Treatment of the major diseases, part two
महाव्याधिचिकित्सित · चिकित्साधिकार
- Topics
- 100
- PDF pages
- 265–292
Topics in this session
Headings from the book in reading order. Open a topic for its summary and the knowledge it refers to.
Chapter 12 (अथ द्वादश: परिच्छेद:) opens under this heading for the treatment of vata diseases, which runs to verse 44 before the section on obstructed labour (mudhagarbha) begins.
Bowing to Jinendra, lord of the gods, the author promises to tell the remaining topics of vata treatment taught by the earlier sages, together with their medicines and fatal signs (rishta).
Whatever part of the body a vata disease occupies, that part is to be treated with vata-reducing measures: oil applications, unction (ubtan), sudation and poultices (upanaha) prepared with…
When vata lodges in the skin and vessels, bloodletting is to be done repeatedly; when it reaches the bones, joints and dhamanis, sudation is to be given quickly and then a binding…
If vata has entered the bones, applying a horn to draw blood is said to cure it; alternatively the part is rubbed with the hand, incised, and the vata drawn out with a tube.
- Treatment of vata joined with kapha and other factors, and of numb vataश्लेष्मादियुक्त व सुप्तवात चिकित्साPrinciplep. 194
When vata is joined with kapha, pitta or blood, the best medicines suited to that combination are to be used. For suptavata (vata with numbness), bloodletting and suitable pacifying…
- Treatment of vata joined with kapha or pitta, and the four kinds of sudationकफ पित्त युक्त वात चिकित्साMethodp. 194
Sudation is of four kinds: heat (tapa), binding (upanaha), steam (ushma) and liquid (drava). Vata joined with kapha is treated with heat, binding and steam sudation; vata joined with blood…
A poultice prepared with oil, buttermilk, curd, milk, ghee, sour substances, rice, the sweet group of drugs, alkalis such as yavakshara, cow urine and salts such as rock salt is bound on,…
When vata pervades the whole body, the patient is sweated by sitting in a decoction of vata-pacifying drugs (avagahana) and by lying on a heap of cooked grain, and enema therapy (basti) is…
For a body made stiff and contracted by vata a thick poultice is to be bound on. Vata in the shoulders, collarbones, throat and chest is to be pacified quickly with nasal therapy (nasya)…
- Treatment of vata in one part or the whole body, and head bastiसर्वांगगतादि वात चिकित्साMethodp. 196
Very hard-to-cure vata, whether in one part or in the whole body, is said to be pacified by enema therapy alone. For vata in the head, a head basti (shirobasti) of vata-reducing oil is held…
For greatly increased vata disorders the full range of procedures told earlier is to be used as needed: oleation, emesis, pastes, purgation, oil massage, fumigation, mouth-holding (kavala),…
Unctuous foods (oil, ghee), milk, curd, sour and salty foods and drinks, living in a warm house, and pastes of kushtha, tejapatra, cardamom and agaru are described as beneficial in vata…
Travelling in a warm conveyance, wearing heavy clothes, observing celibacy, sleeping on soft beds, and khala dishes prepared with grain soup are said to be always beneficial for vata…
Snacks and meals with ghee and oil, immersion in warm decoctions, affusion, and pleasantly warm sudation with slightly heated dry cow dung are described as beneficial for warding off vata.…
A paste of tilvaka ground with sour substances, with danti root, kshirakanchuki and trivrit, is cooked with curd, triphala decoction and ghee into a medicated ghee said to be a suitable…
Pieces of pilu bark and sesame are boiled in plenty of water; the oil that rises is collected and cooked with a paste and decoction of vata-reducing drugs, milk and curd. Named Anu taila,…
Ground is burnt with dried vata-reducing trees, sesame oil cooked with their decoction and paste is poured on it and left overnight, and the oil-soaked earth is boiled next day to recover…
Equal parts of the leaves of karanja, both nightshades, putikaranja, chitraka, ikshuraka (gokhuru in the commentary), mushkaka, punarnava and castor are powdered, mixed with an equal amount…
Salt cooked in a decoction of karanja, neem, patola, patala, aragvadha pulp, triphala and chitraka, mixed with snuhi latex, is said to relieve udara and many other diseases. A footnote…
About twenty drugs, among them mahanimba, kutaja, arka, snuhi, apamarga, chitraka, palasha, shigru, both nightshades, vasa, patala, bilva, both karanjas, chavya, bhallataka and vaijayanti,…
Among the vata diseases described with their signs, the physician skilled in treatment should first decide which are curable and which incurable, and then cure the curable ones with the…
A patient of apatanaka whose eyes have slipped, who is greatly exhausted, whose body is covered with many spots (the verse speaks of drops from exhaustion), whose penis is greatly enlarged,…
A hemiplegia patient whose body is swollen and numb, who has distension, whose body is bent and trembling, who is gripped by excessive vata, who feels no pain and whose limbs have dried up,…
A patient suffering from akshepaka and apatanaka is first treated with oleation, sudation and similar measures, then given head purification (shirovirechana) with the head-purifying group…
An oil is cooked with a paste and decoction of well-known vata-reducing drugs, jujube and barley water, horse-gram soup, curd, milk, sour fruits and ghee.
