Susruta Samhita - Mandhata Global

Chap. XXXVII.] CHIKITSA STHANAM. 615
of a second meal, having already digested his previous
one. The use of a Sneha-vasti is forbidden in an
empty stomach as it might otherwise send the injected
fluid higher up into the intestines owing to the empti-
ness and cleansed * (unencumbered) state of the sto-
mach. An application of the Anuvasana-vasti should be
made just after a meal, since the application of a Vasti
made during the continuance of a partially digested
or undigested meal in the stomach brings on fever.
An Anuvasana enema should not, hovvever, be applied
after the patient had taken his meal, richly saturated
or cooked with a Sneha (oil or clarified butter), since the
double introduction of the Sneha into the system
through the medium of food and the Vasti brings on
vertigo and epilepsy. The strength and complexion
of the patient suffer much by the application of an
Anuvasana-vasti after he has taken a dry (Ruksha) meal
containing no Sneha. A patient should, therefore, be
first fed with a diet saturated with a moderate quantity
of an oleaginous substance before being treated with an
Anuvasana-vasti. The patient before being treated
with an Anuvasana vasti should be fed with Mudga-
soup "j", cow's milk and meat-essence to a quarter part X
less than the quantity he can ordinarily take 16.
* Gayadasa reads " ^-!^cs||c{ " in place of "^c^cj" and explains it
to mean " owing to the potency of the Sneha in traversing through the
minutest channels of the body."
t Dallana explains that the Mudga soup should be taken without
being mixed with any Sneha. He further says that the patient should be
given Mudga-soup, cow's milk and meat -essence in accordance with
the aggravation of the deranged Kapha, Pitta and Vayu respectively.
X Dallana, on the authority of the older Commentators explains
that the patient should not be fed to his fill but only to three-fourths,
half and one-fourth of what he can ordinarily take according to his
digestive capacity.