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

* The mythological origin of Sfosha (Phthisis) is : —

The Moon*god married 27 daughters of Daksha of whom he was attached to Rohini in the extreme. Thereupon the personated wrath ofhlis father-in-law, Daksha entered the Moon-god in the shape of Phthisis, whereby the body of the Moon-god began to emaciate. The Moon-god became penitent and the wrath of his father-in-law having been subdued at the intervention of the other gods, he managed to send down the personated Phthisis to earth to take possession of men indulging in any kind of excess and more particularly— sexual 6XC0B6- The moon-god was then medically treated and radically cured by tbe celestial physicians, the twin As'wins.

^ Cf. Scrofula which is now known as the ‘‘King’s disease.”

THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITX [Chap. XLI*

the eleven distressing symptoms which are manifested simultaneously with the ushering in of the disease, and being the only instance in the science of therapeutics in which the treatment does not vary according to the variation of symptoms. This disease, Sosha, is more properly said to originate in the simultaneous aggravation of all the three Doshas, and it is the symptoms of the most predominant Dosha only that are manifested. 3.

/Etiology and general symptoms

The process of any wasting disease in the system, repression of any physical urging or propulsion, over-fatiguing physical exercise and irregular diet are the causes which, by aggravating the bodily Doshas and propelling them all over the organism, give rise to the disease. The aggravated Doshas with Kapha as the most predominant factor having obstructed the lymphatic channels, or the semen of a person having been exhausted by sexual excesses consequently produce a loss of the other Doshas or the principal elements of the organism, thereby producing a cachectic condition of the body, and the following symptoms, viz, aversion to food, fever/ asthma, cough, emission of blood, loss of voice, numbering six in all are found in cases of Rija-yakshm&. 4 — 6.

Specific Symptoms:— The symptoms which mark the action of the deranged bodily Vsfyu in the disease are loss of voice (hoarseness), aching pain (in the chest), contraction of the sides and stoop at the shoulders (Amsa), while those which are exhibited through the action of the deranged Pitta are fever, burning sensation, Atisira and expectoration of blood, and the features which indicate the action of the deranged Kapha in the disease are a sense of fullness in the head, aversion to food, cough and a sense of the

Chap. XLI*} UTTARA-TANTRA. 239

presence of a lump or plug in the throat (as if something is rising up). 7'

Prognosis > — A physician having an eye to his professional reputation or good name should not take in hand the treatment of a case of Sosha (Phthisis) whether marked by all the preceding eleven kinds of symptoms or attended with six of them viz. cough, Atisâra, pain at the sides, loss of voice, aversion to food and fever, or accompanied by only three symptoms, viz. fever, cough and blood-spitting. 8.

Other causes of £osha and their

Symptoms : — Sexual excess, grief, old age, overfatiguing physical exercise, toils of journey, fasting, ulcers and ulceration of the U rah (lungs) arc included by certain authorities within the exciting factors of this disease, Sosha. A case of £>osha due to sexual excess is attended with all the symptoms due to loss of semen and is marked by palour or yellowness of the complexion, the vital organic principles beginning with semen being wasted up in succession in their inverse order of enumeration. Constant brooding over the departed person, looseness of the limbs and all the symptoms of sexual excess other than the actual discharge of semen mark a case due to grief. A general cachectic condition of the body accompanied by imbecility of the mind, diminution of bodily strength, impaired functions of the sense-organs, laboured or difficult breathing (D. R. shivering of the limbs), aversion to food, a gong-like voice, expectorations markecf by the absence of mucus (A. R. heaviness of the limbs), a general apathy to the concerns of life and (constant mucus) secretions from the ears, nose, eyes and mouth are the symptoms which indicate the origin of the disease iin the natural and spontaneous waste of an extreme old age. 9-12.

240 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XLL

A case due to the toils of journey or travel develops such symptoms as looseness of the limbs, flabbiness of the muscles, scorched or burntness of complexion, a haggard and cadaverous look, a gone-feeling in the limbs, the absence of natural gloss of the body and dryness of the mouth, throat and of the Kloma. These symptoms in addition to those of the ulcerated lungs (Urah-Kshata) without actual ulceration, characterise the type due to over-fatiguing physical exercise. 13-14