Ashtangasamgraha 10

English (machine translation) 10

Language: English

10.1

Now we shall explain the chapter on the rules of food and drink.
Thus spoke the great sages beginning with Ātreya:
Thus spoke the great sages beginning with Ātreya:
Thus spoke the great sages beginning with Ātreya:
Thus spoke the great sages beginning with Ātreya:
Thus spoke the great sages beginning with Ātreya:

10.2

Food and drink prescribed according to the rules, agreeable to the sense faculties, they declare to be the basis of life;
for upon it depend vital essence, vigor, bodily tissues, the faculties, strength, contentment, nourishment, intellect, health, and so forth;
and the maintenance of the internal digestive fire has that as its fuel;
and the sustenance of the body has the digestive fire as its root.
Standing as if embodied though formless, or as if formless though embodied.
Namely:
ten urinary disorders from kapha: water-like, sugar-cane juice, dense, surā liquor, flour-like, semen-like, sandy, cold, slow, and saliva urinary disorders;
six from pitta: caustic, black, blue, turmeric-like, madder-like, and blood urinary disorders;
four from vāta: fat, bone marrow, elephant-like, and honey urinary disorders.
And having observed the hemorrhoid that has entered the speculum, pressing it with a probe wrapped with either a pad of cotton or lint, one should treat it with cautery or caustic alkali according to the stated procedure, and properly extinguish it.
It arises when the mind is afflicted by worry, grief, fear, and so forth.

10.3

Then the self-controlled person, having examined the seven factors of dietetic prescription—inherent nature, combination, preparation, measure, place, time, and rules of use—which are the causes yielding health or ill health, should adhere only to what is wholesome.
Among them, by inherent nature, rainwater, red śāli rice, ṣaṣṭika rice, mung beans, blackbuck, and quail are light;
milk, sugar cane, vrīhi rice, black gram, meat of marsh animals, and so forth are heavy.
These indeed also attain transformation through differences in combination and the like.
And one who has no eye disease [sees] the moon as having many forms and spot-free.
There, śleṣman lodged in the bladder, associated with vāta, pitta, fat, moisture, muscle, semen, and chyle, produces urinary disorders;
pitta associated with these, and with kapha and blood [produces them];
vāyu associated with these, and with fat, lymph, bone marrow, and vital essence [produces them].
Shaped like mushrooms and spreading upwards, having tied them with an alkaline thread.
When mental clarity is struck down, the heart enveloped, and [the doṣas] in the channels carrying consciousness.

10.4

Among them, 'combination' is the joining together of two or many substances.
It initiates a distinctive effect that the substances do not have individually.
'Preparation', on the other hand, is produced by contact with water or fire, purification, churning, place, time, steeping, vessel, and so forth.
'Measure', again, is the mass of food, considered collectively as the bulk measure and with respect to each individual substance.
'Place' refers to the origin and habitat of the substance and the consumer.
There, moreover, the consumer is to be examined through his state of being healthy or sick, and by variation of constitution.
And likewise whoever sees a distorted form perishes.
Because of its increase, fat alone is first corrupted by it, due to extreme similarity of nature;
immediately after that, bodily moisture and so forth;
then, upon the depletion of śleṣman and the rest, pitta becoming powerful corrupts blood as well;
even upon its depletion, vāyu, drawing fat and the other bodily tissues that constitute the supreme essence of the body to the bladder, discharges them along with urine.
Then, having had him enter a windless room, one should instruct him in the customary regimen.
Grinding his teeth, vomiting foam, and throwing about his hands and feet.

10.5

Time, however, depends on the season and the disease, and is characterized by digestion and indigestion.
During indigestion, the unassimilated chyle of previous food, combining with the subsequent one, quickly vitiates all the doṣas.
When food is digested, however—when the doṣas reside in their proper places, when urges of urine and feces are evacuated due to the downward movement of vāta, when belching, the heart, and channel orifices are cleared, when sensory organs are clean, the body light, the digestive fire stimulated, and hunger has arisen—food consumed without vitiating the doṣas increases longevity, strength, and complexion.
Only this is the proper time for eating.
Or he does not see the pole star or the heavenly Ganges for that year.
Likewise, those born of pitta [are difficult to treat] because their site is mixed doṣas and fat, and because their treatments are mutually contradictory;
those born of vāta, moreover, [are incurable] because the bodily tissues are depleted, because they involve great danger, and because their treatments are mutually contradictory.
When fat is not overly corrupted, however, even those born of pitta may reach curability.
Thus, every seven nights, one should treat them one by one.
When they are many, however, first the right, then the left, and from the left, that which arose behind and in front.
From burning them all in one day, however, the fault stated for excessive application [arises].
There, one should treat the dry ones with fire or with caustic alkali;
the moist ones with mild caustic alkali alone.
This is the option for burning hemorrhoids in all regions.
On the third rectal fold, however, one should treat after declaring it incurable, or, according to some, not at all.
With distorted eyes and eyebrows, he awakes when the surge of the doṣa has passed.

