Ashtangasamgraha 17

English (machine translation) 17

Language: English

17.1

Now we shall explain the chapter on the knowledge of substances and other entities.
Thus spoke the great sages led by Ātreya.
Thus spoke the great sages led by Ātreya.
Thus spoke the great sages led by Ātreya.

17.2

Here indeed, substance is composed of the five great elements.
Its foundation is earth; its origin is water; specific manifestation arises from the co-inherence of ether, wind, and fire.
Designation, however, is by predominance.
Therefore, from the occurrence of the co-inherence of the elements, no substance has only a single taste;
and consequently diseases do not have a single doṣa.
Castor oil combined with either urine or milk, day after day for one month or two, or a diet of milk, or cow's or buffalo's urine,
or subsisting on female camel's milk.
That [disease] caused by śleṣman was previously stated to be curable;
it has, again, six complications:
āvartakī,
śarkarā,
rājīmatī,
chinnāṃśukā,
candrakī,
and chatrakī.

17.3

Among them, taste is distinct.
Secondary taste, however, being overcome by taste, is indistinct, or slightly distinct at the end.
The two functions of taste are excision and pacification;
beneficial and unbeneficial are its inherent powers.
And in the substances that are their receptacles, namely earth and the others, qualities such as heaviness and the rest, depending on natural state, altered state, combination, region, and season, are metaphorically attributed to tastes due to companionship.
Or one should consume a thousand pippalīs macerated in snuhī-latex;
or with powder of kṛṣṇā and abhayā macerated with it, kāsara;
or neem oil combined with rock salt and ajamodā;
or mixed with fresh ginger juice;
or [oil] prepared [with it].
Śarkarā is covered as if with drops of arka-latex or a lump of coagulated milk.
Rājīmatī is covered with stripes resembling rice-awns.
Chinnāṃśukā is torn, uneven, resembles a burn, and is painful.
Candrakī has the luster of bronze and the shape of a moon-disc.
Chatrakī is multi-colored and resembles an umbrella.
One must not puncture them;
moreover:

17.4

There, an earthy substance abounds in the qualities of heavy, hard, non-slimy, dull, dense, gross, stable, and smell; it produces nourishment, heaviness, cohesion, and firmness.
Then, having taken it out and strained it, one should cook it with an addition of harītakī decoction and sour curd.
Not for those suffering from indigestion, the timid, those who have vomited, those with pain in the head, ears, or eyes;
nor when it is excessively hot, cold, windy, or cloudy, nor when the nīlikā is incomplete.

17.5

A watery substance abounds in the qualities of liquid, unctuous, cold, heavy, dull, dense, flowing, soft, slimy, and taste; it produces moistening, oleation, binding, oozing, softening, and gladdening.
Even when scraped with the probe, it moves upward again,
causes acute pain, and obscures vision once more.

17.6

A fiery substance abounds in the qualities of sharp, hot, dry, subtle, light, non-slimy, and form; it produces burning, cooking, illumination, luster, and complexion.
They destroy abscess, prostatic enlargement, abdominal distension, kuṣṭha, insanity, and epilepsy.
And [a disease] of long standing, accompanied by complications, with loss of vision, does not deserve puncturing.

17.7

An airy substance abounds in the qualities of dry, subtle, light, non-slimy, relaxing, pervasively diffusing, cold, rough, and touch; it produces dryness, lightness, clarity, exhaustion, and movement.

17.8

An ethereal substance abounds in the qualities of subtle, light, non-slimy, smooth, pervasively diffusing, distinct, and sound; it produces porosity and lightness.

17.9

And thus there is no substance in the universe that is not a medicine, by virtue of its employment for diverse purposes.
A decoction of purgative drugs heavily concentrated with ginger and devadāru;
or powder of the three salts and others, or an aperient substance in two or three times [the amount].
And one should hold the probe the moment it has entered;
and one should sprinkle with breast milk to prevent redness, tears, and pain;
then, having reassured the patient again, rotating the probe, one should insert it up to the center of the pupil.

17.10

Among them, that which has the nature of fire and wind moves mostly upward, / for the lightness of the two, the upward movement of fire, and the floating nature of wind.
Having combined [them] with two, three, and four karṣas respectively of kampillaka, nīlinī fruit, and trivṛt, ground into powder, one should drink [them] with urine.
When it is digested, one should drink peyā or maṇḍa, or eat meat soup.
Then for six nights, one should eat with milk containing the three pungents.
Then on the seventh day, one should drink the powder again.
By this method, this powder destroys even abdominal diseases that have accumulated fluid.
And one should administer splitters of gulma.
For thus the vision of [the patient whose] kapha has fallen away becomes cleared.
And to one whose vision is cleared, one should show fingers, threads, relatives, and offspring.
And as [the patient] is looking with unblinking eyes, one should withdraw the probe while gently rotating it [out] from the eye.
Then, when the doṣa has departed and he sees properly, one should place a pad soaked in comfortably warm ghee over the eye and bandage it.
Then, having led him into a windless chamber and laid him down, resting on a soft bed with a pillow—lying on the left side if the right eye was punctured, on the right if the left, or on the back if both—one should attend to him with soothing stories.
And one should make him fast according to strength.
One should avoid belching, sneezing, coughing, spitting, and straining for three days,
and bathing, drinking water, brushing teeth, and keeping the face downwards for seven days.

17.11

That which has the nature of earth and water, however, moves mostly downward, / for the heaviness of the two and the downward movement of water.
And having taken down that prepared paste without burning it, once cooled, rolling it into pills the size of a thumb, one should administer it according to strength for three or four months.
This urine-pill is an excellent remedy in great diseases, dyspnea, cough, chronic rhinitis, excessive salivation, swelling, gulma, anemia, internal parasites, anorexia, indigestion, and upward movement of vāta.
One should apply an anointing with ghee to the head and feet.
And on the third day, having released the eye, one should sprinkle it with warm boiled milk prepared with castor leaves,
or with milk or ghee prepared with vitalizers,
likewise with the lesser pañcamūla.
Then one should bandage it as before.

