Ashtangasamgraha 12

English (machine translation) 12

Language: English

12.1

Now we shall explain the chapter on the Knowledge of the Twofold Medicine, / as the great sages Ātreya and the others declared. // As the great sages Ātreya and the others declared. // As the great sages Ātreya and the others declared. // As the great sages Ātreya and the others declared.

12.2

Medicine is twofold: promoting vigor and destroying disease.

Both, moreover, partake of both natures;

yet the designation is according to the predominance.

Among them, that which promotes vigor is twofold: rasāyana and aphrodisiac.

That which destroys disease is also twofold:

pacifying disease and preventing its recurrence.

And it is again twofold:

material and non-material.

Among them, material is threefold:

mineral, vegetable, and animal.

Among them, that which will be stated, beginning with gold and ending with salt, is mostly mineral.

Vegetable, moreover, is of four kinds through the distinction of trees bearing fruit without flowers, trees bearing flowers and fruits, creepers, and herbs.

Among them, a tree bearing fruit without flowers is a vanaspati;

that having flowers and fruits is a vānaspatya;

creepers and shrubs are vīrudh;

and herbs are those ending with the ripening of fruit.

Arising from living creatures, substances like honey and clarified butter are called animal substances.

The messenger's caste, dress, speech, action, place, and time, and the physician's meeting with him, intention, preparation, departure, and entry, planetary motion, unprecedented occurrences, and dreams indicate good or ill for the sick person.

They arise from indigestion, polluted foods, and from the accumulation of waste products.

And now according to the procedure for diarrhea:

For the digestion of the undigested food matter, one should drink a decoction of mustā, ativiṣā, and viśvabheṣaja;

or that powder with warm water;

or ginger with that [water];

likewise the vacā group with rock salt;

or, with the scum of vāruṇī wine, the tri-salt powder and others mentioned in the procedure for abdominal swelling.

And one should employ unctuous nasal medicines, fumigations, collyria, ocular saturation, and closed-vessel decoctions;

and enemas prepared with vāta-dispelling substances, and sudation of the eyelids with castor-plant shoots steamed in milk.

12.3

Non-material, moreover, comprises fasting, wind, sunshine, shade, incantations, consolation, gifts, fear, terror, agitation, cheering, scolding, laughter, sleep, waking, massage, and so forth.

And again it is threefold: relying on the divine, relying on rational planning, and conquering the mind.

Among them, relying on the divine consists of incantations, herbal amulets, precious stones, auspicious rites, oblations, offerings, sacrifices, vows, expiations, fasting, reciting benedictions, prostrations, pilgrimages, and the like.

Relying on rational planning consists of the application of diet, medicaments, and the like.

Conquering the mind, moreover, is the restraining of the mind from unwholesome objects.

And again it is threefold:

extraction, destruction of the underlying nature, and avoidance of etiology.

Having vitiated the prāṇa, the digestive fire, and the apāna, residing in the skin, flesh, and joints, they produce [disease].

When the pain from undigested food matter is excessive, one should drink the hiṅgu formulation and others mentioned in the section on alasa with hot water.

In cases with knots accompanied by vomiting, pain, and abdominal distension, however, [one should use] black pepper, cumin, sauvarcha salt, and abhayā.

And in undigested food matter associated with pitta and kapha, kaṭukā, indrayava, pāṭhā, pippalī root, vacā, abhayā, and dry ginger, boiled or powdered.

In kumbhīkā pustules, having scraped the eyelid and rubbed it with rock salt, one should sprinkle it with a decoction of paṭola, āmalaka, and madhuka, and with clarified butter.

12.4

Those, moreover, beginning with extraction, are twofold through the division into external and internal.

Among them, external extraction is performed on swellings, tumors, ingrown eyelashes, parasitic worms, foreign bodies, and the like, by means of surgical instruments, the hands, blunt instruments, and so on.

Internal, on the other hand, is through emesis, purgation, and the like.

Destruction of the underlying nature is pacification.

Externally, that consists of massage, sudation, poultices, affusion, kneading, and so forth.

Internally, it is that which, having entered within, pacifies the doṣas without agitating them.

Avoidance of etiology is the abstention from cold and hot food, exercise, and the like according to the doṣa, and non-ingestion of unctuous, dry, and similar substances.

Among them, medicine succeeds in what is curable by surgery and the like, but surgery and the like do not succeed in what is curable by medicine.

Standing in a liquid such as clarified butter or water, extremely cold and stiff at dawn, [a messenger] is inauspicious in diseases of śleṣman,

but auspicious in diseases of pitta.

Likewise, when a bridge breaks, he is inauspicious in vomiting, urinary disorder, diarrhea, and the like; but when a bridge is built, he is auspicious.

Likewise, at midday, at both twilights, at midnight, on the fourth, sixth, and ninth lunar days, on days of conjunction, during an eclipse or appearance of portents, under Bharaṇī, Kṛttikā, Ārdrā, Āśleṣā, Maghā, Mūla, and the Pūrvā constellations, he is inauspicious; and he who approaches the physician while the physician is asleep, naked, lying on the ground, anointed with oil, with disheveled hair, facing the south, distressed, cutting, splitting, occupied with rites for the sacred fire or the ancestors, or thinking of or speaking about inauspicious things;

or who, facing the southern direction, stands with folded hands resting unevenly on one foot.

When a messenger describes the abode of the diseased, if the physician observes or imagines an inauspicious sensory object, he should not follow him.

Otherwise, however, he should set out with a mind gentle with compassion, cheerful, like a mother and father, hoping for the absolute recovery of the patient.

