Ashtangasamgraha 40

English (machine translation) 40

Language: English

40.1

Now we shall explain the chapter on the procedure of thermal cautery: / thus said Ātreya and the other great seers; / thus said Ātreya and the other great seers.

Fire is superior even to alkali, because conditions not cured by drugs, instruments, and alkali are cured by its burning, and because of their non-recurrence.
There, thermal cautery is applied to the skin, flesh, veins, ligaments, joints, and bones.
There, in the case of mole, dark freckle, cutaneous tag, painful, stiff, or flaccid limbs, ophthalmia, adhimantha, and afflictions with pain in the head, brow, temples, and forehead, cautery of the skin is performed using a sun-crystal, pippalī, goat dung, cow's tooth, an arrow, or a probe, appropriately; but in ophthalmia and similar diseases, in the regions of the brow, temple, and forehead.
In benign swelling, tumor, hemorrhoids, fistula-in-ano, cervical lymphadenitis, elephantiasis, inguinal hernia, foul ulcer, sinus, fistula, and deep indolent abscess, cautery of the flesh is performed using a jambu-lip instrument, needle, probe, ghee, jaggery, honey, beeswax, oil, muscle fat, gold, copper, iron, silver, or bell metal.
In tears of veins, ligaments, joints, and bones, excessive hemorrhage, dental sinus, sticky eyelid, ingrown eyelashes, cataract, and improper puncture, cautery of the veins and other parts is performed using a jambu-lip instrument, needle, probe, honey, beeswax, jaggery, and unctuous substances.
Because the gods and demons were dejected merely upon seeing it, it obtained the designation 'viṣa' (poison).

40.3

One should not burn one who has a ruptured viscera, internal hemorrhage, an unextracted foreign body, one afflicted with multiple wounds, nor during the hot season, nor one unfit for alkali. But in an acute disease, one may perform thermal cautery on someone for whom hot remedies have been applied and who has eaten slimy food.

40.4

Then, having performed auspicious rites for the patient fit for cautery, with all equipment brought near, lying with his head to the east, held by trusted attendants, the physician—using embers of khadira, badara, and other trees that are smokeless, large, firm, and bright, blown by bellows air in the manner of blacksmithing, and fanned by a fan so that by the flame rising upward they acquire and assume a brilliant fire color—should burn with the jambu-lip instrument and others, according to the diseased area, by choice of circular, crescent, svastika, eight-legged, dot, or streak strokes, repeatedly reassuring the patient with soothing words and water, until the appearance of the signs of proper burning.
However, in swollen, hollow, torn, dental sinus, and parasitic foul ulcers, having filled them with unctuous substances, beeswax, honey, and jaggery, one should burn them.
And when it is properly burned, one should apply honey and ghee, and cold, unctuous pastes.

40.5

Further, the sign of a proper burn: in a burn of the skin, there is burning accompanied by sound, a bad odor, and contraction of the skin.
In a burn of the flesh, there is a dove-gray color, slight swelling and pain, and a dry, contracted wound.
In a burn of a vein, there is a black and elevated wound, and, when the blood has stopped, an exudation of lymph.
In a burn of ligaments and the like, there is a blackish-red, rough, and firm wound.
The signs of an insufficient burn and an excessive burn, however, are like those of an accidental burn;
and so is the treatment.

40.6

Accidental burns, moreover, are of four kinds: / singed, insufficiently burned, properly burned, and excessively burned. / There, that which is discolored and intensely heated is the singed burn. / That in which blisters arise, with intense heat, burning sensation, and pain, and which subside only after a long time, is the insufficient burn. / That which has the color of a ripe palmyra fruit, is even, and possesses the aforementioned characteristics is the properly burned. / But in an excessive burn, there is severe pain, a sensation of smoking, hanging flesh, disorders of veins and other structures, deep ulceration, fever, burning, thirst, fainting, vomiting, excessive hemorrhage, complications arising therefrom, difficult healing, and discoloration even after healing. / A burn by hot oil or unctuous substance, however, is more distressing, / for because of its penetration of minute channels, the unctuous substance enters deeply. / And on this there is [a verse]:

