An English Translation of the Sushruta Samhita (Bhishagratna ed.)

Chap. XIII.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 387

black and glossy, is heavy and devoid of sandy particles,
as well as what smells like the urine of a cow, should
be considered as the best. This best kind of Sildjatu
should be infused with the decoction of the drugs of
the ^dla-sdrddi group after the manner of Bhavana
saturation (for ten, twenty or thirty days). Then after
cleansing the body (by the application of emetics and
purgatives), it should be taken every morning (by the
patient in adequate doses), well pasted with Sdrodaka.*
He should further be made to take a meal of boiled
rice mixed with the soup of the flesh of animals of
the Jangala group after the medicine had been fully
digested. 3-4.

A Tuld measure of this hill-begotten panacea
(Sildjatu), when gradually taken, (in adequade doses)
tends to improve the strength and complexion of
the body, cures an attack of Madhu-Meha and
enables the user to witness a hundred summers on
earth, free from disease and decay. Each Tula
weight of this medicine, taken successively, adds a
century to the duration of human life, while ten Tuld
measures extend it to a thousand years. The regimen
of diet and conduct during the period of its use should
be identical with that described in connection with the
use of the Bhallaitaka compounds. Cases of Meha, Kush-
tha, epilepsy (Apasmara), insanity, elephantiasis, poison-
begotten distempers, phthisis, aedema, haemorrhoids,
Gulma (internal tumours), jaundice and chronic fever,
prove readily amenable to the curative efficacy of
Silajatu. Indeed there is no such bodily distemper

* It is evident from the reading of Chakradatta that "S^rodaka" means a decoction of the drugs of the ^sCla-S££rs£di group. But Dallana explains it as "Pancha-sarodaka" which is quite unintelligible. In practice, also, Chakradatta is followed.— Ed,

3^8 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. CChap. XlII.

which does not yield to its highly curative virtues. It
acts as a potent solvent in cases of long-standing Sarkari
(gravel) in the bladder as well as of stone. Sildjatu
should be treated (soaked and dried) with appropriate
medicinal drugs by stirring it up with the same. 5.

The MakShika Kalpa:— The metal known as Ms^kshika (iron-pyrites), which grows in the river Tapi and which copes with the divine ambrosia in its highly therapeutic properties, may be also used in the same way and under the same sort of preparation. The metal is divided into two classes according to its colour, as Svarna-Makshika (gold-coloured) and Rajata-Makshika (silver-coloured). Of these the first has a sweet taste while the second is acid. Both of them prove efficacious in cases of decrepitude, Kushtha, Meha, jaundice and consumption. A person using SiMjatu and Mdkshika (in the manner prescribed above) should refrain from taking pigeon-flesh and Kulattha pulse (during his life-time). 6.

The following measures should be adopted by an
experienced physician in the case of a patient suffering
from (Meha and) Kushtha and who has a firm faith in
medicines and is desirous of existence (life) and in
whose case the curative efficacy of Pancha-karma* has
been baffled. 7.

The Tu varaka Kal pa : —The Tuvaraka plants
which grow on the shores of the Western Sea
(Arabian Sea) are constantly tossed about by the winds
raised by the waves of the sea. The pith or marrow
of the seeds (lit.— fruits) of these plants should be care-

* Some take the term in its ordinary sense to mean the five measures of emetics, purgatives, etc. ; but Dallana would explain it as the measures adopted in the treatment of the Kushtha affecting the bcJne which is the fifth Dhatu in the system.

Chap. Xni.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 389

fully collected in the rainy season while they ripen and should be subsequenly dried and pounded. The oil should be either pressed out of these seeds in a mill in the manner of preparing sesamum oil, or squeezed out (of a press bag) like that used in the case of Kusumhha flowers. The oil should be boiled over a fire so as to have its inherent watery particles completely evaporated. Then it should be taken down from the fire and kept in a pitcher and then buried for a fortnight in a heap of well dried cowdung. The patient (in the meantime) should be duly anointed, fomented and treated with cleansing remedies \^i.e., emetics and purgatives).* He should wait a fortnight (after the administration of the aforesaid measures) and wait for a period of four mealsf (i.e., two days) more ; and on the next morning he should drink a portion of the oil in ade- quate doses (two Tolds) under the auspices of favourable astral combinations in the lighted fortnight of the month. He should be made to recite, at the time of his taking the fourth dose, a Mantra which runs as follows : — "Cleansest and purifiest, O Thou potent essence of seed- marrow, all the essential principles of (my) vital organism. The deity who knows no decay and suffers no change and who weilds a discus, a mace and a conch-shell in his arms, commands thee on that behalf."