Or thin gruel made with dry ginger and ativiṣā, soured with buttermilk, pomegranate, and vṛkṣāmla; and for drink, buttermilk, whey, fermented gruel, madirā wine, fermented tonics, and the water prescribed for diarrhea.

Having powdered together three pala each of yavānī, pathyā, āmalaka, and black pepper, and one pala each of the five salts, one should ferment it in a bronze vessel of freshly churned buttermilk.

Then, when it has become distinctly sour and pungent, one should drink it.

This is takrāriṣṭa, an excellent stimulator of the digestive fire, which removes piles, abdominal swelling, abdominal enlargement, swelling, parasitic worms, and urinary disorder.

12.5

And it is again threefold: contrary to the cause, contrary to the disease, and producing both effects.

Among them, contrary to the cause is light, dry, hot, and the like in a disease arising from heavy, unctuous, cold, and similar factors;

likewise the reverse in the other.

Contrary to the disease:

The two basic therapeutic measures are fasting and nourishing;

the five procedures are emesis and the rest, along with smoking, fumigation, collyrium, and so forth;

likewise softening, warm poultices, incision, and so on.

Moreover:

Afflicted by that, with dry palate and lips, with swollen feet, hands, and abdomen,

for those with digestive disorders, buttermilk is appetizing and astringent due to its lightness;

it is wholesome because of its sweet post-digestive effect, and it does not vitiate pitta.

And one should purge this [patient] with paste of triphalā accompanied by a decoction of trivṛt,

or with powder of brāhmī combined with a decoction of triphalā.

One should administer an errhine of oil prepared with sandalwood, uśīra, madhuka, raisin, punarnavā, and bṛhatī root.

And when the eyelid has been scraped and has bled, cleansing with a decoction of yaṣṭyāhva;

affusion with milk boiled with sandalwood;

and cold, unctuous applications to the head and face.

12.6

And that which, despite having the property of pacifying the doṣas, is specifically beneficial in jvara, such as mustā, parpaṭaka, and gruels; and in prameha, turmeric and barley preparations, etc.;

and in upward-directed raktapitta, purgation, while in downward-directed [raktapitta], emesis;

moreover, therapy based on the divine acts in both ways [as both an opponent of the cause and of the disease];

likewise, emesis in vomiting; purgation in diarrhea; drinking alcohol in intoxication; exposure to fire in a burn caused by copper sulfate; in [the condition of] pitta that is deeply concealed inside or has gone into abnormal channels, sudation and consumption of pungent, sour, salty, sharp, and hot substances to drive it outward and bring it into its own channel;

and when śleṣman is deeply concealed inside and stiffened, external cold treatment, [whereby] the heat compressed by it enters within and kapha liquefies;

for a remedy of this kind, though not directly contrary [in properties], achieves the purpose of opposing both cause and disease.

A female jackal, a blackbird, an owl, a cuckoo, an aralā, a musk shrew, a sow, a house gecko, and single-hoofed animals whose names are feminine, [are auspicious when seen] on the right;

a peacock, a caṇaka bird, a hawk, an elephant, a he-goat, and monkeys;

but upon entering [the patient's house], they are reversed.

And everywhere, moving from right to left is favorable for a dog and a jackal;

the reverse for a deer and a bird;

under all circumstances, the sight of a skylark, a blue jay, a vulture, and a mongoose [is auspicious].

Men taking the form of spirits of the dead will be the sign of it.

In [the presence of] vāta, due to sweet, sour, and dense properties, that fresh [substance] does not produce a burning sensation.

Emesis with milk or sugarcane juice;

a nasal drop with ghee prepared with the sweet and cold group [of herbs];

one should prepare a powder collyrium from kākajaṅghā, rohita-fish flesh, impregnated with crow's blood and burnt by closed heating.

12.7

That which is non-therapeutic, moreover, is twofold: immediately harming and subsequently harming.

Among these, that which takes life immediately is immediately harming;

that which does so over time is subsequently harming.

Further, a part of therapeutic substances is taught broadly here according to differences in taste, potency, and the like.

Neither the sighting nor the cry [is favorable];

the reverse for a bear and a monkey.

Even a snake is unfavorable, [as also] of a chameleon, a rooster, a cat, and an owl.

Likewise, in cysts, tumors, and the like, the word 'cut' is favorable; in abdominal swellings, ascites, and the like, the word 'pierce'; in diarrhea, bleeding disorders, and the like, the word 'stopped'; in urinary calculi, ascites, and the like, the word 'flowing.'

In this way, other sounds should also be interpreted.

And everywhere, words such as 'firm,' 'stationary,' 'growing,' 'protector,' 'unshakable,' 'steadfast,' 'welfare,' 'auspicious,' and the sounds of auspicious musical instruments are superior.

He does not know what is digested or undigested, nor does he tolerate repletion.

One should apply all those treatments prescribed in disorders of the grahaṇī.

Kept in copper for ten days at the most, that collyrium is used in falling of eyelashes.

12.8

Gold is nourishing, unctuous, sweet in taste and post-digestive effect, / destroys poison and doṣas, cooling, slightly astringent, and a rejuvenator.

Enlargement [of the abdomen], non-passage of feces, and slight swelling in the feet.

One should make a patient suffering from vāta-induced grahaṇī disease, whether mature or immature, drink ghee to rekindle the digestive fire:

one should cook both pañcamūlas, pañcakola, sarala, deodar, scented kachur, gajapippalī, hemp seeds, barley, jujube fruits, and horse gram with curd whey or fermented gruel;

with that reduced to one quarter, ghee cooked with the five salts, the two alkalis, and sour jujube; or containing a paste of rock salt, the three pungents, the two alkalis, the pañcamūla, harītakī, rāsnā, cumin, pippalīmūla, śaṭhī, and viḍaṅga, along with the fresh juices of wet ginger, citron, jujube, tamarind, and pomegranate, decoction of dried radish, curd whey, buttermilk, vinegar, clear wine, sauvīraka, tuṣodaka, and fermented gruel, constitutes the foremost kindler of digestive fire called 'Fire Ghee.'

