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

UTTAR A-TANTRAM.

p. 33

which would invigorate the eye-sight and impart a clearness of vision. Flowers of Mesha-S'ringi , S'irisha , Dhava and of Mdlati together with pearl and Vaidurya (ruby) should be pounded and made into a paste with the addition of the milk of a she-goat. The compound thus prepared should be kept in a copper vessel for a week and then made into Vartis (sticks) of convenient lengths and applied to the eyes in the manner of an Anjana. A Varti (stick) should be similarly prepared with Srotonjana , coral, Samudra-phena , Manah-s* ild and Markka and used similarly as an Anjana (eye-salve). It imparts steadiness of vision. The many other Anjanas to be described in the next Chapter (KriyA-kalpa) may also be beneficially applied for the purpose. 47-48.

Thus ends the seventeenth chaptei in the Uttara-Tantra of the SusTutavSamhita which treats of the curative measures of the diseases of the Drishti (pupil).

CHAPTER XVIII.

Now we shall discourse on the Chapter which treats of the preparations and uses of the medicinal measures (external applications) to be adopted or employed in treating ocular affections in general (KriygCkalpa). i.

Here follows a general exposition of the instructions which the sainted lord of Benares, the holy Dhanvantari of profound intellect imparted to his disciple the son of Vis'vimitra (Susruta) regarding the different medicinal measures (Kriy£) such as Tarpana (soothing), Seka (sprinkling), A'schyotana (eye-drops), Puta-ptfkas Anjanas (eye-salves), etc., mentioned before in different places to be employed in diseases of the eye. 2-3.

The Tarpana Measure The measure known as Tarpana should be employed in respect of an affected eye either in the fore-noon or in the after-noon under the auspices of propitious astral combinations, after having purged the head and bowels of the patient and subsequent to the digestion of any food previously taken. The patient should be laid on his back in a chamber not exposed to the rays of the sun, and the gust of the wind, and where the atmosphere is not charged with minute particles of floating dust. The region of his eye (i. e. eye-lids) should be thickly coated with powdered MAsha pulse, pasted (with water) in the form of a circular wall which should be even, hard and compact. Then a quantity of the transparent upper layer of clarified butter should be stirred with the admixture of a quantity of lukewarm water and poured (Purana) into the cavities of the eye up to the eye-lashes and retained therein for as

Chap. XV III. ] UTTARA-TANTRAM. 85

long a period as one would take to count five hundred, six hundred, eight hundred, and ten hundred syllabless respectively in cases of healthy persons and persons with Kapha-origined, Pitta-origined and Viyu-origined diseases of the eye. According to certain authorities, the periods of such retention (of clarified butter) should vary with the seat of the affection (in the eye-ball). The clarified butter mentioned above should, according to them, be retained in the cavities of the eye for as long a period as one would take to utter three hundred, five hundred, seven hundred, one thousand, or eight hundred syllables respectively in cases of the diseases confined to the region of the Sandhi, Vartman, Sukla, Krishna, the eye in general (Sarva-gata) and the Drishti of the eye*. The clarified butter should then be secreted through the interior corner of the affected organ which should be purified by applying poultices of pasted barley. The Kapha, deranged by the use of this Sneha-Purana should be then conquered by making the patient inhale some kind of Kapha-subduing Dhuma (smoke). This rule f should be observed for one, three or five days in succession. 4.

Symptoms of satisfactory, excessive and defective Tarpana Sleep at the first call, unembarrassed waking, cessation of secretion, clearness of vision, agreeable sensation, perceptible amelioration of the disease, and lightness of the organ

* Accordtng to some, the ‘Parana’ should be retained in the eye for a period required to count one thousand syllables in câses of Sarva-gata and eighteen hundred words in cases of Drishti-gata eye-diseases.