40.7

For a singed burn, warming by fire should be done, and hot medicine, / because when blood is clotted by cold substances, the heat does not escape outward. / Leaf poisons are those of kālapatrikā, lambā, varadakarambha, arka, and others. / Flower poisons are those of vallī, reṇuka, karambha, mahākarambha, and others. / Fruit poisons are those of kumudvatī, reṇukā, karambha, mahākarambha, madanaka, tuvaraka, and others. / Bark, core-wood, and resin poisons are those of karaka, karaghāṭaka, karambha, mahākarambha, nārācaka, and others. / Milky exudate poisons are those of kumudvatī, dantī, snuhī, arka, jālinī, vyāla, and others. / Mineral poisons are orpiment, arsenical stone, ashes, red arsenic, and others. / Tuber-born poisons, however, are hālāhala, kālakūṭa, vatsanābha, śṛṅgī, sārṣapa, jālaka, kardamaka, vairāṭaka, mustaka, muṣkaka, sāktuka, krauñca, kavālaka, mahāviṣa, puṇḍarīka, gālava, mūlaka, markaṭa, karkaṭaka, karavīraka, indrāyudha, saṅkoca, kalāṅgalaka, tailapeya; and among kuśapuṣpaka: puṣpaka, rohiṣa, añjanābhaka, and others.

40.8

Thereby the pain increases and the blood is burned. / Hot [treatment] draws out the heat and causes abatement of the pain.

Poisons from leaves cause yawning, cramps, and dyspnea. / Poisons from flowers cause vomiting, flatulence, and stupor. / Poisons from fruits cause burning and swelling of the testicles. / Poisons from bark, heartwood, and exudate cause salivation, foul odor in the mouth, roughness [of voice], and headache. / Poisons from latex cause heaviness of the tongue and diarrhea. / Poisons from minerals cause burning in the palate, fainting, and cardiac pain. / And all stationary poison produces fever, hiccup, sensitivity of the teeth, lockjaw, throat constriction, frothy vomiting, anorexia, dyspnea, and fainting—especially [poison] born from tubers. / For that, owing to its extreme sharpness, acts with greater rapidity; / whereas the other generally takes life after a period of time.

40.9

Having applied a cold and a hot treatment to a bad burn, after that / one should apply cold ghee plasters and cold sprinklings.

40.10

In a proper burn, an application is made with bamboo manna, plakṣa, sandalwood, and red ochre, / together with guḍūcī and ghee, or with pastes prepared from wetland meat.

Gaze, breath, touch, fangs, mouth, claws, bones, urine, feces, semen, menstrual fluid, saliva, bristles, bile, blood, and corpses— / these, moreover, reside in snakes, insects, kaṇabhas, and the like. / Their respective resulting diseases and treatment will be described later.

40.11

When the heat has subsided, one should further perform the treatment for a pitta abscess. / In an excessive burn, having removed the sloughed-off flesh, one should perform a cooling

40.12

treatment. Then, after that, one should apply a plaster of crushed husked rice or pounded bark of tindukī mixed with clarified butter.

40.13

One should cover the wound with leaves of guḍūcī or with upodakā, / and provide all treatment for it as for a pitta-born spreading ulcer.

Through its dryness [it aggravates] vāta; / through its clarity it spreads with unobstructed impulse; / through its subtlety and pervasiveness it enters into the doṣas, bodily tissues, waste products, and all parts of the body; / through its rapid action it kills quickly; / through its expansive property it bewilders the mind by cleaving the vital spots; / through its lightness it is difficult to eliminate; through its indistinct taste it provokes phlegm and accompanies all tastes of food. / For this very reason it is said that one must diligently protect foods from poison. / Because it does not undergo digestion, it does not age. / Therefore, when consumed, it inevitably kills. / And even when pacified by the power of mantras and medicines, upon encountering an exciting factor it flares up again. / And on this point it is said:

40.14

In a burn from unctuous substances, however, one should apply an exceedingly dry [treatment]. / Since surgical knife, caustic alkali, and cautery are the supreme weapons of death, / therefore a physician, being vigilant, should apply them properly.