Then eye drops with a decoction of young sprouts of mango and rose apple;

or with water cooked with the extract of triphalā and khadira, combined with honey.

A powder of viḍaṅga, lac, bark of dāruharidrā, red ochre, realgar, and orpiment, combined with honey, serves as a collyrium.

12.9

Silver is unctuous, astringent-sour, sweet in post-digestive effect, and sweet in taste; / it maintains youth, is cooling, scraping, and overcomes vāta and pitta.

Or in a place of that kind.

Appearance of streaks and disappearance of folds on the belly, however, in abdominal diseases.

And herein, one should add half a pala each of paste of ativiṣā, kṛṣṇasārivā, and bhadrā; two palas each of rock salt, viḍ-salt, and barley alkali; four palas of long pepper; and a vessel of ghee: this, formulated by Agastya, is fully capable of generating digestive fire.

Or one should scrape repeatedly;

and one should perform irrigation with a decoction of triphalā, yaṣṭīmadhu, and the two turmerics, combined with honey;

or with water cooked with mustā, sugar, and leaves of wood-apple.

12.10

Copper is bitter and sweet, astringent, scraping, light, / pungent in post-digestive effect and taste, cold, irritating, and conquers kapha and pitta.

Upon entering, the departure of the previously described auspicious signs from the patient's house [is inauspicious];

moreover, for the physician who has entered, lack of hospitality, failure to gain anything, dissatisfaction, and [insincere] praise are inauspicious.

Burning sensation, swelling, abdominal distension, and finally the accumulation of fluid.

Then, when the wind has been subdued and the doṣas loosened, one should purge [the patient] with castor oil, or with tilvaka ghee, or with miśraka-oil accompanied by alkali;

and for one whose regulated dietary regimen has been performed and whose feces are bound, one should administer an unctuous enema with oil prepared with substances that pacify vāta, stimulate digestion, and are sour;

then again, while taking light meals, one should administer ghee alone in small measures according to the strength of the digestive fire;

and Fire Ghee with citron juice for one suffering from vomiting, constipation, colic, dyspnea, and cough;

and for massage, one should prepare an oil with the herbs of Fire Ghee;

when vāta and kapha are combined, however, one should drink a powder of these herbs with hot water.

Also, emesis, smoking, nasal drops, collyria, and dietary regimens that destroy kapha;

in excessive moistening of the eyelid, a stick-collyrium made with green vitriol, salt, jasmine buds, and rasāñjana [is applied].

12.11

Bell metal (kāṃsya) has an astringent secondary taste, is clear, scraping, and light; / it clears the vision, is dry and bitter, and eliminates pitta and kapha.

The affliction of the birth asterism by Ketu, Saturn, or Rāhu, or the appearance of inauspicious omens in one's house, wife, bed, seat, vehicles, gems, jewels, or implements, are grounds for forbidding medical treatment.

Covered with a network of vessels, [the abdomen] constantly rumbles.

And for one whose restorative diet has been performed with bitter and light substances, in order to pacify the remainder of the doṣas, one should prescribe an electuary with honey or advise them to drink it with warm water:

Mūrvā, kirātatikta, parpaṭaka, vacā, candana, musta, trikaṭu, trāyamāṇā, yavānī, bark and fruit of kaliṅga, kaṭurohiṇī, devadāru, bark of dārvī, padmaka, uśīra, ariṣṭa, leaves of paṭola, ativiṣā, saurāṣṭrī, bark of elā, honey, and powder of śigru seeds.

For this indeed destroys grahaṇī disorders, colic, diarrhea, anemia, heart disease, abdominal swellings, fever, urinary disorders, jaundice, diseases of the mouth, and anorexia.

The burning sensation is not relieved by fire, nor by emesis or purgation.

One should administer an errhine of oil prepared with pippalī, madhuka, nimba, jyotiṣmatī, devadāru, viḍaṅga, priyaṅgu, triphalā, kuṣṭha, śatāhvā, and saindhava.

And one should administer sharp errhines (avapīḍa), collyria, and mouth gargles, as well as warm regimens.

12.12

Tin (trapu) is slightly bitter and salty, is a purgative, removes anemia and worms, and relieves vāta; / it is scraping and slightly aggravating to pitta; lead (sīsa) also possesses those same qualities.

Among them, the first [kind of dream] is of five types and bears no fruit:

likewise that which accords with one's own constitution, one that is forgotten, one seen by day, one that is very short, one that is very long, and one seen when not deeply asleep.

Vāta [causes] pain in the heart, waist, navel, anus, and groin.

Ginger, rasāñjana, ativiṣā, dhātakī, ghana, pāṭhā, bark and seed of kaliṅga, bilva, and kaṭukā, taken with honey and rice-water, alleviate pitta-type grahaṇī disorder, dysentery with blood, hemorrhoids, and rectal colic with tenesmus.

Then, to stabilize the digestive fire once the exacerbation of pitta has been pacified in this way, one should administer for drinking ghee prepared with the previously mentioned decoction of mūrvā and the rest, containing a paste of sārivā, sphota, saptaparṇa, āṭarūṣaka, indrayava, vīrā, bhūnimba, dhānya, nyagrodha, aśvattha, udumbara, plakṣa, upakulyā, and nīlotpala, or the Tiktaka [ghṛta] described for skin diseases.

Sprinkling with haridrā, madhuka, paṭola, and lodhra along with honey [is prescribed].