10.6

Food taken past the proper time, obstructed by vāta, is digested with difficulty, causes emaciation, and destroys the appetite.

The proper procedure for eating, however, is this: one should not eat unbathed, naked, wearing a single garment, or wearing dirty clothes; nor without having offered oblations [into the fire], muttered sacred verses, made offerings to the deities and ancestors, given the first portion of food to the fire, or offered food to preceptors, guests, unexpected visitors, dogs, birds, and outcastes; nor without having attended to dependents, servants, and even the domestic animals under one's care; equipped with suitable place, time, and utensils; wearing a garland and ornaments; fragrant, with wet hands and feet, with a thoroughly cleansed face, accompanied by agreeable companions; eating food that is uncontaminated by hairs, flies, and the like, not blameworthy, not spoken ill of, not reviled, not reheated, not excessively hot, not scorched, well-cooked, not greedily eaten, not unwholesome, not of unknown nature, not of unknown origin, not too late in the evening, not too early in the morning, not in the open air, not in the direct sun, not in darkness, not under a tree, not lying in bed, not pointing with the index finger, not from a broken dish, not from an uncovered dish, not from a dirty dish or one defiled by bad intention, not placed upon a seat, not held in the hand, and not eaten directly from the hand; facing east, with a cheerful mind, served by pure and hungry people, and presented by agreeable attendants, one should eat wholesome food.

One should not eat stale food, except for meat accompaniments and baked delicacies.

One should not leave food completely finished [without leaving a remainder], except in the case of yogurt, honey, ghee, water, roasted grain flour, fermented gruel, and milk porridge.

[One should eat food that is] unctuous, light, and hot, neither too slowly nor too quickly, without talking or laughing, with an attentive mind, and having properly observed one's own constitution.

And who hears other sounds that do not exist, or does not hear those that do exist;

By the superior and inferior combination of the doṣas and the tissues affected by them, through distinctions in the color, taste, touch, and smell of the urine—just as varied shades such as dappled and piebald arise from primary colors like white and black—the distinct varieties of prameha occur.

In the event of improper cauterization, however, one should observe the rule for procedures involving alkali and thermal cautery.

Apasmāra has four varieties, caused by vāta and the other [doṣas] individually and by their combination.

10.7

For unctuous, light, and hot foods stimulate the digestive fire in the belly, cleanse the internal cavity, do not derange the bodily tissues, digest quickly, and promote the downward movement of vāta.

Likewise, unctuous food strengthens the sense organs, nourishes the body, retards old age, promotes strength, and brings about clarity of complexion.

And light food, by virtue of its natural properties and the like, reaches digestion without oppressing the doṣas and without causing distress.

Even when improperly digested, it produces only slight fault.

Hot food, moreover, stimulates the appetite and dries up śleṣman.

One who eats slowly, however, does not attain satisfaction, eats too much, and the prepared food becomes cold and digests unevenly.

While for one who eats too quickly, talking, laughing, or absent-minded, there may be upward displacement, distress, improper passage of food, and an inability to perceive its qualities and faults.

Likewise, one who misjudges smells, tastes, and tactile sensations due to perversion;

Thirst, an excess of excretions outside the body and in the bodily orifices, a desire for cold, unctuousness, sweating, numbness in the limbs, a burning sensation in the hands and feet, an approach of ants due to excessive sweetness, a fleshy odor of both urine and body, whiteness in the urine, and marked dyspnea, excessive sleep, stupor, and indolence [are symptoms of prameha].

In obstruction of urine and feces, one should apply a comfortable, warm decoction of varaṇa, alambuṣā, eraṇḍa, punarnavā, aśvadaṃṣṭrā, surabhī, and suṣavī, either as an affusion or as a tub bath, for someone whose back, hips, groins, and anus have been well anointed;

or milk with unctuous substance, or simply oil.