The Doshas in both the upper and the lower parts of a patient's body are cleansed with the help of this oil

* The Kapha should be first reduced with emetics ; and after a fortnight, the Pitta with purgatives. A fortnight after the use of purgatives, a potion of the Tuvarka oil should be administered inasmuch as it is a Sams'odhaka (cleansing) remedy

t On the sixteenth day after the administration of the cleansing mea- sures, as well as on the morning of the seventeenth day, the patient should take his meals as usual. On the evening of the seventeenth day no meal should be taken. On the following morning the oil should be taken.

390 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XIII.

(which should be given to the patient in the morning) ;
while a cold gruel, unseasoned* with salt and not mixed
with any emollient substance (oil or clarified butter)
should be given to him in the afternoon. The use of this
oil should be repeated in the same manner for five days
in succession, and the patient should avoid anger,
etc., and live on Mudga soup (Yusha) and boiled rice for
a fortnight. A five days' use of this oil would ensure
the cure of every types of Kushtha (and Madhu-
meha). 8-9.

The foregoing (Tuvaraka) oil should be boiled and prepared with a decoction of Khadira weighing three times the quantity of the oil and taken internally with patience for a month for the same purpose. The patient should anoint his body with the same and then take his meals in the prescribed form. A Kushtha-patient (as well as a Meha-patient) suffering from hoarseness, red- eyes and with worm-eaten and emaciated limbs should be speedily treated with this oil as an anointment and a drink. Regular potions of the above medicinal (Tuva- raka) oil taken with honey, clarified butter and a decoction of Khadira and a diet consisting of the soups of bird's flesh (during its course) would enable the user to live for a period of two hundred years. A use of this oil as errhines (Nasya) for a period of fifty consecutive days would enable the user to witness three hundred years on earth, in the full enjoyment of bodily vigour and a youthful glow of complexion, as well as with a very powerful retentive memory.

A regular use (in an adequate dose) of the pith
of Tuvaraka cleanses the system of the patient
and is a most potent remedy in cases of Kushtha
and Meha. 10.

* A little quantily of sail and of oil or clarified butter may be given.

Chap. XIII.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 39I

The pith (inner pulp of the seeds^ of the Tuvaraka
burnt in a closed vessel (Antar-dhuma) should be mixed
with Saindhava-salt, Anjano^ and Tuvaraka oil. This
prepared compound, used as a coUyrium, is efficacious in
cases of eye-diseases, such as night-blindness, Arman,
Nili, Kdcha-roga (dimness of sight) and Timira. 11.

Thus ends the thirteenth Chapter of the Chikitsita Sthanam in the Sus'ruta Samhita which deals with the treatment of Madhu-Meha.

* Dallana recommends the three thing?, viz., the pith of the Tuvaraka, the Saindhava-salt and the Rasanjana to be mixed and burnt together in a closed vessel.

CHAPTEE XIV.

Now we shall discourse on the medical treatment of dropsy with an abnormal condition of the abdomen

(Udara). i.

Of the eight different types of Udara, described be- fore, those severally known as the Vaddha-guda and the Parisrdvi should be understood as incurable, the rest being equally hard to cure. Hence the medical treatment of all cases of Udara (abdominal dropsy) should be resorted to without holding out any positive hope of recovery. The first four types of the disease (as metioned in the list of enumeration), may prove amenable to medicine ; but the rest would require Surgical treatment. All the types of the disease, however, would, with the progress of time, require a surgical operation, or (attaining an incurable stage) they may have to be abondned. 2.

