Ashtangasamgraha 39

English (machine translation) 39

Language: English

39.1

Now, therefore, we shall explain the chapter on the method of preparing caustics. / Thus said the great sages, Ātreya and others. / Thus said the great sages, Ātreya and others.

Caustic indeed, because it is produced from the combination of various medicinal substances, is the substrate of all tastes, predominantly pungent and salty in taste, sharp, hot, burning, cooking, tearing open, liquefying, cleansing, healing, and destructive of worms, ama, fat, and poison; and it is the best of all instruments and accessory instruments, since it performs excision, incision, splitting, scraping, and so forth; and in nasal piles, tumors, and the like arising in confined spaces where instruments are difficult to apply, and in vitiated wounds that cannot be cured by the knife and frequently flare up, it is employed. / It is of two kinds, by way of the division into external application and internal administration. / And in both cases, one should properly remove the doṣas, especially by purgation; / but in one unsuited for that, [one should remove them] when excessively elevated by non-unctuous enema.

39.3

There, by external application, it is [used] in piles, tumors, anal fistula, nodules, vitiated wounds, sinus ulcers, warts, eyelid diseases, mouth diseases, skin diseases, kilāsa, moles, and the like; / but by internal administration, it is [used] in abdominal swelling, slow poisoning, enlargement of the abdomen, loss of digestive fire, constipation, colic, abdominal distension, urinary calculus, gravel, and the like; it will be instructed in its proper place. / Thus, immediately the pain, pricking sensation, swelling, redness, and excitation cease.

39.4

Caustic, however, should not be employed in either form in the timid, the weak, the emaciated, those afflicted with vāta-pitta, fever, diarrhea, pāṇḍu, diseases of the head or heart, urinary disorders, eye inflammation, timira, anorexia, those weakened by administered emesis or purgation, a menstruating woman, a pregnant woman, in prolapsed or retroverted uterus, generalized body ache, or those who have drunk poison or alcohol; / nor on vital spots, vessels, sinews, joints, cartilages, sutures, arteries, throat, navel, nail-beds, scrotum, penis, bodily channels, and in places with little flesh, and on the eyes except in diseases of the eyelids; / likewise, during cold, heat, rain, overcast days, and strong winds. / One should smear with sesame paste mixed with ghee, honey, and sugar. / Furthermore:

39.5

Now, the [caustic for] external application is of three kinds: moderate, mild, and sharp. / Its preparation method: In autumn, being pure, fasting, dressed in white clothes, on an auspicious day, having offered oblations in the four directions with wine, ground grain, flowers, unbroken grains, and the like to a large kālamuṣkaka tree that is grown in a commendable region, of middle age, and uninjured, and having worshiped it while circumambulating it sunwise, one should consecrate it. / Arising from sallakī, badarī, bilva, palāśa, and tiniśa.

39.6

"Salutations to those deities who dwell here, having taken abode!
Without anger, be pleased to depart, leaving this imperishable dwelling!

That decoction is for washing, and oil cooked with it is for healing,
with gojī, viḍaṅga, madhuka, and all fragrant substances, ground."

39.7

"For the sake of medicine for all living beings I shall take this
tree, not out of greed, nor out of anger—especially for the sake of the brahmins."

An application made of hareṇu flowers, kāsīsa, saurāṣṭrī, and best-quality salt,
finely ground and liquefied with honey, removes ulcers of upadaṃśa.

39.8

Thus [he prays].
Then on the next day, if he sees no portent or unnatural omen there, when the sun has risen to the height of a yoke, having caused the brahmins to recite auspicious mantras, he should fell that tree toward the east or toward the north.
And likewise pāribhadra, palāśa, aśvakarṇa, rājavṛkṣa, mahāvṛkṣa, vṛkṣaka, indravṛkṣa, āsphota, saptacchada, naktamāla, tilvaka, kadalī, bibhītaka, aśvamāraka, pūtīka, citraka, arka, kākajaṅghā, apāmārga, and agnimantha; and barley collected in spring with its awns and stalks; and four [kinds of] kośātakī, along with their roots, fruits, leaves, and branches—having cut them into pieces, placed them upon stone slabs not excessively dried, stacked them separately in a windless place, and having thrown limestone into the stack of muṣkaka, he should ignite them with sesame stalks.
And when burned and the fire is extinguished, having separated the ashes of the limestone, he should stir the remaining one droṇa of all the ashes, with an excess of muṣkaka, into one thousand palas of water and one thousand palas of urine of cows and other [animals], and filter it through a large cloth.
When it has become clear, red, sharp, and slimy, then taking that caustic filtrate, he should discard the ash.
Then he should cook it according to the method for cooking unctuous substances.
And while it is being cooked, he should heat those lime-ash stones, along with the white layer of oyster shells, conch columella, and iron vessel red-hot in the fire, quench them in a measure of just one kuḍava of that clear caustic, grind them extremely smooth with that very [liquid], and add them as an additive.
Then, stirring thoroughly with a ladle, he should cook it until it rises with steamy bubbles and, through thickness, adheres to the ladle; then he should take it down and place it well-concealed in an iron jar inside a heap of barley.
This is the moderate caustic.
Or an application with honey, oil, and ghee is best on an ulcer;
or with lākṣā, drākṣā, linseed, and honey, [or] with honey, śaileya, and tārkṣyaja.