When hemorrhoids have been cauterized, in order to soften the feces, one should eat food accompanied by the greens of trivṛt, vāstuka, upodikā, and cuñcuparṇī.

Perception of darkness, brooding contemplation, knitting of the eyebrows, and distortion of the eyes [occur in apasmāra].

10.8

"Having properly observed one's own constitution" means that one should constantly and heedfully reflect: "this is wholesome for me, this is unwholesome for me."

In that regard, some maintain that "wholesome" (sātmya) means that which agrees with the self through habituation, being beneficial due to suitability.

Opposite to the wholesome, because of its lack of benefit, is the unwholesome.

Others, however, hold that wholesomeness is multifold, determined by constitution, age, habitat, season, doṣa, and disease.

For they, acknowledging mere therapeutic relief, metaphorically designate even that which has contrary qualities as wholesome.

And that which has similar qualities, because of non-benefit, they designate as unwholesome.

Wholesomeness, moreover, is of three kinds according to the classification into superior, inferior, and intermediate.

Among them, that which encompasses all tastes is superior, that which consists of a single taste is inferior, and the intermediate is indeed intermediate.

Among these, they teach the superior kind for one whose doṣas are in equilibrium.

Even for others, one should gradually, or by fourths, abandon what is unwholesome though accustomed, as was stated previously.

In that regard, that category of food which sustains bodily tissues that are in balance and brings back to equilibrium those that are deranged is, in brief, wholesome.

The opposite is unwholesome.

Moreover, although it varies according to improper combination of measure and the like, one should practice and avoid it as instructed and for the most part.

For him whose tastes, consumed properly, produce doṣa, or, consumed improperly, produce health—

One with ikṣumeha passes urine like sugarcane juice: very sweet, cold, slightly slimy, and turbid.

One with sāndrameha passes urine that becomes dense on standing.

One with surāmeha passes urine resembling liquor: clear on top and dense below.

One with piṣṭameha, having horripilation, passes urine that is dense and white like flour.

One with śukrameha passes urine resembling semen or mixed with semen.

One with sikatāmeha passes urine with pain and accompanied by gravel.

One with śītameha passes urine that is mostly sweet and extremely cold.

One with śanairmeha passes urine very slowly, by little and little.

One with lālāmeha passes slimy urine, as if bound together with threads.

One with kṣārameha passes urine resembling dissolved alkali in color, smell, taste, and touch.

One with kālameha passes urine that is hot and black as soot.

One with nīlameha passes frothy, clear, sour urine colored blue like the wing of an Indian roller.

One with hāridrameha passes pungent urine accompanied by burning, appearing as though mixed with turmeric.

One with mañjiṣṭhāmeha passes urine with a fleshy odor and colored like madder water.

One with śoṇitameha passes urine that is fleshy-smelling, hot, salty, and resembling blood.

One with vasāmeha passes urine mixed with fat, or fat itself.

One with majjameha passes urine mixed with marrow, or marrow itself.

One with hastimeha discharges urine mixed with lymph, sweet, without natural urge, obstructed by the lymph itself, continuous, and pouring forth incessantly like a rutting elephant.

Purifying applications such as pastes, decoctions, and oil recipes
should be employed in destroying piles, after taking into consideration the section on wounds.

Indigestion, loss of appetite, fainting, distension of the belly, and loss of strength [are present].

10.9

Likewise, one should especially avoid samaśana (eating suitable and unsuitable food mixed together), adhyaśana (eating before the previous meal is digested), amātrāśana (eating improper quantities), and viṣamāśana (eating irregularly).

Among these, eating wholesome and unwholesome foods together is samaśana.

Eating upon a meal [already eaten] is adhyaśana.

Eating improper quantities will be taught separately.

Eating before or after the proper time is viṣamāśana.

While dining, one should place thin gruels, soups, meat juices, and side dishes in silver vessels;

dried and thick preparations, and very hot milk, in golden ones;

khalas, khaṭvaras, and kāmbalikas in bronze ones;

rāgas, ṣāḍavas, and saṭṭakas in vessels adorned with diamond and cat's eye;

ghee in an iron vessel; well-chilled milk in a copper one; drinking water and syrups in clay, gold, crystal, or glass vessels; and boiled rice in a spacious, pleasing place.

Otherwise, due to alterations in color, smell, and taste, it would become harmful.

That [disorder], however, is regarded by some as twofold:

from aggravation of vāta due to tissue depletion, or from occlusion by the doṣas.

