Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c14.22

c14.22

§ 86. Nasal Diseases :— According to Suśruta there are 31 nose-diseases, according to Bhāv 34 nose-diseases (nāsāroga), according to AS, AHr only 18 pīnasa. In pīnasa, according to Mādhava, the nose is constipated, dry or full of phlegm, heated and one suffering from it has neither taste nor smell. In unripe or acute pīnasa there is heaviness in head, loss of appetite, thin discharge from the nose, indistinctness of voice, frequent spitting. In ripe pīnasa there are similar symptoms, but the phlegm remains toughly stuck to the nose, the voice and appearance of phlegm are normal. In pūtināsya (Ozena) the breathing from the mouth and nose is bad smelling. In nāsikāpāka excessively suppurating abscesses are formed. Pūyarakta—discharge of pus mixed with blood, is the result of derangement of doṣas or of wounds. Of sneezing (kṣavathu) there are two kinds. In bhraṃśathu there is tough salt phlegm, in dīpta there is hot breath from the nose, in pratināha, it is constipated, in srāva it is fluid, in nāsāparitoṣa the respiration is much hampered by the dryness of phlegm in the nose. The five kinds of cold or catarrh (pratiṣyāya) are exhaustively described. By long duration this disease which is related to pīnasa is incurable, maggots are caused in the nose, as is the case frequently in ‘peenash’ even to the present day according to Chevers. There is also deafness, blindness, smelllessness, dangerous eye-disease, tumour, indigestion and cough. Of different kinds of abscesses, swellings and polypus of the nose which are denoted as arbuda, śotha and arśas, there are 7+4+4=15 kinds besides the 4 kinds of raktapitta i. e. epistaxis (MN 358-65; cf. Su 6.22-24; Car 6.26.102-115; AS 6.23; AHr 6.19; Bhāv 2.4.127 ff.; Vang 771 ff. ).