40.15

Thus ends the Sūtrasthāna, the heart of the treatise. / For here subtle matters are stated aphoristically and explained comprehensively everywhere.

According to the combination, it kills swiftly, or after a long time, or after an even longer time; / or it produces swelling, anemia, abdominal enlargement, madness, hemorrhoids, and the like.

40.15_1

Thus ends the fortieth chapter.

40.15_2

The Sūtrasthāna is completed.

1.1_2

Now, therefore, we shall explain the chapter on Desiring a Son.

1.2_2

Now, indeed, a man twenty-one years of age should marry—by a blameless rite—a maiden who does not belong to the same lineage, who is of equal social standing, born of a family free from transmissible diseases, endowed with beauty, good conduct, and auspicious marks, whose teeth, lips, ears, nose, nails, hair, and breasts are neither defective nor ruined, of gentle nature, naturally free from disease, neither brownish-red nor tawny-haired, with limbs neither deficient nor redundant, about twelve years of age, who does not bear names of gods, serpents, rivers, mountains, trees, birds, constellations, outcastes, servants, or terrifying names, and who is sinless and unblemished.

1.3_2

When she has reached sixteen years of age, the man, being twenty-five years of age, should make effort for the sake of a son.

1.4_2

There, the essence of food properly digested, having reached the marrow in due course, receives the name ‘semen’.

1.5_2

Likewise, the blood of women, reaching the uterus month after month and flowing for three days, is called ‘menstrual fluid’.

1.6_2

And when its channels are obstructed by vāta and kapha, and it is not flowing, one should treat it with pitta-increasing [measures].

1.7_2

Or sometimes an enlargement of the abdomen due to vāta occurs like a fetus; that subsides with vāta-pacifying measures.

1.8_2

That very menstrual fluid, sometimes arrested by mild, nourishing foods and regimens, causes the abdomen without complications to swell as if occupied by a fetus.

1.9_2

And if, transgressing even what is seen, certain [beings] endowed with excessive power proceed to distort the body of the fetus, then how, having obtained the opportunity, would they neglect its mother?

1.10_2

Furthermore, menstrual fluid resembling rabbit's blood or the juice of lac, which does not stain when washed, is said to be pure.

1.11_2

And just as the flower or fruit of a young or old tree, or the scent of such a flower or fruit, is not observed, exactly so semen, body hair, and the like are not present in a man under sixteen or past seventy years of age, nor are the menses, breast milk, and the like present in a woman under twelve or past fifty years of age.

1.12_2

Then, having oleated a disease-free couple whose semen and menstrual fluid are pure and who are mutually affectionate, and having purified them properly, one should treat them with non-unctuous and unctuous enemas.

1.13_2

Semen affected by vāta, pitta, or phlegm, smelling of a corpse, knotty, purulent, depleted, or resembling urine or feces, is infertile.

1.14_2

Menstrual fluid also, afflicted by the doṣas like semen, is indeed infertile.

1.15_2

Moreover, in a vāta-born defect of semen, ghee prepared with vasuka, rock salt, and acid fruits, with an admixture of barley alkali, is taken as a drink.

1.16_2

In a vāta-born defect of the menstrual flow, ghee prepared with bhārṅgī, madhuka, and bhadradāru is taken as a drink.

1.17_2

In the case of semen smelling of a corpse, one should have [the patient] drink ghee prepared with dhātakī flowers, khadira, arjuna, and pomegranate, or with [the herbs of] the asanādi group.

1.18_2

And in all defects of semen and menstrual fluid, one should repeatedly treat the woman and the man with oleation and other procedures, and especially with urethral or vaginal douches.

1.19_2

The fertile period, when menstrual fluid is seen, lasts twelve nights.

