An English Translation of the Sushruta Samhita, Vol. III: Uttara-tantra — trans. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (1916)

He should lie down, when tired, in a cool chamber cooled with watery breeze, fitted with fountains and made dusky with the misty jets (vapours, of water. The floor of the chamber should be sprinkled over with scented water and flowers and the walls thickly coated with pastes of sandal wood, Teja-patra and Vdlaka . The chamber should be scented and decorated with Mdnsi , Tamdla , Musta ) Kumkuma , Padma-lzâvts, Jdtiflower, Utpala (blue-lotus), Priyangu , Kes'ara (Bakula), and Pundarika (red-lotus), Punndga , Nâga-Kesara , and Karavira and there in the room with garlands of flowers gently swinging in the sweet and lazy wind, the patient should lie down and listen to the sweet discourses about the Hemanta, the Vindhya, the Malaya or the Himdlaya mountains as well as about cold water, leaves of Kadali or of any other evergreen tree or plant and about the receptacles of full-blown blue or red lotus, as well as about topics of moon-rise, or any other subject which may be calculated to be agreeable to his mind under the circumstances. Young and beautiful damsels with their full and thick-set breasts and thighs anointed with sandal pastes, being clad in wet clothes (adhering to and advantageously showing the splendid contours of their limbs, etc.,) and with their necklaces ^and girdles loosely sliding down their bosoms . and diap. XLVII.] UTTARA-TANfRA* 2p0 slender waists should lie there with him in their firm embrace. These damsels should refresh him with their secret charms in that lonely chamber and by means of their bodily coolness would be able to alleviate the burning sensation of aggravated Pitta due to overdrinking. 37*

These are the measures in general which should be employed also in the cases of burning sensation due to the aggravated condition of blood, Pitta and thirst. Now hear me discourse on the measures which are to be specifically employed in the case of a burning sensation in the body under different circumstances. 38 A.

Symptoms of Raktaja D^ha The

blood coursing through the whole body when aggravated by any cause whatsoever becomes heated and imparts a copper colour to the skin, complexion and the eyeballs of the patient. It produces a bloody smell in the mouth and the body, and the patient feels a burning and contracting sensation as if he is surrounded by fire. 38.

Treatment S — Fasting should be prescribed at the outset in such a case and then the diet should be regulated conformably to the nature and intensity of the deranged bodily Dosha involved therein. If such burning sensation (in the body) be still unrelieved, the patient should be treated with a diet largely composed of the soup of Jdngala flesh and venesection in the extremeties should then be resorted to duly in conformity with the rules (prescribed in Chapter VIII — Jârira SthAna). Cases of burning sensation due to the aggravation of Pitta would produce the symptoms of Pittaja fever and remedies for Pittaja fever should in such cases be resorted to. 39.

Symptoms and treatment of Drfha

due to thirst S— The watery part is dried up ii^

300 THE StiSHRUTA SAMIIITX. [CUp. XLVtl.

the event of an unslaked thirst, thus generating a heat in the organism. This produces an extreme dryness of the lip, throat and palate and a burning sensation (D4ha) both in the skin and inside the organism of the patient followed by the coming out of the tongue and the trembling of the whole body. The medical treatment under such circumstances consists in alleviating the heat and adding to the watery component of the body. A large draught of cold water or cooled milk saturated with a copious quantity of sugar, or of the expressed juice of sugar-cane or of Mantha should be given to the patient to his satiety under the circumstances. 40-41.

An intense burning sensation in the body is caused by the presence of accumulated blood in the abdomen (Koshtha), the symptoms and therapeutics of which are those mentioned in the chapter on Sadyo-vrana (Chap. II — Chikitsita-Sthdna) A burning sensation of the body incidental to the waste (Kshaya) of any of its fundamental organic principles (Dhdtus) brings on thirst, fainting fits, feebleness of voice, suspension of physical and mental faculties or functions, weakness and lassitude in its train which should be remedied with measures laid down under Rakta-pitta. Emulsive and Vâyu-subduing remedies are likewise applicable therein. 42-43.