658 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. CCbap. XL.
nausea,* somnolence, sleep, numbness of the jaws and
of the nerves (Sn^yu) on the back of the neck (Many^),
catarrh, diseases of the head, ear-ache, inflammation of the
eyes, and any affection of the mouth due to an aggrava-
tion of the deranged Vdyu and Kapha. 14.
It behoves a physician to be fully acquainted with the effects of satisfactory and excessive smoking (Dhuma-pdna). Properly administered, it is followed by a distinct alleviation of the disease (under treat- ment) ; while its excessive use is followed by a positive aggravation or non-amelioration of the disease and is likely to produce a dryness of the palate and the throat, a burning sensation in the body, thirst, fainting fits, vertigo, delirium, alcoholism, affection of the ears, nose and eyes, impairment of vision, and weakness of the body. 15.
lYIode of Smoking : -The Pra'yogika-Dhuma
should be smoked thrice at a time either through the
mouth or through the nostrils and may be repeated thrice
or four times (according to the strength of the patient and
the itensity of the Dosha). The Snaihika-Dhuma should
be inhaled until the appearance of tears in the eyes.
While the Vairechanika-Dhuma should be smoked till
the beginning of the elimination of the Doshas from the
system. The Va(inaniya-Dhuma should be smoked by a
patient after he has taken a gruel of huskless sesamum
(Tila-Tandula), and the Ka(saghua-Dhuma should be
inhaled between morsels of food.f Fumigation of an
ulcer should be made by means of a tube attached
to (the orifice of) a covered saucer. Fumigation alle-
* According to Vrinda's commentator we have here *' Sneezing and a sudden obstruction of breath" as an additional text.
t Dallana quotes a different reading which would mean that the K-dsaghna-Dhuma should be inhj^led after t£iking meals.
Chap. XL.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 659
viates the pain in an ulcer, arrests its discharge and makes it clean and non-viscid. i6.
Metrical Text:— The processes of inhalation
and fumigation have been briefly described above. Now
I shall fully describe the processes of using medicinal
snuffs (Nasya). 17,
On Snuffs and Errhines:— The term
'*Nasya" (Snuff) is so called from the fact of its being
composed of the powders of any drugs or of any
Sneha (oleaginous substance) cooked with such drug
or drugs, to be stuffed into the nostrils. It may be
broadly divided into two kinds, viz. : — ^iroVirechana
(errhines) and Snehana (contributor of oleaginous
principles) ; and may, however, be further grouped under
five specific heads, viz. :— Nasya, ^iro-Virechana,
Pratimarsha (a medicated Sneha poured into the
nostrils to be discharged into the mouth), Avapida
(the expressed juice of any drug put into the nostrils
in drops by pressing it with the palms then and there)
and Pradhamana (a medicinal snuff blown into the
nostrils with the help of a blow pipe) . Of these, the
Nasya (snuff) S'iro-Virechana (errhines) are pre-emi-
nently the most effective. Pratimarsha is a Nasya while
Avapida and Pradhamana are Siro-Virechana (errhines).
Thus it is that the term Nasya is employed in the above
five senses. The term Nasya, in the specific sense, is
particularly used with reference to the snuffing of any
Sneha (oleaginous substance) with a view to make up
the deficient oily matter in the brain in the case of
a patient complaining of a sense of void or emptiness
in the head or to impart tone to the nerves and muscles
of the neck, shoulders and chest, or to invigorate the
eye-sight. This should be prepared with a Sneha
(oleaginous substance) cooked with the drugs possessed
660 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XL.
of the virtue of subduing the deranged Vdyu and Pitta
and should be snuffed in by a patient affected in the
head through the overwhelming preponderance of the
deranged Viyu and in cases of the falling off of the
teeth and hair of the head and beard, in Karna-
Kshveda, acute ear-ache, Timira (cataract), loss of
voice, disease of the nose, dryness of the mouth, Ava-
Vdhuka, premature greyness of the hair and wrinkling
of the skin and other dangerous complications due to
the deranged Vayu and Pitta as well as in similar other
affections of the mouth, i8.
