चतुस्त्रिंशोऽध्यायः अथातो युक्तसेनीयमध्यायं व्याख्यास्यामः, यथोवाच भगवान् धन्वन्तरिः ॥१॥
Now we shall discourse on the Chapter which treats of the mode of preserving the life of a king whose soldiers are on march (JuctaSeniya-adhyaya). 1
नृपतेर्युक्तसेनस्य परानभिजिगीषतः । भिषजा रक्षणं कार्य्यं यथा तदुपदेक्ष्यते ॥ २ ॥
विजिगीषुः सहामात्यैर्यात्रायुक्तः प्रयत्नतः । रक्षितव्यो विशेषेण विषादेव नराधिपः ।। ३ ।।
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. 2-3
पन्थानमुदकं छायां भक्तं यवसमिन्धनम् । दूषयन्त्यरयस्तच्च जानीयाच्छोधयेत् तथा ।।
तस्य लिङ्गं चिकित्सा च कल्पस्थाने प्रवक्ष्यते ।। ४ ।।
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 Kapha Sthana. 4
एकोत्तरं मृत्युशतमथर्व्वाणः प्रचक्षते । तत्रैकः कालसंयुक्तः शेषा आगन्तवः स्मृताः ॥५॥
दोषागन्तुजमृत्युभ्यो रसमन्त्रविशारदौ । रक्षेतां नृपतिं नित्यं यत्तौ वैद्यपुरोहितौ । ॥ ६ ॥
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 naturally and spontaneously expiring) is called natural, while the rest are unnatural or traumatic in their origin. Physicians conversant with the curative virtues of drugs and minerals, and priests well versed in the Vedic Mantras, should jointly protect the king from death, whether due to idiopathic (Dosaja) or extrinsic causeds. 5-6
ब्रह्मा वेदाङ्गमष्टाङ्गमायुर्व्वेदमभाषत । पुरोहितमते तस्माद् वर्त्तेत भिषगात्मवान् ॥ ७ ॥
सङ्करः सर्व्ववर्णानां प्रणाशो धर्म्मकर्म्मणाम् । प्रजानामपि चोच्छित्तिर्नृपव्यसनहेतुतः ।।८।।
The god Brahma disclosed to the world the Atharva Veda together with the eight allied branches of Vedic literature and the science of medicine. And since a priest (Brahmana) is well-versed in the aforesaid branches of study, a physician should act subserviently and occupy a subordinate position to the priest. The death of a king usually leads to a political revolution or to popular disturbances and brings about a confusion among the vocations of the different orders of society. The growth of population markedly suffers through such catastrophies. 7-8
पुरुषाणां नृपाणाञ्च केवलं तुल्यमूर्त्तिता । आज्ञा त्यागः क्षमा धैर्य्य विक्रमचाप्यमानुषः ॥ ९ ॥
तस्माद् देवमिवाभीक्ष्णं वाङ्मनःकर्म्मभिः शुभैः । चिन्तयेन्नृपतिं नित्यं श्रेयांसीच्छन् विचक्षणः ।।१०।।
स्कन्थावारे च महति राजगेहादनन्तरम् । भवेत् सन्निहितो वैद्यः सर्व्वापकरणान्वितः । ।११ ।।
तत्रस्थमेनं ध्वजवद्यशः ख्यातिसमुच्छ्रितम् । उपसर्पन्त्यमोहेन विषशल्यामयार्द्दिताः ।।१२।।
स्वतन्त्रकुशलोऽन्येषु शास्त्रार्थेष्ववहिष्कृतः । वैद्यो ध्वज इवाभाति नृपतद्विद्यपूजितः ।।१३।।
As the external features of a king resemble those of a common person, while his (king’s) commanding majesty, sacrifice, forbearance and fortune are super-human (in their nature and intensity), therefore a man should, who is prudent and seeks his own good, think reverentially of his king, and propitiate him with tokens of loyalty and allegiance as if he were a deity. A physician, fully equipped with a supply of medicine, should live in a camp not remote from the royal pavilion, and there the persons wounded by shafts of arrows or any other war projectiles, or suffering from the effects of any limbibed poison, should resort to him (the physician), conspicuous like a triumphant ensign for his fame and professional success. A physician, well versed in his own technical science, and commanding a fair knowledge of other allied branches of study as well, is glorified by his king and the Brahmanas, and is like a banner of victory an ennobling ornament to the state. 9-13
वैद्यो व्याध्युपसृष्टश्च भेषजं परिचारकः । एते पादाश्चिकित्सायाः कर्म्मसाधनहेतवः ।।१४।।
गुणवद्भिस्त्रिभिः पादैश्चतुर्थो गुणवान् भिषक् । व्याधिमल्पेन कालेन महान्तमपि साधयेत् ।। १५ ।।