This oil is to be used in akshepaka, apatanaka and the major vata diseases for nasal therapy, nourishing the head (tarpana), affusion, massage and enemas. An oil called Mithuna, prepared…
In facial palsy the patient, without being fed, is given sour liquid and curd to drink, and is then sweated again and again by the many kinds of sudation told before; arka oil is massaged…
All the vata treatments described so far suit diseases arising from vata alone. For vata mixed with other doshas, the physician who knows the differences of doshas and tastes should combine…
A hemiplegia patient is to be well purged and then given asthapana enemas and the whole treatment told for vata diseases; a facial palsy patient is to be treated with sudation and pressed…
Oil cooked with two parts of a decoction of kasha grass, darbha, kusha, patala and bilva, one part of milk and half as much oil as milk, applied by nasal therapy and similar means, is said…
In sciatica (gridhrasi) and other major vata disorders, bloodletting is done first, followed by suitable treatment with the excellent medicines and all the procedures told before for major…
Major vata diseases located in the trunk (koshtha) are to be treated by the physician who knows the rules for vata diseases with patra lavana and similar preparations, medicated ghee and…
Whether a disorder is due to vata alone or to vata joined with other doshas is to be determined from the signs of the doshas told earlier, and it is then treated with medicines suited to it.
For earache the ear is filled with rock salt, asafoetida and ginger juice mixed in oil, or with goat urine, garlic and arka juice warmed together, and the liquid is held for a hundred, five…
Having described the treatments fit for vata diseases, the author promises to tell next the signs of obstructed labour, its fatal signs (rishta) and the method of extracting the fetus.
From too much riding in vehicles, too much walking, slipping, sexual intercourse, falls and blows, the fetus is dislodged from the uterus and falls, as fruit falls from a tree; this is…
If the fetus is young (up to four months), the vata excited by the injury to the fetus reaches the flanks, bladder, abdomen, vagina and head, causes distension, pain and retention of urine,…
When a fetus that has grown without complication turns towards delivery and apana vata becomes aggravated, it reverses the fetus's course so that it cannot quickly find the outlet and…
The ways an obstructed fetus may present are listed: in some both hands and feet come out first together; in some only the head comes out while the hands stay inside; in some the back and…
Vata aggravated in the vagina makes both feet come first; the fetus thus comes out in many ways, so mudhagarbha has many kinds. The physician should consider its course well and take the…
A woman with obstructed labour who is in extreme pain, afflicted by distension, raving greatly, overcome by fainting and with upturned eyes, is to be regarded as incurable and given up.
If the woman's life has departed but the fetus still moves in the womb and the belly has gone slack, the physician, recognising this in time, should cut open the abdomen out of compassion…
If the child has died in the womb, the mother shows foul breath, severe pain, thirst, a pale face, a motionless abdomen, severe distension and loss of labour pains.
