, stones of Jamhuline (black-berry) and honey pasted together. As an alternative, the pait should be gently rubbed and dusted over with a plaster of powdered Amkotha roots or Sapt a-chchada bark or seeds of S'irisha, pasted together with honey. The same remedies should be applied in the cases of affections due to the use of a poisoned tongue-cleanser or a poisoned gargle (Kavala). 12 — 20.

Poisoned articles for Abhyanga '^oils and unguent.s) look thick, slimy or discoloured and produce, when used, eruptions on the skin which suppurate and exude a characteristic secretion attended with pain, perspiration, fever and bursting of the flesh. The remedy in such a case consists in sprinkling cold water over the body of the patient and in applying a plaster of sandal wood, Tagara, Kushtha, Us'ira, Venu-patrikd {\Q3iVe?, of bamboo), Soma-valli, Atnritd, S'vetapaihna (lotus),

680 TIIK SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. I.