Cakradatta (Cikitsasangraha) 65

English (machine translation) 65

Language: English

65.1

That medicament which destroys old age and disease is a rejuvenator. / In early or middle age, with a cleansed body, one should employ it. // 1

65.2

The regimen of rejuvenation is not suitable for one whose body is uncleansed; / it does not shine, like dye applied to a soiled garment. // 2

65.3

Eating regularly two chebulic myrobalans with jaggery, honey, dry ginger, / long pepper, or salt, / one may live happily for a hundred years. // 3

65.4

With rock salt, sugar, dry ginger, pippalī, honey, and jaggery successively, / harītakī should be consumed across the rainy season and the rest by one seeking rejuvenating qualities. // 4

65.5

One should smear a new iron vessel with the paste of triphalā; / that paste, left for a day and a night, one should drink flooded with honey and water. // 5

65.6

When that has digested, one should administer food with copious unctuous matter. / From the practice of this, one lives a hundred years free from old age and disease.

65.7

Seeking rejuvenative properties, one should administer five, eight, / or seven to ten long pepper fruits with honey and clarified butter for one year.

65.8

Three [fruits] in the morning before meals, and [three] after eating food, / long pepper fruits soaked in palāśa-alkali and fried in clarified butter,

65.9

are to be administered mixed with honey by one who desires rejuvenative properties, / to conquer cough, phthisis, dyspnoea, wasting, hiccup, throat disease,

65.10

haemorrhoids, malabsorption syndrome, anaemia, irregular fever, / hoarseness, chronic rhinitis, wasting, abdominal lump, and vāta-kapha disease.

65.11

At the end of digestion [of dinner], one harītakī; before meals, two bibhītakas; / and after eating, four āmalakas, with honey and clarified butter—

65.12

one should administer this triphalā rejuvenative for one year; / one lives a full hundred years, free from old age and disease.

The fresh juice of maṇḍūkaparṇī is to be administered; / the powder of yaṣṭīmadhuka with milk; / the juice of guḍūcī together with its root and flowers; / and indeed the paste of śaṅkhapuṣpī is to be administered.

65.14

These longevity-bestowing, disease-destroying rejuvenatives / increase strength, digestive fire, complexion, and voice, and are intellect-promoting; / but śaṅkhapuṣpī especially promotes intellect.

65.15

Aśvagandhā drunk with milk for half a month, / or with clarified butter, oil, or warm water, / brings about nourishment for an emaciated body, / just as a rain of water does for young crops.

65.16

Those men who eat āmalakī and sesame seeds / mixed with bhṛṅgarāja powder in due course, / have black hair and clear sensory organs, / and remain free from disease for a hundred years.

65.17

One should make a fine powder of vṛddhadāraka roots / and saturate it with the juice of śatāvarī for seven nights.

65.18

One should administer that powder in the amount of an akṣa with clarified butter. / By using it for just one month, a man becomes intelligent,

65.19

endowed with intellect and memory, and free from wrinkles and grey hair. / Having risen in the morning, one should eat hastikarṇa powder with clarified butter;

65.20

even if following diet and conduct at will, a man will live a thousand years. / Intelligent, strong, and amorous, he frequents hundreds of women;

65.21

with honey, he will have the vigour of a horse, become very strong, and visit a thousand women. / And this mantra is to be recited by the physician for consecration:

65.22

“Oṃ, obeisance to Mahāvināyaka! Protect the ambrosia, protect my / attainment of the fruit, by the command of Rudra, svāhā!”

65.23

A karṣa of āmalakī powder, soaked in its own fresh juice, / with equal parts of honey and clarified butter, / combined with a mānī of long pepper and eight prasṛtas of sugar, kept in a heap of ash— / consuming it at the end of a year, one becomes free of grey hair, / endowed with beauty, complexion, and brilliance, / free from disease, and possessed of understanding, intellect, memory, strength, eloquence, firmness, and vigour.

