Page:Sushruta Samhita Vol 1.djvu/407

 CHAPTER XXXIV.

Now we shall discourse on the Chapter which treats of the mode of preserving the life of a king whose soldiers are on march (Jucta-Seniya-madhyayam).

Metrical Texts:—I shall presently describe the measures, which a physician in the king's service should adopt with a view to protect the life of his royal master, specially from acts of secret poisoning, while mobilizing his armies to invade the territory of a neighbouring monarch accompanied by his chiefs and ministers.

A common practice of the enemy under such circumstances is to poison the wells on the roadside, the articles of food, the shades of trees (shadowy places) and the fuel and forage for cattle; hence it is incumbent on a physician marching with the troops, to inspect, examine and purify these before using any of them, in case they be poisoned. The symptoms and medical treatment will be fully described and discussed later on in the part, entitled the Kalpa Sthanam.

Men, learned in the lore of the Atharva Veda, hold that death may be attributed to a hundred and one different causes, (lit: deaths of a hundred and one kinds) of which one (which is that of an old man