The Compendium of Caraka 6.7: saptamo 'adhyāyaḥ/

Now we shall explain the treatment of kuṣṭha.

Thus spoke the venerable Ātreya.

The cause, the substance, the symptom, the seat, and the pacification of kuṣṭhas,

listen, Agniveśa, completely and specifically, of those that destroy the sense of touch!

In those who indulge in incompatible foods and drinks, and liquid, unctuous, and heavy [foods], / and who suppress incoming vomiting and other natural urges;

in those who resort to exercise and excessive heat after eating excessively, / and who partake of cold, hot, fasting, and food abandoning the proper order;

in those afflicted with heat, exertion, and fear who swiftly resort to cold water, / in those who eat when food is undigested, and those who commit errors in the five procedures;

in those who consume new grain, curd, fish, and excessive salt and sour, / and who eat black gram, radish, flour foods, sesame, milk, and jaggery;

and in those who resort to intercourse when food is undigested and to sleep by day, / who insult brahmins and elders, and perform sinful deeds;

the three [doṣas], vāta and the rest, corrupted, vitiate skin, blood, flesh, and lymph: / that is the sevenfold collection of substances of kuṣṭhas.

From these arise the seven and eleven kuṣṭhas; / and no kuṣṭha born of a single doṣa is found.

Loss of tactile sensation, excessive sweating or none, discoloration, elevation / of urticarial patches, gooseflesh, itching, piercing pain, fatigue, exhaustion,

excessive pain in ulcers, swift arising and long persistence, / burning, and numbness in the limbs—such is the prodromal sign of kuṣṭha. / Hereafter, we shall instruct the symptoms of the eighteen kuṣṭhas: kapāla, udumbara, maṇḍala, ṛṣyajihva, puṇḍarīka, sidhma, kākaṇaka, ekakuṣṭha, carmākhya, kiṭima, vipādikā, alasaka, dadru, carmadala, pāmā, visphoṭaka, śatāru, and vicarcikā.

That which resembles a blackish-red potsherd, is dry, rough, and thin, / has abundant piercing pain, and is irregular, is known as kāpāla kuṣṭha.

Surrounded by burning, itching, pain, and redness, with tawny hairs, / resembling the udumbara fruit, they know kuṣṭha as audumbara.

White, red, stable, dense, unctuous, with raised circular patches, / difficult to cure, and joined to one another, the kuṣṭha is called maṇḍala.

Rough, red-edged, dusky within, painful, / and shaped like the tongue of a nilgai, that is called ṛṣyajihva.

Whitish, red-edged, resembling a lotus petal, / elevated, and accompanied by burning, that is called puṇḍarīka.

White, coppery, and thin, which when rubbed sheds dust, / having the color of an alābū flower, sidhma is mostly on the chest. / That which has the color of a kākaṇantīkā seed, does not suppurate, has severe pain, / and has the signs of all three doṣas, that kuṣṭha is kākaṇa; it does not heal at all. / Thus are the seven major kuṣṭhas. / Sweating-free, having a large base, and resembling fish scales, / that is ekakuṣṭha; that named carman is thick like elephant skin.

Dusky, hard to the touch like a scar, and rough is known as kiṭima; / vaipādika has cracking of the hands and feet and severe pain.

Alasaka is covered with itchy and red nodules; / dadru has itching, red pimples, and raised circular patches.

That which is red, itchy, with blisters, painful, and cracks, / that is declared carmadala, and is called intolerable to the touch. / Pāmā consists of white, reddish, or dusky, exceedingly itchy pimples; / visphoṭakas are blisters of thin skin, whitish-red in appearance.

Red, dusky, with burning and aching, śatāru has numerous ulcers; / vicarcikā has itchy, dusky pimples with abundant discharge. / Thus are the eleven minor kuṣṭhas. / When vāta is predominant, one should know the kuṣṭha as kāpāla; maṇḍala in kapha; / audumbara in pitta; but kākaṇa is born of all three doṣas.

When vāta and pitta are aggravated, ṛṣyajihva is produced; / when kapha and pitta are aggravated, puṇḍarīka; and when vāta and kapha are aggravated, sidhma.

The kuṣṭha named carmākhya, ekakuṣṭha, kiṭima with vipādikā, / and alasaka are to be known as generally having an excess of vāta and kapha.

