Ashtangasamgraha 11

English (machine translation) 11

Language: English

11.1

Now we shall explain the chapter named "Eating in Measured Quantity".
Thus said Ātreya and the other great seers.
Thus said Ātreya and the other great seers.
Thus said Ātreya and the other great seers.
Thus said Ātreya and the other great seers.
Thus said Ātreya and the other great seers.

11.2

One should eat according to measure.

Measure, moreover, is dependent upon the strength of the digestive fire and the dietary substance.

Not pressing excessively upon the belly with food, no obstruction of the heart, no tearing in the flanks, no excessive heaviness of the abdomen, gratification of the sense organs, cessation of hunger and thirst, ease in standing, sitting, lying down, walking, inhalation, exhalation, speech, and conversation, comfortable digestion in the evening and morning, and the production of strength, complexion, and nourishment—this is the sign of the proper measure.

Or in a diseased person in whose face moles, dark spots, lines, or black marks swiftly appear;

or flowers on the nails or teeth, or veins of varied color on the abdomen;

who, while emaciating, has an exudate in the eyes, swelling of either the eyelid or the nose, or drooping of the eyelid;

who, when wasted, finds that hunger or thirst is not quenched even by many pleasing foods and drinks;

whose blood is discharged with foam;

and [who has] colic in the belly;

or of the chest;

whose phlegm is dark blue, yellow, or reddish and abundant;

who has strong neck stiffness, dryness of the tongue, and ulceration of the throat, mouth, and anus;

who has cutting pain arising from the stomach, excessive thirst, and diarrhea;

who has cutting pain arising from the large intestine, excessive thirst, and extreme rectal obstruction;

in whom vāyu, lodging in either the stomach or the large intestine and destroying consciousness, produces a rattling sound in the throat;

who, being emaciated, has increasing thirst and colic in the heart;

likewise hiccup with bleeding diarrhea, or distension with diarrhea, accompanied by severe thirst;

he is one whose life has departed; and here it is said:

Through crooked beds and bodily movements, and through various vitiations of the blood,

therefore, even if born of vāyu, one should initially treat [it] with fasting to digest the undigested matter.

There, one afflicted with colic, abdominal distension, and salivation should be made to vomit with warm salt water.

One must not, however, use an astringent beforehand when undigested matter is present or when the waste is obstructed.

One whose abdomen is motionless, distended, heavy, and painful should take Prāṇadā with hot water,

or with the three pungents, or boiled with fermented grain liquid,

or another medicine that is laxative and kindles the digestive fire.

With unwholesome things for the eyes especially, mostly following pitta.

11.3

Filling to one-third or filling to half is prescribed for heavy foods;

for light foods as well, not over-satiation.

For light foods, abounding in the qualities of wind and fire, kindle the digestive fire because of their similar qualities, and [even] if taken without rule produce little fault;

others, however, abounding in the qualities of earth and water, are opposite due to dissimilarity, except through the strength of exercise and the digestive fire.

Lack of measure, moreover, is the deficiency and excess of eating.

Among them, eating in deficient measure causes damage to strength, complexion, nourishment, mind, intellect, and the sense organs, causes constipation, is non-aphrodisiac, unwholesome for the vital essence, destroys the bodily essence, produces misfortune, and is the abode of eighty disorders of vāta.

Excessive measure, on the other hand, they say, provokes all the doṣas.

For, being oppressed by it, vāta and the others, simultaneously provoked and stationed in one part of the belly, pervade that very undigested [food], making it sluggish, and produce alasaka;

or, driving it forth suddenly through the lower and upper paths, [they produce] viṣūcikā.

Accompanied by delirium, giddiness, and dyspnea, wasted, swollen, with destroyed digestive fire;

that swelling which is external or internal, deeply rooted, and exceedingly painful;

for, when his channels are cleared and the remainder of the doṣa is driven forth,

it is easy to effect binding with digestives or with an astringent;

the eyelid-junction, the white, the black, the pupil, or the entire eye.

11.4

Moreover:

The food moves neither upward nor downward, nor is it digested;

it becomes sluggish in the stomach, hence it is called alasaka.

Accompanied by dry cough, which may occur in the morning or in the afternoon;

by the doṣas individually, combined, by blood, and by trauma.

Or of jalada, bilva pulp, dry ginger, and coriander;

and both of these are termed pramathyā.