65.24

Guḍūcī, apāmārga, viḍaṅga, śaṅkhinī, / vacā, harītakī, kuṣṭha, and śatāvarī in equal amounts, / licked with clarified butter, makes a man / retain a thousand verses within three days.

65.25

Taking brāhmī together with its root and leaves, having washed it with water / and crushed it in a mortar, one should filter the juice with a cloth.

65.26

In four times as much of that juice, one should cook a prastha of clarified butter. / And the medicines to be ground—he should add these:

65.27

turmeric, mālatī, kuṣṭha, trivṛt together with harītakī— / of these, parts of a pala each; but the rest are to be a karṣa each:

65.28

long pepper, then viḍaṅga, rock salt, sugar, vacā. / Having stirred all this together, one should cook it slowly over a gentle fire.

65.29

As soon as this is ingested, purification of speech arises; / with use for seven nights, one sings like the Kiṃnaras;

65.30

with use for half a month, one's body becomes like the moon; / with use for just a month, one retains whatever has merely been heard;

65.31

it destroys the eighteen skin diseases and various haemorrhoids, / five abdominal lumps and obstinate urinary disorders, and conquers the five kinds of cough;

65.32

and for barren women, and men with scanty semen, / [this] clarified butter called Sārasvata increases strength, complexion, and digestive fire.

65.33

Cough, dyspnoea, diarrhoea, fever, furuncles, diseases of the hips, / forms of skin disease and urticaria, / retention of urine, abdominal disease, haemorrhoids, oedema, throat, head, / and ear ache, eye diseases, / and whatever other diseases of a living being are caused by vāta, pitta, blood, and kapha— / all those, milk drunk at the end of the night removes through habitual practice.

65.34

Water nasal therapy at daybreak destroys facial pigmentation, wrinkles, and grey hair, / cures chronic rhinitis, hoarseness, cough, and oedema, is a rejuvenative, and produces eyesight.

65.35

The extremely deep treatise on iron that the lord of sages, Nāgārjuna, / taught— / in order that its meaning be remembered, / we state this in clear words:

65.36

The sage considered that in his own treatise, / a second cooking should not be done below five palas, / nor above thirteen palas, / because of the great risk of fault in application.

65.37

There, when iron is to be cooked, / starting from five palas up to thirteen palas, / triphalā twice as much as the iron, / plus an additional six palas, is to be taken.

65.38

The calcinations, incrustations, and vessel-cookings / are to be accomplished with one part of triphalā; / two parts of triphalā / are to be taken for the cooking of iron.

65.39

Everywhere, in the one part for the crushing and other processes of iron, measured in śarāvas, / water for the decoction is to be taken at three times [the quantity] for each pala.

65.40

In the portion starting from seven palas up to fifteen [palas], water in śarāvas / is to be made greater by two up to eleven [śarāvas].

65.41

There, one-eighth portion of the decoction should be preserved with care; / for by means of that, the calcinations, incrustations, and vessel-cookings will take place.

65.42

For the cooking, however, in the two parts of triphalā, measured in śarāvas, / the water should be equal per pala, / increased by two śarāvas.

65.43

There, a one-fourth remaining part / should be taken with care by the expert, / because it is for cooking the iron; / and that is the most important of all.

65.44

For cooking iron, starting from five palas up to thirteen palas, / two śarāvas of milk, increased by quarters starting from one [pāda], [are taken].

65.45

The dose is starting from five palas; in the absence of that, it should be taken according to that [standard], / from four [palas] down to one; if one has capacity, more than thirteen [palas].