Pāmā, śatāru, visphoṭa, dadru, and likewise carmadala / generally have an excess of pitta and kapha; vicarcikā consists predominantly of kapha.

All kuṣṭha is born of the three doṣas; but having understood the strength and weakness / of the doṣas by their respective signs, the treatment of the kuṣṭhas is undertaken.

Whichever doṣa's distinctive symptom one observes to be heightened in kuṣṭhas, / of that one should bring about pacification, and thereafter of the accompanying doṣa.

By the specific kuṣṭhas the doṣas are known, and by the specific doṣas the kuṣṭhas; / by them the cause is known, and the cause reveals them. / Dryness, emaciation, piercing pain, aching, contraction, elongation, / roughness, harshness, horripilation, and a dusky-red color—

these are the sign of vāta in kuṣṭhas. Burning, redness, exudation, suppuration, / a putrid odor, moisture, and sloughing of body parts are caused by pitta.

Whiteness, coldness, itching, firmness, elevation, heaviness, unctuousness, / devouring by maggots, and moisture are the sign of kapha in kuṣṭhas.

The wise physician should abandon a weak patient who has all the symptoms, / who is overwhelmed with thirst and burning, whose digestive fire is extinguished, and who is devoured by maggots.

That which has an excess of vāta and kapha, and whichever is aggravated by a single doṣa, is not difficult to cure; / but those in which kapha-pitta or vāta-pitta predominate are difficult to cure.

In kuṣṭhas dominated by vāta, ghee is [indicated]; emesis in those dominated by kapha; / and in those dominated by pitta, blood-letting and purgation are foremost.

Formulations for emesis and purgation stated in the Kalpasthāna should be administered to patients with kuṣṭha; / scarification is commended in minor kuṣṭha, and venesection in major.

A patient with kuṣṭha whose doṣas are abundant should be purified repeatedly while preserving his vitality; / for if the doṣas are expelled in excess, vāyu quickly destroys a weak person.

Drinking of unctuous substances is desired once the digestive tract is cleansed and blood has been let; / for vāyu quickly enters a patient with kuṣṭha who is weak and has a cleansed digestive tract.

When the doṣas are agitated in the heart, and in kuṣṭhas of the upper parts, one should induce vomiting / with seeds of kuṭaja, madana, and yaṣṭīmadhu along with paṭola and the juice of nimba.

Cold-infusion juice, boiled juice, varieties of honey, and madhuka are emetics; / in kuṣṭhas, trivṛt, dantī, and triphalā are commended for purgation.

Sauvīraka, tuṣodaka, churned drinks, āsavas, and sīdhus / are praised as downward-evacuating agents, and the regimen of aftercare is desired according to the purgation.

A patient with kuṣṭha should be given a non-unctuous enema with dārvī, bṛhatī, sevya, / paṭola, picumarda, madana, kṛtamāla, / indrayava, and mustā, along with unctuous substances.

Observing that a patient in whom vāta is prominent, who has been purged and given a non-unctuous enema, is fit for an unctuous enema, / one should prepare a medicated fat with madana fruit, madhuka, nimba, kuṭaja, and paṭola.

Saindhava salt, dantī, black pepper, phaṇijjhaka, pippalī, and karañja fruit / along with viḍaṅga make an errhine that destroys worms, kuṣṭha, and the provocation of kapha. / Worms, kuṣṭha, and kilāsa situated in the head are pacified / when purgative smokes mentioned in the Ślōkasthāna are applied.

In firm, hard patches that have been fomented with stone-bed and tube sudations / and scraped with wire brushes, the agitation of blood should be removed.

Fomented with comfortable, warm poultices of meats of marshland and aquatic creatures, / the raised kuṣṭha should be scraped with a sharp instrument. / Or, for bringing forth blood, one should apply horns or gourds to the kuṣṭha; / or, having scarified a minor kuṣṭha, one should purge it by means of leeches. / Those pastes which are applied for kuṣṭhas whose blood and doṣas have been expelled / and whose internal cavities have been cleansed yield immediate success.

In those where the knife cannot reach and which destroy the sense of touch, / an alkali should be applied after letting out the blood and the doṣas.