1.20_2

Her face being slender and serene, her hips and breasts throbbing,

1.21_2

Just as a lotus closes when the day is past, so

1.22_2

The blood accumulated over a month through the vessels in the fertile period again

1.23_2

Then, from the first day of the appearance of the menses, observing chastity, devoid of bathing and ornamentation, sleeping on a mat of darbha grass, she should remain for three nights.

1.24_2

On the fourth day, rubbed down, bathed in cold water, anointed, adorned, wearing white garlands and garments, having performed auspicious rites and prayers for welfare, with single-minded attention she should look upon her husband who is in a similar state.

1.25_2

Then, after that bath, one who desires a virtuous son should wait for yet another three nights.

1.26_2

In that regard, on even nights the menstrual fluid decreases, while on odd nights it increases.

1.27_2

Then the preceptor should perform the rite for obtaining a son.

1.28_2

At the conclusion of the rite, the man—having remained celibate for a month, having eaten boiled śāli rice with ghee and milk, being not overly full, comfortable, wearing a garland, happy in mind, his limbs refreshed, dressed in white garments, during a period of the night approved by the astrologer, contemplating auspicious things and desiring her—should mount the well-spread bed first with his right foot.

1.29_2

Then, soothing each other with gentle words, they should unite joyfully and harmoniously.

1.30_2

In that state, a woman who is overeaten, hungry, thirsty, frightened, dejected, afflicted with grief, angry, excessively fat, desirous of another man, or without desire for sexual intercourse, does not conceive, or bears a defective fetus.

1.31_2

And recognizing that she has conceived, before the manifestation [of sex] of the fetus, one should administer the pumsavana rites under the constellation Puṣya.

1.32_2

Namely:

1.33_2

Wearing a white garland and garments, the woman should drink with milk the root-paste of lakṣmaṇā, gathered under Puṣya, in the quantity of an udumbara fruit, for the production and stabilization of a son.

1.34_2

And whatever else the brāhmaṇas or elderly women might say, that too she should do.

1.35_2

And the attendants, as well as the husband, should have gentle forms, speech, manners, and conduct, complying with what is pleasing and beneficial.

1.36_2

In that context, when the semen is white or resembles the scum of ghee, the fetus has fairness; when it resembles sesame oil, darkness; and when it resembles honey, swarthiness.

1.37_2

Likewise, fairness arises from the conjunction of the fire element with the water and space elements.

1.38_2

Moreover, the determinants of mental disposition are the dispositions of the mother and father, the texts constantly heard by the pregnant woman, and her own accumulated past actions.

1.39_2

And on this matter there are verses:

1.40_2

Just as clean cloth takes up color immediately upon contact,

1.41_2

so the effect of an action undertaken at the proper time certainly occurs when fate is not opposed.

1.42_2

And thus born, they are handsome, endowed with pure disposition, and long-lived;

1.43_2

a woman devoted to deities, proper conduct, and purity gives birth to an offspring of great excellence.

1.44_2

Even from the woman, semen is indeed discharged during intercourse with a man.

2.1_2

Now, therefore, we shall explain the chapter on anatomy concerning the descent of the fetus.

2.2_2

When the old menstrual blood has departed and the new is established, the uterus and vaginal tract being cleansed, the semen—in the form of the seed, unvitiated, propelled by unvitiated vāta, accompanied by the other gross elements, mingled with the menstrual fluid, united immediately with the living self driven by its own past karma, acting under the sway of afflictions such as passion, and possessing the speed of thought—enters the uterus.

2.3_2

And because effects conform to their causes, it acquires similarity to them.

2.4_2

Now, the signs of a woman who has newly conceived are: reception of the seed by the vulva, satiety, heaviness, throbbing, and retention of the semen and menstrual fluid.

2.5_2

And the pathways of her bodily channels carrying menstrual blood are obstructed by the fetus.

2.6_2

And the remainder of the blood, aside from the placenta, goes upward.

2.7_2

There, in the first month, the gelatinous mass is formed.