Diet of articles forbidden :— A patient,

afflicted with an attack of Udara, should forego the use
of heavy (indigestible), or emollient fare, of all kinds
of meats and of those that produce a state of extreme
dryness in the system, or produce a slimy secretion from
the channels (of the Doshas and the vital principles) of
the body, or give rise to a sort of digestionary acid
reaction (acid transformation in the stomach) and re-
frain from bathing and using effusions. Meals consisting
of well cooked S'dli rice, barley, wheat, or Nivdra seeds
should be the daily diet of such a patient. 3.

Treatment of the Vsitaja type :-ln a

case of Vdtaja Udara, the body of the patient should be
anointed with clarified butter cooked with the drugs of
t;he Viddri'gandhddi group, while the one cooked with

Chap. XIV.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 393

Tilvaka should be used as purgatives (Anuloma), A
compound made of a copious quantity of oil of
Chitrd seeds, mixed with a decoction of the drugs of the
Viddri-gandhddi group, should be used as Asthapana
and Anuvasana measures. The Sailvana Upansiha
(poultice) should be applied to the abdomen. Milk
cooked with the drugs of the Viddri-gandhddi group,
or the soup of the flesh of Jdngala animals should be
given to the patient with his meal and the affected
region should be frequently fomented. 4.

Treatment of the Pittaja Type :— In

a case of Pittaja Udara, the patient should be anointed
with clarified butter cooked with the drugs of the
Madhura (Kdkoly^di) group. Similarly, clarified butter
cooked with S'ydmd, Jriphald and Trivrit should be
used as purgatives and the decoction of the drugs of the
Nyagrodhddi group, mixed with a copious quantity of
sugar, honey and clarified butter, should be used as
Anuvasana and A'sthdpana measures. The abdomen
should be poulticed with Payasa (porridge prepared with
rice and milk) and the diet should consist of boiled rice
and milk, cooked with the drugs of the Viddri-gandhddi
group. 5.

Treatment of the'Kaphaja Type :— In

a case of Kaphaja Udara, the patient should be anointed
with clarified butter, cooked with the decoction of the
drugs of the Pippalyddi group. Likewise, clarified
butter, cooked with the milky juice of Snuhi plants,
should be used as purgatives ; and the decoction of the
drugs of the Mushkakddi group, with a copious quantity
of Trikatu^ cow's urine, Kshdra (Yava-kshara) and oil,
should be applied as Anuvasana and Asthapana
measures. A poultice (Upandha) prepared of S'ana
seeds, Atasi seeds, DhdUiki (flower), mustard, Mulaka

394 THE SySHRUTA SAMHITA. [Cbap. XIV.

seeds and Kinva should be applied (hot) to the ab-
domen. The diet should consist of (boiled rice well-
mixed with) Kulattha soup (Yusha), profusely seasoned
with powdered Trikatu, or of Payasa ; and the abdomen
should be frequently fomented. 6.

Treatment of Dushyodara :— in a case

of Dushyodara, the patient should be treated without giving any hope of a positive cure. Purgatives with clarified butter, cooked with the expressed juice of the Saptald and S'amkhini, should be first administered (continuously) for a fortnight or even a month ; or clari- fied butter, cooked with the milky juice of the Mahd- vriksha^ and with wine and cow's urine, should be simi- larly used as a purgative. A Kalka made up of the roots of the As'vanidraka, Gunjd and Kdkddani mixed with wine (Sura), should be given after the bowels had begun to move freely. As an alternative, a Krishna- Sarpa (black lance-hooded cobra) should be enraged to bite a sugarcane and this piece of sugarcane should be given to the patient to chew (and suck) ; or the fruits of creepers (Valli-phala) should be used (in the preceding manner) ; or poisonous* roots and bulbs should be prescribed, whereby the disease may be cured or may take a different turn. 7.

IVIemorable Verse:— A case of abdominal

dropsy (Udara) of whatsoever type should be presumed
to have its origin in an' aggravation of the bodily
Vdyu and an accumulation of faecal matter in the
bowels ; hence frequent use of Anulomana (purgatives,
etc.) is recommended in this disease. 8,