A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c25.1103

Language: English

v1.c25.1103.1

The subjects are: poisons may be employed in cases of poisoning if mantras and other measures fail; this way of treatment may be resorted to when the fifth stage (vega) of poisoning has passed, but before the seventh one has arrived; permission has to be asked from the king, but no other person should be notified (48.1); the physician, acquainted with the use of mantras, should carry out first dharaṇībandha (48.2); 723 poisons of vegetable origin are usually of the nature of kapha and tend to move upwards, while those of animal origin are usually of the nature of pitta and tend to move downwards (48.3); 724 the properties of these two categories of poisons are opposed to each other; therefore, those bitten by poisonous animals should be treated on root poisons in the form of drinks and plasters (48.4);⁷²⁵ a physician should make those having ingested a vegetable poison be bitten by poisonous animals living on air (pavanāśin), because there is no better antidote than (another) poison (48.5); the dose of root poison to be administered is, dependent on the circumstances, four, six or eight barleycorns (yava) (48.6); a lesion by a kīṭa, however, always requires two yava, that by a scorpion one grain of sesamum (tila); no poisonous substance may be prescribed when the poison has affected the blood (48.7a-c); a lūtā lesion should not be treated by giving the patient a medicated drink, but by applying a plaster, after scarification;

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a poison administered in cases of poisoning acts like amṛta, but, in the absence of poisoning, it is just a poison; neither should a poison be prescribed when the patient suffers from the effects of a weak poison (48.7cd-8); an agada should be given in cases of doubt; caution is necessary with agadas too, since, improperly prescribed, they give rise to disease (48.9-10); vegetable poisons that may be used are sāktuka, mustaka, śṛṅgī, vālaka, sarṣapāhvaya and vatsanābha, which are snigdha, ghana and guru; kālakūṭa, however, should never be employed as a counterpoison (48.11); medicines to be administered immediately after the medicinal use of a sharp poison (48.12-13); substances to be mixed with the counterpoison in order to achieve particular effects (48.14-17); a lepa against a burning sensation caused by poison (48.18); someone who has drunk a vegetable poison may be treated by having a furious snake, emitting smoke from its mouth, bite a piece of meat, held at the end of a stick of wood; after mincing this meat one should give it to eat (48.19-20); poisons may also be prescribed in all sorts of diseases when other measures fail; those striving after rasāyana should always use poison (48.21); the proper periods of time for the use of poison for rasāyana purposes and in emergencies (ātyayikavyādhi) (48.22-23a); contra-indications for the use of poison as a medicine (48.23b-24); things to be avoided after administration of a poison (48.25);

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disorders arising when these rules are not observed, in particular when dry articles of diet (rūkṣānna) are consumed (48.26); prescriptions containing haritāla, which are useful against fevers (48.27-28); prescriptions containing poisonous substances which are useful in long-standing fevers and other disorders (48.29-30), raktapitta (48.31), corrupted sores (duṣṭavraṇa) (48.32), respiratory problems, hiccup and vomiting (48.33), a series of disorders (48.34-36), mūtra (kṛcchra), udāvarta and aśmarī (48.37), aśmarī (48.38), śūla (48.39), vātāṇḍatva⁷²⁶ (48.40), gulma and plīhan (48.41), plīhodara and krimi(roga) (48.42), kuṣṭha (48.43), plīhan and kuṣṭha (48.44), kuṣṭha in general and particular types of kuṣṭha (48.45-54), mūḍhagarbha (48.55), female infertility (48.56), deficiency of semen in males (48.57), timira (48.58-59), kāca (48.60), śukla⁷²⁷ and arman (48.61), a number of eye diseases (48.62-66ab), rātryandhatva (48.66c-f), headache (48.67), pūtināsa (48.68), palita and arūṃsikā (48.69), karṇaśūla (48.70), diseases of the mouth (48.71), and stammering (vākskhalanatā) (48.72).