Excising and burning a bite where a ligature cannot be applied

Quoted as an example of fire being wholesome: where a ligature cannot be applied, the bite is cut out and burned; sucking, excision and burning are said to be praised in every case.

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Names and synonyms

Sanskrit: दंशोत्कर्तन-दहनआचूषण-छेद-दाह
Hindi: दंश को काटकर जलाना
English: Excising and burning a bite where a ligature cannot be applied

Ingredients and preparation

OtherExternal applicationAppendix: Hitahita · p. 609

Preparation as described

Where a ligature cannot be applied, the bite is cut out and then burned.

दहेद्रंशमथोत्कृत्य यत्रा बंधो न शक्यते।

How it is used

Done at the bite; sucking, excision and burning are said to be praised everywhere.

आचूषणच्छेददाहा: सर्वत्रौव च पूजिता:।

Indicated for, as the text says

Poisoning (visha)(दंश)

Therapies involvedCauterisation (agnikarma)अग्निकर्म (दागना)Surgery (shastra karma)शस्त्रकर्म (शल्य क्रिया)

Organs mentionedSkinत्वचा

आचूषणच्छेददाहा: सर्वत्रौव च पूजिता:।Source wording as converted, Appendix: Hitahita · p. 609.

What the text says

Each statement reports the source, with its chapter, page and verse. Traditional descriptions are not presented as proven medical facts.

Treatment principle1

Where there is a wound and a ligature cannot be applied, the translation says, it should be burned with a slight fire and hot medicines used, and the wound scraped open and burned again; sucking out the poison of the wound, cutting and burning are said to be useful everywhere in the treatment of poison.
Appendix: Hitahita · p. 624Hindi commentaryTraditional description

Safety

Needs a trained practitioner. This procedure or preparation is of a kind that should only be carried out under qualified supervision.

Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, kidney or liver disease and other medicines all call for professional advice before any traditional remedy is used.

Indicated for2

Burns (dagdha)दग्ध (जलना)Poisoning (visha)विष (ज़हर)

Therapies involved2

Cauterisation (agnikarma)अग्निकर्म (दागना)Surgery (shastra karma)शस्त्रकर्म (शल्य क्रिया)

Questions2

By which four procedures, according to the translation, are diseases treated, and why should none of them be relied on alone?भावानुवाद के अनुसार रोगों की चिकित्सा किन चार क्रियाओं से होती है, और किसी एक पर ही निर्भर रहना क्यों ठीक नहीं?How does the hitahita chapter argue that no substance is wholesome or unwholesome in every respect?हिताहिताध्याय यह कैसे सिद्ध करता है कि कोई द्रव्य सर्वथा हितकर या सर्वथा अहितकर नहीं है?

Organs mentioned1

Skinत्वचा

Sessions1

Wholesome and unwholesome thingsहिताहिताध्याय

Questions and answers

How does the hitahita chapter argue that no substance is wholesome or unwholesome in every respect?

It rejects the one-sided view that water, ghee, milk and rice are absolutely wholesome and fire, alkali and poison absolutely unwholesome: if the former were wholesome everywhere and always, people with new fever, diarrhoea, kushtha, fistula-in-ano, eye disease or wounds would have to take them constantly, while alkali, fire, instruments and poison used by skilled physicians relieve diseases at once.

Detailed answer and sources

By which four procedures, according to the translation, are diseases treated, and why should none of them be relied on alone?

Poison, alkali, fire and instruments; some diseases are treated by one of them, some by two, some by three and some by all four.