The vacādi group boiled or powdered;

likewise vacā, abhayā, viḍaṅga, pāṭhā, dry ginger, and black salt;

or mustā, pippalī, indrayava, pāṭhā, and tejovatī;

or viḍaṅga, abhayā, kaṇā, and the five salts;

or pippalī, indrayava, pāṭhā, and dry ginger;

when, however, undigested matter accompanied by blood is discharged, gajapippalī sweetened with honey and sugar;

it produces stiffness of the eyelids with pain in one who has risen from sleep.

11.5

Because of varied outbursts of pain and the violent provocation of vāyu and the others,

it pierces the limbs as if with needles, hence it is viṣūcikā.

Bleeding disorder extremely red, black, or shining like a rainbow;

internal, more terrible, deep-seated, and solid like an abdominal swelling.

For drink, however, for one with diarrhea: water boiled with vacā and ativiṣā,

with dry ginger and ativiṣā, with mustā and parpaṭaka, or with dry ginger and coriander.

For one who has hunger, however, one should prepare food and drink such as gruel with the minor five roots, the five spices, hastipippalī, balā, bilva, pāṭhā, asafoetida, coriander, cumin, śaṭhī, gandhapalāśa, hapuṣā, yavānī, tamarind, pomegranate, black salt, and rock salt.

And from rubbing there would be relief; they call that kṛcchronmīla.

11.6

There, vāta causes colic, abdominal distension, body aches, dryness of the mouth, delirium, tremor, fainting, dizziness, yawning, cramping, retraction of the eyes, severe pain in the head and heart, and contraction and stiffness of the veins.

Pitta, however, causes fever, diarrhea, internal burning, discoloration, thirst, intoxication, dizziness, and dissolution [of strength].

Śleṣman, on the other hand, causes vomiting, anorexia, excessive salivation, fatigue of the limbs, indigestion, cold fever, and heaviness of the body. Especially in one who is weak, of low digestive fire, having much śleṣman, and suppressing the urges of flatus, urine, and feces, the food and drink, oppressed by wind and having its pathways blocked by phlegm, becoming sluggish and unable to move outward, produces severe symptoms like colic and the others as mentioned, except for vomiting and diarrhea.

That is alasa.

When excessively vitiated, however, the doṣas stiffen the body like a staff; then they declare that alasaka incurable.

Spreading through the hair follicles, adhering in the throat, mouth, and heart;

in the navel, bladder, liver, spleen, kloman, heart, belly, and groins;

with the two aṃśumatīs, balā, and unripe bilva fruits for one in whom pitta is predominant.

And when thirsty, one should drink buttermilk strained through cloth,

or any one among honey, liquor, fermented grain liquid, gruel, and scum of boiled rice.

This regimen destroys vāta and kapha, kindles the digestive fire, aids digestion, gives relish, is astringent, and imparts strength.

It causes painless blinking, that which is closed as an eyelid.

11.7

Moreover, when a person habitually consumes incompatible foods, overeats, or eats during indigestion, they declare that disorder of āma to be ‘āmaviṣa’ (toxic āma), / because its symptoms resemble poison. / It is the most incurable of conditions, / owing to its rapid action and because it requires contradictory treatments. / Nor can the entire benefit of food be obtained solely through proper quantity, because factors such as innate nature yield differing results.
One who is elderly, having pallor, fever, vomiting, cough, swelling, and diarrhea;
[a swelling that is] greyish-red, slow to arise and suppurate, and irregular in configuration;
In that case, one should administer goat meat broth prepared according to the very method prescribed for udāvarta.

11.8

To explain: / When food and drink that is heavy, dry, desiccated, cold, disliked, constipating, burning, impure, incompatible, taken with excessive water, or excessively liquid is consumed at an improper time or even at the proper time; or when consumed by one afflicted by desire, anger, greed, envy, shame, grief, anxiety, fear, or hunger—even that vitiates the āma itself.
Consumption, pain in the flanks, abdominal distension, vomiting of blood, accompanied by burning heat;
Red, coppery, or black from pitta, accompanied by thirst, delusion, fever, and burning sensation;
Or a khalaka [buttermilk preparation] made with an equal paste of sesame seeds and tender bilva fruits, combined with the cream of curds and unctuous substance; / or one prepared with citraka, ginger, pūtīkarañja, bilva, and ajamodā, rich in buttermilk, pomegranate, and oil, combined with rock salt, named ‘Ajita’; / or one prepared with equal parts of śaṭhī, tamarind, biḍa salt, pomegranate, alkali, pañcakola, black pepper, triphalā, dhātakī, coriander, pāṭhā, ajamodā, ajājī, cumin, kapittha, jambu, and mango seeds, with six parts of bilva pulp, cooked with jaggery, mudga broth, unctuous substance, and curds, named ‘Aparājita’—it stimulates the digestive fire, promotes digestion, improves taste, is astringent, and cures dysentery with straining.
Pustules named kumbhī swell up again when burst;