Removing an obstructed fetus lying among the intestines, liver and spleen is very hard; the physician is to explain the difficulty to the king and the relatives, smear his nail-trimmed hand…
Sesame oil consecrated by reciting the holy names of the Tirthankaras is given to the pregnant woman to drink, and chasha-patra is placed at the mouth of the vagina; the text says these…
A child that has come near, either from the start or after medicines have been used, is to be drawn out by hand; if it has died, it is to be cut with the mudrika (ring) knife and removed.
If the child is somewhat large and so stuck in the inner passage of the vagina, slippery drugs are smeared on the hand, the child and the vagina, and the child is drawn out with great care.
The limb by which a soft-bodied child is caught is rubbed with the hand and cut, and the child drawn out with great care. A footnote warns that cutting must never be done if the fetus is…
The course of an obstructed fetus is very varied, so the skilled physician who knows all its kinds should remove it by various fitting methods and afterwards treat the mother.
For the woman after delivery, all the vata-reducing oils told before, or Bala oil (described next), are to be used for vaginal tarpana (a cloth soaked in oil placed in the vagina),…
Fourteen adhaka of sesame oil is cooked with bala-root decoction six times its quantity, milk and decoctions of kola, bilva, both nightshades, tuntuka, agnimantha, barley and horse gram,…
Oil pressed from black sesame soaked many times in bala-root decoction is cooked again and again with a hundredfold quantity of bala decoction; called Shatapaka Bala taila, taken by the…
By the same method, an oil is prepared with vata-reducing drugs such as the roots of nagabala, atibala and kurantaka, shatavari, guduchi, adityaparni, ashvagandha, arka and mashaparni. A…
For the woman after delivery: yavakshara in bhringaraja juice, or with ghee and hot water; or dry ginger, black pepper, long pepper and rock salt in sesame oil, to drink; or old jaggery…
With the vata-reducing medicines described, the pregnant woman, the newly delivered woman and the child are to be brought to comfort with great effort, and the child is then to be nourished.
Fresh cow butter or ghee mixed with gold bhasma and vacha powder is given to the child according to its digestive strength, starting with a very small amount and increasing it little by…
For the child's long life and intelligence, a wet nurse is to be kept who has milk and slender breasts, has been examined and found free of bad nature, wishes the child well, belongs to the…
The physician observes the child's form and bodily behaviour and questions the wet nurse to examine for disorders caused by spirits (balagraha); if a graha is present, its full treatment is…
A child seized by a balagraha is to be calmed with homa, fumigation, bali offerings, mandalas, yantras and the medicines prescribed in the bhuta-tantra for driving away spirits.
The physician skilled in treatment is to treat all children's diseases with the same drug combinations as for adults, according to the aggravated doshas, adjusting the dose to age, strength…
Children's diseases are not to be treated with cautery, purgation, caustic alkali, surgery, emesis and the like; curable diseases in children are to be treated with suitably mild measures.
Having dealt fully with obstructed labour, the author promises to tell the causes and treatment of piles, a major disease, together with their sites and fatal signs (rishta).
Suppressing the urges of stool and urine, sitting for long, constipation, injury, irregular eating and similar causes are said to produce piles through vata, pitta, kapha and blood,…
Piles are of six kinds: vataja, pittaja, kaphaja, raktaja, sannipataja and sahaja (congenital). Vataja piles are hard and cause pain, distension and retention of flatus and stool.
Piles from pitta and blood are soft and repeatedly discharge very hot blood; piles from kapha are very hard, larger than the others and very itchy.
In sannipataja piles the separate signs of each dosha appear together; sahaja (congenital) piles are very minute and show all the signs of sannipataja piles, since they too arise from all…
The anus has three folds (vali), one angula apart from the anal opening inwards, so that together they span three angula; all the piles described arise in these folds. Footnotes name the…
Sour belching and a sour taste in the mouth, loss of taste, burning, abdominal disease, indigestion, emaciation, trembling of the abdomen and many other signs appear before piles develop;…
Piles give rise to nodules, gulma, liver enlargement, ashthila, abdominal disease, loss of strength and colic; because they are the root of many diseases they are called mularoga (root…
People afflicted daily by piles that show the signs of all the doshas together, with their forms and complications, are said soon to enter the mouth of death. The commentary is on PDF 284.
