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

Diet S — The meat of any Jdngala animal and palatable cordials and victuals of various plates should be likewise taken with care in all cases. 18.

Thus ends the forty-ninth chapter of the U ttara-Tantra in the Sus'ruta Samhitd which deals with the (symptoms and) treatment of Vomiting.

* The practice is to take white Sandal in this case.

i V^gbhata’prescribes the decoction alone as a separate remedy.

CHAPTER L.

Now wc shall discourse on the chapter which deals with the (symptoms and) medical treatment of hiccough (Hicca-Pratishedha). i.

Causes S — Hiccough, cough and asthma are the result of using those articles of fare which are heavy, dry, or secreting (Abhishyandi) or which are followed by an acid reaction or which remain long in an undigested state (in the stomach) as well as of cold drinks, residence in cold places, exposure to cold or dust or smoke or fire or wind, over-fatiguing physical exercises, physical exertion, load-carrying, toils of journey, voluntary repression of (physical urgings), fasting (Apatarpana), accumulation of Ama-dosha (mucus in the intestines), blow or hurt, emaciation (weakness) due to sexual cxccssc, concomitant distress or agony of any existing or continuing physical ailment, irregular diet, eating before the digestion of a previous meal or of a wrong application of Samsamana remedies. 2.

: Derivation The Vdyu (wind) constantly belches out of the mouth with a report shaking, as it were, the spleen, the liver and the intestines. The physicians have bestowed the name HiccsC on the disease owing to fact .of its speedily extinguishing the vital spark in man (from Sanskrit root — Ilins to kill). 3.

Classification : — Hicc& is divided into five kinds which are styled Annajd, Yamald, Kshudra Gambling and Mahati, all of which are the effects of the derangement of the bodily V 4 yu acting in unison with the deranged Kapha. 4.

Premonitory Symptoms s — An astrigent

UTTARA-TANTRA.

Chap, tf]

3ti taste in the mouth, an aversion to all sorts of pursuits, heaviness about the throat and cardiac region and a rumbling sound in the abdomen (Jathara) arc the premonitory symptoms which usher in a fit of hiccough. 5.

Symptoms S — The bodily Vâyu being suddenly deranged by taking too much food and drink, is pushed upward and belched out in gusts which are known as. Annajd Hicctf. The hiccough which occurs in double strokes and at long intervals shaking the head and the neck is called Yamald. The hic-cough which rises with a mild force and at long intervals from the root* of the clavicles (Jatru) is called Kshudrikst. The violent hiccough which rises from the region of the umbilicus accompaincd by a deep sound and interfering with free respiration, causing dryness of the lips, throat, tongue and of the mouth and producing pain at the sides and complicated with many other distressing symptoms, is called Gambhiraf The hiccough which produces a feeling of crushing pain as it were, at the vulnerable parts (Marmans) and stretches out the body in full, shaking all the limbs and which occurs frequently and with a considerable force accompaincd by a report, and produces a severe thirst is called Mahai-Hiccat. 6 — 10 .

Prognosis : — A hiccough-patient whose body is stretched out in full during a fit, with his eyes turned upward and fixed in a gaze as well as tjie one suffering from weakness, frequent sneezing (D. R. — cough) or an aversion to food as well as those suffering from the last two cases of Hieca viz., Gambhird and Mahati should be given up as incurable. 11

* By the word “Mula” (r. e , root) of the Jatru (clavicles) Gayadas'a understands the regions of the heart, Klorna, throat, etc^Dallana.

[Chap. L.

p. 316

Treatment • — Practice of PrAnAyAma (control of breath-wind), tickling, frightening and producing confusion by pricking with needles may be effectively resorted to in a case of (simple) hiccough. Yashti-madhu mixed with honey, or Pippali mixed with sugar, or a Inkewarm compound of milk, clarified butter and the expressed juice of sugar-cane* should be employed after the manner of an Avapida-Nasya. Vomiting and purging may be induced in a patient not extremely weak. Red sandal-wood made into a paste with the breast-milk, or lukewarm clarified butter mixed with Saindhava salt, or powdered Saindhava dissolved in water is beneficial, if administered as a medicinal snuff. 12.