11.9

In that case, one should induce vomiting of the āma that is being managed, which has become vitiated and sluggish, after causing [the patient] to drink warm water with salt. / If the patient does not vomit in that manner because the doṣas are deeply adhered, one should cause them to drink [warm water] mixed with a paste of kṛṣṇā and dantī; / or a decoction of madanaphala mixed with a paste of pippalī and white mustard; / or juice of kośātakī powdered with dantī and māgadhikā; / or, considering the clinical stage, the sharp emetics taught in the section on emetic procedures. / Then one should treat [the patient] with sudation and the application of suppositories.
Accompanied by blood, feces, and pus, with pain, cough, and dyspnea, lingering chronically;
Accompanied by nausea, coldness, stiffness, yawning, anorexia, and heaviness;
Or roasted groats fried in double unctuous substance (yamaka) with powdered ginger; / or well-cooked black gram sprinkled with the scum of ghee and accompanied by black pepper; / or broth of the torso of a goat or sheep, soured with pomegranate, combined with coriander and ginger, cooked with unctuous substance, as a side-dish and drink; / likewise, one may drink liquor unctuous with double unctuous substance (yamaka); / or powder of ginger and jujube combined with curds, ghee, oil, honey, and treacle.
The eyelid produced by pitta they call pittotkliṣṭa;

11.10

Furthermore: / In one who has been promptly and properly purified, its complications subside. / In the presence of colic when the alimentary tract is empty of food, one should drink powdered [drugs] with lukewarm water:
One afflicted by alcoholism, excessively distressed by cold, emaciated, with a face possessing the luster of oil;
And here, by discernment, one should distinguish between external and internal symptoms.
Or one may lick lodhra, unripe bilva fruit, and jaggery, abundant in the three pungents, with oil; / or one should eat rice of śāli grain prepared with a decoction of young aerial shoots of aśvattha, mixed with ghee, oil, and honey, with curds, following it with a drink of the cream of churned curds.
And the falling of eyelashes that follows, they call that pakṣmaśāta.

11.11

Asafoetida, prativiṣā, the three pungents, sauvarchala salt, vacā, and abhayā; / or pippalī root, trivṛt, dāru, and rock salt.
Afflicted by pain in the heart, flanks, and limbs, vomiting, suppuration of the anus, and fever;
Having the symptoms of pitta along with blood when external, and likewise when internal only in women;
Curds stimulate the digestive fire, stimulate appetite, are pleasing, and supreme in pacifying vāta; / it dispels constipation, and because of this, it removes even long-standing dysentery with straining.
Accompanied by swelling, coating, pain, itching, and slimy blood;

11.12

Dry ginger with milk, salt, pippalī, and black pepper; / or pāṭhā, amlavetasa, alkali, yavānī, and puṣkaramūla;
Equal to oil, ghee, milk, curds, bone marrow, muscle fat, and fermented liquor;
The internal heat from the wound, driven by vāta, stirring up pitta along with blood;
Or [milk] boiled with castor root, or with unripe bilva fruits; / or that very [milk] with jaggery and oil for one with mild thirst; / or black pepper paste with twice the amount of sesame paste, with boiled milk; / or pippalī with milk alone; / or one should take meals with milk prepared with the three pungents.

11.13

Increasing by double [in proportion]: asafoetida, vacā, citraka, kuṣṭha, suvarcikā alkali, biḍa salt, and ajamodā; / it destroys colic, enlargement of the abdomen, abdominal distension, viṣūcikā, hemorrhoids, heart disease, abdominal swelling, and upward movement of vāta.
Exceedingly red, black, unctuous, foul-smelling, clear, dense, and painful;
And among them, the variety of complications is remembered according to the variety of their location.
Or a slimy enema and an unctuous enema that pacifies vāta or pacifies pitta;
That lagaṇa is the size of a jujube berry, or slightly smaller than that.