In kuṣṭha that is hard as stone, rough, numb, fixed, and chronic, / after the patient drinks an antitoxin, a plaster with poisons should be applied, followed by antitoxins.

Kuṣṭhas that are rigid, deeply numb, sweatless, and itchy / [should be rubbed] with brushes made of dantī, trivṛt, karavīra, karañja, and kuṭaja,

or with leaves of jātī, arka, and nimba, or with instruments, or with cuttlefish bone, / or rubbed with cow dung, and then plastered with topical pastes.

The treatment stated to destroy vāta- and kapha-kuṣṭha should be applied; for patients with pitta-kuṣṭha, / elimination of kapha, pitta, and blood, and pacification with bitter and astringent substances [are indicated].

Bitter ghees and whatever other measure destroys rakta-pitta, / external and internal, of highest excellence, should be done in pitta-kuṣṭhas. / Thus this action destroying kuṣṭha has been declared according to the division of doṣa excess; / I shall now describe the pacification of kuṣṭha in general due to the commonality of skin morbidity.

Dārvī or rasāñjana with cow's urine checks kuṣṭha; / or abhayā taken for a month with vyoṣa, jaggery, and sesame oil.

The root of paṭola and of gavākṣī, one pala each, and bark of triphalā; / trāyamāṇā and kaṭurohiṇī, half a part each, with a fourth-part of ginger: / a man should drink a pala of these powdered together, boiled in water, to eliminate the doṣas; / when it is digested, he should take old śāli rice with the meat soups of arid-land beasts and birds.

This destroys kuṣṭhas, swelling, disorders of the grahaṇī, difficult hemorrhoids, and halīmaka / in a six-night course, and also heart pain, bladder pain, and intermittent fever.

Mustā, vyoṣa, triphalā, mañjiṣṭhā, devadāru, both pañcamūlas, / bark of saptacchada and nimba, viśālā, citraka, mūrvā—

this powder combined with nine parts of parched-grain flour and with honey and ghee / is prepared as a dietary preparation to be eaten for eradicating kuṣṭha; / it completely destroys swelling, anemia, vitiligo, disorders of the grahaṇī, hemorrhoids, / inguinal hernia, fistula-in-ano, pimples, itching, and urticarial patches. / Thus the Mustādi Powder. / Triphalā, ativiṣā, kaṭukā, nimba, kaliṅgaka, vacā, paṭola, / māgadhikā, the two rajanīs, padmaka, mūrvā, viśālā,

bhūnimba, and palāśa: one should take two palas of each; then double the amount of trivṛt, / and again of brāhmī; that powder is supreme in destroying numbness.

The use of sulphur with the juice of jātī along with honey is supreme; / and copper pyrite with cow's urine destroys the seventeen types of kuṣṭha. / Or the use of processed sulphur or suvarṇamākṣika is best; / one afflicted with kuṣṭha should take properly prepared and stabilized mercury to eradicate all diseases, / or combined with diamond and śilājatu, or combined with yogarāja; / the kuṣṭha patient, having curbed himself, should continually consume it to pacify all diseases.

Having boiled the heartwood of khadira and devadāru, one should use their decoction in place of water / in a prastha of honey; both of these [woods] should be taken in the amount of eight palas.

Into that, one should throw eight palas of iron powder, and likewise these: / triphalā, elā, cinnamon bark, marica, patra, and kanaka—a karṣa of each;

candied sugar equal to the honey. After it has matured for a month in an iron vessel, / one who uses this madhvāsava finds that his kuṣṭha and kilāsa are pacified. / Thus the Madhvāsava. / Having poured a droṇa of decoction of khadira into a jar smeared with ghee, / powdered substances weighing six palas each should be added here:

triphalā, vyoṣa, viḍaṅga, rajanī, mustā, aṭarūṣaka, indrayava, / sauvarṇī, as well as cinnamon bark, and chinnaruhā. For a month,

one should place it in the midst of grain. Then, one should drink it morning after morning according to proper proportion; / in a month it indeed destroys mahākuṣṭha, and a mild form in a fortnight;

as well as hemorrhoids, dyspnea, fistula-in-ano, cough, kilāsa, urinary disorders, and consumption; / a man becomes gold-colored after drinking the Kanakabindvariṣṭa. / Thus Kanakabindvariṣṭa. / Thus it should be drunk in kuṣṭhas caused by vāta and kapha, and also in those caused by pitta; / and a decoction of kṛtamāla [should be used], especially in those caused by kapha.