2.8_2

And according to their nature, states corresponding to any of the male, female, or neuter sexes become established in the mind and body of the fetus.

2.9_2

Namely:

2.10_2

And then its sensation becomes distinct.

2.11_2

For its heart is derived from the mother; it is connected to the mother's heart by channels that carry chyle.

2.12_2

And when her craving is intense, one may give her even what is unwholesome, provided it is combined with what is wholesome.

2.13_2

In the fourth month, the division of major and minor limbs becomes distinct, and the fetus becomes firm.

2.14_2

In the eighth month, the fetus from the mother and the mother from the fetus mutually draw vital essence again and again through the vessels carrying chyle; therefore, at that time, the pregnant woman is alternately delighted and languid, and likewise the fetus.

2.15_2

Others, however, say:

2.16_2

The male fetus remains facing the mother's back, with folded hands on the forehead, limbs contracted, occupying the right side within the womb.

2.17_2

Then, as its major and minor limbs become distinct, a cord is attached to its navel; to the cord is attached the placenta, and to that, the mother's heart.

2.18_2

For the unborn, because food and drink do not directly enter and because chyle is free from waste, gross wastes cannot arise; the fetus thus situated in the abdomen, however, at the time of birth, due to the action of the labor wind, turns, emerges head downwards, and following it, the placenta detached from the mother's heart.

2.19_2

In that regard, she who steps forward with the right foot first, whose right arm is stronger and acts with it, in whose right breast milk appears first, whose right side of the belly is elevated, whose womb is circular, who takes delight in seeing, touching, inquiring about, and the longings for things with masculine names, and who sees dreams with masculine names, with a bright facial complexion, sharp hunger, an upward-pointing line of hair, and desire for men—she gives birth to a son; with the opposite of these, to a daughter; and with a mixture, to a neuter.

2.20_2

When, however, vāta going in the wrong direction dries up the chyle-carrying bodily channels of the fetus, then it is born afflicted by vāta disorders or with deficient limbs.

2.21_2

When the climax of both the woman and the man occurs at the very same time;

2.22_2

When the woman reaches climax first, and the semen is discharged later by the man, the vāta of the woman whose mind is unsettled by excitement vitiates [the semen] and damages the channels carrying masculinity; then a person of the vātendriya type is produced.

2.23_2

When, however, it does not damage them entirely, or without damaging them merely closes the opening of the channel, then one who is remediable by purificatory rites is produced.

2.24_2

When a man of deficient seed, deficient strength, perturbed, filled with aversion to women, or desiring another woman hinders intercourse with the woman; or when a woman of such condition hinders the man;

2.25_2

When, however, both the woman and the man are of such a condition, then a curved-penis individual is born.

2.26_2

When a fetus is conceived by a woman with a fetid vulva, it is called saugandhika, which gains strength from the odor of the vulva and the penis.

2.27_2

When, however, overcome by jealousy and with diminished sexual excitement, the two unite, that is known as īrṣyārati.

2.28_2

When there is destruction of the testicles of a male fetus due to a defect of vāta and fire, then it is called a vātaṣaṇḍaka.

2.29_2

When, however, the doṣas slightly vitiate the woman's blood and uterus, then in the fetus that is formed, whichever maternal organ's seed or portion of seed is aggravated by the doṣa, into that very organ deformity enters.

2.30_2

For when the productive seed located in the uterus within the seed called ovum is vitiated, it produces a barren female.

2.31_2

When, however, that part [of the seed is afflicted]—namely, a part of those seed-portions that produce female-determining [characteristics] residing in the body, such as heaviness in the lower body and the like—

2.32_2

In the very same manner, one should apply [this reasoning] when the seed within the male seed called semen is vitiated, [resulting in the production of] a sterile man, one whose offspring dies, a non-male who mostly has the appearance of a man, and what is known as a tṛṇamukhin. By this, the impairment of the parts derived from the mother and derived from the father has been explained.

2.33_2

By this, the impairment of parts derived from wholesome habituation, derived from nutrient fluid, and derived from the mind is explained.

