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

other the Magadha measure. Maharshi Charaka has adopted the first, but that adopted by Sus'ruta is the second one.

* Water weighing four lime? as much as the drugs when the drugs are of a soft consistency and eight times as much when they are hard and sixteen times as much when they are very hard.

t When there are more liquids to be used than one, the general rule is that the total weight of all the liquids would be four times that of the Sneha, if not otherwise directed. Ail this liquid part should, however, be boiled away and the Sneha part should be left before the Sneha is removed from the fire and before it can be fit for use. It should be noted that the cooking of a Sneha should not be completed in one (Jay.— Ed,

550 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XXXI.

prepared. A Kudava measure of oil should be boiled
and cooked with four times as much of the liquid
and a Pala measure of pasted drugs (Kalka). This
is another process of cooking medicated Snehas
(oil, etc.), 14.

Memorable Verses:— The foregoing rules

should be adopted where no measures would be found
to have been specifically given of the Sneha^ the liquid
and of the drugs, whereas in cases of specification, the
specific quantities should be taken. Water should be
used as the liquid, where no other liquid would be
mentioned by name (in connection with medicating a
Sneha, viz., oil, clarified butter, etc , by cooking). Both
for the decoction and paste (Kalka\ the drugs
mentioned in the respective list should be used in
preparing a medicated Sneha in the absence of any
explicit and specific injunction to that effect. 15.

Now we shall discuss the degrees of medically
cooking a Sneha (oil or Ghrita). Mild (Mridu), middling
or intermediate (Madhyama) and hard (Khara) are the
three degrees which the boiling process undergoes in
medically cooking a Sneha. A cooking is said to be
mild (Mridu-Pdka) when the oil is found to drop off
entirely from its drug -paste (Kalka) leaving it dry and
sapless; whereas in an act of middle-cooking (Madhyama-
Pdka) the paste would be found to have become
pellucid and non-sticky like wax ; a cooking done
until the paste (in the Sneha) assumes a little clear,
glossy, frothless, black colour is termed strong (Khara-
Pdka). A Sneha cooked beyond the last-named degree
is called a burnt Sneha. A Sneha should, therefore, be
properly cooked. A mildly cooked Sneha should be
administered in food and drinks. A middling-cooked
one for the purposes of errhines and anointments, while

Chap. XXXI.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 551

a Strongly cooked one should be used for the purposes of Vasti-Karma and as ear-drops* i6.

IVIemorable Verses :— The cooking of a

Ghrita should be considered medically complete as
soon as the froth and the sound would vanish and
the peculiar smell, colour and taste of preparation
would be manifest. The medically cooking of an oil
resembles in all respects that of a Ghrita with this
exception that an abundance of froth appears on the
surface of the oil at the completion of the cooking. 17.

The process of taking a Sneha in-
ternally : —Now we shall describe the process of
taking a Sneha internally. A man with an empty stomach
should be made to take a draught of a medicinal or
medicated oil or Ghrita, just as the god of day (sun) would
appear on the summit of the hill at dawn and lighten
up the horizon with the first shoots of his vermilion-
tinted golden rays. Rites of benediction should be
first done unto the patient before administering to
him the oil or the Ghrita in an adequate dose. After
that he should wash his mouth with warm water and
quietly stroll about with his shoes on. 18.

IVIetrical Texts :— The use of a potion of a
(medicated) Ghrita is recommended to patients
suffering from an extremely parched or dry condi-
tion of the organism, or from ulcers, or from the effects
of a poison, or from those due to the actions of the
deranged Vatyu and Pitta, as well as to persons of weak
memory and intellect. Potions of (medicated) oils
should be prescribed in aggravations of the Kapha and

* Charaka, on the contrary, holds that a Khara (strongly cooked) Sneha should be used in anointing the body, a middling-cooked one for the purposes of drinks and Vasli-karma and a mildly cooked (Mridu) one for the purposes of errhines.

