Susruta Samhita - Mandhata Global

. Chap. IV.] KALPA STHANAM. 7^^
patient look sidelong. A person bitten by a pregnant
snake produces yellowness of the face and tympanites.
A bite by a newly delivered snake causes Sula (pain),
bloody urination and an attack of tonsilitesi^Upa-jihvikd)
in the victim. A person bitten by a hungry serpent
craves for food. A bite by an old serpent is marked by
a slow and mild character of the different stages of
poisoning. A bite by a snake of tender age is marked
by a rapid setting of the characteristic poisonous symptoms
which are found to be mild in their nature. A
bite by a non-venomous serpent is marked by the
absence of any of the specific symptoms of poisoning.
According to several authorities, a bite by a blind
serpent brings on blindness in its train. An Ajagara
(Boa-constructor 1 is
found to actually swallow up the
body of its prey, to which should be ascribed the death
of the victim in such a case (resulting from the crushing
of bones and strangulation) and not to the effects of any
poison. A person bitten by a snake of instantaneously
fatal poison, drops down dead at the moment of the bite
as if struck by a sharp weapon or by lightning. 25.
Symptoms of the different stages
of poisoning from the bites of a Darvikara
Snake : —The poison of all species of snakes
(snake-bites) produces seven distinct stages of transfor-
mation (in the organism of a person bitten by one of
them). The poison of a snake of the Darvi-kara species
affects and vitiates the blood (vascular system) in the first
stage of its course or its physiological transformation in
the body. The blood thereby turns black, imparting its
hue to the complexion and giving rise to a sort of creep-
ing sensation in the body, as if ants have been creeping
over it In the second stage the poison affects the
principle of flesh, turns it deep black and produces