For vāyu, occluded by that, taking along the essence of food, frequently and without apparent cause producing the symptoms of the doṣas and their increase and decrease, initiates difficult-to-cure madhumeha (diabetes mellitus).

And all [pramehas], if neglected, attain the state of madhumeha.

Therefore, all of them are also designated by the term madhumeha,

since in all of them one first passes sweet urine like honey, and one's body becomes sweet in taste.

One should foment [the hemorrhoid] with a bolus (piṇḍasveda) or with liquid sudation (dravasveda).

And one should fumigate it with leaves of śamī along with ghee, arka root, human hair, snake slough, and cat skin;

or with dung of an elephant, boar, or bull, roasted barley flour, and resin of Shorea robusta;

or with surasā, bṛhatī, pippalī, and aśvagandhā mixed with ghee;

or with neem leaves, śigru leaves, horse gram, and vacā.

And one should plaster it with turmeric powder mixed with the latex of snuhī;

or with chicken dung, turmeric, pippalī, and guñjā roots ground with cow's urine;

or with dantī, citraka, and suvarcikā ground with cow's bile;

or with jaggery, pippalī, rock salt, kuṣṭha, and śirīṣa seeds ground with snuhī latex;

and likewise with elephant bone, tuttha, bhallātaka, lāṅgalī, kulīraśṛṅgī, vacā, abhayā, asafoetida, kuṣṭha, bilva, seeds of drumstick and radish, leaves of neem and karavīra, and pīlu roots; or with stem of snuhī, latex of arka, gourd shoots, and karañja ground with goat's urine;

or with substances of the pippalyādi group or drugs used for unctuous enemas (anuvāsana).

Plastered with these, indeed, hemorrhoids, having discharged corrupted blood and accumulated mucus, subside.

And with these [same drugs] one should prepare oils for massage.

Drinking of oil or wine, and passing both of them in urine.

10.10

Moreover:

One should place solid food on the right side,

liquid food, lickables, and the tooth-cleansing ball on the left, and main edible food in the middle.

According to the digestive fire and suitability, one should eat liquid or dry food first;

and at the very beginning, heavy, sweet, and unctuous food;

in the middle, sour and salty food;

at the end, dry, liquid, and food possessing other tastes.

There, for one with weak digestive fire, the internal heat being stimulated by hot liquid, the other food consumed undergoes proper digestion.

And whoever perceives beyond the senses, one should predict their death.

Splitting pain of the testicles, pain in the bladder and penis, sour eructation, thirst, fever, burning sensation, fainting, diarrhea, and jaundice occur in those born of pitta.

Cardiac tightness, craving, insomnia, trembling, colic, constipation, emaciation, cough, and dyspnea occur in those born of vāta.

Or having anointed the anal region with oil, compressing it with sharp-pointed pieces of burnt brick heated fire-red and quenched in buffalo urine, one should foment it twice a day for seven days;

and afterwards, [bathe it] with the sitz bath as described.

Then, after seven nights have passed, having made a suppository (varti) from a paste of tender sprouts of pūtīkarañja with rock salt and the milk of snuhī, not excessively dry, one should insert it into the rectum.

And after the patient has passed feces and urine, one should place them in a tub bath (avagāha).

This procedure is to be performed morning and evening, every day or on alternate days, up to three nights.

Then one should use devadālī alkali with harītakī.

In this way, hemorrhoids wither away.

He forgets, regains consciousness, weeping with an altered voice.

10.11

Among after-drinks (anupāna), water alone is best, because it is the source of all tastes, wholesome for all beings, and endowed with life-giving and other qualities.

That [water should be taken] cold with curd, honey, barley, wheat, special wines, with all substances causing a burning sensation (vidāhin), and in autumn and summer.

Hot [water should be taken] with dishes made of flour, with other things that are difficult to digest, and in winter.

And one should consult the chapter on knowledge of liquid substances (Dravadravyavijñānīya).

Milk [is the after-drink] after [eating] śāli and ṣaṣṭika rice; likewise for those exhausted by fasting, long-distance walking, speaking, women, or exercise, and for children and the elderly.

Meat broth [is the after-drink] in wasting conditions and the like.

In [diseases of] vāta, sour liquids [are suitable].

In [diseases of] pitta, sugar water.

Triphalā water with honey in [diseases of] śleṣman, and generally in diseases of the eyes and throat.

Or whey itself after curd, and after kūcikā and kīlāṭa cheese preparations.

Sour grain gruel (dhānyāmla), whey, or buttermilk after vegetables and inferior grains.

