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

The medicated clarified butter mentioned under the treatment of Plihodara (dropsy of the abdomen owing to the enlargement of spleen — Chapter XIII, Chikitsitasthâna) as well as the three others mentioned in that connection may be also used with advantage in the disease under discussion. The accompanying symptoms or complications such as hoarseness of voice, etc. should be remedied with appropriate medicines presented for those diseases in the S> 4 stras. The patient should be made to use regularly the milk, butter, urine, blood, meat and the (expressed liquid of the) dung of a goat as his bath or in any other way possible (e.g., in drinking) and to live in a goat-shed (in the company of goats) whereby he would be cured of his Phthisis in a month. A Phthisical patient should likewise be made to take Rasona (garlic) or Ndga-vald or Magadhikd or S'ild/atu with milk, in the prescribed manner (laid down in connection with the medical treatment of Mahd-vAtaVyadhi). 31-34*

Rules Of conduct S — He should not allow any grief, anger or jealousy to disturb the equilibrium of his mind, should lead a life of strict continence, deal in the discussion of sublime subjects and conform to the* injunctions of his medical advisers or physicians. He should pay respects to the gods, superiorsând BrAhmanas and listen to the discussions of the spiritual truths from the lips of Brdhmans. 35.

Thus ends the forty -first Chapter of the U tiara Tantra in the Sus'ruta Samhit* which deals with the (symptoms and) treatment of Phthisis.

CHAPTER XLII.

Now we shall discourse on the chapter which deals with the symptoms and) medical treatment of Gulma

(Gulma- Prat isheda). i.

Definition and number of Gulinas

The fundamental principles of the body, deranged and aggravated by their respective or specific exciting causes and factors tend to accumulate in the cavity of the abdomen (Koshtha) and help the formations of balllike tumours or Gulmas (internal tumours inculsive of those known as the phantom tumours) somewhere inside the body lying between the extreme confine of the regions of the heart and of the bladder (Vasti). The Gulma is of five kinds and found to be round or spheroid in shape and may be either fixed or mobile (lit. shifting) in their character and subject to variations in their mass and size. 2.

Localisation and nomenclature

They have five locations inside the abdominal cavity, viz. the two sides, the region of the heart, the bladder (Vasti) and the 'region of the umbilicus). The Gulmas are so named because their root or base cannot be exactly localised as well as their cause cannot be exactly ascertained owing to the fact of their having their origin in the aggravated condition of the local bodily Vdyu, or because of their being but a agglomeration of the deranged bodily Doshas in the affected locality and the shrub-like large converse outline of the surface (Gulma-shrub). Since a Gulma, like a bubble of water, is a self-contained agglomeration of the deranged bodily Doshas and freely moves about in the cavity of its growth, it is not marked by the advent of

Chap. Kill) UTTARA-T ANTRA. 247

any suppurative process in its mass or body. The Gulmas are the products of either the several or con* certed actions of the three Doshas, while in females a separate class of tumours (such as the ovarian or uterine tumours) intimately connected with the deranged or vitiated condition of the blood (catamenial fluid, etc) is also recognised. 3 — 5.

Primonitory Symptoms s— A sense of

lassitude, dulness of appetite, pain and rumbling in the intestines, suppression of stool, urine and flatus, incapacity to take food to the full, aversion to food, and an upward coursing of the internal Vdyu are the indications which may be set down as the premonitory symptoms of Gulma. 6.

Specific Symptoms Pain (Sula) in the region of the heart and the belly (Kukshi), dryness of the throat and of the mouth, suppression of Vdyu (flatus), irregularity of digestion and all other symptoms which specifically indicate the deranged condition of the bodily Vdyu are the characteristics of the Vâaja~Gtalma. Fever, perspiration, defective digestion, burning sensation, thirst, redness of the body (Anga-rdga), bitter taste in the mouth and all other specific symptoms of the deranged Pitta mark the Pittaja type of the disease. A sensation of wetness all over the body, an aversion to food, lassitude, vomiting, water-brash, sweet taste in the mouth and all other specific indications of the deranged Kapha are exhibited in the Kaphaja type of the disease. The Tri-doshaja type exhibits the symptoms specifically belonging to each of the preceding ones and should be regarded as incurable. 7 — 9.

Symptoms of Raktaja-Gulma s— The

symptoms of Raktaja-Gulma are mentioned below. The bodily Vdyu of a woman pewly delivered of a child as

248 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITX. [Chap. XLII.