The Dosage

The Dosage of a Sneha which requires the quarter part of a day (i.e., three hours) to be digested, should be deemed appetising and beneficial in slight aggravations of the bodily Doshas; that which requires half a day to be digested should be regarded as invigorating, spermatopoietic, constructive and beneficial in moderate aggravations of the

bodily Doshas. The dosage of a Sneha which takes three-quarter parts of a day to be digested, acts as a bodily emollient and should be prescribed in cases of extreme aggravation of the bodily Doshas, while the quantity which can only be digested in the course of an entire day (twelve hours) should be considered efficacious in all affections of the body and does not produce physical lassitude, fainting fits and delirious conditions. The measure or quantity of a Sneha which takes a whole day and night to be digested without undergoing any kind of vitiation (reactionary acidity) in the stomach, proves curative even in cases of Kushtha (cutaneous affections), insanity, poisoning (effects of poison) and Apasmára (hysteric convulsions), ascribed to the baneful influences of the malignant stars. 19-C.

* Both Vrinda and Chakrapáni read this but with little difference. Both of them readThe Dosage 200164 i.e., in the cold season. But their commentators accept the readingas in the text, to be a variant. We have the authority of Charaka, however, to accept the reading of the text.

The Evil Effects Of Over-Dosage

A patient should be made to take as much of the Sneha as he would be able to easily digest inasmuch as an excessive over-dose may prove fatal. The patient should be made to vomit with draughts of hot water in a case of over-dose or abuse of a Sneha and in the event of its continuing in an undigested or partially digested state in the stomach. In cases of doubtful digestion, similar potions of hot water should be administered which would produce good eructations and bring on a fresh relish for food. 19-D.

When the Sneha begins to be digested, it is attended with thirst, vertigo, lassitude, weariness, a disturbed state of the mind and a burning sensation. When the Sneha appears to have been fully digested the patient should be affused with hot water. A gruel prepared with only a small quantity of rice should be given lukewarm to the patient (at this stage). As an alternative, a wellaromated soup (of Mudga, etc.) or meat-juice cooked without the addition of any Sneha (oil or Ghrita) or with only a small admixture of clarified butter should be given, or he may take Yavágu (pure and simple). 19-E.

A Sneha should be taken three, four, five or six days consecutively; used (continually) for more than a week it becomes habituated to the user. A Sneha should be taken with food (at the time of midday meal) by a weak, or an old man or an infant, or a thirsty person, or one of a delicate constitution, or one averse to its use in summer. 19-F.