Wine after meats; or one should divide and administer sour fruit juices, water, and various fermented asavas.

Specifically: honey-asavas after [meat of] domesticated animals; sharp triphalā-asavas after wild game;

asavas made from nyagrodhādi fruits after gallinaceous birds (viṣkira); asavas of arka, śelu, śirīṣa, and kapittha after burrowing animals (bileśaya) and those killed with poisoned arrows;

sour-fruit asavas after birds of prey (prasaha); asavas of kāśa, sugarcane, lotus seed, śṛṅgāṭaka, kaśeruka, mṛdvīkā, and khadira—or cold water mixed with honey, or udaścit (diluted buttermilk)—after large forest beasts (mahāmṛga) and aquatic animals;

surā liquor after pecking birds (pratuda), and likewise for those afflicted by exhaustion and those who are emaciated;

honey water for the obese;

wine for those accustomed to wine and meat, and for those with weak digestive fire.

Furthermore:
In brief, [an after-drink should possess] opposite qualities to the food, yet not be incompatible with it.

One whose own hairs mat together on the head—one should abandon him.

And especially in the lower body;
for the doṣas of patients with urinary disorder (prameha) are directed thither.

Namely:
śarāvikā, kacchapikā, jālinī, putriṇī, vidārikā, sarṣapikā, masūrikā, alajī, vinatā, and vidradhi.

One should burn jīmūtaka together with its network of roots by the closed method (antardhūma). With half an āḍhaka of its ash, one should filter it twenty-one times with two pātras of cow's urine.

Then, with that alkaline urine combined with three prasṛtas of powder of kuṭaja, citraka, and vyādhighāta, one should cook two hundred pathyā fruits until thick.

When taken down, that electuary, combined with a prasṛta of powder of vyoṣa (the three pungents), should be placed in a vessel seasoned with ghee.

That electuary, when used consistently with two vijayā fruits along with the electuary, suppresses piles (gudaja), abdominal enlargement (jaṭhara), pain in the hips and groins, homicidal/slow poison (gara), flatulence (ānāha), abdominal swelling (gulma), jaundice/anemia (pāṇḍuroga), urinary calculus (aśmarī), urinary gravel (śarkarā), dyspnea, and cough.

And one should always perform washing with water infused with bruised leaves or with lukewarm water.

When blood does not flow in piles that are swollen and hardened, one should draw it out using leeches or a needle-brush.

He shakes his head, grinds his teeth, and his neck is distended with wind;

10.12

The after-drink indeed gladdens, pleases, energizes, nourishes, brings about repletion of the body, settles the eaten food, breaks down the solid mass of food, imparts softness, moistens, and produces ease of digestion and rapid diffusion of food.

It is to be avoided, however, by those suffering from diseases of the supraclavicular region, dyspnea, cough, excessive salivation, hiccup, hoarseness, and chest trauma, and by those intensely devoted to singing and speaking.

For by vitiating their stomach, reaching the unctuous substance derived from food situated in the chest and throat, it would cause channels-obstruction (abhiṣyanda), depression of digestive fire, vomiting, and other illnesses.

And after drinking, one should not engage in speaking, singing, long walks, or sleep;
nor should drink be taken by those with an overly moist body, excess fat, or throat, eye, and wound disorders.

He who constantly declines in strength even while eating plenty of wholesome food [will die].

Kacchapikā has a deep root, is deeply seated in pain and pricking sensation, is smooth, and resembles the back of a tortoise.

Jālinī has extensive base, pain, and pricking sensation; it is stiff, oozes unctuous discharge, has minute openings, and is covered with a network of muscle and vessels.

Putriṇī is large and studded with small carbuncles.

Vidārikā is hard and round like a vidārī tuber.

Sarṣapikā suppurates quickly, has severe pain, has the shape and size of a mustard seed, and is covered with eruptions of that kind.

Masūrikā has the shape and size of a lentil.

Alajī burns the skin as soon as it arises, is covered with blisters, spreads, is red or black, causes excessive thirst, fainting, and fever, is characterized predominantly by burning, and is extremely distressing.

Vinatā is large, blue, has deeply situated pain and moistness, is located on either the back or the abdomen, and is sunken.

Vidradhi (abscess), however, will be explained separately.

Or the powder beginning with the three salts;

or one should administer asafoetida, ativiṣā, kuṣṭha, svarjikākṣāra, and viḍa salt in successively doubled proportions.