5$^ THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XXXt.

of fat, as well as in cases of worms (in the intestines)
and incarcerated flatus (wind in the abdomen), or when
the patient is found to be habituated to the internal
use of any oil, or seeks the firmness of his body
(muscles). The use of lard is recommended to persons
emaciated with over- fatiguing physical labour, or to
persons whose blood and semen are greatly diminished
or to those suffering from an attack of Mahd-vyddhi
(due to the vitiated condition of the blood), or to
persons of a voracious appetite (Mahdgni\ or of Vdtaja
(nervous) temperament, as well as to those possessed
of great physical strength. The use of marrow or of
medicated Ghritas mixed with appropriate drugs is
beneficial to men of strong digestive capacity (Dipta-
vahni\ or to those afflicted with a deranged Vayu, or
to those whose bowels are not easily moved, or who
are capable of undergoing a large amount of physical
hardship. Clarified butter, without any other thing
added thereto, should be administered in the affections of
the deranged Pitta ; whereas it should be mixed with
salt before use in the diseases due to the action of the
deranged Vayu and with the admixture of Yava-kshdra
and powdered Trikatu in the affections of the aggra-
vated and deranged Kapha. Oil or clarified butter
should be administered through the medium of one,
two or more of the sixty three different combinations*
of the (six different) Rasas (flavour) according to
the nature and intensity of the aggravated Dosha
or Doshas involved in each case. 19- A.

Clear (filtered) oil, clarified butter, etc., should be
taken by a man habituated to its use and capable of
undergoing physical hardships during the months of

* Vide Uttara-Tantra, Chapter LXIU,

Chap. XXXI. ] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 555

the year which are neither too hot nor too cold"*^ in- asmuch as the use of clear or transparent oil or Ghrita is above being commendable. A Sneha should betaken in the morning (lit. day-time) during the cold months of the year and in case of the joint aggravation of the bodily Vdyu and Kapha ; whereas it should be taken in the evening (lit. night) during summer and in cases of the joint aggravation of the bodily Vdyu and Pitta. Potions of oil or clarified butter taken in summer by a person suffering from an aggravation of the bodily Vdyu and Pitta may bring on thirst, epileptic fits and insanity. In the same manner draughts of oil or clarified butter taken in winter by a person suffering from an aggravation of the bodily Vdyu or Kapha may be followed by a heaviness of the limbs, aver- sion to food and. colic (Sula). If a patient feels thirsty after taking a Sneha, he should take warm water, and be made to vomit the Sneha with (further) draughts of hot water in the event of the thirst still not subsiding. Cooling plasters should be applied to his head and a cold water bath should be prescribed. IQ-B.

The Dosag'e :— The Dosage of a Sneha which
requires the quarter part of a day {i.e., three hours)
to be digested, should be deemed appetising and bene-
ficial in slight aggravations of the bodily Doshas ; that
which requires half a day to be digested should be
regarded as invigorating, spermatopoietic, construct-
ive and beneficial in moderate aggravations of the

* Both Vrinda and Chakrapani read this but with little difference. Both of them read "^ff^ xf ^cT^/' ^"^-j Jn the cold season. But their commentators accept the reading "^j^ TT^^^^inftcT^'' as in the text, to be a variant. We have the authority of Charaka, however, to accept the reading of the text.

554 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XXXI.

bodily Doshas. The dosage of a Sneha which takes
three-quarter parts of a day to be digested, acts as
a bodily emollient and should be prescribed in cases
of extreme aggravation of the bodily Doshas, while
the quantity which can only be digested in the course
of an entire day (twelve hours) should be considered
efficacious in all affections of the body and does not
produce physical lassitude, fainting fits and delirious
conditions. The measure or quantity of a Sneha which
takes a whole day and night to be digested without
undergoing any kind of vitiation (reactionary acidity)
in the stomach, proves curative even in cases of
Kushtha (cutaneous affections), insanity, poisoning
(effects of poison) and Apasmdra (hysteric convulsions),
ascribed to the baneful influences of the malignant
stars. 19C.