11.14

Mustā, ajamodā, pūjīka, vacā, ginger, citraka, and coriander, / along with vālaka, śaṭhī, and bilva: one having thirst and colic should drink this decoction.
Fibrous, covered with flies, striped, and accompanied by glistening spots;
Dyspnea when in the liver, but obstruction of breath and thirst when in the spleen;
Or a sour [preparation] as before, containing black pepper, pañcakola, ajājī, coriander, biḍa salt, and pomegranate; / or one should administer an unctuous enema prepared with daśamūla; / or with the pippalyādi group.

11.15

With rāsnā, kaṭphala, ṣaḍgrantha, the two bṛhatīs, and agallochum, / guggulu, ativiṣā, kuṣṭha, patra, vyāghranakha, and ambuda, / dried or mixed with urine, one should perform paste application, powder massage, and fumigation.
One whose anus has prolapsed and whose strength is depleted, one should have sit right upon food.
Urinary disorder, bronchial asthma, cough, rupture of the heart, and distress.
And one should make a sling bandage for him using leather with an aperture. / Having gutted a rat, one should cook it in milk along with a decoction of mahāpañcamūla; / with that milk, one should cook oil with an addition of a paste that pacifies vāta; by using that for massage and drink, it cures even very difficult prolapse of the rectum.

11.16

And when the abdomen is painful and distended, one should apply a paste of devadāru, haimavatī, kuṣṭha, śatāhvā, hiṅgu, and rock salt, ground with sour liquid.
[It treats] calculus, swollen scrotum, retention of urine, affliction by pain,
and stiffness of the thighs, the groins, the kidneys, the waist, and the back.
In the presence of thirst, one should administer the six-ingredient water prescribed for fever, accompanied by sārivā and bhūnimba.
And when [the patient], having fasted, reaches the mealtime, one who knows the proper time should administer gruel water, thin gruel, roasted-barley drink, vegetable soup, meat broth, and the like—prepared with decoctions of abhiru, the minor five roots, the two kinds of balā, śūparṇī and others, which are mild, sweet, bitter, and digestive stimulants—slightly sour or non-sour, lukewarm or very cold, combined with honey.
It bleeds with blood; it exudes that; and even though repeatedly cut, it grows again.

11.17

And barley flour with alkali and buttermilk is superior in conquering visceral distress;
and one should employ a suppository ending with rock salt in retention of feces and urine.
A furuncle located on the vital spots, the chest, the back, the breast, the shoulder, the anus, or the head—
one should declare their raw, ripe, and inflamed state to be like that of an inflammatory swelling.
Or tree-seeds alone;
or pāṭhā, guḍūcī, kaṭukā, and kirātatikta;
or the haridrādi group;
or vatsaka seeds, ativiṣā, bilva, ambu, and mustā;
or with rice-water, ativiṣā and bark and fruit of vṛkṣaka, along with honey;
or sandalwood, uśīra, dried ginger, lodhra, and blue water lily;
or dried ginger, blue water lily, dhātakī flowers, and pomegranate bark;
or lotus, water lily, lodhra, mocarasa, samaṅgā, and sesame seeds;
or bark of madhuka, fresh ginger, and dīrghavṛnta;
or sugar, lotus stamens, mustā, payasyā, and sandalwood, mixed with honey;
or a cold infusion prepared from the stalks of śālmalī, accompanied by honey and liquorice;
A copper-colored furuncle, the size of a mung bean, produced by blood, is named añjananāmikā.

11.18

And limbs that are bending should be thoroughly fomented and wrapped;
when viṣūcikā is exceedingly aggravated, cauterization of the two heels is commended.
And all [arise] with sloughing of flesh, burning sensation, thirst, intoxication, and fever;
one should recognize the doṣa occurring from the anus, mouth, and navel, and from suppuration in an abscess.
Or with the kernels of bilva, kapittha, jambū, and mango;
or the lodhrādi, ambaṣṭhādi, and priyaṅgvādi groups mixed with honey, prepared individually into decoctions and the like;
or the śyāmādi great decoction.
That which exudes internal fluid and resembles a lotus stalk is bisavartma.