2.34_2

And when a woman who has conceived immediately partakes of vāta-provoking things, then her aggravated vāta, circulating through the body and lodging in the womb, causes the fetus to become dull, deaf, mute, nasal-voiced, stammering, lame, hunchbacked, dwarfed, deficient in limbs, excessive in limbs, or causes some other vāta disorder.

2.35_2

Moreover, if the bodily fire fails to reach the visual component, congenital blindness [results].

2.36_2

For the pregnant woman shares the same well-being as the fetus.

2.37_2

Likewise, for the purpose of protection from malevolent deities and demons, and for non-depletion, she should not wear red garments, should not mount a vehicle, and should not consume alcohol and meat.

2.38_2

Therefore, the two [parents], desiring excellence of offspring, should properly care for themselves.

2.39

Such is the rule in a non-urgent disease; in an urgent one, however, / one should protect the woman with effort, even through drastic therapeutic measures. // It produces fever with pain, swelling, discoloration, and ache. // Having analyzed [it], one should apply [treatment] in due time; otherwise, it kills the feverish patient. // Separately with whey, beer-scum, and emblic myrobalan fruit juice, / or combined with sauvīraka, or with paste of trivṛt, // with bhārṅgī, cardamom, bitter gourd, rāsnā, punarnavā, and black mustard.

2.40

For woman is the root of offspring, and woman, protected, protects. / The state of householder is the first and blameless among all life stages. // Due to affliction by a spirit, in this [condition] there is sudden laughter and crying. // Boiled and cooled, mixed with honey, it destroys thirst, burning sensation, and fever. // One should drink that prepared in the juice of emblic myrobalans with a paste of marrow. // One should cook a prastha of oil equal to beer-scum as an unguent.

2.41

When the mouth is covered by the fetal membrane and the throat is enveloped by kapha, / and because of the obstruction to the pathway of vāta, the one in the womb does not cry out. // From poison, fainting, diarrhea, blackness of the face, burning sensation, and heart diseases [arise]. // Or one should drink it boiled with four parts of water or with pippalī. // One should drink [water] prepared in a decoction, with pastes of śyāmā and other [herbs]. // Licked with honey, it relieves pitta-fever and diarrhea.

3.1_2

Now, we shall explain the chapter on the regimen for the pregnant woman.

3.2_2

In the first month, the pregnant woman should drink unmedicated milk in measured quantity, cold, from time to time.

3.3_2

In the second, she should drink milk boiled with sweet herbs.

3.4_2

Then, one should give her a palmful of butter prepared with sweet herbs together with jujube water.

3.5_2

In the eighth [month], she should drink milk-gruel with ghee.

3.6_2

One should administer an evacuating enema with jujube water mixed with meat paste, milk, curd whey, oil, salt, madanaphala, ghee, and honey.

3.7_2

One should administer an evacuating enema or an unctuous enema to the pregnant woman while she is bending forward.

3.8_2

Beyond that, one should treat her with unctuous gruels and meat broths of wild animals until the time of delivery; so says the venerable Dhanvantari.

3.9_2

In the ninth [month], however, one should introduce a tampon soaked in that very unctuous enema oil into the vagina for the purpose of unctuating the birth passage and womb.

3.10_2

One should prescribe daily bathing for the pregnant woman with a cold decoction of the leaves of bilva, tree cotton, paphphaṇā, pāṭalī, picumanda, agnimantha, māsa, and ivycourd, or with all-fragrance water.

3.11_2

And prior to her ninth month, on auspicious ground cleared of bones, gravel, and potsherds, one should have a maternity home constructed, commended by architecture, comfortable in all seasons, supplied with all equipment, having fire nearby, and facing east or north.

3.12_2

There, under favorable constellations and the like, having bowed to cows, brāhmaṇas, and elders with the proclamation of an auspicious day, turning clockwise as she enters, surrounded by women who have given birth many times, who are affectionate, cheerful, and capable of enduring hardship, with her vāta, urine, and feces normalized by diet and conduct conducive to blessing and descending flow, she should await the time of delivery.

