Treatment of Śīrṣakti (headache)

In the Atharvaveda, the synonymous words for headaches are—Śirṣakti, Śīrṣāmaya and Śīrṣaṇya^[1]. The best medicine for headaches is when the sun rises, the rays of the sun should be received in the chest and the sunshine be enjoyed. As a result, all the diseases of the head are destroyed. Another mantra speaks of three ways to get rid of headaches, coughs, etc., such as Sunrays treatment, medical treatment, and living in the mountains^[2]. Also, the application of Kuṣṭha medicine cures all headaches which have been described in the Atharvaveda. In the Kauśika Sūtra, the treatment of Śirṣakti is described: The priest while reciting I.12 gives the patient the fat of some animal to drink with ghee and sesame oil. He covers the head of the patient with a turban made of Muñja. The Patient goes with fried grain in a sieve and scatters it with his right hand. The priest proceeds with the patient in front of him with the sieve and the turban in his left hand and a bow-string and an axe in his right hand. They go to the spot where the patient was seized by the disease and put down the sieve and the turban and the bowstring and return home. At home, the patient puts ghee in his nose and the priest supporting the head of the patient with a staff of bamboo having five knots, mutters the hymn^[3].