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

* Four seers of sesamun oil, thirty-two seers of the decoction of the Vala-roots, thirty-two seers of the decoction of Das'a-mula, thirty-two seers of the decoction of the drugs Yava, Kola and Kulattha taken together, thirty-two seers of milk and one seer of the paste compound (Kalka) should be taken in the preparation of the oil.

410 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Cihap. XV.

Eld^ Kdldnusdrivd, Mdnsi, S' alley a, Teja-patra, T agar a,
S'drivd^ Vachd^ S'atdvari, As'va-gandhd, S'dta-pushpd
and Punarnavd. After the completion' of its cooking
the oil should be kept carefully in a golden, silver, or
earthen pitcher with its rnouth well-stoppered. This oil
is known as the Valai-Taila and proves curative in all
diseases due to the action of the deranged Vdyu. A
newly delivered woman should use this oil in adequate
doses, according to her physical condition. Women
wishing to be mothers and men seeking the blessings
of fatherhood should use this Taila, which proves
equally beneficial in cases of an emaciation of the body
due to the action of the deranged Vayu, weariness of
the body through hard labour, and also in cases of hurt
or injury to any vital and vulnerable part of the body
(Marma), in cases of fractured bones, convulsions, Vata-
Vyddhi, hiccough, cough, Adhimantha, Gulma and
dyspnoea. A case of hernia would likewise yield to the
continuous use of this oil for six months. The essential
and vital principles (Dhatus) of the organism of a man
are strengthened through its use and his youth will
suffer no decay. It should be used alike by kings, king-
like and wealthy persons, as well as by those of a
delicate and ease-loving temperament. 15— B.

The Vala-Kalpa :— Seeds of sesamum
should be successively soaked a number of times in a
■decoction of Vald roots* and then dried (in the manner
of a Bhavana saturation). The oil pressed out of such
sesamum should be successively cooked a hundred times
with the decoction of Va/d-roots. This being done, the
oil should bs poured into an earthen pitcher and the

* Vala wouM be the Kalka in this oil, says Dallana. But he also says that some authorities hold that the Kalkas used in the Vala-Taila should be used as the Kalka in this oil as well.

Chap. XV.] CHIKITSA STHANAM, 4II

patient, while taking it in adequate doses, should live in a lonely chambsr protected from the wind. After its digestion, the patient should partake of milk and boiled Shashtika rice. A Drona measure of the oil, should in this way, be gradually taken and the regimen of diet (milk and Shashtika rice, etc.) should be observed for double that period. This oil is efficacious in improving one's strength and complexion and adds a century (of years) to the duration of one's life, and at the same time absolves him from all sins. It is said that the use of each succesive Drona measure of this oil adds a century to one's days on earth. 16.

Oils may similarly be prepared with each of Ativishd^
Guduchi, Aditya-parni^ Saireyaka, Virataru, S'atdvari^
Tri-kantaka, Madhuka and Prasdrani, and may be
prescribed by an experienced and erudite physician. 17.

Nilotpala and S^atdvari should be cooked in milk.
The milk thus prepared should be again cooked with
sesamum oil successively a hundred times and a
paste of all the drugs used as a paste in the Vala^ Taila
should be added to it at the time of cooking. The
therapeutic virtues of all these oils are the same as
those of the Vald-Taila and the same regimen of diet
and conduct should be observed in all such cases. 18.

Thus ends the fifteenth Chapter of the Chikitsita Sthanam in the Sus'ruta Samhita which deals with the medical treatment of Mudha- garbha.

CHAPTER XVI.

Now we shall discourse on the medical treatment of Abscesses and Tumours (Vldradhl). i.

Of the six types of Vidradhis, the one of the Sanni-
pdtika type should be regarded as incurable In all
other types curative measures* should be speedily
resorted to in their unsuppurated stage, as in the treat-
ment of a case of Sopha (inflammatory swelling or
boil). 2.

Treatment of Vataja-Vidradhi :— in

a case of Vdtaja Vidradhi, a compact or thick plaster
(Alepa) composed of pasted Murang'i-r oots,f mixed
with clarified butter, oil and lard (Vasa), should be
applied lukewarm. The flesh of the animals which
frequent swamps and marshes as well as of aquatic ani-
mals boiled with the drugs of the Kdkolyddi group,
Kdnjika, salt, barley powder and Sneha (clarified
butter, &c.), should be applied as a poultice (Upandha>,
and the affected part should be constantly fomented
with (warm) Ves'avdra, Kris'ara, milk and Payasa.
Blood-letting should also be resorted to. 3.

