Indian Antiquary Vol 40

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 44

38
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JANUARY, 1911.
Harshavardhana of Kanavj, in describing king Sūdraka, says
परिपीतधूमवर्तिरुपस्पृश्य च गृहीत्तताम्बूल... The king after finishing his royal dinner drunk (i. e. smoked) 's noke-stiek' or cigar
and took betel. To this day the expression for "smoking" in all north Indian languages is " 96" e. "smoke-drinking," and the habit of chewing betel and smoking after dinner is a common In. dian habit.
the patient should be asked to smoke
(therefrom). So also Charakaपिष्टां लिम्पच्छरेषीकां तां वर्ति यवसन्निभां । "Prepare the pipe by grinding the smoking
ingredients with water into a paste and smearing with it a reed-stem shaped like a barley-corn.'
Passages describing the efficacy of smoking. also occur in these medical works. Susruta prescribes smoking for persons suffering from headache, etc., and says
नरो धूमोपयोगाच प्रसन्नेन्द्रियवाङ्गनाः। दृढकेशद्विजश्मश्रुः सुगंधिविशदाननः ॥
By smoking a man's senses, speech and mind become gentle, the hair, teeth and beards become firm, and the mouth becomes fragrant and cheerful.'
The term ya in the sense of a cigar occurs also in Charaka's Chikitsasthāna, Chap. 26:
एरण्डनलदक्षौमगुग्गुल्वगुरुचन्दनः।
धूमबत्ति पिबेगन्धैरकुष्ठतगरैस्तथा ।९६। (The patient) should smoke from smoke-pipes furnished with smelling substances like eranda, nalada, kshauma, guggulu, aguru and chandana, but not with kushtha and tagara.
. 3 There are, besides, elaborate descriptions, in the medical works of Susruta, Vägbhata and Charaka himself, of the process of manu" facturing a cigar or H . Vägbbata says
जले स्थितामहोरात्रमिषिकां द्वादशांगुलाम् । पिष्टैचूंमोषधेरेवं पञ्चकृत्वः प्रलेपयेत् ॥ वतिरंगुष्ठवत् स्थूला यवमध्या यथा भवेत् । छायाशुष्कां विगर्भान्तां नेहाभ्यक्तां यथायथम् ।। धूमनेनातिपां पातुमग्निप्लुष्टां प्रयोजयेत् ॥ Take ishika or kušā grass, 12 angulas (or finger-breadths) long, wet with water for a day and night. Anoint it five times with ground 'smoking-drugs.' When the after (or cigar-stick) is made as thick as the thumb and a little thicker in the middle like a barley-corn, it should be dried in the shade, and so on.'
Again, in his Chikitsāsthana, Chap. 40, Susruta says
कासश्वासप्रतिश्यायान्हन्याद्धनुशिरोरुजः । वातश्लेष्मावकारांइच हन्यामः सुयोजितः ॥ वरेचनः इलेष्माणमुखलेश्यापकर्षति रौक्ष्यातक्ष्ण्यादौष्ण्याद्वैशद्याच। चिकित्सास्थानम् ४० By smoking, asthma, lock-jaw, stiffneck, head-ache, hemiplegia, hemicrania become relieved. Vairechana-smoke (vairechana means that which is inhaled for promoting evacuations of every kind) forces out phlegm by virtue of its raukshya, .taikshnya, aushnya and vaibadya.'
8 Charaka Sūtrasthānam, Obap. 5, has the following
स्नास्वा भुक्त्वा समुल्लिख्य क्षुत्वा वन्तान् विघृष्य च। नावनाम्जननिद्रान्ते चात्मवान् धूमपो भवेत् ।।
After bathing, after eating, after bringing out the phlegm in the throat by artificial means; after sneezing, after cleansing the teeth, after purging the cerebrum by having taken snuff ; after applying collyrium to the eyes, and after waking from sleep :-the man of pradence will take to smoking.'
9 Again in the Charakasthāna, Chap. 2, Charaka: prescribes smoking for people who feel in their
4
Susruta gives almost the same process in the fullowing words
तत्र प्रयोगिक वर्ति द्यपगतचरकाण्डां निवातातपशुष्कामगारेष्ववदीप्य नेवमूलस्रोतसि प्रयुज्य धूममाहरति
T! After making a pipe from the stem of a reed, drying it completely in a windless sunny weather and heating it in a charcoal fire
1. After sneezing' implies sneezing by the use of artificial means, such as the application of blade of grass or stiff thread of cotton. After cleansing the teeth 'implies the morning, for that is the time wben the people of our country wash their teeth. By doing this the parts of his body above the collar-bone will not become liable to disease of the wind, or of the phlegm, or of both wind and phlogm. He should, however, drink the smoke three times,eto.