12.13

Black iron is beneficial for the eyes, astringent, sweet, and bitter; / it is scraping, vāta-aggravating, cooling, and eliminates worms, skin diseases, and kapha.

At the release of the cows [at daybreak], [the dream bears fruit] greatly and immediately.

Moreover, if he is not afflicted by sleep, or by contradictory words, or by charity, self-restraint, observances, and the like.

The digestive fire is not excessively dull, greed is absent, and the mouth is not tasteless.

For the water element, when increased, extinguishes the fire.

Then, for one who has completed the regimen of gruel and the like, one should kindle the digestive fire with food, drinks, and medicines abundant in salty, alkaline, sour, and pungent [substances], as described.

One should boil mañjiṣṭhā, citraka, aruṣkara, kṛmighna, and madhūka flowers, respectively in portions of two kuḍavas, half an āḍhaka, an āḍhaka, half a droṇa, and a droṇa, in three droṇas of water.

When reduced to one droṇa, strained and cooled, that decoction, combined with two prasthas of honey, smeared with candana, uśīra, fine elā, and agaru, sealed with lac, and placed inside a ghee pot for a month, becomes an āsava.

It destroys all doṣas, generates the digestive fire, is nourishing, and cures consumption, skin diseases, vitiligo, urinary disorders, abdominal distension, abdominal swellings, anemia, and heart disease.

Likewise, in the case of bisavartman and śliṣṭavartman, if there is no relief, cauterization is performed with fire or with caustic alkali.

12.14

It destroys flaccidity of the body, premature graying, and anemia, and overcomes consumption and swelling; / likewise, sharp iron (tīkṣṇa) acts in a superior way; it is depressant and very difficult to digest.

He is struck down by fever.

He who sees the sky resembling red lac, or who, with a red body, red garlands, and red clothes, is dragged away laughing by a woman, [dies] of a bleeding disorder.

He who [goes] toward the southern direction by any one of a donkey, camel, buffalo, or boar, [dies] of consumption.

He in whose chest a thorny creeper, a bamboo, or a palmyra palm grows, [dies] of an abdominal swelling.

He on whose head [it grows, dies] of a head disease or decapitation.

He who, being naked and smeared with clarified butter, offering oblation into a fire without flames, finds lotuses growing upon his chest, [dies] of skin disease.

And he who drinks unctuous substances together with outcasts, [dies] of a urinary disorder.

He who is intoxicated, [dies] of epilepsy.

He who sees an eclipse of the moon or sun develops an eye disease.

He who sees the two fall suffers loss of vision.

Pain in the abdomen, flanks, belly, hips, and back, and breaking pain in the joints.

By this, the fermented drinks (āsava) made from the fresh juice of grapes, sugarcane, and kāśmarya fruits are explained.

One should purge with a decoction of pippalī, drākṣā, and abhayā.

And one should smear her breasts with a paste of māgadhikā, mustā, and the two turmerics, and massage them.

And one should fumigate with white mustard seeds combined with ghee.

And one should have her drink a decoction of paṭola, mustā, mṛdvīkā, guḍūcī, and triphalā.

12.15

Ruby, sapphire, topaz, vidūraka, / pearl, coral, diamond, emerald, cat's eye, crystal, and so forth.

And he who experiences the shaving of a beard, the enlargement of limbs, or a marriage; who falls from or climbs to the summit of a mountain or a palace; who climbs a sacrificial post or a śālmali, kovidāra, kiṃśuka, or pāribhadraka tree that is rich in flowers; or who is defeated, bound, vomits, purges, rejoices, or acquires gold, iron, salt, oil, oilcake, or cotton; who eats cooked food, drinks liquor, or is smeared with unctuous substance; who is rebuked by angry ancestors; who sees the moon, the sun, stars, lamps, or eyes of deities falling or perishing; or sees a crooked arm or a body breaking apart; or sees naked men dressed in ochre robes, unkind, with sticks and nooses in hand, black, with red eyes; or sees a woman with black and white appearance, long hair and breasts, having the form of the Night of Destruction—these, if sick, attain death, but if healthy, face danger to life.

And here are [verses]:

Having dusky-reddish skin and so forth, possessing sudden decrease and increase.

Having burnt four palas of the stem of mahāvṛkṣa, twice as much of arka stems, three palas of the three salts, one kuḍava of ripe eggplant, and two palas of citraka root by the method of enclosed smoke, one should make pills with the juice of eggplant.

Taken after meals, they destroy digestive disorders, piles, acute cholera-like diarrhea, sluggish bowel, cough, dyspnea, chronic coryza, splenic disorder, anemia, swelling, urinary disorders, anorexia, and abdominal swelling.

Or one should have [the blood] drawn by leeches.

When there is pain, however, irrigation should be done with paste of kuṣṭha and guḍūcī in water along with jaggery and honey; having smeared the head with mustard oil and applied a paste of pāṭhā, one should sprinkle it with a decoction of the leaves of arjuna, bilva, nirguṇḍī, mārkava, tarkārī, sairyaka, kārpāsī, and mālatī.

12.16

Gems and jewels are laxative, cold, astringent, sweet, scraping, / beneficial for the eyes; through wearing them, they dispel sin, misfortune, and poison.

Fierce dreams are seen by those who are facing destruction.

And it makes a sound like an inflated leather bag when struck.

And when boiled down to one-fourth and filtered, boiled down again to one-fourth and taken down, one should place it over the fire mixed with one hundred palas of jaggery.

And when it becomes thick, one should add thirty palas of the very fine powders of the two kinds of vṛścikālī and yāvaśūka;

likewise thirty of vacā, abhayā, vyoṣa, and citraka;

and two palas each of asafoetida and amlavetasa.