If, in spite of the use of the preceding remedies,
'suppuration should begin to set in, suppurating measures
should be resorted to and the abscess (finally) lanced

* Commencing with Apatarpana up to purgative measures (Chikitsd, chapter.— I ).

t Both Dallana and Chakrapani Datta read "Vataghna" in place of **Murangi" of the text. Dallana explains the term "Vataghna" as the •'Bhadra-darvadi group" and S'iva-dasa, the commentator of Chakrapani, explains it as the "Das'a-mula". Both of them, however, say that he different reading is "Surangi" meaning "S'obhdnjana." **Murangi" also means "S'obhdnjana."— Ep.

Chap. XVI.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 413

With a knife. Cleansing measures should then be applied
to the (incidental) ulcer. After incision, the ulcer
should be washed with a decoction of the Pancha-mula ;
and an oil cooked with the drugs of the Bhadra-ddrvddi
group and Yashti-madhu, and, mixed with an abundant
quantity of salt, should be used in filling (healing up)
the cavity of the wound. The cleansing of the ulcer
should be effected with the powdered Vairechanika
(purgative) drugs mixed with Traivrita* and the
healing should be effected with Traivrita cooked with
the drugs of the Prithak-parnyddi group. 4-6.

Treatment Of Pittaja Vidradhi:— In a

case of Pittaja Vidradhi a plaster (Pradeha) composed
of sugar, fried paddy, Yashti-Madhu and Sdrivd pasted
with milk should be applied, As an alternative, a
plaster composed of Payasyd, Us'ira and (red) sandal
wood pasted with milk should be used. Cold infusions
of Pdkya (Yava-kshdra), sugarcane-juice and milk, and
jivaniya-Ghrita mixed with sugar should be used in
affusing the abscess. The patient should be advised to
lick a lambative composed of powdered Haritaki
and Jrivrit saturated with honey ; and leeches should
be applied (to an unsuppurated) abscess for letting out
the blood. An intelligent surgeon should (lance a
suppurated abscess and) wash the incidental ulcer with a
decoction of Kshira-Vriksha or of aquatic bulbs.
Poultices of sesamum and Yashti-Madhu mixed with
honey and clarified butter should then be applied to
it and bandaged with a piece of thin linen. Clarified
butter cooked with Prapaundarika^ Mmtjishtha,
Yashti-Madhu, Us'ira, Padmaka^ Haridrd and milk,

* "Traivrita" is a technical term and means clarified butter mixed with the three other lardacious substances, viz., oil, lard and marrow. Vide Chikitsita Sthdnam. Chapter— V.

414 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XVI.

should be used to heal up the cavity of a Pittaja
ulcer, by (inducing granulation). As an alternative,
clarified butter cooked with Kshira-S'ukld, Prithak-
parni, Samangd, Rodhra^ Chandana and the tender
leaves and bark of the drugs of the Nyagrodhddi group
should be employed for the same end. 7-10.

Karanjadya Ghrita :— A Karsha measure

of each of the following drugs, viz., the tender leaves and fruits of thQ]Naktamdla, the leaves of the Sumana (Jdti flower), Patola and of Arishta, Haridrd, Daru-Haridrd, wax, Yashti-Madhu, Tikta-Rohini, Priyangu? Kus'a- roots, Nichula-hdiXk, Manjishthd^ sandal wood, Us'ira^ Utpala, Sdrivd and Trivrit should be cooked with a Prastha measure of clarified butter. This medicated Ghrita is called the Karanjaidya Ghrita, and it will cure malignant ulcers (Dushta-Vrana) and act as a purifier in sinus and recent ulcers, etc., burns and scalds, deep sores and even deep-seated sinuses. 1 1.

Treatment Of Kaphaja Vidradhi :— In

a case of Kaphaja Vidradhi, the seat of affection should
be fomented with a heated brick, sand, iron, cow-dung,
husks, ashes and cow's urine.f The Doshas involved
in such a case should be curbed down by a constant
use of medicinal decoctions, emetics, plasters (Alepa)
and poultices (Upanaha). The vitiated blood of the
locality should be cuffed out with an Aldvu-yantra
(gourd). The abscess when suppurated should be (lanced

* Chakrapani Datta in his compilation does not include Priyangu, Kus'a-roots add Nichula-bark in the list but he reads both the kinds of sariva, i. e., Anantamula and S'yamd-lata.

t In Chakradatta, the reading is '%(^fq^;" i.e., pasted in cow's urine» instead of ♦•^pg^i^;" I S'ivaddsa, the commentator, however, holds that this reading is not authoritative, though he says that some commentators have accepted it.

