This section is from the book "The Sushruta Samhita", by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna. Also available from Amazon: The Sushruta Samhita.
Traivrita (Ghrita) or castor oil should be administered for a month or a fortnight to the patient suffering from the Váttaja type of oedema (Sopha;. Clarified butter cooked with the decoction of the drugs of the Nyagro-dhádi and the A' ragvadhádi groups should be respectively prescribed in the Pittaja and Kaphaja types. In the Sannipátaja type, the patient should be made to drink a potion of clarified butter cooked with a Pátra * measure of the milky exudation of the Snuhi plant and twelve Pátra measures of fermented rice gruel (Kánjika) with an adequate quantity of Danti as a Kalka. The remedy in regard to a swelling due to the action of poison (Vishaja) imbibed into the system will be duly described in the Kalpa Sthanam. 14.
Now we shall describe the general remedies (which are applicable in cases of Sotha). Any of the four Ghritas ending with the Tilvaka Ghrita which have already been meutioned under the treatment of Udara would prove remedial in a case of Svayathu ((Edematous Swelling). The use of (the officinal) urine and the applications of the (medicated) Vartis are likewise recommended. The patient should be made to take every day the medicine known as the Naviyasa * through the medium of honey. He should be made to take a Dharana weight of the compound of powdered Vidanga, Ativishá, Kutaja-fruit, Bhadra-dáru, Nágara and Maricha in tepid water. Trikatu, Yava-kshára and powdered iron should be mixed together and administered through the medium of the decoction of Triphalá; or, cow's milk and cow's urine, in equal proportions should be taken. As an alternative, treacle and Haritaki mixed in equal proportions should be administered. Deva-dáru and S' unthi † may be given; or Guggulu ‡ dissolved in cow's urine or in the decoction of Varshabhu. Equal parts of treacle and S' ringavera § may as well be prescrfbed; or the roots of the Varshábhu pasted with the decoction of the same drug and mixed with powdered S'unthi dissolved in milk should be given to the patient every day for a month. He should take Mudga pulse fried with the clarified butter prepared by cooking it with the decoction of Trikatu and Varshábhu. Milk boiled with Pippali, Pippali-roots, Chavya, Chitraka Mayura (Apá-márga) and Varshábhu, or with Sunthi and Surangi-roots, or with Trikatu, Eranda-voots and Syámá-roots, or with Varshábhu, S'unthi, Sahá and Deva-dáru should be given to the patient. A paste of Alávu and Vibhitaka dissolved in the washings of rice, should likewise be administered. 15.
* A Pátra measure is equal to eight seers
* See Chapter XXII (Causes And Symptoms Of Diseases Of The Nose (Nasa-Gata-Roga-Vijnaniya)), para. 10, Chikitsita-sthánam.
† Some commentators explain that the compound of Deva-dáru and S'unthi also should be taken through the medium of cow's urine or the decoction of Varshábhu.
‡ According to Chakradatta's reading, Deva-dáru, S'unthi and Guggulu should be taken together with cow's urine.
§ The S'ringavera in this compound may be either fresh or dried. - Ed.
The diet of the patient should consist of cooked barley or wheat saturated with the unsalted soup of Mudga pulse, cooked with Yava-kshára, Pippali, Maricha and S'ringavera, and prepared with only a small quantity of oil or clarified butter. A decoction of Vrikshaka, Arka, Naktamála, Nimba and Varshábhu should be used in effusing (Parisheka) the affected part. It should be plastered with a compound consisting of Sarshapa, Suvarchalá, Saindhava and S'ámgashtá, pasted together. Strong purgatives, Asthápana measures and applications of Sneha, Sveda and Upanátha should be constantly employed according to the nature and instensity of the aggravated Doshas involved in the case. In a case of Sotha, other than what is the outcome or supervening symptom (Upadrava) of any other disease, the patient should be frequently bled by opening a vein of the locality. 16.
A patient wishing to get rid of an attack of Sopha (oedematous swelling) should refrain from taking all sorts of cakes, acid substances, liquor, clay, salts, oil, clarified butter, * water, heavy and indigestible articles of food, sleep in the day time, the flesh of animals other than that of the animals of the Jángala group and from visiting the bed of any woman. 17.
Thus ends the Twenty-third Chapter in the Chikitsita Sthánam of the Susruta Samhitá which deals with the medical treatment of S'opha.
* Some read
., treacle in place of
i.e., clarified butter. This reading seems to be the correct one, inasmuch as it is supported by all other authoritative works on Ayurveda - Ed.
 
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