Then, having made pills the size of an akṣa seed and used them according to strength, they are equal to or superior to the previous ones.

One should also make use of the alkali preparations, buttermilk beverages, fermented drinks, clarified butters, and food and drink prescribed for piles,
as well as the six-pala bhallātaka clarified butter and the Dhānvantara clarified butter.

In a condition of combination of all three doṣas, however, one should perform the five procedures, or treat according to the stage as in the treatment of digestive disorders.

And here is [a verse]:

Powders of mūrvā and copper ground with breast milk make an eye-pellet;
or a solidified paste made with conch shell, realgar, rock salt, rasāñjana, and honey;
or fine powder from iron vessels, clay from anthills, baked many times in a potsherd and quenched with breast milk, serves as an collyrium;
or with lac, viḍaṅga, realgar, red ochre, and bark of dāruharidrā.

And again and again, one should treat the wet-nurse with emesis and purgation.

12.17

Auspicious, life-prolonging, promoting vital essence, producing joy and enthusiasm, beneficial; / glass containing alkali and of hot potency improves sight when used as an eye salve.

If one sees gentle and auspicious things, the result will surely be auspicious.

In abdominal enlargement due to pitta, there is fever, fainting, burning sensation, thirst, and bitterness in the mouth.

For an emaciated person, one should alternate unctuous and dry measures in the aggravation of kapha.

12.18

Conch shell and sea foam are cold, astringent, and highly scraping; / blue vitriol is pungent, contains alkali, is astringent, non-slimy, and light.

[Seeing] virtuous, illustrious persons, kindled fire, and clear reservoirs of water;

Covered with yellow and copper veins, accompanied by sweat and heat, it burns.

In one with excess pitta, a bitter [appetizer] combined with sweet substances stimulates the digestive fire.

12.19

It is scraping, breaking up accumulations, beneficial for the eyes, and dispels itching, worms, and poison; / red ochre is non-slimy, unctuous, astringent, sweet, and cold.

[Seeing] a cannibal, radiant-bodied, sprinkled all over with blood;

In abdominal enlargement due to śleṣman, there is languor of limbs, numbness, swelling, and heaviness.

One should know that an unctuous substance is the best means to kindle a weak digestive fire.

Then, having tied a cloth on his forehead, one should attach the suturing thread there with needle pricks, neither too tight nor too loose;

and one should place a pad [on the wound] with hundred-times washed clarified butter mixed with honey.

12.20

Realgar destroys kapha, is bitter and pungent, scraping, and laxative; / orpiment is unctuous, astringent, pungent, and dispels poison.

[Seeing] white flowers, clean clothes, or anointing with foul substances, or fruits;

The abdomen is motionless, unctuous, covered with white streaks, and large.

When kapha is diminished, the person with a weak digestive fire evacuates undigested, raw waste.

In case of wound pain, an irrigation of clarified butter prepared with powder of yaṣṭīmadhuka tied in a cloth, and decoctions of the vaṭa group along with milk [should be used].

On the fifth or sixth day, when the incisions have become stable, one should cut and remove the suturing thread from the hangings,
and dust the wound with powder of gold-bearing red ochre;
and one should administer sharp nasal drops and eye salves.

12.21

Astringent, sweet, cold, scraping, unctuous is collyrium; / it cures bleeding disorders, poison, vomiting, and hiccups, and clarifies vision.

One climbs an ox, horse, or vehicle, or crosses rivers, lakes, and oceans;

Due to various aggravators of all three doṣas and by the menstrual impurities given by women;

Calmed and having returned to its proper channel, the samāna wind, / because it moves near the digestive fire, quickly generates strength by means of that [clarified butter].

There, mild sudation and unctuous nasal drops [are applied].

12.22

Among them, sroto'ñjana is the best; after that, sauvīrāñjana; / rasāñjana destroys kapha, is bitter and pungent, excising, and warm.

Escape from narrow passages, touches of stars, mountains, and radiant objects;

Having reached the gut, undergoing changes, accompanied by swelling, fainting, and dizziness;

That man should drink clarified butter combined with salts, suppressing the food.

12.23

Sweet, pacifying hiccups, removing cough, urinary disorders, and consumption, / hot, pungent, destroying kapha, is śilājatu, a rejuvenator.
He who possesses long life and health enjoys wealth abundantly.
And that troubles [him] exceedingly when cold wind or clouds are seen.
[One should use] alkali, powders, asavas, and ariṣṭas when [digestive fire] is sluggish from excessive drinking of unctuous substances.
And then, as before, pouring over [the body] and nasal medication [should be done].

12.24

Bitter and excising; because it carries other agents' properties, it conquers all diseases, / especially dispelling difficult urinary disorders, hemorrhoids, anemia, swelling, and kapha.
The sight of soiled clothes and flowers is not praised.
By excessive sexual intercourse, carrying loads, walking paths, and emaciation from diseases.
When the digestive fire is sluggish due to excessive increase of the doṣas, once purified, one should observe the dietary regimen.
And of the tumor that has been sweated, excised to the root, scraped, and rubbed with medicinal paste.
And here are [verses]:

12.25

Astringent, sweet, dry, destroying cough is bamboo manna; / tugākṣīrī destroys consumption, dyspnea, and cough, and is sweet and cold.
Seeing [them] in a dream and conversing with them is auspicious.
Or blood, having increased from the plasma and other bodily tissues, should increase that.
In cases of emaciation from walking paths or fasting, one should administer ghee with gruel; / compressed into food, it promotes strength, stimulates the digestive fire, and nourishes.
The eyelid, sweated externally with a cloth heated by lukewarm water,

12.26

Every salt is liquefying, subtle, and loosening of stools, so they know; / destroying vāta, digestive, sharp, hot, appetizing, and producing kapha and pitta.
Bathed in the morning, having sacrificed / mustard seeds having the color of fire / or sesame seeds smeared with ghee, with the Sāvitrī verse, / purified, he is freed from sins and diseases.
And gradually growing, it would produce an abdominal enlargement in the belly.
One should feed [him] with the sours-containing meat-juices of birds of prey and carnivores.
Thus the eyelid does not droop or displace in any direction.