Or [the formulation] Prāṇadā with an after-drink of buttermilk, combined with jaggery.

In the morning, either before food or on an empty stomach, one should drink buttermilk day after day; and when that buttermilk has digested, in the evening one should drink buttermilk-gruel with rock salt.

Or one should lick parched-paddy flour (lājasaktu) with buttermilk itself.

Or one should take pīlu fruits with buttermilk as an after-drink in the morning for a fortnight or half a month.

Or paste of kaṭukikā root in the morning with buttermilk.

One whose eyes, skin, nails, and mouth are dry, grayish-black, or reddish, who sees blackness,

and sees forms that are trembling, harsh, misshapen, and with distorted faces [is marked for death].

10.13

Then, having removed food adhering to one hand with the other, and cleaned [particles] lodged between the teeth very gradually with a toothpick; having rinsed the mouth to remove any coating, smell, and unctuousness; having sprinkled the eyes with water dripping from the fingertips; having cleaned the mouth with betel and the like; and having suppressed the upward urge of kapha with smoking and other [measures], he should walk about a hundred paces and lie down on his left side.

One whose meal has an excess of liquids should not take too much to bed.

After eating, he should avoid carriages, swimming, riding mounts, fire, and sunshine.

Now, these factors cause the digestion of food:

namely, heat, air, unctuousness, moisture, time, and their balanced combination.

Among these, heat cooks, air draws [it along], unctuousness produces softness, moisture brings about loosening, and time accomplishes its diffusion throughout the whole body.

Their balanced combination brings about the proper transformation of food and the equilibrium of the bodily tissues.

Furthermore, the causes of their balanced combination are: habitual and wholesome bodily regimen, ingestion, bodily movements, lying down, and mental cheerfulness.

As the food undergoes transformation, its qualities, being compatible, turn into the corresponding qualities of the body.

Incompatible ones, however, conflicting with their opposites, will destroy the body.

And here are [verses]:

Or he who, eating little and afflicted by kapha, breathes long breaths and thrashes about;

not the others, however, because of the predominance of pitta and the deficiency of kapha and fat.

And by virtue of the urinary disorder, the corresponding doṣa becomes agitated in the furuncles.

And here is a verse:

Or [eat] harītakī fruits steeped many times in the alkali of jīmūtaka filtered through cow's urine;

or a hundred abhayā fruits prepared in half a droṇa of cow's urine like honey;

or the Vāsiṣṭha harītakī;

or bhallātaka according to the instruction on rasāyana, or punarnavā or alambuṣā according to the rule declared for swelling, or jaggery and fresh ginger.

He whose eyes, mouth, and skin are yellow and frothy, who strikes the earth,

who sees terrifying, flaming, and furious forms, and is possessed by thirst;

10.14

He should never eat roasted grains, parched unripened grain, flattened rice, or finely ground cakes when he has already eaten; when he desires them well, he should eat them in measured quantity.
And he who breathes short breaths and convulses wildly and excessively;
and they are not perceived so long as there is an urge of the bladder;
or citraka dug up under the conjunction of Puṣya in one of the months of Āṣāḍha, Kārtika, or Mārgaśīrṣa, taken with buttermilk, or with any one of whey, soup, milk, ghee, or oil;
one who sees forms having the luster of white; one with all the symptoms, however, he should avoid.

10.15

He should avoid food dominated by greens, inferior grains, pungent, sour, astringent, or salty [flavors],
food incompatible with the body and tastes, heavy and dry.
He from whose forehead sweat flows, whose connective joints are loose;
he who passes blood—they do not consider that a urinary disorder, but bleeding disorder;
or buttermilk curdled in a pot smeared on the inside with a paste of citraka root bark and dried, or kālaśeya [churned curds], in food and drinks;
in this manner is the buttermilk regimen with bhārṅgī, āsphota, guḍūcī, and the pañcakola;
In epilepsy, one should employ sharp therapies beginning with emesis.

10.16

That which will be described in the chapter on etiology, which provokes all the doṣas,
exceedingly channel-blocking, constipating, burning, heavy, and roughening;
he who falls asleep right upon rising and moves his feet convulsively;
from repletion, it arises from śleṣman; or when the doṣas are depleted, it is of the nature of vāta;
or one with exceedingly weak digestive fire should consume buttermilk for a week, with unctuous substance, sour or not sour, with food or without food;
One should treat epilepsy of śleṣman with therapies consisting mostly of emesis.

