A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c23.434.4

v1.c23.434.4

the treatment of bites by kīṭas with a powerful (ugra) poison (8.42–44ab); treatment with the utkārikā type of sudation (8.44cd–45); this treatment is contra-indicated in scorpion stings (8.46ab); specific antidotes (agada) against the bites of a trikaṇṭaka, galagolika, śatapad, maṇḍūka, viśvambhara, ahiṇḍukā, kaṇḍūmakā, śukavṛnta, pipīlikā, makṣikā, and maśaka (8.46cd–55); the treatment of scratches by finger nails (8.56ab); the bite by a pratisūryaka should be treated like a snake-bite (8.56cd); three groups of scorpions (vṛścika) 214 are distinguished: those with a mild (manda), moderate (madhya) and strong poison (mahāviṣa); 215 scorpions arising from cow dung and similar materials possess a mild poison, those arising from wood or bricks a moderate, 216 those arising from the decomposing body of a snake or from other poisonous materials a strong (tīkṣṇa) poison (8.56ef–57); those with a mild poison are twelve, those with a moderate poison three, and those with a strong poison fifteen in number, thus making a total of thirty (8.58); the scorpions with a mild poison are kṛṣṇa (black), śyāva, karbura (variegated), pāṇḍu (pale), gomūtrābha (coloured like cow's urine), karkaśa (rough), mecaka (bluish black), pīta (yellow), dhūmra (smoke coloured), romaśa (hairy), śadvalābha (coloured like grass), or rakta (red), and śvetodara (having a white abdomen); these scorpions have more joints in their tails than other types (8.59–60ab);