This section is from the book "The Sushruta Samhita", by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna. Also available from Amazon: The Sushruta Samhita.
The one known as the great or the major group of five medicinal roots (Mahat-Pancha-Mula) consists of the roots of such trees as Vilva, Agnimantha, Tuntuka, Patala and Kashmari.
It is bitter in taste and subdues the deranged Kapham and Vatam. It is light (easily digestible) and appetising, and acquires a subsequent sweet taste in its reaction (Anurasa).
The two preceding groups in combination form the one technically known as the Dasha-Mulam (the ten roots), which is possessed of the virtue of destroying the deranged Vata, Pittam and Kapham. It proves beneficial in cases of asthma and difficult respiration. It acts as a good digestant in respect of undigested lymph chyle, etc and is used with satisfactory results in all types of fever.
The group consisting of the roots of the five medicinal creepers known as Vidari, Sariva, Rajani, Guduchi and Aja-Shringi, is called the Valli-Panchamulam.
Similarly, the group consisting of the five medicinal (thorny) shrubs known as Karamradda, Trikantaka, Sairiyaka, Shatavari, and Gridhranakhi, is called the Pancha-Kantaka.
The two preceding groups prove curative in Haemoptysis and in all the three types of anasarca or oedema (Shopha). Moreover, it has the incontestable virtue of arresting all sorts of urethral discharges and is a potent remedy in all cases of seminal disorders.
-The group consisting of the five medicinal herbs (of the grass species) and known as Kusha, Kasha, Nala, Darbha, Kandekshuka, is called the Pancha-Trina.
Cases of Haemoptysis, renal defects or of uninary diseases are found to speedily yield to the curative efficacy of the compound internally administered through the medium of cow's milk.
The first two of the aforesaid groups of Panchamulas (viz., the Svalpa and the Vrihat Panchamulas) are possessed of the virtue of destroying the deranged Vata, while the one standing in the bottom of the list (Trina-Panchamula) is endued with the property of killing the deranged Pittam. Those standing third and fourth in order of enumeration (the Valli and Kantaka Panchamulas) subdue the deranged Kapham.
The groups of medicinal drugs and roots have thus been briefly described, which will be more elaborately dealt with later on in the chapter on Therapeutics.
An intelligent physician should prepare plasters, decoctions, medicated oils, Ghritas (medicated clarified butter) or potions, according to the exigencies of each individual case. * The groups enumerated above should be therapeutically used according to the nature of the deranged humours involved in each individual case. Only two, three or four drugs of the same medicinal group, or a similar number of drugs chosen from the the different groups, or a group of medicinal drugs in its entirety, or in combination with another, should be used according to the indications of any particular case, as the physician, in his discretion, would determine.
These drugs may be duly culled in all seasons of the year, and should be stored in a room protected from smoke, blasts of cold, wind and rain.
Thus ends the thirty-eighth Chapter of the Sutrasthanam in the Sushruta Samhita, which deals with the classification of drugs according to their therapeutical use.
 
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