Piles also arise in the penis, vagina, eyes, ears, mouth and nose, bringing other diseases of those sites with them; arising on the skin, they are called charmakila.
A patient of piles with profuse bleeding and complications such as diarrhoea, breathlessness, pain, wasting and great thirst is to be given up by the physician who cares for his reputation.
Patients with piles of the inner (third) fold or with piles from all three doshas, who constantly pass stool mixed with slimy blood and kapha with severe pricking pain, are to be regarded…
The treatment of piles is announced: it is carried out with instruments, bandaging, excellent medicines and surgery, and with the caustic alkali (kshara) method of great merit, which is…
When the anal folds are very foul or rotten with piles and the patient is afflicted by a host of other diseases, he is to be regarded as incurable and given up.
A black mushkaka tree is uprooted, dried and burnt to ash; one drona of the ash is boiled with six adhaka of water in a large clean vessel until the liquid is clear, red and sharp,…
For knife and caustic work on piles, an instrument shaped like a cow's teat is made of silver, gold or copper, four angula long and five angula round, with two openings: one at its mouth,…
After preparatory oleation, sudation, emesis and purgation and a light meal, the patient is laid in an attendant's lap with the anus towards the sun, bound and held; the ghee-smeared…
Piles from vata and kapha are to be treated with caustic alkali and cautery, piles from blood and pitta with caustic alkali, and piles that are thick at the base, hard and very large with…
Pastes for piles: arka latex with orpiment and turmeric powder; snuhi latex with chitraka, gunja, rock salt and turmeric; pippali, rock salt, chitraka and gunja (with kushtha in the verse)…
For piles that are hidden inside, the skilled physician gives the patient every morning a powder of bhallataka and haritaki mixed with jaggery, until a hundred pala of the powder have been…
Two remedies for piles: a powder of haritaki, chitraka root and rock salt, impregnated with cow urine, drunk repeatedly with kanji in the morning; or a decoction of kharabhusha (kharbuja in…
One who daily eats chitraka root and bhallataka seeds pounded with sesame and jaggery is said to overcome even piles from all three doshas with complications.
A clean new pot is lined inside with finely ground chitraka; buttermilk kept in this pot and taken daily is said to calm all kinds of piles.
Black pepper, dry ginger, bhallataka and surana tuber, each in double the quantity of the one before, are ground together with an equal weight of jaggery and made into fragrant modakas;…
The piles patient is given no food but only very sour buttermilk; or he is given water prepared with ginger, kutaja (कूट in the commentary), chitraka and punarnava, or milk cooked with…
The decoction described above is boiled down into a phanitaka, a paste of chitraka, trikatu, cumin, ajwain, pippalimula and chavya is added, and the piles patient eats it daily.
The alkali, or a clear decoction, of patala, both nightshades, putikaranja, apamarga, kutaja bark, chitraka and palasha, drunk regularly, is said to calm piles.
A paste of the same drugs is given to the piles patient to drink with curd whey and sour buttermilk, or with alkali water.
After purifying the body by emesis, purgation and the like and lodging the patient in a good house, the physician gives him a decoction of bhallataka every morning, having first had ghee…
Kernels of well-ripened, purified bhallataka nuts are eaten on a schedule: a quarter, a half and three quarters of a kernel on the first three days, one to five kernels on days four to…
Bhallataka oil taken for a month by the same increasing and decreasing schedule is said to add a hundred years to life, and each further month of use another hundred years.
An utkarika (a thick gruel, लप्सी in the commentary) cooked with sour substances, ghee and milk and eaten daily is said to remove the piles and give the patient great comfort.
A powder of vriddhadaru (vidhara), dry ginger, bhallataka and chitraka mixed with jaggery and eaten daily by the piles patient is said to calm all diseases and bring comfort. The commentary…
Good black sesame, half a kudava (8 tola), is eaten every morning with cold water after it; when it is digested the patient takes suitable food, and the text says the piles go.
The chapter closes with the same verse that ends chapter 10: the treatise is a drop from the great ocean of scripture that came from the mouth of the Jina, whose waves are all substances…