A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c23.125

v1.c23.125

The subjects discussed are: the etymology of the term śalya (26.3); the two types of śalya: arising within the body (śārīra) and coming from outside (āgantuka) (26.4); anything giving rise to pain (ābādha) all over the body is called śalya, and śalyaśāstra is the science concerned with śalyas (26.5). The śārīra type of śalya consists of teeth, hairs, nails, etc., as well as corrupted bodily elements (dhātu), foods (anna), impurities (mala) and doṣas; all the other ones belong to the āgantuka type (26.6); the āgantuka śalya may be (pieces of) metal (loha), bamboo (veṇu), wood (vṛkṣa), grass, horn or bone; out of these, the metallic ones, and among the metallic ones, arrows (śara), should be taken into consideration primarily; arrows are of two types: barbed (karṇin) and smooth (ślakṣṇa), and of various shapes (26.7);278 the five directions from which a śalya may enter the body (26.8); the sites where it may lodge (26.9); the general features after entry; the specific signs of a śalya lodged in the skin, muscular tissue, a muscular belly (peśī), a sirā, snāyu, or dhamanī, a bone, a cavity within a bone (asthivivara), a juncture, the viscera (koṣṭha), or a marman (26.10); prognostic features (26.11); procedures for detecting śalyas which are invisibly lodged somewhere within the body (26.12); general tests which may be helpful in localizing a śalya (26.13); other signs indicating the site of a śalya (26.14–15); exploration of the track with a probe (eṣaṇī) (26.16–17); sequelae of unextracted śalyas (26.18–22).