Chapter IV - Pathology of the diseases of the sclerotic coat

Now we shall discourse on the chapter which deals with the pathology of diseases of the Sclerotic coat (white coat) of the eye (Shuklagata-Roga-Vijnaniya). 1.

Names:—

The eleven different forms of diseases which are peculiar to the Sclerotic coat (white) of the eye, are Prastaryarma, Shuklarma, Kshatajarma (Raktarma), Adhimansarma, Snayvarma, Shuktika, Arjuna, Pishtaka, Sira-jala, Sira-pidaka, and Balasa-grathita. 2.

Symptoms:—

A thin and extended glandular swelling (Granthi) coloured reddish blue and appearing on the Sclerotic coat (Shukla) is called Prastaryarma. A crop of soft and whitish growths slowly extending over the entire length of the Sclerotic coat is called Shuklarma. The fleshy growth on the white coat of the eye resembling a (red) lotus flower in colour is called Lohitarma. The soft, extended, thick and dark-brown and liver-coloured growth of flesh on the white coat is called Adhi-mansarma. The rough, yellowish (D. R. white) growth of flesh on the white coat, and gaining (slowly) in size, is called Snayvarma. 3-7.

The appearance of dark brown specks resembling flesh in colour or of those having the colour of an oyster-shell on the white coat (Shukla) of the eye is called Shuktika. The appearance of a single dot or speck on the Sclerotic coat (Shukla), coloured like a (drop of the) hare’s blood, is called Arjuna. A raised and circular dot or speck appearing on the white coat and coloured white like pasted rice and (as transparent as) water is called Pishtaka. Red and extensive patches of hardened veins spreading over the white coat and looking like a net-work is called Sira-jala. The crop of white pustular growths (Pidaka) on the Sclerotic coat (Shukla), near the limit of the black coat (Iris) and covered over with shreds of veins are called the Sira-Pidaka. The disease in which a speck coloured like the Indian bell-metal (Kamsya) and covered over with a vein (Sira) appears on the region of the Scleratic coat is called the Balasa^[1]. 8-13.

 

Thus ends the fourth chapter of the Uttara-Tantra in the Sushruta Samhita which treats of the pathology of the diseases of the Sceloretic region of the eye.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The reading in Mādhava’s Nidāna is quite different here, and Dallana seems to support that. It is defined as the disease in which a hard speck appears like a drop of water on the white coat and looks like bell-metal in colour.