3.13_2

There, in a woman near delivery, there are fatigue, exhaustion, eyes as if freed from their bonds, spitting, excess of urine and feces, looseness of the abdomen, heaviness of the lower body, lack of desire for food, and pain in the abdomen, cardiac region, waist, bladder, and groins, as well as pricking, splitting pain, colic, throbbing, and discharge in the vagina.

3.14_2

Then, once the fetus has presented, [the mother], having had protective rites performed, holding fruits of masculine names, well anointed, and sprinkled with hot water, should be made to drink gruel with ghee.

3.15_2

Then, one should give her the powder of kuṣṭha, cardamom, lāṅgalī, vacā, cavya, citraka, and cirabilva to inhale again and again.

3.16_2

Alone the fetus turns downwards.

3.17_2

Others say, however, that a mortar filled with grain should be pounded with a pestle.

3.18_2

Then, having placed her whose fetus has turned onto a bed, a skilled woman seated at her feet, having massaged the vagina in a downward direction comfortably, should press the buttocks with her feet.

3.19_2

Another [woman], however, should whisper this mantra into her left ear:

3.20_2

"Earth, water, space, fire, wind, Viṣṇu, and Prajāpati;

3.21_2

Give birth without distress, free from distress, O fair-faced woman!"

3.22_2

Likewise—

3.23_2

"Indeed, may this nectar lifted from the waters release this light fetus of yours, O woman!"

3.24_2

Likewise, another should instruct: "Do not bear down when pain has not arrived;

3.25_2

and at first, bear down very gently."

3.26_2

In the event of obstruction of the fetus, however, one should fumigate the vagina with the slough of a black snake.

3.27_2

Then, in a delivered woman, if the placenta does not fall, pressing firmly above the navel with the right hand and supporting from the back with the other, one should shake [her].

3.28_2

Or one should strike the pelvis with the heel.

3.29_2

And one should fumigate the vagina with birch bark, glass bead, and snake slough.

3.30_2

One should make her drink a paste of kuṣṭha and tālīsa with any of the following: a soup of bilva and balbaja, maireya liquor, āsava, or beer-scum; or with pungent, hot, sour horse-gram broth mixed with trikaṭu, or with a boiled preparation of liquorice and pippalī.

3.31_2

Or [she should drink] a paste of kuṣṭha and cardamom with surā wine.

3.32_2

And one should administer an evacuating enema using irrigations of bilva and balbaja soup and the like, combined with madanaphala, jīmūtaka, ikṣvāku, dhāmārgava, kuṭaja, arka, kṛtavedhana, hastiparṇī, and śatāvarī.

3.33_2

He should administer a urethral or vaginal douche of mustard oil prepared with the aforesaid substances for evacuating enema.

3.34_2

If, in a woman who has delivered, there should be pain called makkala in the bladder, head, or abdomen, she should drink powder of barley alkali with ghee or with lukewarm water.

3.35_2

Or [she should take it] with an additive of the vīratarādi or ūṣarādi group [of herbs].

3.36_2

If her vagina should prolapse from its normal position,

3.37_2

Likewise, another woman should attend to the newborn infant according to the procedure prescribed for the management of children.

3.38_2

And after she has drunk [the preparation], having anointed [her] with a mixture of two fats, one should wrap her abdomen with cloth.

3.39_2

Having observed [this regimen] for three nights, five nights, or seven nights, [she should] then [be sustained] with a soup of barley, jujube, and horse gram, and with light food and drink.

3.40_2

For this very reason, a disease of a puerperal woman is difficult to cure or incurable.

3.41_2

Beginning from the first month in this manner, until she is again capable of conception:

4.1_2

Now, therefore, we shall explain disorders of pregnancy.

4.2_2

If a pregnant woman indulges in things that ought to be avoided,

4.3_2

namely:

4.4_2

When blood discharges excessively, however, one should have her ingest a dose of one akṣa of that very [medicine].

