Page:Sushruta Samhita Vol 1.djvu/631

Chap.XLVI.] or subdue the deranged Pittam. The bulb known as the Vrahakanda is pungent in taste and digestion, and is possessed of spermatopoietic, tonic, rejuvenating and restorative properties. It subdues the Kapham, and proves efficacious in cases of Meha, skin diseases (Kushtham), and in ailments due to the presence of parasites in the intestines. The top-piths of such trees, as the Tala, Narikela, Kharjura etc., are sweet in taste and digestion. They prove curative in cases of haemoptysis, and are spermatopoietic. They subdue the Vayu and generate the Kapham in the body. Edible bulbs, which are extremely tender or immature, diseased, decomposed or sprouting in an improper season of the year, or are worm-eaten, should be rejected as unfit for use. This finishes the description of the bulb group.

The Salt Group (Lavana Varga):—The different varieties of salt such as the Saindhava, the Samudra, the Vida, the Sauvarchala, the Romaka and the Audbhidam (prepared from vegetable alkali), etc., should be successively deemed as more heat, Vayu, Kapham, and Pittam making, and more demulcent, sweeter and more purgative and diuretic, considered in the inverse order of enumeration.

Saindhava salt is beneficial to the eyes, palatable, relishing, light, appetising, demulcent, slightly sweet in digestion, spermatopoietic and cooling in its