11.19

An oil cooked with the two alkalis, aged oil-cake, kuṣṭha, aruṣkara, and citraka,
along with sour gruel and rock salt, is beneficial for massage.
An abdominal swelling of broad circumference, solid, elevated like a tortoise,
suppurated, situated in the heart, navel, or bladder, bursts either internally or externally.
Or milk prepared with the roots of bṛhatī, balā, aṃśumatī, and kacchurā, dusted with powder of madhuka, kaṭvaṅga, ajamodā, and sugar, accompanied by oil and honey;
or fresh, warm milk straight from the udder.
From the excitation of blood and the three doṣas, that utkliṣṭavartma arises.

11.20

For one who has vomited and purged well, when there is extreme, severe convulsion of the limbs,
one should cook ghee and oil with bhallātaka, beeswax, aged oil-cake, and dried ginger,
along with sour substances; that is the supreme destroyer of khallī [cramps].
One who has cough, chronic coryza, nausea, dyspnea, diarrhea, and swelling.
And in the very same way, boiled with trāyamāṇā;
then, when the old feces have been eliminated, the diarrhea subsides.

11.21

An unction of tvak, patra, rāsnā, agaru, śigru, and kuṣṭha, ground with sour liquid together with vacā and śatāhvā,
destroys khallī and viṣūcikā; and an oil properly cooked [with these] performs the same purpose.
And with fainting, vomiting, and diarrhea, it kills the weak abdomen.
Or in delivered women or pregnant women, a dense swelling may arise.
Then, even when the restorative dietary regimen has been properly performed, if diarrhea persists, mucilaginous enemas should be employed:
Having wrapped stalks of śālmalī with fresh darbha grass, coated them with black clay, one should steam them over a fire of cow dung.
Knowing the stalks to be steamed when the clay is dried, one should pound them well in a mortar; one should rub a fist-sized ball of them in a prastha of milk.
Then, with that strained milk, mixed with ghee, oil, and paste of honey and liquorice, one should administer a non-unctuous enema.
And when it has returned, having bathed, he should eat with milk boiled with kacchurā, or with meat broth of arid-tract animals.
This mucilaginous enema pacifies pitta- and blood-diarrhea, grahaṇī disorder, abdominal swelling, emaciation, fever, and the excessive effects of purgation and non-unctuous enemas.

11.22

And on that day, having made him fast, one should manage him like one who has been purged.
Thus the treatment of viṣūcikā and alasaka has been declared generally by the accomplished ones.
One whose abdominal distension was removed by purgation, but becomes distended again and again.
One should cook the paste of araluka bark concealed within kāśmarī leaves according to the method of closed-pot roasting; he should drink its thoroughly cooled juice mixed with honey.
One should also prepare the paste of the bark and aerial roots of the vaṭa and others in this very way.
Alternatively, having removed the entrails and feathers of a francolin partridge and filled it with the paste of bark or aerial roots of nyagrodha and others, one should perform closed-pot roasting as before.
Then, taking the juice from it, one should make him drink it combined with sugar and honey; by this, all wild arid-tract animals have been explained.

11.23

In the cases of disorders of immature metabolic waste, however, having observed at the time of a meal that the food is digested, that the stomach is coated with doṣas, and that the abdomen is motionless, heavy, and has no desire for food, one should make him drink medicine to digest the remnant of doṣa and to kindle the fire.
One should not make him drink [it], however, when food is undigested;
for the digestive fire, weakened by disorders of immature metabolic waste, is unable to digest simultaneously the immature metabolic waste, the medicine, and the quantity of food.
Having drowsiness, burning sensation, anorexia, vomiting, fainting, flatulence, and diarrhea.
Reaching the testicles from the groin, [the veins] carrying to the scrotum.
There, one should administer goat's milk boiled with young shoots of nyagrodha and others, mixed with sugar and honey, in food and for washing the rectum.
Or one should drink that kind of ghee accompanied by milk;
or he should lick ghee produced from milk, with a milk after-drink, eating francolin soup or eating milk.

11.24

Moreover, due to excessive severity, this error, when the power of the digestive fire has ceased, would suddenly kill the patient.

Furthermore, for disorders arising from the condition of uncooked food (āmadoṣa), relief comes only through lightening therapy.

Swelling kills a woman [beginning] from the face, and [kills] both [sexes beginning] from the belly and the genitals.

That disease [called] enlargement (vṛddhi) is sevenfold: caused by the doṣas, blood, fat, urine, and the bowel.