^irO-Vircchana:— Powders of the S'iro-Vire- chana drugs* or any Sneha cooked with those drugs-|- should be employed in the event of there being an ac- cumulation of Kapha (mucus) in the region of the palate, throat, or head of a patient, as well as in cases of an aversion to food, head-ache, heaviness of the head, Pinasa (coryza), Ardhdvabhedaka (hemicrania), worms, Pratis'y^a (catarrh), loss of the faculty of smell, hysteric convulsion (Apasm^ra) and in similar other diseases of the super-clavicular regions due to the action of the deranged Kapha. 19,
These two kinds of Nasya (snuffs) should be ad-
ministered before meals. To a patient affected with
diseases of Kaphaja origin they should be adminis-
tered in the morning, while one suffering from any
Fittaja complaint should use them at noon and one
* The S'iro-Virechana drugs are Pippali, Vidanga, S'igru, Siddhar- thaka, Apamarga, etc. See Sutrashana, Chapter XXXIX.
t Sifikantha Datta, commentator of Vrinda, says that Gayi reads fljf|f^^iT?«Jff%fT ^%^^ etc., from which it is evident that he pre- scribed only the Sneha cooked with the S'iro-Virechana drugs as S'iro- Virechana Nasya.
Chap. XL.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 66 1
afiflicted with any distemper of the deranged Vs^yu should use them in the afternoon.* 20.
Before the application of a S'iro-Virechana (errhine) the patient should be asked to cleanse his mouth with a tooth-twig and by smoking. Then the regions of the neck, cheek and forehead should be fomented and softened with the application of heated palms, the patient himself being laid on his back in a dustless chamber not exposed to the sun and the wind. His head should be kept a little hung back with his arms and legs fully stretched out and expanded and a com- press should be tied over the eyes. Then the phy- sician should lift up with the fore-finger of his left hand the tip of the nose of the patient and slowly drop with his right hand a continuous jet of (medicated) Sneha into the cleansed channels of the (patient's) nostrils. The oil to be so used should be made lukewarm (D. R. —made lukewarm in the sun) and kept in a golden, silver, copper, or earthen receptacle or in an oyster shell and poured down into the nostrils of the patient by means of an oyster shell (D. R.— pipe) or (by pressing)
a cotton plug (soaked in that oil). Care should be taken
that the oil does not get into the eyes (while being
poured into the nostrilsVf 21.
Metrical Texts : -The patient should refrain
from shaking his head or indulging in a fit of anger or
* In respect of healthy patients, the Nasya should be adminis- tered at noon in winter, in the morning in spring and autumn, and in the afternoon in summer, while in the rainy season, they should be administered at a time when the sun would be visible in the sky. — Vriddha- Vdgbhata.
t The commentator of Vrinda adds two more conditions— z;/^., the patient should be made to pass stools and urine before the application of the Nasya and that the Nasya should be applied at a time when the sky would be free from clouds.
662 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA [Chap. XL.
speaking, sneezing or laughing at the time of any oily
snuff (Sneha-Nasya) being administered unto him, as
it may otherwise badly interfere with its reaching
down to the desired spot or may bring on an attack
of cough or coryza (catarrh) or any affection of the
head or of the eyes. 22.
Doses of a Sneha-Nasya :— Eight drops
of oil trickling down the two upper phalanges of the fore- fingers should be regarded as the proper quantity for the smallest (lit. — first) dose. A Sukti measure (thirty- two drops) is the intermediate (lit— second) dose and a PAni-Sukti measure (sixty-four drops; is the highest (lit. — third) dose. These are the three doses (of Sneha- Nasya) which should be dertermined in proportion to the strength of the patient and of the disease under treat- ment. An oily snuff should never be swallowed. 23.