The physician, the patient, the medicine, and the attendants (nurses) are the four essential factors of a course of medical treatment. Even a dangerous disease is readily cured, or it may be expected to run a speedy course in the event of the preceding four factors being respectively found to be ( qualified, self-controlled, genuine and intelligently watchful. 14-15
वैद्यहीनास्त्रयः पादा गुणवन्तोऽप्यपार्थकाः | उद्गातहोतब्रह्माणो यथाध्वर्युं विनाध्वरे ।।१६।।
वैद्यस्तु गुणवानेकस्तारयेदातुरान् सदा । प्लवं प्रतितरैर्हीनं कर्णधार इवाम्भसि ।।१७।।
In the absence of a qualified physician the three remaining factors of treatment will prove abortive like a religious sacrifice performed with the help of an Udgatr’, a Hotr, anda Brahmana, in the absence of an Adhvaryu.³ A qualified physician is alone capable of relieving the pain of many a suffering patient, just as only a helmsman is capable of taking his hoat across a river even without the help and co-operation of a single oarsman. 16-17
तत्त्वाधिगतशास्त्रार्थो दृष्टकर्म्मा स्वयकृती । लघुहस्तः शुचिः शूरः सज्जोपस्करभेषजः । ॥ १८ ॥
प्रत्युत्पन्नमतिर्धीमान् व्यवसायी विशारदः। सत्यधर्म्मपरो यश्च स भिषक् पाद उच्यते । । १९ ।।
Qualities of a physician: A physician, who is well versed in the science of medicine and has attended to the demonstrations of surgery and medicine, and who himself practises the healing art, and is clean, courageous, light-handed, fully equipped with supplies of medicine, surgical instruments and appliances, and who is intelligent, well read, and is a man of ready resources, and one commands a decent practice, and is further endowed with all moral virtues, is alone fit to be called a physician. 18-19
आयुष्मान् सत्त्ववान् साध्यो द्रव्यवानात्मवानपि । आस्तिको वैद्यवाक्यस्थो व्याधितः पाद उच्यते ।।२०।।
Patient : The patient, who believes in a kind and all-merciful
1. Udgatr: One of the four principal priests at a sacrifice, who chants the hymns of the Sama Veda.
2. Hotr: A priest, who recites the (Riks) prayers of the Rg Veda at a religious sacrifice.
3. Adhvarya: A priest of the Yajur Veda, whose duty is to cast the sacrificial beast into the fire.
Providence, and possesses an unshakable fortitude and strong vital energy, and who is laid up with a curable form of disease, and is not greedy, and who further commands all the necessary articles, at his disposal, and firmly adheres to the advice of his physician is a patient of the proper or commendable type. 20
प्रशस्तदेशसम्भूतं प्रशस्तेऽहनि चोद्धृतम् । युक्तमात्रं मनस्कान्तं दोषघ्नमग्लानिकरमविकारि गन्धवर्णरसान्वितम् ॥ २१ ॥ ।
विपर्य्यये । समीक्ष्य दत्तं काले च भेषजं पाद उच्यते ॥ २२ ॥
Medicine : The (proper) medicine is that which consists of drugs grown in countries most congenial to their growth, collected under the auspices of proper lunar phases and asterisms, and compounded in proper measures and proportions, and which is pleasing (exhilarating to the mind) and has the property of subduing the deranged bodily humours without creating any discomfort to the patient, and which is harmless even in an overdose, and is judiciously administered at the opportune moment. 21-22
स्निग्धोऽजुगुप्सुर्बलवान् युक्तो व्याधितरक्षणे । वैद्यवाक्यकुदश्रान्तः पादः परिचरः स्मृतः । ॥ २३ ॥
Nurse: That person alone is fit to nurse or to attend the bedside of a patient, who is cool-headed and pleasant in his deameanour, does not speak ill of any body, is strong and attentive to the requirements of the sick, and strictly and indefatigably follows the instructions of the physician. 23
इति सुश्रुतसंहितायां सूत्रस्थाने युक्तसेनीयो नाम चतुस्त्रिंशोऽध्यायः ॥३४॥
Thus ends the thirty-fourth Chapter of the Sutrasthana in the Susruta Sambita, which treats of preserving the life of a king whose soldiers are on march.