65.46

The powders of triphalā, trikaṭu, citraka, / kāntakrāmaka, and viḍaṅga, / and other [substances] too should be added, / as well as the seeds of the palāśa tree. (46)

65.47

The powders of nutmeg, mace, cardamom, kakkolaka, cloves, / and both white and black cumin should be equal [in measure] to the iron. / Triphalā, trikaṭu, and viḍaṅga are mandatory; the others [are added] according to constitution. (47)

65.48

To remove the defects of black iron, the addition / of [substances] from nutmeg up to clove / is made according to availability, either entirely or reduced by one or more. (48)

65.49

Kāntakrāmaka alone removes all the defects of iron completely. / Clarified butter should be taken as double, triple, or quadruple, according to constitution. (49)

65.50

Whether the quantity of medicaments or powders is abundant or small, / equality with the iron is the rule; it is greater or smaller according to abundance or deficiency. (50)

65.51

Thus, following the tissue elements, by excluding the particular stated medicine, / an inference of an unstated medicine must be made everywhere accordingly. (51)

65.52

Now the complete procedure for the calcinating of kānta and other irons is stated: / On an auspicious day for the person / for whose sake that iron is to be cooked, (52)

65.53

having worshipped Śiva on a depression of ground / surrounded with earth and charcoal, / having placed a fire according to Vedic rules, / and having offered oblations there, (53)

65.54

Since all good is accomplished through dharma, to achieve that dharma / one should give whatever is suitable according to one's capacity / to a contented, virtuous twice-born [Brahmin]. (54)

65.55

Having gratified the blacksmith / with favours, gifts of betel nut, and honours, / first of all one should make that iron / thoroughly clean. (55)

65.56

Then, having smeared it with kuṭhārachinna, / triphalā, girikarṇikā, asthisaṃhāra, / the leaf of elephant-ear, radish, / śatāvarī, and that called keśarāja, (56)

65.57

and with śāli, radish, kaśīmūla, / and rainy-season bhṛṅgarāja, / it should be burnt / by a skilled blacksmith, (57)

65.58

covered all around with clean śāla-charcoal / soaked for a long time in water, / with the air released unceasingly / from bellows blown by a skilled [artisan]. (58)

65.59

The external flame of the fire / should never be quenched with a sprig / that carries mud, salt, and water, / but with one dripping with clear water. (59)

65.60

Because of contact with other substances / medicines lose their potency; / therefore one should avoid / everything containing dirt and dust everywhere. (60)

65.61

Holding it with tongs, raising it into the middle of the ablaze fire, / the skilled [artisan] should increase [the heat] gently, / just as it gradually melts at the tip. (61)

65.62

Held on an upward-turned hook placed at the base, / throwing it into decoction of triphalā, / he should quench it, / and he should preserve the remaining triphalā water. (62)

65.63

The iron which is not calcinated / should be cooked again by the stated method; / that which is still not calcinated / should then be discarded, as it is non-iron. (63)

65.64

Then, having crushed the black iron with a hammer / in a thick iron vessel, / adding water repeatedly, / washing it, and removing the charcoal, (64)

65.65

having dried that iron alone over a fire / or in the sun, / one should afterwards grind it on an iron stone, / or on a black stone if that is not available. (65)

65.66

Then, putting it into an iron vessel / and adding the remainder of the triphalā water or another [liquid], / one should first carry out open-pot cooking / until the liquid is depleted. Thereafter, (66)

65.67

with the juices of elephant-ear leaf, radish, / śatāvarī, bhṛṅga, and keśarāja, / one should perform open-pot cooking as before, / with each one individually or all together. (67)

65.68

Having made a pit with an opening measuring one cubit, / its centre dug to a depth of one cubit, / shaped like a cauldron, / [placing] dried cow dung, chaff, and firewood there, (68)

65.69

filling the hollow whose inner core is very solid, / and applying fire, / afterwards one should make the iron powder / fine and smooth like mud (69)

65.70

with triphalā decoction, the natural juices / of bhṛṅga, keśara, śatāvarī, and māṇa tuber, / and the fresh juices of bhallātaka, / elephant-ear leaf, radish, and punarnavā. (70)

65.71

Then, putting it into an iron or earthen pot, / covering it with another iron or earthen pot / of equal size rim to rim, / and plastering the seam on the outside, (71)

65.72

placing that sealed container there / in the fire of the pit, / covering it once more with firewood, dried cow dung, and chaff, / the wise [physician] should burn it day and night. (72)

65.73

In this way, one should always cook [it] by puṭapāka / with the nine kings of medicaments, / either with each one individually / or combined, three or four times. (73)

