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

contented, vigorous and with little sleep. He speaks in good and pure Sanskrit, betrays a strong and decided liking for flowers and perfumes, grants boons (after the fashion of a divine being) to all and is devoted to Br£hmanas, and stares with a fixed gaze (in his eyes). A person labouring under the malignant influence of an Asura Graha (devil) perspires copiously, speaks ill of the gods, Brihmanas and preceptors, knits his brow with arched eyes, has no fear, becomes satisfied with all kinds of food or drink and exhibits vicious propensities. A person under the influence of a Gandharva Graha moves about happily along lovely river-banks, or in lovely forest. Always cleanly in body and acts, he shows fondness for songs, flowers and sweet scents laughs merrily and croons sweet songs and dances. Copper-coloured eyes, partiality for wearing thin red garments, vigour and fortitude, repeated offers for granting boons or gifts to persons, taciternity, restiveness (D. R.— fastness in walking) and gravity of the mind are the symptoms which are manifested in a person coming under the influence of a Yaksha Graha. 6-5.

A person similarly affected by a Pitri Graha becomes calm and quiet as well as reverent towards the manes. He offers oblations on Kus'a - grass and libations of water for their satisfaction, with the upper garment worn in a fashion so as to fall under his left arm and exhibits a liking for cooked meat as well as sesamum, treacle and Pâyasa. A person struck by the malignant influence of a Bhujanga Graha, sometimes moves on his breast along the ground like a serpent, always licks the corners of his lips with the tip of his tongue, becomes drowsy (D. R. irritable) and shows a marked predilection for treacle, honey, milk and Piyasa. io-ii.

Chap. LX.]

UTTARA-TANTRA.

37 S

A fondness for flesh, blood and various kinds of ardent spirit, blank shamelessness, extreme cruelty, courageousness, irritability, extraordinary strength, stirring out in the night and an entire disregard of cleanliness are the traits which mark a person attacked by a Rakskasa Graha. Haughtiness, emaciation of the Jframe, roughness of behaviour, garrulousness, fetid smell from the body, extreme uncleanliness and restiveness, voracious eating, fondness for cold water and lonely places, stirring abroad in the night (D. R. fondness for walking about the out-skirts of forest) and roaming about weeping and engaged in vicious pursuits (D. R. anxious looks) arc the features which show that a person has been possessed by a Pisafcha Graha. 12 -13.

Prognosis : —If a person possessed by a Graha, has swollen eyes, quick pace, foam at the mouth which he licks himself, drowsiness, staggering gait which sometimes compels him to fall down on the ground or if he is possessed by a Graha after his fall from a hill, an elephant, a tree or such other high place, or if he be old* he should be regarded as incurable. 14.

Times Of possession : —A Deva Graha strikes i. e . possesses a man at full moon ; an Asura Graha at the meeting of day and night i. e. in the morning and evening twilights ; a Gandharva generally on the eighth and a Yaksha on the first day of the fortnights. A Pitri Graha possesses a man on the new moon day ; and a Sarpa Graha (serpentdevil) enters on the fifth day of the new or full moon. A Râkshasa Graha possesses a man at night and a incurable) when it has continued for thirteen years*

* In place of “wTHfr sj*:” MsUhava reads u (it is also

376 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITX. [Chap. LX.

Pisdcha Graha on the fourteenth day of the fortnights. A Graha imperceptibly enters into the body of the patient in the same way as an image imperceptibly enters into (the surface of) a mirror, as heat or cold penetrates into the body of an organic being and as the rays of the sun are collected in the crystal lens known as the Surja-kdnta gem and as soul enters the body unseen. 15-16.

Austere penances and vows, self-control, truthfulness, charities and religious practices as well as the eight qualities* are either wholly or partially present in the Grahas according to the degree of their respective power. These spiritual bodies never come in contact with, nor do they themselves strike human beings. Those who hold contrary opinion, must be ignorant of the mysteries of demonology. It is the thousands and hundreds of thousands and hundreds of millions of the followers of the Grahas, who are fierce-looking and fond of flesh and blood, and who stir abroad in the night and possess the men on earth. 17.

Of these malignant spirits (Grahas) those who are associated with the gods should be regarded as of celestial essence in virtue of their partaking of a tinge of divine virtues. Those who are known as Deva Grahas and are cleanly should be worshipped and homaged and prayed like the other gods of our Pantheon. The Grahas should be credited with those powers, virtues and characteristics which are the attributes of