And the Triphalāsava made with jaggery and with citraka completely destroys kuṣṭha diseases / when combined with kramuka, daśamūla, dantī, varāṅga, and honey.

One should know that light foods are beneficial in kuṣṭhas, and bitter vegetables, / as well as foods and ghees prepared with bhallātaka, triphalā, and nimba.

Aged grains, meats of arid-land animals, and mudga beans cooked with paṭola / are recommended; not heavy, sour [foods], milk, and curd, nor wetland meats and fish, nor jaggery and sesame seeds.

Elā, kuṣṭha, dārvī, śatapuṣpā, citraka, and viḍaṅga, / as well as rasāñjana and abhayā, are desirable as a plaster for kuṣṭha.

Citraka, elā, bimbī, vṛṣaka, trivṛt, arka, and nāgara / powdered together should be impregnated for eight days with the alkali of palāśa / strained through cow's urine. By this, his round patches quickly / break open and melt away when smeared and heated by the sun.

Māṃsī, marica, salt, rajanī, tagara, sudhā, soot from the house, / cow's urine, bile, and palāśa alkali make a plaster that destroys kuṣṭha. / Powder of tin, lead, and iron destroys round patches; phalgu, citraka, bṛhatī, / godhā-meat soup with salt, devadāru, and cow's urine destroy round patches.

With clear alkali-water of kadalī, palāśa, pāṭalī, and nicula, / one should supply water in meats, in flour, and in fermenting yeast; / the well-formed medaka liquor produced by those yeasts makes a praised plaster / that destroys maṇḍalakuṣṭha when standing in the sun, and kills worms.

Mustā, madana, triphalā, karañja, āragvadha, kaliṅgayava, / dārvī, along with saptaparṇa: this bath is called Siddhārthaka.

This decoction is an emetic, a purgative, an application for restoring skin complexion, and an abrasive powder; / it overcomes skin afflictions, kuṣṭha, and swelling, and destroys anemia.

Kuṣṭha, karañja seeds, and eḍagaja make a plaster that eradicates kuṣṭha; / as well as prapunnāḍa seeds, rock salt, rasāñjana, kapittha, and lodhra.

Root of white karavīra, fruits of kuṭaja and karañja, bark of dārvī, / combined with sprouts of sumanas, is a proven plaster that removes kuṣṭha.

A paste of lodhra, dhātakī, seeds of vatsaka, naktamāla, / and mālatī is used for friction-massage and plastering in kuṣṭhas.

Bark of śirīṣa, flower of kārpāsī, leaves of rājavṛkṣa, / and ground kākamācī make four kinds of plaster that remove kuṣṭha. / Thus the plasters. / Of dārvī and rasāñjana, of nimba and paṭola, of heartwood of khadira, / of āragvadha and vṛkṣaka, of triphalā, of saptaparṇa—

thus are the six decoction formulas that destroy kuṣṭha; and the seventh is of tiniśa, / beneficial for bathing and drinking; and likewise the eighth is of aśvamāra.

These very decoctions are desired as a plaster, friction-powder, and dusting powder, / and in the preparation of oils and ghees for the pacification of kuṣṭha.

Triphalā, nimba, paṭola, mañjiṣṭhā, rohiṇī, vacā, rajanī: / this decoction, when used repeatedly, destroys kuṣṭha born of kapha and pitta.

And ghee prepared with these very [drugs] overcomes kuṣṭha where vāta is predominant; / and this same procedure is prescribed for khadira, asana, devadāru, and nimba.

Kuṣṭha, arka, blue vitriol, kaṭphala, radish seeds, kaṭukā rohiṇī, / kuṭaja fruit, utpala, mustā, bṛhatī, karavīra, green vitriol,

eḍagaja, nimba, pāṭhā, durālabhā, citraka, viḍaṅga, / seed of bitter bottle-gourd, kampillaka, mustard seeds, vacā, and dārvī—

oil prepared with these destroys kuṣṭha; and this formulation is desired / as a plaster, unction-massage, abrasive powder, and dusting powder.