65.74

At each calcination, one should grind it, / having likewise performed open-pot cooking; / one should grind it for such a day [until] / it turns into a powder that drifts away like dust. (74)

65.75

That iron powder, ground, / rubbed on a thick, fine cloth, smooth, / if it resembles the pollen / of the ketakī, then it is good. (75)

65.76

In puṭana and in open-pot cooking, / according to the understanding of the nature and disease of the afflicted person, / even a stated medicine may be omitted, / and another suitable [medicine] should be adopted. (76)

65.77

For those who have practiced the methods of treatment / and possess intellects sharp as the tip of kuśa grass, / the cooking of iron taught by Nāgārjuna, / which has curds, is now observed. (77)

65.78

In a cauldron of iron, brass, copper, / or strong clay, having bowed to Śiva, / one should, remaining steady, cook that iron / with firewood over a gentle fire, (78)

65.79

adding the stated triphalā water, / clarified butter, and milk, / stirring it with an iron ladle, / and scraping off what adheres. (79)

65.80

Cooking is described here as threefold: soft, medium, and hard, / for persons / of pitta, vāta, and kapha constitutions; / for a medium [constitution], a medium [cooking] is suitable. (80)

65.81

Some teachers define: / iron that smears the ladle and slips easily is soft; / that which slips with difficulty is medium; / and that which abandons the ladle is hard. (81)

65.82

Others say that devoid of ladle-coating / and resembling rat-burrow earth is soft; / half-powdered is medium; / while resembling a heap of sand is hard. (82)

65.83

Even though threefold, such cooking / produces benefits for everyone and is never useless; / in relation to constitutions, a subtle difference / produces good or bad effects to a slight degree. (83)

65.84

Having thus recognized the cooking, / taking it down quickly to the ground and letting it rest / for a few moments, one should throw the powder / of triphalā and the rest into that iron. (84)

65.85

If camphor is obtained, then once its heat has subsided, / one should add it powdered in an appropriate amount, / or one need not if it is not obtained. (85)

65.86

When that cooked iron is liable to become dry from standing in clarified butter for a very long time, / it should be placed in a milk pail or similar vessel if an iron vessel is not available. 86

65.87

If, however, an excess of clarified butter is observed due to overflowing, / one should place it in another vessel and preserve it, for it will be of great use in the future. 87

65.88

When the iron becomes excessively dry, unction should be effected with triphalā-ghṛta; / because it has superior virtues compared to that, it should be anointed with this. 88

65.89

They recommend taking the iron with this very [ghṛta] for one of an extremely kapha constitution; / consumed even by itself, this produces some of the virtues of iron. 89

65.90

Or else, according to the prescribed rule, one may take powder of processed black mica, / in an amount equal to a fourth part of the iron, or two, three, four, or five times that part; 90

65.91

adding it to the iron as before, one should cook it until the iron becomes united with both; / the quantity of substances such as triphalā should be in accordance with the memory of that measure. 91

65.92

This is nourishing, this dispels excessive pitta, and this very [recipe] produces radiance and strength; / taken in an excessive dose, it supremely arrests thirst and hunger. 92

65.93

Taking single-bodied black mica called vajra, having separated it into single sheets, / one should make it into powder with a pestle in a wooden mortar. 93

65.94

Having ground it again on a stone and filtered it through a cloth with fine openings, / one should keep it for three days in abundant juice of maṇḍūkaparṇī. 94

65.95

Taking it out from that juice, one should then grind it diligently / with the extremely sour, clear wash-water of boiled winter grain. 95

65.96

One should first stir it with the fresh juice of maṇḍūkaparṇī; / one should also perform cooking in a pot and incineration with bhṛṅgarāja and other [plants] as primary [agents]. 96

65.97

Having made a lump inside leaves such as palm and placed it in a bellows fire, / one should burn it until it is absorbed and remains invisible for a long time. 97

65.98

One should quench it in milk; washing off the milk with water thereafter, / grinding and rubbing it through a cloth, one should make the powder free from luster. 98

