Page:Sushruta Samhita Vol 1.djvu/528

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424
THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA.
[ Chap. XLV.

cough, catarrh, colic pains, abdominal glands, ascites or any other dreadful disease.

There are seven modes of purifying water such as, by immersing the Kataka fruits, the gems known as the Gomedha, the roots of lotus plants, or of aquatic mosses, a piece of linen, or a pearl, or a crystal in a pitcher or vessel containing it. The bottoms of a water pitcher are made of five different shapes such as, the Phalakam (rectangular wooden stool), the Tryashtakam (octagonal wooden tripod), the Manju Valayam (ring made of the blades of Manju grass), the Udaka-Manchika (wooden scaffold for a pitcher) and the Shiky (pendent bracket). There are seven ways of cooling water, such as by exposing a water pitcher to currents of air, immersing a water pitcher (tied round with a piece of wet cloth) neck-deep in a vessel full of water, churning it with a stick, by fanning, or siphoning it by means of a piece of linen, or by burying a water pitcher underneath a bed of sand, or by keeping it suspended in a pendent bracket.

Metrical Texts:—The water, which is devoid of all smell or taste, and is pure, cool, limpid, transparent, refrigerent and pleasant, should be regarded as possessed of all the commendable traits. The water of rivers, (which drain the Jangala countries) and flow into the western sea, is light, and therefore wholesome. The water of rivers, which traverse