Juice of white karavīra, cow's urine, citraka, and viḍaṅga: / this proven oil preparation for kuṣṭha is agreed upon by physicians. / Thus the White Karavīra Oil. / Sprout and root-bark of white karavīra, vatsaka, viḍaṅga, / kuṣṭha, root of arka, mustard seeds, śigru bark, and kaṭukā rohiṇī—

oil prepared with these pastes in the proportion of one-fourth part, having added / cow's urine four times the volume of the oil, destroys kuṣṭha and itching when used as an unguent. / Thus the White Karavīra Sprout Oil. / Seed of bitter bottle-gourd, both kinds of blue vitriol, gorocanā, both haridrās, / bṛhatī fruit, eraṇḍa, along with viśālā, citraka, mūrvā,

green vitriol, hiṅgu, śigru, tryūṣaṇa, devadāru, tumburu, viḍaṅga, / lāṅgalaka, kuṭaja bark, and that which is called kaṭukā rohiṇī—

mustard oil should be prepared with these pastes in four times the amount of urine; / by application as an unguent, it destroys itching and kuṣṭha, and kills vāta and kapha. / Thus the Bitter Bottle-Gourd Oil. / Kanakakṣīrī, śailā, bhārgī, fruits and root of dantī, / sprouts of jātī, mustard seeds, garlic, viḍaṅga, and karañja bark—

saptacchada, arka sprouts, root, bark, nimba, citraka, āsphotā, / guñjā, eraṇḍa, bṛhatī, radish, and fruits of surasā and arjaka,

kuṣṭha, pāṭhā, musta, tumburu, mūrvā, vacā with ṣaḍgranthā, / eḍagaja, kuṭaja, śigru, tryūṣaṇa, bhallātaka, kṣavaka, / orpiment, avākpuṣpī, blue vitriol, kampillaka named amṛtā, / saurāṣṭrī, green vitriol, dārvī bark, and sarjikākṣāra with salt—

with pastes of these, [sesame] oil, or mustard oil, / should be prepared in a decoction of roots and sprouts of karavīra, with four times [the quantity of] cow's urine.

When prepared, it should be kept in a bitter bottle-gourd; with it, the physician / should quickly break open circular patches by inunction, and destroy worms and itching. / Thus the Kanakakṣīrī Oil. / Kuṣṭha, tamālapatra, black pepper, along with realgar and green vitriol, / mixed with oil and kept for seven days in a copper vessel—

smeared with it, sidhma disappears after seven days for one standing in the sun, / and fresh kilāsa after a month, abstaining from bathing, for one whose body has been purified. / Thus the paste for sidhma. / Mustard, karañja, and koṣātakī oils, and also those of iṅgudī, / are said to be beneficial in kuṣṭhas, as well as the oil of heartwood of khadira.

Jīvantī, mañjiṣṭhā, dārvī, kampillaka, milk, and blue vitriol: / this is cooked in ghee and oil; when it is prepared, and upon its completion, resin of the sal tree

should be added along with beeswax; vipādikā, anointed with it, is relieved; / carmakuṣṭha, ekakuṣṭha, kiṭima kuṣṭha, and alasaka are relieved. / Thus the Ghee and Oil that remove vipādikā. / Yeast, hog's blood, pṛthvīkā, and rock salt should be an application; / an application of kustumburu and kuṣṭha should be employed to remove circular patches; / pūtīkā, devadāru, jaṭilā, mature surā, honey, and both mudgaparṇī [and māṣaparṇī], / an application along with kākanāsā, is proven to remove maṇḍalakuṣṭha.

Citraka, śobhāñjana, guḍūcī, apāmārga, devadāru, / khadira, and dhava; and a paste of śyāmā, dantī, and dravantī;

lac, rasāñjana, cardamom, and punarnavā: these are pastes for a kuṣṭha patient; / all should be given mixed with the scum of curd, being six [pastes] that destroy kuṣṭha born of vāta and kapha.

With eḍagaja, kuṣṭha, rock salt, sauvīraka, mustard seeds, and worm-destroying [viḍaṅga], / both that which is called kṛmikuṣṭha-maṇḍala and dadru-kuṣṭha attain alleviation.