Or one boiled with yaṣṭī, lodhra, and sārivā, along with honey and sugar;

likewise with black sesame, samaṅgā, utpala, and yaṣṭīmadhu.

And one should consume the broths of hare, kapiñjala, pigeon, taṇḍulīyaka, mudga, kāśmarya seeds, and the like;

or goat’s or deer’s blood fried in clarified butter;

or the previously mentioned puṭapākas; or drink a paste of madhuka, black earth, and conch-shell, mixed with blood, using rice water;

or, with that, paste of phalinī with honey;

or sandalwood with sugar and honey.

11.25

And that [lightening therapy] is threefold:

fasting, fasting with digestive [drugs], and depletion.

Among them, fasting is for those with slight doṣas.

For through the increase of wind and digestive fire caused by it, the slight doṣa dries up, just like a small pool of water exposed to wind and sun.

In the case of a moderate doṣa, [it is dried up] by fasting and digestive [drugs], just as a not very large pool of water is [dried] by wind and sun and by scattering dust and ash upon it.

For those with excessive doṣas, however, only depletion of doṣas should be performed.

For if the flood of water in a pond is not drained, there can be no thriving of śāli rice and the like.

Touch like a water-skin filled with air, dry, arising from vāta, pain without cause.

One with an excess of vāta, however, should lick śatāvarī-clarified butter;

or butter with sugar;

or clarified butter prepared with slimy fresh juice.

Clarified butter prepared with lac, pippalī, ginger, kaṭukā, indrayava, and dārvī bark, drunk with the supernatant scum of thin gruel, checks even diarrhea caused by all three doṣas.

Through that, the child may have swollen and copper-colored eyes, unable to see,
with pain and sliminess of the eyelids, rubbing the ears, nose, and eyes.

11.26

Therefore, for [diseases] caused by over-nutrition, there is no alleviation without lightening therapy;

and for those caused by under-nutrition, there is none without nutritional therapy.

Thus for other diseases as well, one should apply the very remedy that is contrary to their respective etiology.

If, however, a secondary condition persists, one should abandon what is contrary to the etiology and apply what is contrary to the disease itself, or whatever achieves that purpose.

When one is freed from the condition of uncooked food, or when the remainder of the condition of uncooked food is fully digested, and the digestive fire is blazed up, inunction, evacuating enema, unctuous enema, and the drinking of various unctuous substances should be employed according to proper method,

after carefully observing the different states of the doṣas, medicines, and so forth.

And here are [verses]:

Particularly in a weak person, they lead to the end of the living being.

From kapha, it is cold, heavy, unctuous, pale, hard, and slightly painful.

And one should administer an unctuous enema with clarified butter prepared with sweet drugs.

For generally those who have diseases centered in the rectum have weak rectums,

especially chronic sufferers of diarrhea.

In excessive discharge of diarrhea, vāyu, increased in strength in its own seat, becomes harder to conquer upon gaining pitta as a secondary power; therefore, one should frequently administer an unctuous enema to them.

In burning of the rectum, however, one should sprinkle the rectum and its adjacent regions with a decoction of paṭola, madhuka, madhūka, milk-bearing trees, and the like, or with milk containing clarified butter, sugar, and honey.

And one should apply swabs and rubs with hundred-times-washed clarified butter and the like;

and smear with a paste of those very [drugs] beginning with paṭola, along with clarified butter.

And one should dust the anal orifice with those powders and with powder of dhātakī, lodhra, and māṣa.

In the same manner, in the presence of colic, one should treat with poultices of vāta-dispelling oils.

He, however, who even in this state consumes pitta-aggravating things quickly dies when the rectal folds become suppurated.

Roughness, turning inwards of the hairs, or others;

11.27

A man whose teeth, lips, and nails are dark, who has little consciousness, is afflicted by vomiting, has sunken and coppery eyes,
with a feeble voice and all joints loosened, would go not to return again.

And whose thighs sink down—the physician should avoid him.

Enlargement from fat is like kapha, soft, resembling a palmyra fruit.

And when a secondary condition is present, he should drink a decoction of mustā, abhayā, dry ginger, and unripe bilva fruit;

or of vacā, viḍaṅga, bhūtīka, coriander, and devadāru;

or of pāṭhā, ativiṣā, kuṣṭha, cavya, and kaṭurohiṇī; or of citraka, the two pippalīs, and pippalī root;

or the hiṅgvādi formulation mentioned in alasaka with warm water;

or powder of pathyā, rock salt, and dry ginger;

or lick powder of the three pungents combined with honey and sugar;

or kapittha with honey;

or kaṭphala, or pippalī.

