A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c23.438

Language: English

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The subjects dealt with are:¹² the measurements of the eyeball¹³ (nayanabubuda); it is two aṅgula in depth (bāhulya),¹⁴ or as deep as the udara of one’s own thumb;¹⁵ it is two aṅgula and a half on all sides (sarvataḥ)¹⁶ (1.10); the eyeball is perfectly globular (suvṛtta), resembles the teat of a cow, and originates from all the (mahā)bhūtas; the muscular tissue (pala) derives from earth, the blood from fire, the black portion from air (vāta), the white portion from water, and the channels for the tears (aśrumārga) from ākāśa (1.11–12ab); the black circular portion (kṛṣṇamaṇḍala) is said to measure one-third of the height (āyāma)¹⁷ of the eyeball; the pupil (dṛṣṭi) is said to measure one-seventh of the black portion (1.12cd–13);¹⁸ the eye consists of maṇḍalas, sandhis and paṭalas, which are five, six and six in number respectively (1.14);¹⁹ the maṇḍalas (circular structures) are successively, when moving from the periphery towards the central part:²⁰ pakṣmamaṇḍala (the eyelashes), vartmamaṇḍala (the eyelids), śvetamaṇḍala (the white part),²¹ kṛṣṇamaṇḍala (the black part),²² and dṛṣṭimaṇḍala²³ (1.15);²⁴ the sandhis (junctures) are found between eyelashes and eyelids, eyelids and white part, white part and black part, black part and pupil, at the kanīnaka (inner canthus), and at the apāṅga (outer canthus) (1.16); two paṭalas (layers) are present in the eyelids; the other four in the eye itself are the seats of a very serious disease, called timira (1.17);

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the outermost of these four paṭalas is closely connected (āśrita) with the fiery and watery parts of the eye,²⁵ the other ones are connected with the muscles, fatty tissue, and bones respectively (1.18);²⁶ their thickness (bāhulya) is one-fifth of the dṛṣṭi (1.19ab); the (structures) holding (the parts of) the eyes together are the sirās, kaṇḍarās, fatty tissue (medas), cartilaginous tissue (kālaka),²⁷ and, beyond the kāla,²⁸ the phlegm (śleṣman), along with its sirās (1.19cd–20ab); the doṣas, spreading upwards through the sirās, cause very serious diseases when they reach the eyes (1.20cd–21ab);²⁹ the prodromes of eye diseases (1.21cd–23); general principles of treatment (1.24–25); aetiological factors in eye diseases (1.26–27); ten eye diseases are due to vāta, ten to pitta, thirteen to kapha, sixteen to blood, twenty-five to all the doṣas together, and two to exogenous (bāhya) factors, thus making a total of seventy-six (1.28–29ab);30 incurable diseases due to vāta are: hatādhimantha,31 nimiṣa,32 gambhīrikā dṛṣṭiḥ,33 and vātahatavartman;34 vātajakāca35 is amenable to palliative treatment; curable are: anyamāruta,36 śuṣkākṣipāka,37 vātādhīmantha,38 vātasyanda,39 and mārutaparyaya40 (1.29cd–31ab); incurable diseases due to pitta are: hrasvajāḍya41 and the pitta type of jalasrāva;42 the parimlāyin43 and nīla types of kāca44 are amenable to palliative treatment when due to pitta;

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curable are the pitta types of abhiṣyanda45 and adhimantha,46 amlādhyuṣita,47 śuktikā,48 pittavidgadhadṛṣṭi,49 and dhūmadarśin50 (1.31cd–33ab); an incurable disease is srāva caused by kapha;51 kāca due to kapha is amenable to palliative treatment;52 curable are the kapha types of abhiṣyanda53 and adhimantha,54 balāsagrathita,55 śleṣmavidgadhadṛṣṭi,56 pothakī,57 lagaṇa,58 krimigranthi,59 pariklinnavartman,60 śuklārman,61 piṣṭaka,62 and the kapha type of upanāha63 (1.33cd–35); incurable diseases due to blood are raktasrāva,64 ajakājāta,65 śoṇitārśas,66 and vraṇānvitaśukra;67 kāca due to blood68 is amenable to palliative treatment; curable are the rakta types of (adhi)mantha69 and (abhi)syanda,70 kliṣṭavartman,71 sirāharṣa,72 sirotpāta,73 añjanākhyā,74 sirājāla,75 parvaṇī,76 avraṇaśukra,77 śoṇitārman,78 and arjuna79 (1.36–38); incurable diseases due to all the doṣas are: pūyāsrāva,80 nākulāndhya,81 akṣipākātyaya,82 and alajī;83 amenable to palliative treatment are: kāca, when caused by all the doṣas, 84 and pakṣmakopa;85 curable are: vartmāvabandha,86 sirāpiḍakā,87 prastāryarman,88 adhimāṃsārman,89 snāyvarman,90 utsaṅginī,91 pūyālasa,92 arbuda,93 śyāvavartman,94 kardamavartman,95 arśovartman,96 śuṣkārśas,97 śarkarāvartman,98 saśopha- and aśophapāka,99 bahalavartman,100 aklinnavartman,101 kumbhīkā,102 and bisavartman103 (1.39–42); the sanimitta and animitta types of exogenous eye disease104 are incurable (1.43ab);

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thus the seventy-six eye diseases have briefly been enumerated (1.43cd); nine eye diseases occur in the junctures (sandhi), twenty-one in the eyelids, eleven in the white part, four in the black part, seventeen in the whole eye, and twelve in the dṛṣṭi; the two exogenous diseases are very serious; all these diseases will (now) be dealth with separately, along with their symptoms and treatment (1.44–45).