39.9

In the case of the mild [caustic], he should extinguish the stones and the like and remove them, but he should not grind and add them.
In the case of the sharp [caustic], however, dantī, citraka, lāṅgalikā, pūtīka sprouts, tālapatrī, biḍa, svarjikā, kanakakṣīrī, hiṅgu, vacā, and ativiṣā, finely powdered, and calcined conch shells and oyster shells, should be added as an additive as before.
And these should be applied after seven nights according to the strength of the disease.
If its strength has waned, however, he should add caustic liquid again to strengthen it.
There, not excessively sharp, not excessively mild, white, smooth, fast-acting, slimy, forming a peak, easily extinguished, causing little pain, and non-clogging: these are the ten qualities of caustic.
And the faults are also ten.
They are as follows:
excessively hot, excessively cold, excessively sharp, excessively mild, excessively thin, excessively thick, excessively slimy, spreading, deficient in drugs, and deficient in cooking.

39.10

In that caustic procedure, one should prepare swabs, wicks, probes, ladles, small cups, ghee, honey, śukta vinegar, washings of husked grain, whey, milk, water, cold poultices, beds, seats, and the like.
Now, for one who is fit for caustic, seated or lying down and held by trusted attendants, having excised, scraped, or scarified the disease, he should apply the caustic with a probe wrapped with either a swab or a piece of cloth.
Then he should wait for a count of one hundred mātrās.
In diseases of the eyelid, however, having everted the eyelids and covered the black part of the eye with a swab or beeswax, the application of caustic is as thin as a lotus leaf.
For polyps and tumors arising in the nose, having raised the nose of the patient facing the sun, fifty mātrās should be waited.
Likewise in those arising in the ear.
In anal piles, having covered the orifice of the instrument with the hand, he should hold it for just one hundred mātrās.
Then, having wiped it off with a swab and seeing that it is properly cauterised, he should soothe it with ghee and honey, and with śukta vinegar, washings of husked grain, whey, milk, and the like.
After that, he should apply a cold, sweet poultice with ghee.
Foods causing fluid congestion should be eaten to cause softening.
If, however, on account of having firm roots, what was cauterised by caustic does not fall off, then he should apply sesame seeds mixed with sour gruel, seeds, and licorice, or combined with suvarṇakṣīrī, or with trivṛt, viḍaṅga, and heartwood.
Washing of the ulcer is done with a decoction of the leaves of mālatī, vṛṣa, aṅkola, nimba, āsphota, paṭolī, and karavīra.
And ghee or oil prepared in a decoction and paste of these very same [drugs] is healing,
or with nāgapuṣpa, mañjiṣṭhā, candana, and tilaparṇikā;
and one should treat the ulcer according to the disease and the doṣas.
Sesame seeds with yaṣṭimadhuka are praised for its healing.
If it is unsuppurated, [it should be treated] with kuṣṭha, licorice, suradāru, and punarnavā.

39.11

There, when it resembles a ripe jambu fruit, is slightly depressed, and the particular disorder has subsided, it is properly cauterised.
In the opposite case, accompanied by pricking pain, itching, stiffness, and the like, it is poorly cauterised.
In that case, he should apply [it] again.
With burning sensation, scalded feeling, redness, swelling, fever, suppuration, erysipelas, head disease, and aggravation of vāta and pitta, it is excessively cauterised.
Moreover:
In the eye, from excessive application, there is destruction of the organ of sight through perforation of the eyelid.
In the nose, there is destruction of the bridge of the nose and nasal cartilage, contraction, and loss of smell.
Likewise in the ear and other [sense organs], there is harm according to each.
In the anus, there is retention of feces and urine, diarrhea, impairment of virility, and death from perforation of the rectum, or constant swelling, pricking pain, agony, and discharge,
or inability to retain feces, urine, and flatus.
If it has acted excessively, he should promptly and repeatedly extinguish it with the very soothing agents mentioned before.
And for this reason, an excessively large area to be cauterised should not be cauterised all at once.
And on this point there is [a verse]:
Or with nicula, castor seeds, and wheat grits.

39.12

Sour indeed is cold by touch; caustic brought into contact with it
rapidly attains sweetness; therefore he should extinguish it especially with sour substances.

[He should treat an ulcer] born of pitta with cold things, along with sandalwood and blue lotus, abundant in ghee.

39.13

With fever, diarrhea, thirst, confusion, fainting, cardiac pain, and distress, / the catastrophe of alkali burns the body just as fire burns dry brush. / One should sprinkle it with ghee, milk, sugar, sugarcane juice, and honey water.

39.14

Therefore, in cases of excess, one should promptly have him drink curd with ghee, / or curd cream with jaggery, or oil with rock sugar. / One should apply a warm poultice ground with liquor and combined with oil.

39.15

Ghee cooked with twice the quantity of the fresh juice of dhātrī fruit, kapittha, sour pomegranate, / taken as a drink and used for sprinkling, removes the severe pain caused by alkali, / or that caused by śleṣman [should be treated] with patra, pāṭhā, and pattūra.

Linked texts (1)

Aṣṭāṅgasaṃgraha — Vāgbhaṭa, Sanskrit