And as stated previously, one should prepare everything properly with regard to the involvement of vāta, pitta, the condition of uncooked food, and blood.

And for one with painful dysentery free from uncooked doṣa when vāta is predominant, a slimy enema containing salt and a paste of vacā, bilva, pippalī, kuṣṭha, and dill, and an unctuous enema with lukewarm bilva oil, or frequently with oil containing vacā and other [drugs] in its interior [should be given].

And here is [a verse]:

He is burned, and the waste of vāta and the like is small-portioned; there is relief when they are removed.

11.28

Having combined the three pungents, karañja fruit, the two turmerics, and the root of mātuluṅgī,
pills dried in the shade made of these would destroy viṣūcikā when used as a collyrium for the eyes.

Or if both swell without the body [swelling], he goes to dissolution within a month.

Like a water-skin filled with waters, it is agitated, painful, and soft.

When enlarged, it would kill suddenly; therefore, one should overcome it in haste.

Coppery, suppurated, discharging blood and pus, it is burned and repeatedly inflated.

11.29

And a wick made with śirīṣa, naktāhva, seeds of phaṇijja, trāyantī, and apāmārga fruit
with goat's urine destroys viṣūcikā through applications of plaster, fumigation, collyrium, and errhine.

Or he whose lower garment does not stay on because of the distension of the belly.

With foods that aggravate vāta, with immersions in cold water;

A vāta-dispelling treatment is to be performed, as well as gladdening and comforting measures.

A tumor caused by the doṣas along with blood would be irregular, external, and mobile.

11.30

Indigestion from kapha is raw (āma); from vāta it is obstructed (viṣṭabdha);
from the aggravation of pitta it is scorched (vidagdha); thus it is remembered to be of three kinds.

Possessed of dizziness, facial swelling, nausea, body ache, and diarrhea.

When, agitated by agitating [factors] and by others, a part of the small intestine

For one whose digestive fire is kindled and whose abdomen is light, his abdominal disease is quieted.

11.31

There, in [indigestion caused by] āma, there is heaviness, nausea, swelling of the cheeks and eye sockets, / and belching occurs tasting like what was eaten and un-acidified. // It kills one whose digestive fire is weak, who is afflicted by parasites, and who suffers from thirst and diarrhea. // Located in the groin joint, it then causes a knot-like swelling. // He should be treated in due course with fasting, astringents, and pacifiers of vāta through those respective procedures. // Obstruction of the eyelashes is manageable; one should conquer the remaining [diseases] with surgical instruments and medicines.

11.32

In [indigestion with] flatulent distension, there is colic, distension, various pains of vāta, / non-elimination of feces and flatus, stiffness, confusion, and body ache. // When pressed, it moves inward with sound, causing flatulence, and when released it rises again. // Except when caused by pitta and blood, neither excessively cold nor excessively hot and sharp [measures] should ever [be used]. // One should excise lagaṇa, kumbhīkā, bisa, utsaṅga, añjana, and alajī.

11.33

In acidified [indigestion], there is dizziness, thirst, fainting, and various pains caused by pitta; / belching occurs with smoky sourness, and sweating and burning sensations arise. // With stiffness of the head, loss of taste, dyspnea, contraction, pustules, and necrosis, / lattice-like with a network of dry, black, and reddish vessel-threads. // Curds with jaggery, milk, and black sesame seeds thoroughly crushed, / with salt, an oil prepared with the vāta-dispelling group, or even ghee, will conquer the pain produced by tenesmus. // One should thoroughly scrape the thick, slimy kukūṇaka.

11.34

Fasting should be done in [indigestion with] āma, but vigorous sudation in flatulent distension; / emesis in acidified [indigestion], or whatever is beneficial according to the condition. // All diseases kill one whose voice, bodily tissues, strength, and digestive fire are depleted. // And by disorder of menstrual fluid, the eighth [kind of gulma] arises in women.

