This section is from the book "The Sushruta Samhita", by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna. Also available from Amazon: The Sushruta Samhita.
The administration of a potion composed of powdered Pippali and (Sain-dhava) salt mixed with curd-cream and the four kinds of oleaginous substances (Sneha) constitute what is known as the Sadyah-Snehana (i.e., it produces the effects of the Sneha within a very short time). The use of a Yavágu well-cooked * with the soup of half-fried meat (instead of water) and a Sneha (clarified butter), and mixed with honey acts as a Sadyah-snehana. A Yavágu prepared with milk † and a small quantity of rice and taken lukewarm with clarified butter produces the same result. The use of cow's milk milched into a pot containing clarified butter and sugar produces an instantaneous emulsive effect (Sadyah-snehana), if taken by a man with a parched state of the organism. Clarified butter cooked with three parts of the decoction of Yava, Kola and Kulattha pulse Uakcn together) and one part each of milk, curd, wine and clarified butter churned from milk acts as an instantaneous demulcent (Sadyah-snehana) and is hence recommended to kings and king like personages. This potent emulsive measure (Sadyah-snehana) should be prescribed for the old, the imbecile, to females and to persons of sluggish appetite, as well as to sensitive persons and in diseases due to a slight aggravation of the bodily Doshas. 19-G.
* In place of
(well-cooked), Chakradatta reads
(prepared with a small quantity of rice), † In place of
' (prepared with milk), Chakradatta reads
(prepared with an abundance of sesamum which, according to S'ivadása, would constitute three parts with only one part of rice).
The internal use of a Sneha is forbidden to persons suffering from ascites, fever, delirium, alcoholism, aversion to food and vomiting, as well as to weak, corpulent, thirsty, fatigued, or intoxicated persons. It is forbidden on a cloudy day, in an improper season of the year, after the application of Vasti-measures, purgatives and emetics and after premature parturition. The internal use of a Sneha (oil or Ghrita) gives rise to a host of maladies in the foregoing cases, or the diseases become more serious or may even become incurable. In cases of premature parturition, there remains a quantity of mucus and vitiated lochia in the womb; therefore, stomachic (Páchana) and parching (Ruksha) drugs should be administered to females after child-birth. After a period of ten days, however, draughts of oil or clarified butter should be given according to requirements. 19.
A dry or parched condition of the organism should be inferred from a general dryness of the body, the hard and knotty character of the fœcal matter (stools), a sluggish digestion with a burning sensation on the epigastrium (Uras) and an upward coursing of the Váyu from the abdomen (Koshtha) as well as from the weakness and discoloration of the body. Lassitude, a sense of heaviness in the limbs, the oozing out of the Sneha through the lower orifices of the body and an aversion to any kind of oleaginous substance are the indications which mark the satisfactory action of an emulsive remedy in a human organism, while its abrupt excess or abuse is followed by aversion to food, salivation, a burning sensation about the anus, dysentery and diarrhoea and such like symptoms. A condition of dryness in the organism should be remedied with a Sneha, while an excess of the latter should be corrected with meals of S'yámáka or Kora-dusha grains, as well as with milk-curd (Takra), levigated sesamum paste (Pinyáka) and powdered barley (Saktu). 20-23.
The blessings which attend a person who has duly taken a Sneha are improved digestive capacity, regular and satisfactory motions of the bowels, a growth of all the vital principles of the body, strength and firmness of the organs, improvement of complexion, a delayed old age and the enjoyment of a hundred summers on earth. The application of a Sneha is potent enough to increase the strength and the digestive capacity of a weak person suffering from impaired digestion, and a person having his health and digestive capacity recouped (by the use of a Sneha) does not yield to the evil effects of errors of diet. 54-55.
Thus ends the Thirty-first Chapter in the Chikitsita Sthánam of the Sus'iuta Samhitá which deals with the treatment of the diseases where oleaginous medicines are useful.
 
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