Dreams

Now I shall describe the dreams, which either being dreamt by the patient, or by his relations, portend fatal or a successful close of the malady. The patient, who dreams of going towards the south on the back of an elephant, or on that of any carnivorous animal, or of riding on a boar or on a buffalo, or sees himself carried towards the quarter by a dark woman with dishevelled hair and clad in a blood-red garment - laughing and dancing, soon meets his doom. A dream by a patient that members of vile castes have been drawing him southward, or that ghosts or anchorites have been embracing him, or that savage beasts with diabolical faces have been smelling his head, predicts that his earthly days are numbered, while such dreams occurring in a healthy subject indicate an impending disease.

Similarly, the patient, who dreams of drinking oil or honey, or of diving into a bed of dank or oozy slime, or of laughing and dancing mud-besplattered, is at the threshold of death. A dream of having entwined a wreath of red flowers round one's head, though otherwise nude or stripped of clothes, or of seeing reeds, bamboos, or palm trees growing on his chest, portends the impending death of a patient. On the other hand, such dreams, occurring in a healthy subject, forebode the advent of disease. Likewise, the patient, who dreams of being eaten up by fish, or who fancies himself again entering into the womb of his mother, or thinks he is falling from the summit of a mountain or into a dark and dismal cave, or as being carried away by the current of a river, or assailed and overwhelmed by a pack of crows, is already a doomed being. The dream of a clean shaved head, or of falling stars, or of dying lamp light, or of the extraction of one's own eyes, or of shaking divine images, or of earthquakes, purgings, vomitings or falling out of one's own teeth, is always fatal. The patient, who dreams of climbing a Shalmali, Kinsuka, or Pari-bhadra tree, or of ascending an ant-hill or a funeral pyre, or of witnessing himself bound to a sacrificical stake, or of receiving or eating, cotton, levigated sesamum paste,. iron, salt, sesamum, boiled rice, or drinking oil or wine (Sura), as the case may be, should consider himself as a doomed being, while such dreams in a healthy subject indicate the impending attack of a disease.

A dream should be regarded as ineffectual which is quite in conformity with the physical temperament of the dreamer (such as, one of scaling the heavens by a person of Vataja temperament; one of seeing a blazing fire, a flash of lightning, or a meteor-fall by a man of Pittaja temperament; and one of witnessing reservoirs of water, etc. by a man of Kaphaja temperament) as well as one which has been forgotten or followed by another of an auspicious type or is the outcome of premeditated thought like one dreamt in the day time.

A fever patient dreaming of friendship with a dog, a consumptive one dreaming of making friends with a monkey or a monster; a hysteric patient who dreams of making friendship with a ghost; a Prameha or dysentery patient dreaming of drinking water; a leper dreaming of drinking oil, or a Gulma patient dreaming of a tree grow-on his belly, should count his days as numbered. A person afflicted with any disease of the head, and dreaming of a tree growing on his head, or one suffering from vomiting and dreaming of eating sesamum cakes; or an asthma patient, or a person, afflicted with thirst, dreaming of making a journey on foot; or a jaundice patient dreaming of eating a food prepared with turmeric; or a person suffering from haemoptysis and dreaming of drinking blood, should be considered as about to depart this life. A patient having had any of the aforesaid dreams, under the circumstances, should get up in the morning and make a gift of Masha-pulse, sesamum, iron and gold to the Brahmanas, and repeat the blessed Tripada Gayatri (Mantras.)

Having dreamt a bad dream in the first watch of the night, a person should meditate upon a holy or auspicious subject, and then lie down again with all his senses fully controlled, and repeat the Mantras sacred to any of the gods. An evil dream should not be related to another. The dreamer of the dream should reside in a holy temple for three consecutive nights, and worship the deity with the most fervent devotion, whereby its evil effects would become nullified.

Now we shall describe the dreams, which are of auspicious nature. Members of the twice born castes, gods, cows, bullocks, kings, one's own living friends and relations, a blazing fire, a Brahmana, or a sheet of clear water seen in a dream by a healthy person predict or predicts to him a pecuniary gain in the near future, while such dreams occurring in a diseased person indicate a speedy recovery of the disease he has been suffering from. Similarly, dreams of meat, fish, garlands of white flowers, cloths and fruit predict a gain or a speedy cure, as the case may be.

Dreams of ascending the terrace of a royal palace, of climbing a tree or a hill, or of riding an elephant predict similar results as above. A dream of one's sailing over a river, pool or sea of turbid water predicts a money gain or cure, according as one is healthy or diseased. A dream of having been bit or stung by a serpent, by leeches, or by a bee, indicates bliss or cure, according to one's good or bad health at the time. The man, who usually gets such auspicious dreams, should be looked upon as a long-lived man, and may be unhesitatingly taken under medical treatment by a physician.

Thus ends the twenty-ninth Chapter of the Sutrasthanam in the Sushruta Samhita, which deals with favourable or unfavourable prognosis from messengers, birds, omens etc.