Sadyo maraneeyam of Bhela indriya sthana - An explorative study

Bhela samhita is an Ayurvedic (Indian system of medicine) treatise written by ‘Maharshi Bhela’ (belongs to 1000-2000 BC). Maharshi Bhela was the student of popular preceptor ‘Acharya Punarvasu Atreya’ and colleague of ‘Agnivesha’ (author of the popular Ayurvedic text ‘Charaka samhita’). Bhela samhita consists of 8 sections and 120 chapters. ‘Indriya sthana’ is one of the eight sections of ‘Bhela samhita’ which comprises 12 chapters. ‘Bhela Indriya sthana’ deals with prognostic aspects. ‘Sadyo maraneeyam indriyam’ is the fourth chapter of ‘Bhela indriya sthana’ which contains the description of various emergency conditions with high mortality rates. The word ‘sadyo maraneeyam’ denotes an immediate death caused by various emergency conditions. Though previous works have explored ‘Charaka indriya sthana’, studies on ‘Bhela indriya sthana’ are lacking. The present work is aimed to explore the contents of ‘Sadyo maraneeyam indriyam’ of ‘Bhela indriya sthana’. Various emergency conditions such as coronary artery disease, cardiovascular disease, acute coronary syndrome, Granulomatosis with polyangiitis, increased intra-cranial pressure, abdominal compartment syndrome, cancer cachexia, increased intra-abdominal or intra-pelvic pressure due to benign or malignant tumours, prostate cancer, neurosyphilis with saddle nose and ocular manifestations, gastro-duodenal perforation or ulcer, perforation of peptic ulcer, acute abdomen, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, lower gastrointestinal bleeding, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, colon cancer, proctalgia fugax, disseminated intravascular coagulation, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, Henoch-Schönlein purpura, coagulation disorders, cardiac cachexia, coma, shock, pulmonary cachexia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease etc are documented in this chapter by ‘Maharshi Bhela’. ‘Maharshi Bhela’ has provided a list of signs & symptoms or clinical features of emergency conditions having poor prognosis.