12.27

Rock salt among them is slightly sweet, aphrodisiac, pleasing to the heart, destroying all three doṣas, / light, not hot, wholesome for vision, non-burning, and stimulating the digestive fire.
Full of faith, compliant, and possessing an abundance of gathered supplies.
Accompanied by paleness, fainting, vomiting, burning sensation, and stupor.
Because their flesh is nourished by flesh, they are exceedingly strength-increasing.
One should scrape [it] with that very [instrument] or with leaves born of the teak, śephālikā, or the like, / or with cuttlefish bone, wiping away the blood with a swab.

12.28

Sauvarcala salt is light, pleasing to the heart, fragrant, purifying eructations, / pungent in post-digestive effect, destroying constipation, digestive-stimulating, and imparting appetite.
Non-despair in treatment is the sign of health.
With reverse movement of vāta, pain, abdominal distension, stupor, thirst, burning sensation, and fever.
When properly administered, the strength of the body and of the digestive fire increases.
And having washed [it] with hot water as stated appropriately,

12.29

Causing the upward and downward movement of kapha and vāta, digestive-stimulating is viḍ salt; / destroying constipation, abdominal distension, stiffness, colic, and heaviness.
Hence, this section of the body is called 'Śārīra' (The Anatomical Book).
Even the liver, having descended, would act from the right side like the spleen.
In that way, the digestive fire residing in the gut arises through unctuous foods.
Having placed a bolus of barley meal above and below the ears,

12.30

Sea salt is sweet in post-digestive effect, heavy, and increasing śleṣman; / fossil salt is slightly bitter, pungent, alkaline, sharp, and moistening.
Through piles, reverse movements of vāta, or foods that coat the intestines.
Just as a small fire without fuel, or enveloped by wind and fuel,
he should perform nasal medications and the like on the fourth day, and release [the treatment] on the fifth day.

12.31

Black salt has the qualities of sauvarcala, but is devoid of its odor; / romaka salt is light; earth-salt is alkaline, increasing śleṣman, and heavy.
Apāna vāta [enters] the abdomen; thereby burning sensation, fever, thirst, and sneezing would occur.
That fire, accompanied by vāta, then increases the increased digestive fire.
One should know the eyelid to be properly scraped; in the reverse case, one should scrape again.

12.32

In the application of salts, however, one should employ rock salt and the like; / [it] dispels abdominal swelling, diseases of the duodenum, anemia, spleen disease, abdominal distension, and throat afflictions,
retention of stool, anorexia, vomiting, abdominal enlargement, and confused vāta.
It would kill; that man might be comfortable, but when food is digested he languishes; / thirst, cough, burning sensation, fainting, and so forth are diseases arising from an excessively intense digestive fire.
In that case, the regimen that dispels vāta, beginning with oleation and sudation, is desired.

12.33

Barley-sprout alkali pacifies dyspnea, piles, kapha, and vāta; / svarjikā is inferior in its qualities, but greater in alkalinity than that.
And it usually arises above the navel in the shape of a cow's tail.
One should pacify [it] with food and drink, like a blazing fire with waters.
Then one should cook by the closed-pot baking method with a paste of castor root.

12.34

And every alkali is exceedingly sharp, hot, destroying worms, and light; / corrupting pitta and blood, digestive, excising, non-pleasing to the heart, tearing, / unwholesome for semen, vital essence, hair, and eyes because of pungency and saltiness.
The intestine is pierced and suppurates, and discharging outward through its perforations.
So that, having found an opportunity when deprived of fuel, it does not destroy him.
Rubbed with woman's milk or goat's milk, it is used for irrigating the eye.

12.35

Astringent, sweet in post-digestive effect, dry, free from salt, and light; / digestive-stimulating, cooking undigested food, promoting intellect, and pre-eminently stabilizing youth.
Equal in smell to a corpse, slimy, yellow-red.
One should eat meat of aquatic and marshland animals that has been boiled.
In an excessively scraped eye, one should apply [medication] rubbed with yoghurt-whey, / or irrigation with plain whey for one who eats meat of arid-zone animals.

12.36

Hot in potency, laxative, life-prolonging, imparting strength to intellect and sense organs; / [it cures] skin disease, disfigurement, hoarseness, chronic fever, and irregular fever.
It grows below the navel, and quickly acquires the nature of water.
One should eat well-prepared sheep's meat, which checks an excessively intense digestive fire.
One should squeeze [it]; following that, the remaining procedure would be as before.

12.37

Diseases of the head, eyes, anemia, heart diseases, jaundice, duodenal disorders, / along with emaciation, swelling, diarrhea, urinary disorders, delusion, vomiting, and worms.
This they call perforated belly, and others call it discharging [belly].
One should drink wheat powder with milk flooded with abundant ghee.

12.38

Dyspnea, cough, excessive salivation, hemorrhoids, spleen disease, abdominal distension, artificial poisoning, abdominal enlargement, / obstruction of bodily channels, abdominal swelling, stiffness of the thighs, and anorexia.
From excessive drinking of water, in one whose digestive fire is sluggish, or who is worn out and excessively emaciated.
Or one should administer milk boiled with black operculina as a purgative.