10.17

solidified curds, yogurt, cheese, fish, dry or raw radishes,
alkalis, flours, sprouted grains, and the like—all these he should not consume regularly.
He who smiles at what is not funny, loses consciousness, and licks his lips;
those are incurable; those caused by pitta are manageable; they are curable if fat is not exceedingly vitiated;
For buttermilk is the supreme medicine for ailments of vāta and kapha, especially those residing in the belly;
even there, especially for piles.
Indeed, hemorrhoids destroyed by it do not sprout again.
Even when poured onto the ground day after day, it tears up a tangle of grass by the roots, and even moss in water.
When the bodily channels of the body have been cleansed by it, the nutrient fluid of food being accumulated brings about rapid increase of nourishment, strength, complexion, and vital essence.
Purgation consists of cow's urine, trivṛt, śyāmā, dravantī, saptalā, and snuhī.

10.18

He should regularly use śāli, wheat, barley, ṣaṣṭika, meat of animals of dry regions,
suniṣaṇṇaka, jīvantī, tender radish, and vāstuka.
He upon whom a black, yellow, or reddish shadow falls;
or wine combined with black salt and hapuṣā;
One should administer an evacuating enema prepared with barley, jujube, and horsegram, along with cow's urine, alkali, and rock salt,
together with asafoetida and unctuous substance.

10.19

Harītakī, āmalaka, dried grapes, paṭolī, mung beans, and sugar;
ghee, rain water, milk, honey, pomegranate, and rock salt;
all these are to be known as under the control of Yama.
This abhayāriṣṭa destroys piles, assimilation disorders, anemia, heart disease, jaundice, consumption, irregular fever, spleen enlargement, abdominal swelling, abdominal enlargement, swelling, dermatosis, parasitic infection, glandular swelling, and tumors, and produces digestive fire, appetite, and complexion.
The pacification of vāta-induced epilepsy is accomplished by errhines, inunctions, and unctuous enemas.

10.20

And triphalā with honey and ghee at night for strength of the eyes;
and whatever promotes the continuation of health and uproots disease;
and another warm region; the deities are his refuge;
A prastha of durālabhā, two palas each of abhayā, āmalaka, vṛṣa, pāṭhā, citraka, dantī, and dry ginger, cooked as before in a droṇa of water, strained and cooled, mixed with a tulā of sugar, he should store for a fortnight in a ghee-jar smeared with a paste of honey, ghee, priyaṅgu, pippalī, and cavikā.
This durālabhāriṣṭa is equal to the preceding one.
Hear the pacifying formulations for release from epilepsy.

10.21

Foods are mutually incompatible through their intrinsic nature, dose, combination, and the like; / the wise person should avoid them.

Whose offering crows do not consume when presented,

that juice, strained and cooled, mixed with an equal amount of fresh grape juice, two hundred palas of sugar, half a prastha of honey, and one karṣa each of powdered tvac, elā, lodhra, kuṭannaṭa, ambu, sevya, kramuka, and kesara, thrown into a ghee-vessel fumigated with molasses and sugar, and kept aside for a fortnight, is āmalakāriṣṭa, equal [in efficacy] to the previous one; / and it relieves premature wrinkling, graying of hair, and baldness.

One should drink it, which puts an end to epilepsy, fever, insanity, and jaundice.

10.22

By abandoning abnormal causes and resorting to balanced ones, / abnormal bodily tissues do not persist, and balanced bodily tissues arise.

Or from this he suffers deterioration; he reaches the abode of Yama.

Having observed that fermented liquor possesses proper aroma, color, and taste, one should fill that jar with sugarcane juice. / This guggulvāsava, having stood for six months, is equal to the previous one.

Saptaparṇa, apāmārga, nīlinī, kaṭurohiṇī,

10.23

One should fill two parts of the stomach with food, one with drink, / and leave the fourth empty for the movement of wind and the like.

His natural constitution becomes altered; he lives for six months.

Or with the lesser pañcamūla; / or with pañcakola, ajājī, kāravī, gajaśauṇḍī, tender bilva fruit, pāṭhā, tumburu, and dhānyaka.

Having boiled two palas [of each] in a droṇa of water until reduced to a fourth,

10.24

In those of weak digestive fire, weak strength, poor health, kings, lords, and those accustomed to comfort, / this regimen should be employed constantly, but not necessarily in others.

These six cease in one who will die within six months.

With these very [substances] one should prepare ghee; / or one should drink whey, fermented grain water, or honey-vinegar water.