The evil effects of Over-dosage :— A

patient should be made to take as much of the Sneha
as he would be able to easily digest inasmuch as an
excessive over-dose may prove fatal. The patient
should be made to vomit with draughts of hot water
in a case of overdose or abuse of a Sneha and in the
event of its continuing in an undigested or partially
digested state in the stomach. In cases of doubt-
ful digestion, similar potions of hot water should
be administered which would produce good eructa-
tions and bring on a fresh relish for food. 19-D.

When the Sneha begins to be digested, it is attended
with thirst, vertigo, lassitude, weariness, a disturbed state
of the mind and a burning sensation. When the Sneha
appears to have been fully digested the patient should
be affused with hot water. A gruel prepared with only
a small quantity of rice should be given lukewarm to the
patient (at this stage). As an alternative, a well-

Chap. XXXI.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 555

aromated soup (of Mudga, etc.) or meat-juice cooked
without the addition of any Sneha (oil or Ghrita)
or with only a small admixture of clarified butter
should be given, or he may take Yavdgu (pure and
simple). 19-E.

A Sneha should be taken three, four, five or six
days consecutively ; used (continually) for more than a
week it becomes habituated to the user. A Sneha should
be taken with food (at the time of mid-day meal) by a
weak, or an old man or an infant, or a thirsty person,
or one of a delicate constitution, or one averse to its use
in summer. 19-F.

Sadyah-Snchana :-The administration of
a potion composed of powdered Pippali and (Sain-
dhava) salt mixed with curd-cream and the four kinds
of oleaginous substances (Sneha) constitute what is
known as the Sadyah-Snehana {i,e,^ it produces the
effects of the Sneha within a very short time). The
use of a Yavdgu well-cooked* with the soup of half*
fried meat (instead of water) and a Sneha (clarified
butter), and mixed with honey acts as a Sadyah-
snehana. A Yavdgu prepared with milkf and a small
quantity of rice and taken lukewarm with clarified
butter produces the same result. The use of cow's
milk milched into a pot containing clarified butter
and sugar produces an instantaneous emulsive effect
(Sadyah-snehana), if taken by a man with a parch-
ed state of the organism. Clarified butter cooked
with three parts of the decoction of Yava, Kola and

* In place of "^qch^Mcil" (well-cooked), Chakradatta reads *^^- cT<i5^' (prepared with a small quantity of rice).

t In place of "TT?;:f^ff' (prepared with milk), Chakradatta reads '^ff^T^' (prepared with an abundance of sesamum which, according to S'ivadasa, would constitute three parts with only one part of rice).

556 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XXXI.

Kulattha pulse (taken together) and one part each of
milk, curd, wine and clarified butter churned from milk
.acts as an instantaneous demulcent (Sadyah-snehana)
and is hence recommended to kings and king like
personages. This potent emulsive measure (Sadyah-
snehana) should be prescribed for the old, the imbecile,
to females and to persons of sluggish appetite, as well
as to sensitive persons and in diseases due to a slight
aggravation of the bodily Doshas. 19-G.

Forbidden cases of Sneha-pana :—

The internal use of a Sneha is forbidden to persons
suffering from ascites, fever, delirium, alcoholism, aver-
sion to food and vomiting, as well as to weak,
corpulent, thirsty, fatigued, or intoxicated persons.
It is forbidden on a cloudy day, in an improper season
of the year, after the application of Vasti-measures,
purgatives and emetics and after premature parturition.
The internal use of a Sneha (oil or Ghrita) gives rise
to a host of maladies in the foregoing cases, or the
diseases become more serious or may even become
incurable. In cases of premature parturition, there
remains a quantity of mucus and vitiated lochia in
the womb j therefore, stomachic (Pdchana) and parch-
ing (Ruksha) drugs should be administered to females
.after child-birth. After a period of ten days, however,
draughts of oil or clarified butter should be given
according to requirements. 19.