Eḍagaja, resin of the sal tree, and radish seeds, for sidhma-kuṣṭha, / mixed with sour gruel, each separately, are considered this rub-down and pastes.

Vāsā and triphalā in drink, in bath, in rub-down, and in application; / bṛhatī, sevya, paṭola, along with sārivā, and rohiṇī;

khadira, aragvadha, kakubha, rohītaka, lodhra, kuṭaja, dhava, nimba, / saptacchada, and karavīra are recommended in baths and drinks.

Jala, vāpya, loha, keśara, patra, plava, candana, and lotus stalks, / taken in increasing parts, make a prepared application in kuṣṭha of pitta and kapha.

Decoctions of yaṣṭyāhva, lodhra, padmaka, paṭola, picumarda, and candana, / highly cooled, are beneficial in bath and drink for patients with pitta-kuṣṭha.

An application is priyaṅgu, hareṇukā, fruits of vatsaka, / along with ativiṣā, along with sevya, along with candana, and kaṭukā rohiṇī.

Anointing with bitter ghees or with washed ghees in kuṣṭhas that cause burning sensations, / and with oils combined with candana, madhuka, prapauṇḍarīka, and utpala;

when there is moisture, parts falling away, burning, eruptions, and along with carmadala: / cold poultices, sprinklings, venesection, purgation, and bitter ghee.

Khadira ghee, nimba ghee, dārvī ghee, and excellent paṭola ghee / are proven treatments by the physician in kuṣṭhas wherein rakta and pitta predominate.

Rinds of triphalā half a pala each, and paṭola leaves; the remainder one karṣa each: / kaṭurohiṇī with nimba, yaṣṭyāhvā, and trāyamāṇā—

this decoction should be prepared after adding two palas of split lentils / in an āḍhaka of water; when an eighth part remains, the strained liquid should be taken.

And in those eight palas of decoction, four palas of ghee should be cooked, / until eight palas remain; then it should be drunk lukewarm. / It destroys vātapitta-kuṣṭha, erysipelas, severe vātarakta, / fever, burning, gulma, abscess, confusion, and eruptions.

Nimba, paṭola, dārvī, durālabhā, tiktarohiṇī, triphalā, / one should take half a pala each of, and parpaṭaka, and trāyamāṇā;

in the liquid prepared from an āḍhaka of water, when an eighth part remains and is strained, one should throw / candana, kirātatikta, māgadhikā, trāyamāṇā,

musta, and vatsaka seeds, having made pastes of them in portions of half a karṣa each; / and this ghee should be prepared with six palas of fresh ghee and drunk. / It removes kuṣṭha, fever, gulma, piles, grahaṇī, anaemia, swelling; / proven, it destroys itch, erysipelas, eruptions, pruritus, intoxication, and goitre. / Thus the Bitter Six-Pala Ghee. / Saptacchada, prativiṣā, śampāka, tiktarohiṇī, pāṭhā, / musta, uśīra, triphalā, paṭola, picumarda, parpaṭaka,

dhanvayavāsa, candana, upakulyā, padmaka, the two haridrās, / ṣaḍgranthā with viśālā, śatāvarī, and both sārivās,

vatsaka seeds, durālabhā, mūrvā, amṛtā, and kirātatikta, / yaṣṭyāhva, and trāyamāṇā, an intelligent person should make into pastes; / the paste should be one-fourth part, water eight times, juice of āmalakī fruits / should be given twice the amount of the ghee; that ghee, when prepared, he should cause to drink. / Kuṣṭhas wherein rakta and pitta predominate, bleeding piles, / erysipelas, acid gastritis, vātāsṛk, and anaemia,

eruptions accompanied by scabies, insanity, jaundice, fever, itching, / heart disease, gulma, pimples, menorrhagia, and scrofula: / this ghee, drunk at the proper time according to strength, immediately destroys / even major diseases unconquered by hundreds of remedies—the Mahātiktaka. / Thus the Mahātiktaka Ghee. / When the doṣa is extracted, blood removed, internal and external pacifying measures performed, / and unction administered at the proper time, curable kuṣṭha does not persist. / Five tulās of khadira, two tulās each of śiṃśapā and asana; / half a tulā each of all these: karañja, ariṣṭa, and vetasa;

parpaṭa, kuṭaja, vṛṣa, kṛmihara,
the two haridrās, kṛtamāla, guḍūcī, triphalā, trivṛt,

and saptaparṇa, crushed in ten droṇas of water:
one should reduce this decoction until an eighth part remains.