Metrical Text :— An oily snuff (Sneha-Nasya)
should be hawked in so as to flow along the girths
(Sringcitaka) of the nostrils and immediately spit out (by
the patient), without retaining it in the mouth for a
moment, as it may otherwise (irritate the mucous mem-
branes of the throat, etc., and) aggravate the local
Kapha. 24.
The region of the neck and the cheeks, etc., of the patient should be fomented again after the use of the oily snuff (^Sneha-Nasya) and the patient should be made to smoke, and partake of a meal not composed of any phlegmagogic articles (Anabhishyandi). He should then be advised as to regimen of conduct, etc. (to be subse- quently observed). Washing the head, exposure to the sun, dust and smoke, the use of any intoxicating liquor or of any other liquid or oleaginous substance, indulgence in a fit of anger and excessive driving, etc., are strictly prohibited (after the application of Sneha-Nasya). 25,
Chap. XL] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 663
Effects of proper, excessive, or deficient application of aSneha-Nasya
(IVI. — T.) : — The effects of proper and excessive applications of (oily) snuffs will now be described. Lightness of the head, sound and refreshing sleep, the state of being easily awakened, alleviation of the disease, hilarity of the mind and a gladsome activity of the sense-organs in performing their respective functions, are the symptoms which attend a proper and satisfactory application (of an oleaginous medicinal snuff). Sali- vation, heaviness of the head, and dulness of the sense organs are the symptoms which result from an excessive application of a Sneha (Nasya) and the remedy in such cases consists in employing the parch- ing measures or medicines. A case of deficient appli- cation (of a Sneha-Nasya) is marked by the functional derangements of the sense-organs* and a dryness (Rukshatd) of the system without any indication of the amelioration of the disease. The remedy, in such cases, consists in a fresh application of the (oleaginous) snuff. 26.
The proper doses of an oleaginous errhine (Siro-
Vireka) should be four, six or eight drops in accordance
with the strength (of the disease and of the patient
under treatment), 27.
The fra r.ers of the Ayurveda have particularly classi- fied the effects of the application (of a Sneha-Nasya) into three classes, viz., proper or satisfactory, deficient and excessive. The head being satisfactorily cleared (by the satisfactory application (of an oleaginous errhine) is marked by a sense of lightness in the head, clearness of the channels (of the mouth, throat, nostrils, etc.),
*Gayi's reading, according to Dallana, as well S'rikantha's reading is "^jcftajlJW*' which means the functional derangement of the local V^yu,
664 THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XL.
an amelioration of the disease under treatment, healthy
and vigorous workings of the sense-organs and an
exhilarating sensation of the body and of the mind.
Itching, clumsiness of the mouth\ heaviness, satura-
tion of the local channels (of the mouth, throat, etc.)
with mucous coatings are the symptoms which mark
the deficient action of (an oleaginous) errhine. A dis-
charge through the nostrils of Mastulunga (the brain
matter), an aggravation of the Vdyu, dulness of the
sense-organs and a sense of void or emptiness in the
head are the indications which mark an excessive appli-
cation of un (oleaginous) errhine. 28.
Measures and remedies possessed of the virtue of subduing the deranged Kapha and Vdyu should be (re- spectively) employed in cases of excessive and deficient applications of (an oleaginous) errhine (Nasya), while in the case of a proper and satisfactory application the patient should be made to snuff in a quantity of clarified butter on each alternate day or at an interval of two days for one, two or three weeks in succession or for any longer period as considered proper according to the exigency of the case. In a case of an overwhelming aggravation of the Vayu, the patient may be made to use the snuff (of clarified butter) even twice a day. 29.
Avapida- Nasya : —The Avapida-Nasya, like the Siro-Virechana Nasya, should be administered to a person bitten by a snake, or lying in a comatose or unconscious stat j or suffering from a disease of the head due to its being oppressed with an accumulation of fat and mucus (Abhisyanda). An Avpida-Nasya should be administered to a patient by pasting any of the (fresh) Siro-Virechana drugs and putting a few drops therefrom into the nostrils of the patient. In cases of a distraction pf the mind or of a disease of a parasitic origin or of
