Plasters, Etc

Barley, wheat, sesamum, Mudga pulse aud Másha pulse should be taken in equal parts and pounded separately; and the paste of the following drugs, viz., Kákoli, Kshira-kákoli, Jivaka, Rishabhaka, Valá, Ati-valá, Visa-mrinála (lotus stem), Pris'niparni, Mesha-s'ringi, Piyála, S'arkará (sugar), Kas'eruka, Surabhi, and Vachá should be mixed with each of the preceding powders and each of these compounds (so formed) should be boiled with milk, oil, lard, marrow and clarified butter. The five compounds, thus prepared, are called Fáyasas, which should be applied as a hot poultice (Upanáha) to the affected part; or an Utkáriká, made of the pulp of oily fruit (seeds) * (prepared by cooking them with milk) should be applied; or powders of wheat, barley, sesamum, Mudga pulse, or Másha pulse, and Ves'avára, made of various kinds of fish and flesh, should be used as a plaster. Vilvapes'iká Tagara, Deva-dáru, Saralá, Rásná, Harenu, Kushtha, S'ata-pushpá, Elá, Surd and cream of milk-curd pasted together, should be applied to the affected part as a plaster (Upanáha". As an alternative, the expressed juice of Mátulunga, mixed with Kánjika, Saindhava salt and clarified butter, pasted together with the root of the Madhu-s'igru and with sesamum, † should be used in a similar way. The preceding remedies should be administered in a case of Váta-Rakta marked by a preponderance of the aggravated Váyu. 8.

According to Jejjata Acháryya, the "Valá-Taila", which is administered in the medical treatment of Mudha-garbha, should be prescribed in this case.

VáTa-Rakta With A Preponderance Of Pitta

In cases of Váta-Rakta where the Pitta preponderates, the patient should be made to drink a potion consisting of a decoction of Drákshá, Aragvadha, Katphala, Kshira-vidári, Yashti-madhu, Chandana and Kás marya sweetened with a quantity of sugar and honey.

* Such as sesamum, castor-seed, linseed, Vibhitaka-seeds, etc. † Some say that a paste of sesamum only should be used as a separate plaster.

As an alternative, a decoction of S'atávari, Yashti-madhu, Patola, Triphalá, and Katu-rohini, or a decoction of Guduchi, or a decoction of the drugs belonging to the Chandanádi group, which are possessed of virtues for allaying pittaja fever, should be administered to the patient, sweetened with sugar and honey. Clarified butter, cooked and prepared with a decoction of bitter and astringent drugs* also proves beneficial in such cases. 9.

The affected part should be washed (Parisheka) with a decoction of Visa-mrinála, Chandana and Padmaka (taken in equal parts and] mixed with half its quantity of milk. As an alternative, the affected part should be sprinkled with a compound composed of milk, the expressed juice of Ikshu (sugar-cane), honey, sugar, and washings of rice (taken in equal parts); or with curd-cream, honey, and Dhányámla (fermented paddy-gruel), mixed with a decoction of grapes and Ikshu; or the affected part should be anointed with clarified butter cooked with the drugs of the Jivaniya group, or with the clarified butter washed a hundred times in water, or with clarified butter cooked with the Kalka of the Kákolyádi group. 10.

Pradeha (plaster) composed of S'áli, Shashtika,Nala, Vanjála, Tális'a, S'rigátaka, Galodya, Haridrá, Gairika, S'aivala, Padma-káshtha, leaves of padma (lotus), pasted with Dhányámla and mixed with clarified butter, should be applied to the affected part. This plaster (Pradeha) may be applied lukewarm even in cases of Váta-Rakta, marked by a preponderance of the aggravated Váyu. All the remedial measures (laid down above) may also be advantageously applied in cases marked by a preponderance of the vitiated blood, with this exception that co!d plasters and repeated blood-lettings should be resorted to in the latter (Raktaja-Váta-Rakta). II.

* D. R. - Sweet, bitter, and astringent drugs.

Bitter drugs - Patoladi group; Kasháya drugs - Triphaládi group; sweet drugs - Kákolyádi group.