Chap. XVI.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 41S

and) washed with a decoction of hragvadha. The
sore of such an ulcer should be filled up (healed) with a
medicinal compound consisting of the paste of Haridrd
Trivrit, S'aktu, sesamum and honey and bandaged in
the manner described before. After that, a medicated
oil properly cooked with a paste of Kulatthikd, Danii^
Irivrit: S'ydmd, Arka, Tilvaka, cow's urine and rock-
salt should be applied in such a case. 12-13.

Treatment of Agantuja and Raktaja

Vidradhi :— In a case of abscess of traumatic
(Agantuja) origin, or due to the vitiated condition of the
blood (Raktaja), all the measures and remedies laid
down in connection with those of the Pittaja type
should be employed by a skilled surgeon. 14

Treatment of internal Vidradhi :— A

case of an unsuppurated internal abscess yields to the use of a potion consisting of a decoction of the drugs of the Varunddi group saturated with the powders (Kalka) of those of the Ushakddi group. Clarified butter cooked with the decoction of the drugs of the two preceding groups, as well as clarified butter cooked with purgative |drugs, taken every morning, will cure an internal abscess in a very short time. The decoctions of the above groups should be mixed with Sneha (oil or clarified butter) and speedily used as an Asthdpana as well as an Anuvasana measure. The hsirk o{ Mad/m-s'tgru mixed with the powders of the drugs antidotal to the Doshas involved in the case, being administered in food and drink and used as a plaster, proves curative in a case of an internal abscess in its unsuppurated stage. As an alternative, the said drug (i.e., Madhu-s'igru) should be taken with water, Dhdnydmla, cow's rine, or Surd (wine). Purified S'ildjatu, Guggulu^ S'unthi, or Deva- ^«V«, dissolved in the decoction of the drugs antidotal to

4l6 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XVI.

the aggravated Doshas involved in the case, should be
administered. Applications of poultices, Sneha-Karma
(emollient measures), as well as Anulomana (Vayu-sub-
duing) measures should be frequently resorted to in
such cases. 15-20.

The veins (S'ira) should be opened in a case of the
Kaphaja type of abscess as directed before ; while
some authorities advise to open the veins at the arms in
cases of Raktaja, Vataja and Pittaja types. 21.

Treatment of Suppurated internal

Vidradhi :— A suppurated internal Vidradhi having
bulged up (above the surface of the body) should be
opened with a knife and treated in the manner of an
(incidental) ulcer. Whether the pus drains through the
lower or the upper channel of the body (rectum or
mouth) the patient should be made to take the drugs of
the Varunddi group or Madhu-s'igru mixed with (a
copious quantity of) Maireyay Sura, Asava, or Kanjika.
The diet should consist of rice boiled and cooked with
white mustard seed in the decoction of Madhu-s'igru
and taken with the soup of barley, Kola and Kulalttha
pulse. The Tilvaka Ghrita (Chikitsa Sthdna, ch. IV.),
or clarified butter cooked with the decoction of the
Trivritddi group, should be taken every morning in
adequate doses for the purpose. Particular care should
be taken by the phsyician to guard against the suppura-
tion of an internal abscess, since suppuration in such
cases leads but to a slender hope of success. 22-23.

Treatment of IVIajja-Jata Vidradhi :

— The medical treatment of a patient, afflicated with a
Majja-jata abscess (abscess affecting the marrow), should
be taken in hand without holding out any definite hope
of recovery fas a proper course of treatment in such
cases does not invariably prove successful). Sneha-karma

Chap. XVI. J CHIKITSA STHANAM. 417

(anointments, etc.) and fomentations should be first
resorted to, after which blood-letting should be
made ; and the remedial measures of the present
chapter should be then employed. When it reaches the
suppurating stage, the bone should be operated upon,
and after the full elimination of the pus and the putrid
matter from the incised ulcer, purifying remedies should
be employed. The incidental ulcer should be washed
with the decoction of the bitter drugs and the Tikta-
Sarpis* should be ujed. An intelligent physician
should apply the decoction of the drugs of the
Samsodhaniya group, if the oozing out of the marrow
is not arrested. A medicated oil cooked with Priyangu,
Dhdtaki, Rodhra, Katphala, Nemi\ and Saindhava
salt should be used in healing up an ulcer incidental
to an opened up Vidradhi. 24-25.