Mūrvā, bhūtīka, bhūnimba, śreyasī, and the two sārivās,

10.25

Dry [food] causes loss of strength and complexion, roughness of skin, and retention of wind and feces; / but unctuous [food causes] excessive accumulation of śleṣman, excessive salivation, heaviness of the heart, lethargy, and loss of appetite.

He dies within six days, not feeling the pain of hair being plucked out.

And when that is reduced to a fourth, strained, and cooled, having added eighty palas of molasses and half a prastha of powdered vyoṣa, placed in a ghee jar, one should keep it in a heap of barley for a month. / This karañja-vinegar, when practiced, is fully capable of generating digestive fire, and destroys piles, abdominal swellings, distension, spleen disease, artificial poisoning, and abdominal enlargement.

One should ferment a tulā of pīlu with an equal amount of molasses in a droṇa of whey or buttermilk. / Having thrown therein one pala each of powder of abhayā, ativiṣā, pāṭhā, mustā, kaṭukā, devadāru, hiṃsrā, jīraka, aruṣkara, cavyā, ajamodā, elā, citraka, gajapippalī, vyoṣa, viḍaṅga, śatāhvā, hareṇu, bark of cirabilva, kuṣṭha, kuṭaja seeds, trivṛt, pippalīmūla, and upakuñcikā, one should keep it as before; it is superior in quality to the previous one.

A prastha [of ghee] likewise with the aforesaid liquids; this is Mahāpañcagavya.

10.26

Excessively hot food causes intoxication, burning sensation, thirst, loss of strength, giddiness, and bleeding disorders; / cold food, however, causes prostration, loss of appetite, depression of digestive fire, nausea, obstruction, and horripilation.

Servants turn hostile; the appearance of a ghost is manifested.

And here one should throw in crushed yavānī, yavānaka, kustumbarī, and pṛthvīkā, one kuḍava each; likewise tejovatī, pañcakola, ajājī, the two jīrakas, and kāravī, measuring two palas each; and having thrown in a kuḍava of honey, one taking meals should drink a measure of it, after ten days when it is produced, perfumed with sauvarcala salt, wet ginger, and bhūstṛṇa. / And again and again one should throw in water and ingredients such as sugarcane pieces into it. / That sour gruel named gaṇḍīra is exceptionally appetizing, stimulates the digestive fire, and cures piles, disorders of the duodenum, abdominal enlargement, artificial poisoning, parasitic infection, abdominal swelling, alcoholism, and anemia.

It removes edema, piles, jaundice, anemia, abdominal swelling, cough, and seizure by spirits.

10.27

Excessively solid [food causes] retention of urine and feces, dissatisfaction, non-pervasion [in the body], and slow digestion; / excessively liquid [food] causes chronic coryza, urinary disorders, cough, and diarrhea, and destroys the power of the digestive fire.

The mouth fills with tears, and the two feet sweat profusely.

Or the ghees described for abdominal swelling; / or [ghee] cooked with water of kimśuka ashes, having vyoṣa as its paste;

ghee cooked with a paste of pāṭhā, marica, pañcakola, alkali, yavānī, kustumburu, harītakī, bilva, viḍaṅga, and rock salt, along with four parts of curd, cures dysentery, prolapse of the rectum, discharge of slime, distension, abdominal swelling, pain in the anus, flanks, and groins, duodenal disorders, heart disease, and dysuria.
Varaṇa, eraṇḍa, śamyāka, daśamūla, aṭarūṣaka,

10.28

Food that is excessively sweet pacifies the digestive fire; eaten when unwholesome, it does not nourish the body. / Excessively salty food is bad for the eyes; excessively sour and sharp food is old age incarnate.

He who feels aversion toward the things in which he previously took delight does not live.

And it cures swelling, abdominal enlargement, asthma, cough, and hiccup.
Muruṅgī, vañcula, dantī, kakubha, along with punarnavā,

10.29

Without getting even a minor bodily illness, that man reaches the end of a hundred years.

Of one whose life is gone, one should not wish to treat him in the presence of relatives and friends.

Piles with loose stools should be treated like diarrhea; / those with excessive bleeding, like bleeding diarrhea.
Fifty parts each of drākṣā, lākṣā, misī, varā, and barley,

10.29_1

Thus ends the tenth chapter.

Commentaries (1)

Śaśilekhā — Indu, Sanskrit

Linked texts (1)

Aṣṭāṅgasaṃgraha — Vāgbhaṭa, Sanskrit