Treatment Of Palliative Types

Bleeding by opening the (local) veins should be resorted to in the six kinds of ocular affections in which the palliative treatment is all that is open to us. The patient should be as well kept constantly purged with draughts of matured clarified butter duly cooked with the admixture of suitable purgative drugs. In a Vataja type (of any of these six affections) purging should be induced with castor oil taken through the vehicle of milk. Administration of Traiphala-Ghrita is also rc:ommended for purgative purposes, especially in the Pittaja blood-origined types. Purging with (clarified butter duly cooked with) Trivrit should be induced in types having their origin in the deranged Kapha, while oil duly cooked with Trivrit should be administered (for the purpose) in cases of affections having their origin in the concerted action of all the three deranged Doshas. The use in any shape of old and matured clarified butter, kept in an iron vessel, proves beneficial in cases of Timira of any type. Clarified butter cooked with (the Kalka and decoction) of Triphala or Mesha-s'ringi always proves efficacious in Timira of any type. The patient should be made to lick a compound of powdered Triphala with a copious quantity of clarified butter in cases of Pittaja blindness, with oil in the Vataja type, and with a copious quantity of honey in the Kaphaja type, of this disease (Timira - loss or darkness of vision). 19-21.

* Both Vagbhata and Dallana plainly say that the roasted Pippali only should be used with honey as an Anjana in cases of night-blindness, † There is a confusion in the reading of this couplet. In place ofTreatment Of Palliative Types 30027 i.e. pasted with the juice of the liver (of a cow or any other animal), Chakradalta reads i.e. to say - the liver of a cow (and of no other animal) should be taken. Vrinda, however, reads arid his commentator accepts the reading(the liver of an animal other than a cow).; but this reading is objectionable on the ground of a faulty construction.i. e. pasted in the watery secretions of cow-dung, is yet another variant noticed by both the commentators of Vrinda and of Chakradatta.

The use as a Navana (errhine) of a medicated oil cooked and prepared with the decoction of cow-dung would be attended with beneficial results in all types of Timira. Clarified butter * alone is beneficial in the Pittaja type; similarly clarified butter prepared by churning the milk of a ewe or a she-goat and cooked with the admixture of the drugs of the Madhura (Kakolyadi) group would prove beneficial in the Pittaja type of Timir;e Oil cooked with the drugs of the Sthiradi (Vidari-gandhadi) or the Madhura

* Some say that this clarified butter is to be prepared from the milk of a ewe or she-goat group * as well as the Anu-taila (see Chapter V (Medical Treatment Of Snake-Bites (Sarpa-Dashta Kaipa-Chikitsitam)), Chikitsita Sthana), might be prescribed with the greatest advantage in the types of the disease due respectively to the action of the deranged Vayu and vitiated blood of the system. A medicated oil duly cooked with an admixture of Saha, As'va-gandha, Ati-vala, S'atavari, Trivrit and the three fatty substances, Ghrita, lard and marrow, mentioned before (in connection with the treatment of Maha-Vata-Vyadhi, Chapter VI (NidáNam Of Pra-Meha (Diseases Of The Urinary Tracts)), Chikitsita Sthana) might be advantageously employed as an errhine in cases of Vataja Timira. Butter churned out of the milk duly cooked with the flesh of any aquatic or marsh-frequenting fowl or beast should be employed as an errhine; it would prove curative in cases of Vataja Timira (loss of vision). 22-23.

The flesh of a vulture and of a deer of the Ena species, Saindhava salt, honey and clarified butter should be prepared and applied (to the affected eye) in the manner of Puta-pa'ka (see next Chapter). The lard of vultures, snakes and cocks and Yashti-madhu should be pasted together (with honey) and applied (to the affected organ) in the manner of an Anjana (eye-salve) †. 24.

Antidotes: - Srotonjana should be successively soaked in meat-juice, ‡ milk and clarified butter in the manner of Bhavana saturation and used as a Praty-anjana * (in cases of Vataja Timira unattended with redness). In cases of Vataja Timira attended with redness of the eye, however, the Srotonjana should be placed inside the blades of Kus'a grass and preserved for a month inside the mouth of a (dead) black cobra. Then it should be taken out and mixed with Saindhava salt and the burnt ashes of Malati (Jati) flowers. It should then be applied as an Anjana to the affected organ. As an alternative, Srotonjana should be soaked in milk for three successive days and applied to the seat of the disease in a case of (Vataja) Kacha (cataract) which is said by experts to be remediable by this Anjana. 25.

* The part of the text within the two *s from 'Similarly' in the last page to 'group' in this page is not to be found in either Vrinda or Chakradatta. The commentator of Chakradatta, moreover, does clearly say that this part is an interpolation and cannot be found in some of the Mss. of Sus'ruta Samhita.

According to Dallana the lards of vultures, snakes and cocks may be jointly or separately used - taken either one, two or all the three at a time. But in all cases they should be mixed with honey and Yashti-madhu. It should be noted that the lard of a Krishna-Sarpa (venomous serpent) should be used.

‡ Flesh of those animals which give strength to the sight should be used in the preparation of meat-juice.