With an equal portion of dhātrī juice, one should cook an āḍhaka of ghee
along with the pastes of Mahātiktaka as prescribed, one pala each.

Through consumption as a drink and massage, it destroys all kuṣṭhas;
this Mahākhadira [ghee] is supreme in curing disorders of kuṣṭha.
Thus the Mahākhadira Ghee.
When limbs fall away, ooze with lymph, and are devoured by parasites,
urine, nimba, and viḍaṅga [serve for] bathing, drinking, and poultice.

Vṛṣa, kuṭaja, saptaparṇa, karavīra, karañja, nimba, and khadira,
with cow's urine, destroy parasites and kuṣṭha in baths, drinks, and pastes.

In drink, dietary regimens, washings, fumigations, and poultices,
viḍaṅga excels in destroying parasites, and khadira in destroying kuṣṭha.

Eḍagaja with viḍaṅga, roots of āragvadha,
śvadantā, and teeth of cows, dogs, boars, and camels tear up kuṣṭhas.

Eḍagaja with viḍaṅga, the two niśās, root of rājavṛkṣa,
with pippalī and pākala, is an excellent remedy to be applied for tearing up kuṣṭha.

For those with śvitra, purgation is to be especially employed after complete purifications;
in śvitra, an excellent purgative is malapū juice taken with jaggery.
Having drunk it and being well oleated, he should expose himself to the heat of sunrays according to strength;
having purged, being thirsty, he should drink peyā for three days.

Whatever blisters arise on the limb with śvitra, he should prick them with a thorn;
when the blisters have drained, he should drink [the following] every morning for a fortnight:

having boiled malapū, asana, priyaṅgu, and śatapuṣpā with water,
or alkali of palāśa along with treacle, according to strength.

Whatever else destroys kuṣṭha is wholly commended for cases of śvitra;
combined with khadira water, or drinking khadira water, is excellent.

One should apply an ointment of realgar, viḍaṅga, kāsīsa, rocanā, kanakapuṣpī,
along with rock salt, for the pacification of śvitras.

Or burnt donkey bone with banana ash mixed with cow's blood,
or the ash of mālatī buds steeped in elephant rut fluid.

Or nīlotpala with kuṣṭha and rock salt ground with elephant urine;
or a paste of radish seeds and avalguja ground in cow's urine.

Or kākodumbarikā with avalguja and citraka in cow's urine;
or realgar ground and combined with peacock bile.

An ointment destroying kilāsa consists of seeds of avalguja, lākṣā,
ox-bile, the two añjanas, pippalī, and black iron powder.

Through purification, blood-letting, desiccation, and eating parched grain flour,
śvitra disappears only in someone whose sin is depleted.

Dāruṇa, cāruṇa, and kilāsa—by these three names
śvitra is known to be of three types, and it is usually due to all three doṣas.
When the doṣa resides in rakta, it is red; in māṃsa, copper-coloured;
in medas, śvitra is white; and it is heavier successively.

That which is not separated from one another, extensive, having red hairs,
and that which arose many years ago—such śvitra does not succeed at all.

That which has no red hairs, is thin, pale, not very long-standing,
and is elevated in the central region—such śvitra is declared curable.

Untruthful speech, ingratitude, reviling the gods, disrespecting elders,
sinful action, deed committed in a previous life, and incompatible food are the cause of kilāsa.

Here are the summary verses:

Cause, substance, varied symptoms, and which doṣas are aggravated in which;
symptoms of doṣas in kuṣṭhas, and concise definition of doṣas;

curable, incurable, difficult kuṣṭha, and successful formulations that remove kuṣṭha;
cause, symptoms, heaviness or lightness of kilāsa, and likewise its pacification:

thus this compendium was composed by the great sage in the chapter on the eradication of kuṣṭha
for increasing memory and intellect for the pupil Hutāśaveśa.

Thus ends the seventh chapter, named Treatment of Kuṣṭha, in the section on Therapeutics, in the treatise composed by Agniveśa and redacted by Caraka. 7.