65.99

To appease various diseases, and for nourishment and radiance, having worshipped Śiva, / on a very pure, auspicious day, taking that nectar called iron, 99

65.100

in a dose of ten guñjā berries, considering differences of strength and age— / this is more, that is much more, only this much, not like large sweetmeat balls— 100

65.101

one should grind it firmly again on an even, smooth, spotless iron vessel with an iron [pestle]; / having given a suitable amount of honey, one should then add an excess of clarified butter, 101

65.102

so that it holds together, and the honey does not separate like mud leaving a residue; / here this is a spoiled preparation, but this has been consecrated by mantra: 102

65.103

Trituration is done with a mantra ending in svāhā; protection of the iron's power is with one ending in phaṭ; / offering is made with reverence; consumption of the iron is with one ending in hūm: 103

65.104

“Oṃ, to the one born of nectar, svāhā! / Oṃ, to the nectar, hrīm phaṭ! / Oṃ, obeisance to Caṇḍavajrapāṇi, / the supreme commander of the Yakṣa army, / possessing the great power of the knowledge of the preceptor of the gods, svāhā! / Oṃ, to the nectar, hrīm!” 104

65.105

Having consumed that essence of nectar, one should drink water or milk as an after-drink; / having circulated the spotless mercury that acts as an attractor, one must not drink that, however. 105

65.106

Having sipped water, betel should be used, together with camphor if available; / one should not remain seated too long, nor speak excessively, nor stand too long. 106

65.107

One should avoid extreme wind, cold, sunshine, riding, bathing, suppression of natural urges, and the like, / along with daytime sleeping and eating at unseasonable times; 107

65.108

all things causing vāta and pitta, acrid, sour, bitter, and astringent substances, / causes of immediate destruction, sexual intercourse, anger, and exertion from afar. 108

65.109

After that iron is consumed, whether it falls away or fitness spreads without deceit, / whether pain occurs or the intestines rumble, one should eat without pretext. 109

65.110

Having first drunk milk, one should eat boiled rice of winter grain, cooked distinctly and not soggy, / flooded with clarified butter, generally with bird meat. 110

65.111

The meat of scratcher birds living on arid ground is best, likewise goat, blackbuck, and the like; / another meat of aquatic animals, compared to large fish, is preferable. 111

65.112

If meat is unobtainable, non-vitiating fish possessing large and good qualities should be taken: / madgura, rohita, and śakula, roasted, slightly less than meat. 112

65.113

Water chestnut fruit, kaśeru, banana fruit, palmyra, coconut, and the like, / and whatever other sweet, aphrodisiac [food] such as jackfruit is preferable. 113

65.114

Kebuka, palm shoots, bamboo shoots, eggplants, snake gourd fruit and leaves, with asafoetida, / and juices of mung bean and lentil: these they recommend among vegetarian foods. 114

65.115

All leafy vegetables should be avoided; a little vāstuka, however, may be given for taste; / whatever is other than what is prescribed and prohibited, one should know to be in the middle class. 115

65.116

Warm milk as an after-drink usually purges one with constipated bowels, / or water of a tender coconut drunk as an after-drink. 116

65.117

He whose bowels do not move in that way should drink warm water with barley alkali; / warm decoction of triphalā accompanied by alkali is even superior to that. 117

65.118

It should be equal for three days, but on the fourth day one should increase it gradually; / up to the eighth month, one should not increase it further beyond this. 118

65.119

In the beginning, two guñjā berries; in the second increase, three guñjā berries; / thereafter, one should regularly increase it by five and five guñjā berries. 119

65.120

In the regimen of the yearly course, for as many days as it was increased at first,

65.121

for that many [days] during the remainder of the year one should decrease that iron in reverse order. 120

65.122

During those eight months, one should consume three māṣas in the morning / and as much in the evening; in the middle of the day, during the remaining two months. 121

65.123

Eating that nectar in this way, one obtains radiance and a body that endures long and firmly; / from a mere three weeks it destroys all diseases—what need of saying more? 122

