हिंदी
With new and advanced western medicine entering the market every day, the importance of Ayurveda medicine that was used in ancient India is going down. Some people forget that ancient medicine proves to be more powerful than western medicine. The proof for this is given in Sushruta Samhita, one of the main treatises of Ayurveda. Sushruta is considered to be the father of surgery but this book was never interpreter entirely since it was purely in Sanskrit. A team from Banaras Hindu University was formed with 25 scholars who dedicated their time to translating 186 chapters of the treatises. Eventually, the book Ancient Indian Surgery series (1-12) in 12 voumes of over 5000 pages (10 volumes of text, 11 volumes on drugs, and 12 volumes a synopsis of the whole in collaboration with Dr TJS Patterson, the Plastic Surgeon at Oxford University, England) was published. This book deals with concepts of fundamentals of Ayurveda, plastic surgery, pharmaceutics, anatomy, physiology, pathology, diagnosis and treatment of a variety of diseases.
- Burns and scalds
Sushruta’s description for burns and scalds can be put under two groups, therapeutic and accidental and application also falls under two categories namely, thermal and chemical. Further, there are four degrees of burns as well-
- First degree: also known as Plusta burn, there is discolouration and excessive singeing.
- Second degree: known as Durdaghda burn. In this blisters are formed, there is sucking pain, burning sensation, redness, inflammation and it takes longer to heal.
- Third degree: this is known as Samyagdagdha. This kind of burn may not be deep but the colour is like that of a palm fruit and it’s extremely painful.
- Fourth degree: this is also called Atidaghda. In this extreme burn, the muscles are hanging, affected parts are disorganized, and there is severe destruction of vessels, nerves, joints and bones. It is further complicated by fever, thirst, unconsciousness and takes a lot of time to heal and continues to remain discoloured.
Management of Burns:
Here is a list of ways you can efficiently treat burns:
- First degree burn:
You need to warm the burnt part slightly with hat and apply medicine after it. Heated is important as the blood becomes fermented and the water eventually makes the blood thicker.
- Second degree burn:
For this kind of burn, you will have to use the heating and cooling technique. You can apply ghee but that should be done in the cold state only.
- Third degree burn:
You can make an ointment made up of tugaksiri, plaksa, red sandalwood, gairika, amrta and ghrta. If you want to make a paste, use the flesh of swampy, domestic aquatic animals. Paitika should be done in case of incessant burning.
- Fourth degree burn:
Once the tissues have withered, you can apply the cooling technique. You can use rice mixed with bark of tinduka or ghee and use that for application. Aquatic plants can be used to cover the ulcer and pattika cellulitis must be used for the entire treatment.
One ointment that can be used for all types can be very easily made at home. Use beeswax, madhuka, rodhra, sarjarasa, majistha, sandal wood and murva. They are powdered and cooked with ghrta.
Ways to manage smoke poisoning:
The symptoms of smoke are excessive sneezing, cough, burning sensation and redness of the eyes, no sense of smell or taste, dull hearing, thirst, depression and fever. Here are few ways you can manage them:
- Gargles- make a mixture of sweet, salty, acidic and bitter substances. The sense of smell and taste can be recovered by this method.
- Diet- A proper diet that is bland and light will help to clear the patient’s vision, neck and head.
- Emesis-in order to induce vomiting to remove the smokiness from the stomach and respiratory tract, one should drink a mix of ghee, sugarcane juice, grapes and milk.
Ways to manage heat stroke, frost bite and lighting burns
The best way to treat hot wounds is by using the cooling method and for a frost bite, a hot and oily application works well.
