Page:Sushruta Samhita Vol 1.djvu/380

276 or thunder-blasted tree, or on a thorny knoll covered over with creepers, or on ashes or stones, or amidst ordure or husks of grain, or on dried skeletons, and singing in a harsh voice with its head turned towards the blazing or inauspicious quarter of the sky, should be deemed as portending evil.

Similarly, birds, which are possessed of names of masculine terminations are happy omens if seen on the left by a physician on his way to the house of a patient, while birds, on a similar occasion, whose names have feminine endings, are auspicious if seen by him on the right. A dog or a jackal, seen running from the right to the left, is a happy omen, and so is a mongoose or a Chasha bird if seen on the left. A hare, a serpent, or an owl, seen on either side of the road, is an inauspicious sight. The sight and the sound of a (Godha or a Krikalasha an animal of of the lizard species) are both inauspicious.

If a man, other than a messenger of inauspicious character but possessed of features alike unfavourable, should happen to cross the way of a physician, just starting on a professional call, he should be regarded as equallv indicative of evil. The sight of a vessel full of Kulutha pulse, or of husks of grain, or of stone, ashes, clay or charcoal, or of oil, is inauspicious. Similarly, the sight of a vessel filled with red mustard or with wine other than which is clear and mild