65.124

Here, by ninety Āryā verses, seven procedures have been properly declared; / the practice has been presented free from error of mind and doubt. 123

65.125

Having crossed to the further shore of the treatises composed by the sages, and extracted their essence from them, / a certain performer of the six duties composed this for the benefit of his brethren. 124

65.126

Iron produced anywhere, if completely calcined, / should be eaten combined with triphalā and the three pungents, destroying wrinkles. 125

65.127

Auḍra [iron] has twice the efficacy of ordinary iron, and Kaliṅga is eight times more potent than that; / Bhadra is a hundred times more potent than that, and Vajra a thousand times more than Bhadra. // 126

65.128

Pāṇḍi is sixty times more potent than Vajra, Niravi ten times more, / and Ayaskānta is ten million or a thousand [times] more, of immense qualities. // 127

65.129

Copper should be twice the quantity of mercury, / and black mica twice that of copper. / Their purification is separate; / the purification of copper is then of two kinds: // 128

65.130

The killing [of copper] beaten into leaves is done by combining it with sulphur or with salts. / When the copper is smeared, heated, / and immersed in a paste of nirguṇḍī and sour gruel, // 129

65.131

that which falls off looking like red ochre is ground, and then half [its quantity] of sulphur [is added]; / purified by the process of puṭa heating, it becomes pure. But mica again: // 130

65.132

placed inside a mass of hilamocī roots, / then enclosed in an earthen saucer and smeared, / burnt with intense heat, and ground well / with sour water, it becomes devoid of glitter. // 131

65.133

Mercury should be ground with the calcined copper / on a small stone slab to make a bolus; / having steamed it with domestic water / in a paste of nirguṇḍī repeatedly for purification, // 132

65.134

this trio, thus prepared, / combined separately with half the measure of copper in powders / of long pepper, viḍaṅga, and black pepper, / finely ground, should be consumed for two or three months. // 133

65.135

In colic, acid dyspepsia, oedema, / malabsorption syndrome, phthisis, and other abdominal diseases, / this is a great rasāyana; / there are no strict restrictions [prescribed] here. // 134

65.136

Thinly beaten Nepal copper and an equal part of sulphur / are placed in the middle of a small earthen pot, / having put [sulphur] above, below, and in the middle. // 135

65.137

Having arranged it according to this modest procedure and covered the pot, / and having sealed the joint above with a paste of sugar and cooked rice, // 136

65.138

it is placed inside another pot filled with sand, covered as before, / and well sealed, and fire should be applied from below for one watch. // 137

65.139

The killed copper extracted from there is used here. / Now, a karṣa of sulphur placed in an iron vessel set on fire, // 138

65.140

ground with a pestle, melted, and rubbed again and again, / is prepared; killed copper measured at one karṣa is then added to it; // 139

65.141

then purified mercury churned with sour liquid is added in an equal quantity. / Then, grinding it in the same manner, clarified butter is again added // 140

65.142

in the measure of only eight drops, and it is ground until completely amalgamated. / Taking it all out, having firmly [rubbed it with] the pestle and so on, // 141

65.143

having gathered it and stirred it with a prasṛta of alambuṣā juice, / one should grind it again in the same manner in an iron vessel placed over fire, // 142

65.144

until the liquid is exhausted; having taken it out afterwards and finely ground it / with the juice of alambuṣā itself, one should form a pill. // 143

65.145

The wise physician should wrap that lump in a cloth, place it inside a ball of trikaṭu, / cover it with another cloth, and make a bundle. // 144

65.146

Then, having submerged that bundle in clarified butter and held it suspended / attached to a rod by a thread, the skilled physician should cook it. // 145

65.147

When the clarified butter becomes free of froth and [the bundle] becomes firmly encased, / then, taking out that cooked [medicine], weighing five guñjās, with clarified butter, // 146

65.148

one should administer it in the morning with an equal part of powder of trikaṭu and triphalā. / Buttermilk should be the vehicle; but in an exacerbation of acid dyspepsia, // 147