4.5_2

Or powder of dhātakī, red ochre, resin of Shorea robusta, and rasāñjana with honey;

4.6_2

Or rice powder with a decoction of kaśeruka, lotus root, śṛṅgāṭaka, kāśmarya, parūṣaka, grapes, sārivā, prapauṇḍarīka, anantā, blue water lily, and seeds of kadamba, sweetened with sugar and honey.

4.7_2

To a woman without visible bleeding, however, one should have her drink milk prepared with madhuka, payasyā, and suradāru.

4.8_2

When bleeding appears in a woman who has not completed three months, the fetus usually does not survive, because its tissue essence has not formed.

4.9_2

Even thereafter, if there is association with āma, [the fetus does not survive] because the treatments are contradictory.

4.10_2

Namely:

4.11_2

When an unformed fetus has miscarried, however, one should make her drink any of the alcoholic beverages, according to her capacity.

4.12_2

Thereafter, with foods that nourish, preserve strength, and are non-unctuous, until purification of the moisture of doṣas and bodily tissues [is achieved].

4.13_2

In a woman, however, whose fetus is mature and has formed tissue essence, if bleeding or another vaginal discharge should occur due to failure to avoid things that should be avoided,

4.14_2

in that case, if an occasional and scant discharge of menstrual fluid is observed, and the fetus moves constantly without diminishing from the size it has attained;

4.15_2

When those two, nourished by a small amount of the mother's food energy, become developed, endowed with hair, teeth, and so forth;

4.16_2

There, in both upaviṣṭaka and upaśuṣkaka due to vāta, vāyu is obstructed; stool is passed with sound, frothy, and broken up; urine is retained; there is pain in the waist, back, and heart region, yawning, sleeplessness, frequent coryza, dry cough, exhaustion; the ears ring, as it were; the temples ache with piercing pain, as it were; the body feels as if ants are crawling over it; vāyu roams about in the belly as if cutting through it; darkness seems to enter; digestion of food occurs with difficulty; there is daily emaciation, and cracked, discolored, rough skin occurs.

4.17_2

Due to pitta, coppery and greenish stools are passed; there is a sensation of smoking, acid eructation, vomiting, fainting, burning in the belly and heart region; the eyes, urine, nails, and skin resemble yellow, red, and cow's urine; and the woman becomes dark, weak, and constantly swollen.

4.18_2

Due to śleṣman, there is sweet taste in the mouth, nausea, vomiting of phlegm, aversion to food, whiteness of the hands, feet, and eyes, cough, and dyspnea.

4.19_2

For those two, the use of ghṛtas prepared with vitalizing, nourishing, and sweet drugs [is indicated].

4.20_2

Then, specifically in [a condition caused by] vāta, having first administered a milk enema containing rock salt, one should feed her soft cooked śāli rice after she has bathed in cool water.

4.21_2

One should cook ghee with a paste of payasyā, both kākolīs, and suniṣaṇṇaka, and with milk.

4.22_2

Having combined five vessels of sesame, mung beans, māṣa, salt, and bilva with one vessel of ghee, one should store it well-concealed.

4.23_2

When a fetus, tucked away in the bodily channels affected by vāta, remains dormant and does not pulsate, they call that [fetus] lāna.

4.24_2

In the eighth month, however, one should give an oily enema with oil prepared with madhuka.

4.25_2

For upward movement of vāta, if neglected, will quickly destroy the pregnant woman together with the fetus.

4.26_2

In a woman whose fetus is released from its attachment like a fruit from its stalk—due to excessive accumulation of doṣas, or due to aforesaid causes such as sexual intercourse, or due to other diseases, or due to previously accumulated karma of the mother and child—that fetus, freed from its attachment, passes beyond the uterus and, descending through the spaces between the liver, spleen, and intestines, causes agitation in the abdominal cavity.

Commentaries (1)

Śaśilekhā — Indu, Sanskrit

Linked texts (1)

Aṣṭāṅgasaṃgraha — Vāgbhaṭa, Sanskrit