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

* Dallana explains the term Madhukodakottara to mean a large quantity of Madhuka and water, (and by water he means the decoction of Vidanga).

5l8 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XXVII.

(which is not usually given to mortal eyes to descry).
The mind, shorn of the qualities of Rajas (action) and
Tamas (nescience), becomes possessed of Sattva (illumi-
nating principles or true knowledge). Things are per-
manently and indelibly impressed upon his (user's)
memory at a single hearing and the faculty of inven-
tion wonderfully expands. Old age and decay perma-
nently vanish and youth returns to stay in him for
good, bringing with it an elephantine strength and a
horse-like speed, and he is enabled to live for eight
hundred springs The medicated oil known as Anu-
taila should be used in anointing (the body at this
stage of treatment) ; a decoction of Aja-karna for
Utsddana .washing) purposes^ well-water saturated with
Us'ira for bathing purposes, sandal paste in anointmg
(Anulepana) the body, and the regimen of diet and
conduct as described in connection with the Bhallsktaka
treatment (Vidhdna^ should be observed. 6.

Kasmarya Kalpa :— The use of huskless
Kats'maryaja seeds for rejuvinating purposes, is similar
to the preceding one, except that it requires a separate
kind of diet and does not require the use to lie on the
ground. Under this treatment, the diet should consist
of (boiled) rice and well-boiled milk and the beneficial
effects that would result from its use, are identical with
those of the foregoing one. These remedies should
b3 employed \\\ diseases originatiag through the
vitiated blood and Pitta of the system. 7.

Vala- Kalpa :— A Pala or half a Pala weight of the (powdered) roots of the Vala should be well-stirred in cow's milk and taken (every day\ and the patient or the user should not be allowed to stir out of his room as prescribed before (during the entire course of taking the rnedicine\ He should be advised to take a meal con-

Chap. XXVII.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 519

sisting of boiled rice, milk and clarified buttor after the medicine had been fully digested. Premature old age and senile decay would be arrested for a period of twelve years by taking this elixir continuously for twelve days in the foregoing manner, whereas an extension of its course to a hundred days would add a hundred summers to the duration of his ) outhful age. Ati-valai, Naga-valai, Vidatri, Satatvari may be similarly taken for the same purposes^ with this distinction that the (powders of) the Ati-vald should be taken with water, those of the Ndga-vald, with honey, whereas Vz'ddrz a.nd the S'atdvari powders should be taken with milk. The regimen of diet and conduct as well as the beneficial results produced therefrom should be the same (as from the use of Vald). The present remedies are recom- mended to persons seeking strength or suffering from an attack of Hoematemesis or Hoematochczia * 8.

Vsfrah! Kalpa : — A Tuld measure of the
powders of Vs^rakhi-bulbs should be taken in an adequate
dose (everyday) by mixing it with honey and stirring
it with milk A meal of boiled rice with clarified
butter and milk should be taken after it had been
digested and the patient should be advised to observe
a regimen of diet and conduct (Pratishedha) as laid
down before (in connection with the foregoing elixirs).
By using it a man is enabled to witness a hundred
summers and does not feel any fatigue after sexual
excesses. A quantity of this powder should be mixed
with milk and boiled (according to the rules of Kshira-
pdka). When sufficiently cooled, the milk should be
churned and the clarified butter produced therefrom
should be taken after the medicine had been digested. A

* Suffering from consumption and hoemoptysis. — D. R.

520 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. tCk^ XXVIL

continuous use of the medicine for a month enables a man to live up to a good hundred years. 9.

A decoction should be made by boiling together
the pith of the Vijaka* (Pita Sila) and the roots of the
Agni-mantha with which a Prastha measure of Mdska-
pulse should be duly cooked. When the Masha-pulse is
sufficiently boiled, an Aksha measure of powdered
Chitraka roots and the expressed juice of the Ama/aMa
weighing a fourth part of the 3fds/ia-pu\sQ should
be added to it, and the whole compound should be
removed (from the oven) at the close of the cooking.
When cooled down this compound should be taken in
adequate doses with honey and clarified butter after
consecrating it a thousand times with appropriate
Mantras. Persons seeking longevity and a stronger or
improved range of vision should take this and they
should be advised to take their meals without any salt.
The meal, after the digestion of the medicine, should
consist of boiled rice and a copious quantity of clarified
butter and should be taken with unsalted Mudga, and
Amalaka soup or with milk alone. A continuous use
of either of these two medicines for three consecutive
months would make a man's eye-sight as keen and
foresighted as that of a Suparnat and enable him to
witness a hundred summers in the full vigour of health,
strength and manhood.^ 10.

* Dallana recommends one Pala weight of Vijaka Sira and Agoi-

manlha to be boiled in an Adhaka measure of water which should be reduced to one half for the preparation of the decoction.

t Suparna is the king of birds and is said to be the most keen- sighted .

X Dallana says that some commentators do not read this, since they do not consider it to be a part of the original text. Jejjata also has not read this.

Chap. XXVII.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 52I

IVIemorable Verse :--The use of Sana (seeds)

boiled with milk and taken also with milk guards
against the loss of flesh and prevents the body from
suffering any decay, i r.

Thus ends the Twenty-seventh Chapter of the Chikiisita Sihanam in the Sus'ruta Samhitd which deals with elixirs and rejuvenators.

CHAPTER XXYIII.