11.35

Vilambikā occurs in a severely debilitated person from deeply entrenched āma alone; / having symptoms of āma mixed with kapha and vāta, its management is the same as for them. // One suffering from gulma and one suffering from urinary disorder who are emaciated should be avoided, even when the disorder is slight. // And because in it one suffers as if pierced by a spike, afflicted with severe pain and labored breathing, it is therefore called śūla [colic].

11.36

When a residue of chyme remains, there is aversion to food, impurity and heaviness in the region of the heart; / in that case, one should sleep during the day without eating, and when hungry, eat a light meal. // A patient in whom [these signs] are observed does not live three fortnights. // Its five locations are: the urinary bladder, the navel, the two flanks, and the heart. / Now, its premonitory symptoms are: debility of the digestive fire and body, loss of taste, inability to tolerate satiation, belly-colic, distension, frequent belching of acidified food, vomiting, rumbling in the abdomen, and appearance or non-passage of stool.

11.37

In four and two yāmas, digestion of food and medicine respectively occurs / when the digestive fire is balanced; rapidly when it is sharp, but after a long time when it is weak. // It immediately steals the life of one overwhelmed by thirst.

11.38

Therefore, medicine should be administered with food to one of weak digestive fire; / in the forenoon, a wholesome, light, digestive-stimulating, and nourishing meal. // Or, stiffening the neck of an emaciated person, it immediately steals his life.

11.39

Even if the morning meal is undigested, the evening meal is not corrupted; / but if the evening meal is undigested, the morning meal is indeed corrupted. // Or forcefully seizing the anus and heart of one whose body is emaciated, // It has combined symptoms due to combination [of doṣas]. / That is of three kinds. / When there is an accumulation of all symptoms, it is nicayagulma; that is incurable.

11.40

By day, the heart is awakened by the sun like a lotus; / when it is awakened, the bodily channels expand on all sides. // Causing pain in the groins, thirst, and loose stool.

11.41

From exercise, from walking about, and from the distraction of the mind, / his bodily tissues do not undergo moistening by day. // Spreading to the ends of the ribs and seizing the chest, vāta— // Being obstructed month after month, it enlarges the belly and produces the signs of pregnancy: nausea, drowsiness, bodily debility, pregnancy cravings, appearance of breast milk, and the like. / Again, from contact with vāyu and from the single aggravation of pitta, it gradually produces the forms of vātapitta-gulma: colic, stiffness, burning sensation, diarrhea, and so on; and in the uterus it causes intense colic, and foul smell and discharge through that vagina. / And unlike a fetus, the gulma does not flutter with limbs, but rather throbs like a lump, slowly and with pain. / Only the gulma grows, not the womb.

11.42

Food poured into what is not moist does not become excessively corrupted, / just as milk mixed into other milk that has not soured. // Therefore it undergoes digestion only after a long time, or not at all. // Because of its reliance on severely corrupted blood, an abscess matures quickly. / And here it is said:

11.43

At night, however, when the heart is languid and the passages are closed, / all the bodily tissues in the closed internal cavity undergo moistening. // And looseness of the joints arises in one who is about to die. // Loss of digestive fire, complexion, and strength, and non-manifestation of natural urges.

11.44

When other food is poured into tissues that are moist and undigested, it becomes corrupted, / just as other milk poured into heated, sour milk. // Therefore, when food from the night is undigested, one should not eat another meal. // Life is difficult to obtain for one afflicted by lepajvara. // Discoloration of the area, and excessive external elevation.

11.45

Purity of belching, enthusiasm, proper evacuation of natural urges, / lightness, hunger, and thirst are the signs of digested food. // Arising quickly, they perish; before long, he perishes. // From obstruction of upward and downward flatus, they call it ānāha [intestinal obstruction].

11.46

Generally, the host of diseases arises from intellectual error; / especially viṣūcikā in men greedy for food. // Visphoṭa pustules curved inward and resembling scars destroy the body. // With symptoms of ānāha, but transverse, is pratyaṣṭhīlā, having that shape.

11.47

If food bound up with the doṣas and latent does not obstruct the fire with excessive pitta, / an abnormal ravenous hunger then arises, which kills the dull-witted like poison. // One in whom there is agitation and heat in the body should be avoided. // But when the opposite occurs, it is tūnī and pratītūnī.

11.47_1

Thus ends the eleventh chapter.

Commentaries (1)

Śaśilekhā — Indu, Sanskrit

Linked texts (1)

Aṣṭāṅgasaṃgraha — Vāgbhaṭa, Sanskrit