12.39

Harītakī conquers those various diseases born of kapha and vāta.
Likewise, āmalaka is cool, and due to its sweetness, it is foremost in conquering pitta.
Both would increase that very water situated in the abdomen from its site.
Whatever food is heavy, intellect-promoting, and produces śleṣman,
all that is wholesome for excessive digestive fire, as is sleeping by day after eating.

12.40

It conquers kapha because of its pungent post-digestive effect, and wind because of its sourness;
and it is supremely beneficial for the throat, beneficial for the eyes, beneficial for the heart, and removes burning sensation and fever.
Accompanied by cough, dyspnea, and loss of appetite, covered with newly formed veins;
[One should protect] the bodily tissues when the doṣas are depleted, [and protect] life when the bodily tissues are depleted.

12.41

Akṣa, however, is inferior in qualities to that; it is astringent, sweet, and cold,
light, and removes cough, dyspnea, throat-phlegm, pitta, and semen.
Water-belly is large, unctuous, firm, and has an everted navel.
This is the essence of therapeutics: the preservation of the digestive fire.

12.42

Its marrow is supremely beneficial for the hair, and collyrium made from it destroys cataracts.
This triphalā is the best rejuvenating tonic, removes eye diseases,
heals wounds, and conquers skin diseases, clamminess, fat, urinary disorders, and kapha-blood.
From suppurative digestion, being fluid, they liquefy even the joints and channel openings.

12.43

Caturjāta consists of these together with stamens; trijātaka consists of cinnamon bark, cinnamon leaf, and cardamom.
It provokes pitta, is sharp, hot, dry, appetizing, and stimulates the digestive fire.
Replenishing that very fluid, it would produce sliminess; then it manifests.

12.44

Black pepper is pungent in taste and post-digestive effect, destroys kapha, and is light.
Pippalī, when fresh, increases śleṣman, is sweet, cool, heavy, and unctuous;
it is soft, devoid of stripes, and when touched at the navel, it moves about.

12.45

When dried, it is the opposite of this: unctuous, aphrodisiac, pungent in taste,
sweet in post-digestive effect, dispels wind, śleṣman, dyspnea, and cough, and is laxative.
The disappearance of veins is the sign described for water-belly.

12.46

One should not use it excessively without the method of rasāyana.
Dry ginger stimulates the digestive fire, is aphrodisiac, astringent, heart-beneficial, and dispels constipation.
More difficult in succession; beyond a fortnight, it is generally considered fatal by others.

12.47

It is appetizing, light, sweet in post-digestive effect, unctuous, hot, and conquers kapha and vāta.
Fresh ginger is similar; and this triad, trikaṭu, conquers [these].
From birth itself, all abdominal enlargement is generally considered most difficult to cure.

12.48

Obesity, weakness of digestive fire, dyspnea, cough, elephantiasis, and chronic rhinitis.
Cavikā and pippalī root differ only slightly in properties from black pepper.

12.49

Citraka is equal to fire in digestion, and destroys edema, hemorrhoids, worms, and skin diseases.
This is known as the pañcakola without black pepper;
it is foremost in destroying abdominal swelling, spleen disease, enlargement of the abdomen, flatulence, and colic, and in stimulating digestion.

12.50

With bilva, kāśmarya, tarkārī, pāṭalā, and ṭuṇṭuka is the great [five roots];
astringent, bitter, and hot, this pañcamūla conquers kapha and wind.

12.51

The lesser [five roots] is known to consist of bṛhatī, the two aṃśumatīs, and gokṣuraka;
it is sweet in post-digestive effect and taste, neither too cold nor too hot, and conquers all doṣas.

12.52

And with balā, punarnavā, eraṇḍa, and the two varieties of śūrpaparṇī
is the intermediate [five roots]; it destroys kapha and vāta, does not excessively provoke pitta, and is light.

12.53

It is known to consist of abhīru, vīrā, jīvantī, jīvaka, and ṛṣabhaka;
the one named jīvana is beneficial for the eyes, aphrodisiac, and dispels pitta and wind.

12.54

The one called grass [five roots], consisting of śara, darbha, sugar cane, śāli rice, and kāśa, conquers pitta.
Ajaśṛṅgī, haridrā, vidārī, śārivā, and amṛtā

12.55

are called the balya [five roots]; while the kaṇṭaka [five roots] consists of śvadaṃṣṭrā, abhīru, sairyaka,
sahiñjana, and karamardikā; both of these conquer all doṣas.

12.56

Kāravī, kuñcī, ajājī, kavarī, coriander, and tumburu
remove food odors, are appetizing, kindle digestion, and conquer kapha and vāta.

12.57

Bāṣpikā is pungent, bitter, hot, and foremost in removing worms and śleṣman;
it removes colic and rumbling, and is appetizing; dīpyaka conquers colic in the viscera.

12.58

Mustard seeds are not beneficial to the heart, are unctuous, and are declared to be like bāṣpikā.
Asafoetida destroys vāta, kapha, flatulence, and colic, and provokes pitta.

12.59

It is pungent in post-digestive effect and taste, appetizing, digestive stimulant, carminative, and light.
It provokes pitta and blood; and that originating from the Boṣkāṇa region is the best.

12.60

Other [asafoetida] is inferior to that in properties, [useful] for fumigating substances and dishes.
Śatāhvā, kuṣṭha, tagara, devadarū, and hareṇu;

12.61

cardamom, elavāluka, sarala, cinnamon bark, vyāghranakha, and coraka
are light, hot, pungent in post-digestive effect, and destroyers of kapha and vāta.

12.62

Sairyaka is bitter, sweet, unctuous, hot, and conquers kapha and vāta.
Gokṣuraka dispels obstruction of the bladder and urine, is aphrodisiac, and cold.