65.149

triphalā alone should be taken, and warm water should be drunk afterwards. / On every seventh day, the dose of copper is increased by one raktikā up to a māṣaka, // 148

65.150

for the duration of the treatment, and it should similarly be reduced. / This formulation cures malabsorption syndrome, phthisis, biliary colic, and acid dyspepsia. // 149

65.151

This is a favoured rasāyana that destroys haemorrhoidal polyps and the like; / and there are no dietary or behavioural restrictions in this treatment. // 150

65.152

Mountain minerals such as gold, heated by the sun, exude / an impurity resembling lac, soft, smooth, and clear; that is śilājatu. // 151

65.153

Śilājatu is non-sour, non-astringent, pungent in post-digestive effect, / neither excessively hot nor cold; its origin is from four minerals: // 152

65.154

from gold, from silver, from copper, and the best from black iron. / That which is sweet, slightly bitter, and resembles a javā flower, // 153

65.155

pungent and bitter in post-digestive effect, is the exudate of gold. / That from silver is pungent, white, sweet, and cold in post-digestive effect. // 154

65.156

That from copper resembles a peacock's neck, is sharp, hot, and pungent in post-digestive effect. / But that which resembles guggulu, is bitter, salty, // 155

65.157

pungent and cold in post-digestive effect, is the best of all: that of iron. / The smell of cow's urine is common to all of them, and all are suitable for therapeutic actions. // 156

65.158

In rasāyana treatments, the last is superior. / In vātapitta, śleṣmapitta, kapha, and in all three [doṣas] respectively, // 157

65.159

the exudates born of minerals beginning with gold are especially praised. / On fire, it bubbles like iron slag and burns smokeless in water; // 158

65.160

placed on the tip of a blade of grass, it all trickles downward like a thread. / That which is impure should be washed with plain water, // 159

65.161

and according to the procedure, one should collect that which rises to the surface in iron vessels. / Thoroughly saturated with decoctions that destroy vāta, pitta, and kapha, // 160

65.162

it attains supreme potency, whether with all [decoctions together] or with each one individually. / Thrown in, taken out, steeped, and thrown again into the liquid // 161

65.163

while warm, for seven days—such is the method of its soaking. / The drug for soaking, equal in weight to the mountain-born [śilājatu], / should be boiled in four times its quantity of water; // 162

65.164

then, when the decoction is reduced to one quarter, / strained, and still warm, the mountain-born [substance] should be placed in it. / Having become homogeneous with it and dried, / it should be thrown into the liquid again. // 163

65.165

According to the procedure stated earlier, combined with iron powders / and consumed with milk, it bestows a long and happy life. // 164

65.166

It relieves old age and diseases, produces supreme firmness of the body, / promotes intellect and memory, and is auspicious; one who consumes milk should use it. // 165

65.167

Its administration is declared to be threefold: seven weeks, / three weeks, and one week—inferior, moderate, and superior respectively. // 166

65.168

The dose is a pala, half a pala, or a karṣa as the smallest. / During treatments with śilājatu, one must constantly avoid foods that cause burning and heavy foods, / and one must abstain from horsegram at all times. // 167

65.169

Milk, sour gruels, meat soups along with legume soups, / water along with urine, and various decoctions / are praised for dissolving bitumen; / they are to be employed after considering the intended purpose. (168)

65.170

This procedure for bitumen with its accessories was stated by Caraka. / At a time when the sun's heat is intense, / the foremost bitumen born from black iron, (169)

65.171

combined with the juice of triphalā / and dried for three days, then dried again / with the decoction of the ten roots, of guḍūcī, / of balā, and of paṭola, (170)

65.172

with the juices of madhuka, and in cow's urine, / should be soaked successively for three days each. / Then it should be soaked again for one day with milk / and dried. / It should then be soaked for seven days / with a decoction of these, according to availability: (171)

Linked texts (1)

Cakradatta (Cikitsāsaṅgraha) — Cakrapāṇidatta, Sanskrit