Now we shall discourse on the elixirs and remedial
agents which tend to improve the memory and invigor-
ate the mental faculties as well as to increase the

duration of human life (IVIeclhayushkamiyam Rasayanam). i.

iSvctavalguJa-RassTyana :— The fruit

(seeds) of the white Avalguja should be dried in the
sun and then reduced to a fine powder. This powder
should be stirred with (an adequate quantity of) treacle
and placed in an earthen pitcher which previously
contained clarified butter (Sneha-kumbha). The pitcher
should then be kept buried in a heap of paddy for
seven days after which it should be taken out and
its contents given in convenient doses every morning
before sunrise to a person, seeking improvement of
memory and longevity, after his system has been
thoroughly cleansed ^with proper emetics and purgatives,
etc.). Hot water should then be drunk. After taking
the medicine, th? patient should enter his room in
accordance with the rules laid down in connection with
the Bhallataka-Vidhdna. After the digestion of the
medicine, the patient should be advised to take a cold
bith and to partake in the evening of a meal of
well-cooked S'dli or Shashtika rice with (^boiled) milk
sweetened with sugar. This medicine continuously
taken in this manner for six months would make the
life of its user sinless, and extend it in the full glow
of health and vigour and in the sound enjoyment of
a vigorous memory and of all his intellectual faculties
to a hundred green summers. 2.

Chap. XXVIIL] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 523

In cases of Kushtha, jaundice and abdominal dropsy (Udara), the medicine should be prepared by stirring (the powdered seeds of) the Krishn^i* (^black Avalguja) with the urine of a cow (instead of with treacle) and given to the patient in doses of half a Pala weight every morning after the sun has ceased to look red.f In the afternoon the patient should be made to partake of a meal of boiled rice with clarified butter and unsalted A'malaka soup. A continuous use of this medicine in the aforesaid manner for a month would improve the memory and intellectual faculties of the user, and enable him to witness a hundred summers on earth in the full enjoyment of sound health. Chitraka rootsj: and Rajani (turmeric) may be used in the same manner and for similar purposes with this distinction that the dose of the Chitraka-xoo\. preparation should be two Pala measures (instead of half a Pala as laid down in regard to the foregoing compounds). The rest are identical with the above. 3.

lYIanduka-parni Rasayana: The Doshas

of the system of a person should be first thoroughly cleansed (with the help of proper emetics and purgatives, etc.), and he should be advised to undergo the prescribed diet of vPeyd, Yavdgu, etc . in their proper order) He should be further advised to enter his chamber in the prescribed manner (and to remain there during the entire

•Jejjata explains "Krishna" to mean Pippali. But both Gayi and Dallana explain it to mean the black Avalguja. It should be mentioned, here, that Dallana recommends the roots of black Avalguja, but we think th.^t its seeds should be taken. — Ed.

t Before sunrise. — D. R.

X The roots of the Chitraka with black flowers should be taken. — Dallana.

524 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. LChap. XXVIII.

course of the treatment). An adequate dose of the
expressed juice of the Manduka-parni should then be
stirred with milk, and should be taken after consecrating
it by reciting the proper Mantras a thousand times.
A potion of milk may then be taken immediately after.
After it had been fully digested a meal of cooked
barley grains with milk should then be partaken of;
or (the expressed juice of Manduka-parni) with an
admixture of sesamum seeds followed by a potion
of milk. A meal of boiled rice with milk and clarified
butter should then be taken after the digestion of
the medicine and should be continued for three
months in succession. This would ensure a long life
of a hundred years in the full vigour of retentive
memory and intellectual faculties, and would impart a
god-like effulgence to the complexion. As an alter-
native, the patient should fast three days and take
only the expressed juice of Manduka-parni for these
three days. After this period he should live on milk
and clarified butter only, or he should be made to take
a Vilva measure (of the paste of Manduka-parni) stirred
with milk for ten consecutive days which would ensure
a life of a hundred years in the full enjoyment of his
intellectual faculties. 4,

Br^hmi Rasayana : -Having had the Doshas
of the system duly cleansed (with proper emetics
and purgatives, etc.), a person (wishing to undergo a
treatment of RasayanaJ should be advised to take the
prescribed diet of (Pey^. Yavdgu, etc., in their proper
order), and should be made to enter his room (Ag.4ra).
He should then take the expressed juice of the Brathmi
in an adequate dose after consecrating the juice a
thousand times with the proper Mantras, After the
medicine had been fully digested he should be advised

Chap. XXVIII.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 525

to take in the evening Yavdgu (gruel) without any salt ;
or with boiled milk in the event of his being habituated
to its use. A continuous use of the medicine for a
week improves the memory, leads to the expansion of
the intellectual faculties and imparts a celestical glow
to the complexion. In the second week of its course it
revives old and forgotten memories in the user and adds
to his proficiency in the writing out of any book to
be written. In the third week it enables a man to repro-
duce from memory as many as one hundred words if
twice heard or read (at a single sitting'. In the same
manner a (further) use of the drug for twenty-one days
removes all inauspicious features whether of the body
i r of the mind, the goddess of learning appears in an
embodied form to the (mind of the) user, and all kinds
of knowledge come rushing into his memory. A single
hearing is enough to make him reproduce {verbatim
from memory a discourse however lengthy "), and he is
enabled to live for five hundred years. 5.