Page:Sushruta Samhita Vol 1.djvu/622

518 species. The fruit of (the two species of) Vrihati plants has an astringent and bitter taste, and is light of digestion. It is vermicidal and proves curative in cases of itch and cutaneous diseases (Kushtha), and subdues the deranged Vayu and Kapham. The leaves and fruit of the Patola creeper have a bitter taste. They are beneficial to ulcers, pungent in digestion, heat-making, spermatopoietic, relishing and appetising. They subdue the deranged Pittam and Kapham without producing the Vayu. The Vartakam subdues the Vayu and Kapham. It has a bitter and pungent taste, is light, relishing and appetising. Matured Vartakam is alkaline (in its taste) and generates the Pittam. The Karkotakam and the Karavellakam are possessed of properties similar to those of the preceding species (Vartakam). The herbs and creepers such as the Atarushaka, Kiratatikta, Parpataka and Guduchi together with the tender shoots of the Vetra and the Nimva, have a bitter taste and subdue the Pittam and Kapham. The leaves of the Varuna and Prapunnada destroy the deranged Kapham and give rise to a condition of dryness in the system. They are light of digestion, cooling in their potency, and tend to enrage or agitate the bodily Vayu and Pittam. The potherbs known as Kalashakam are appetising and pungent in taste and tend to neutralise the effects of poison originated through the chemical action of two incompatible substances in