12.63

The two viṣās are carminative, destroy kapha and pitta, are bitter, and cold.
Musta destroys kapha, is bitter and pungent, astringent, and carminative.

12.64

Amṛtā is bitter, destroys all three doṣas, is astringent, hot, and a rejuvenating tonic;
it stimulates digestion, and removes fever, thirst, burning sensation, jaundice, and gout.

12.65

Bhūnimba and parpaṭa are bitter, cool, remove fever, and are light.
Nimba is bitter, cold, and dispels dermatosis, worms, pitta, and kapha.

12.66

Mahānimba is supremely bowel-binding, astringent, dry, and cool.
Guggulu is slimy to the touch and non-slimy when consumed.

12.67

It has sweet, pungent, bitter, and astringent tastes, is a rejuvenating tonic,
beneficial for wounds, good for the voice, pungent in post-digestive effect, dry, subtle, and stimulates the digestive fire.

12.68

It destroys clamminess, fat, wind, śleṣman, goitre, urinary disorders, adenitis, worms,
eruptions, cysts, and swellings; it is hot, laxative, and light.

12.69

Śaṅkhapuṣpī is laxative, bitter, intellect-promoting, and removes worms and poisons.
Agaru is pungent, bitter, hot, unctuous, and dispels vāta and kapha.

12.70

It destroys pitta-blood, poison, thirst, burning sensation, and fatigue; it is heavy and drying.
Sandalwood in general is slightly bitter and sweet, and exceedingly cooling.

12.71

Red sandalwood is light; likewise uśīra and vālaka are carminative;
they remove fever, diarrhea, vomiting, bleeding disorders, and injuries.

12.72

Licorice destroys bleeding disorders, cleanses and heals wounds,
is heavy, sweet, cold, aphrodisiac, beneficial for the eyes, and produces good voice and complexion.

12.73

The two niśās are pungent and bitter, and remove dermatosis, urinary disorders, pitta, and kapha;
applied as an ointment, they conquer itching, swelling, contaminated wounds, and poison.

12.74

Prapauṇḍarīka is beneficial for the eyes, cool, wound-healing,
astringent, bitter, sweet, and pacifies pitta and blood.

12.75

The triad of balā is sweet, aphrodisiac, unctuous, cold, and strength-giving.
Among them, nāgabalā promotes strength, is wholesome for the wasted from chest-injury, and is heavy.

12.76

Betel leaf is pungent, slightly alkaline, appetizing, hot, and drives away kapha.
Areca nut is purgative, stupefying, astringent, sweet, and appetizing.

12.77

Mace, nutmeg, cubeb, and clove
are light, remove thirst, are pleasant to the heart, and destroy foul odor of the mouth.

12.78

Camphor is slightly sweet and bitter, dispels thirst, is scraping, and cold.
Musk mallow is similar, and supremely removes dryness of the mouth.

12.79

Lotus is astringent, sweet, cold, and overcomes pitta, kapha, and blood [disorders]; / likewise are bakula, punnāga, kumuda, utpala, and pāṭalā.

12.80

Together with campaka, koraṇḍa and kiṃśuka are lesser in qualities than that. / The flower of mālatī and mallikā is bitter and overcomes vāta;

12.81

the naga and sinduvāra overcome poison, pitta, and kapha, and have those same qualities. / The flower of ketakī destroys kapha and is bitter; that of śirīṣa removes poison.

12.82

The flower of agastya increases vāta, is astringent, and overcomes kapha and pitta; / when used as nasal medication, it removes quartan fever.

12.83

Bandhūka increases śleṣman and is bowel-binding; likewise indeed is yūthikā. / Kuṅkuma destroys kapha, has hot potency, and cleanses ulcers. / The seed produced from avalveḍaka removes lumbar vāta and kapha.

12.84

Sedentary living produces complexion, śleṣman, fat, and tenderness; opposite to that, / walking produces [digestive] fire, strength, and longevity; strolls bring comfort,

12.85

downward movement of vāta, and remove pain in the feet, stiffness, and fatigue. / Footwear—fitting its name—increases strength, vision, and semen.

12.86

An umbrella promotes complexion, is beneficial for the eyes, and removes wind, rain, and sunlight. / A strong breeze causes dryness, discoloration, and stiffness, and it overcomes burning sensation, thirst, dizziness,

12.87

fatigue, [excess] fire, and fainting; absence of wind, however, is the reverse of this. / The eastern wind is hot, obstructs the channels, and aggravates skin diseases, piles, poison, worms,

12.88

fevers caused by all three doṣas combined, dyspnea, undigested food, and vāta. / The western [wind] is cold and destroys fainting, burning sensation, thirst, and poison.

12.89

The southern wind is the best, beneficial for the eyes, and increases bodily strength; / it calms bleeding disorder and does not aggravate vāta.

12.90

The northern wind is unctuous, gentle, sweet, / with an astringent secondary taste, cold, and non-aggravating to the doṣas.

12.91

Sunlight produces dizziness, thirst, sweating, burning sensation, fainting, discoloration, / pitta, blood, and fires; shade removes these. / Darkness is astringent and pungent; moonlight is sweet and cold.

12.92

And here it is said: / Thus, by distinctions of taste and the like, only a mere direction regarding medicines has been stated, because no substance exists here / that is not a medicine; the knowledge of their appearance is to be obtained from forest-dwellers.

12.92_1

Thus ends the twelfth chapter.

Commentaries (1)

Śaśilekhā — Indu, Sanskrit

Linked texts (1)

Aṣṭāṅgasaṃgraha — Vāgbhaṭa, Sanskrit