17.12

That which is of mixed nature moves in both directions.
And for overcoming the residue of doṣas, one should practice [taking] cavikā and dried ginger ground with milk,
or Himalayan cedar and citraka, or suraṅgā, or punarnavā, or a decoction of triphalā, dantī, and rauhītaka combined with the three pungents and alkali, mixed with snuhī milk and ghee.
On the seventh day, however, one should unbind it completely,
or on the tenth.
And one should feed him a fluid, slightly unctuous, and slightly salted porridge or rice gruel accompanied by hot water, combined with the three pungents and āmalaka.
For one who acts thus, pain, redness, and the like do not persist.

17.13

Pacification, however, was stated earlier to have qualities opposite to the doṣas.
And in their combination, since the accomplishment of the effect arises from predominance, only that which is superior is said to produce that effect—such is the designation.
Likewise, that which consists of wind is absorbent;
that which consists of fire is an appetite-stimulant and digestant;
that which consists of both is scarifying;
that which consists of earth and water is nourishing.
Or one should use milk with an equal amount of fresh ginger juice;
or one should resort to the increasing regimen of pippalī;
or śilājatu, or guggulu, living on milk;
and one should repeatedly oleate and purge.
One should attend to urgent cases with oleous purgatives alone;
water, however, one should avoid.
One should treat flatulence and upward movement of vāta according to their respective nature;
or with madhuka, kuṣṭha, utpala, grapes, lac, and sugar;
or with pṛśniparṇī, mustā, madhuka, śatāvarī, padmaka, and rock salt.

17.14

Among them, the pungent, sour, and saline [tastes] are hot in potency in increasing order;
the bitter, astringent, and sweet are cold.
Or oil cooked with the alkali of any one of syonāka, agnimantha, sesamum stalks, kadalī, or apāmārga;
or with sesamum seeds mixed with mustard, gently roasted, drenched with mātuluṅga juice;
or with sesamum seeds mixed with mustard, gently roasted, ground with goat's milk;
or a cold or comfortably warm plaster made of payasyā, sārivā, patra, mañjiṣṭhā, and yaṣṭyāhva mixed with goat's milk;
likewise with devadāru, dried ginger, and padmaka.

17.15

The bitter, pungent, and astringent [tastes] are unctuous, binding feces, urine, and flatus; / the saline, sour, and sweet are unctuous, promoting the release of feces, urine, and flatus.
And with milk prepared with the group [of herbs] that relieves vāta.
One should administer ghee prepared with the paste of padmaka and other [herbs] in drinks, nasal drops, and sprinklings.
If there is no relief in that manner, one should puncture a vein,
and one should consider the treatment of adhimantha.

17.16

The saline, astringent, and sweet are heavy;
likewise, the sour, pungent, and bitter are light.
Others, however, hold salt to be common to heavy, light, unctuous, and dry.
One should sprinkle with decoctions of vṛścikālī, kuṣṭha, ṣaḍgranthā, the two punarnavās, dhānya, dried ginger, and pañcamūla, and with urines,
and one should administer sudation continuously.
Conjunctivitis, adhimantha, and the like may occur from error in puncturing;
one should treat them according to their respective nature.

17.17

Some, however, state potency to be eightfold by the division of heavy, light, unctuous, dry, sharp, dull, cold, and hot;
others recite [differently].
Thus, wind having no space does not distend him again.
Nevertheless, if there is distension again in one well-purged, one should administer very unctuous evacuating enemas that are sour and salty;
but when wind is obstructed, [one should administer] sharp and hot ones.

17.18

That is to be known as the potency of a substance by the addition of which action is performed; / that which lacks potency accomplishes nothing, for every action is caused by potency.
And when the graduated diet has been completed, one should administer milk for strength,
and one should withdraw it gradually before nausea occurs.
Then, once the digestive fire has been ignited with soups, meat juices, and the like that are mildly sour and salty, one should again administer an evacuating enema to the patient suffering from upward movement of vāta, who has been oleated and sweated, with a decoction of the vidāryādi group mixed with plenty of castor oil, or with that of the ten roots combined with sharp, hot, downward-moving substances.

17.19

By them as well, the designation 'potency' (vīrya) is applied to only those eight [qualities] beginning with heavy (guru), which possess preeminent power and constitute the essence of all medicinal qualities, being acknowledged as worldly even though prescribed in specialized authoritative tradition. / For in that way, qualities that overcome other tastes, post-digestive effects, and qualities—being numerous and preeminent—are encompassed [by potency]. / And by specific occurrence, conventional usage proceeds in stating the intrinsic nature of a substance in various places. / For this very reason, the intrinsic nature of a substance that surpasses all others is taught as specific action (prabhāva). / And even though the general property of effecting action is common, tastes and the rest that are opposed to it are not referred to by the designation 'potency' or by the term 'specific action'. / And one should feed him with wild animal meat-soup, or with milk boiled with [the drugs of] the vidāryādi group. / In that condition, pouring very hot ghee [over the area] and actions that alleviate vāta [are indicated].

17.20

Others, however, teach only a twofold [potency] because the qualities beginning with heavy consist of fire and soma (the moon), and because the division of time into extraction (ādāna) and release (visarga) is hot and cold in nature. / And they say as follows: / And one should repeatedly foment the abdomen. / And there is pain in the black circle (the iris/cornea). / Moreover, vision covered with blood resembles the black circle. / In that condition, success [is achieved] through pouring ghee, purgation, and bloodletting.

17.21

Though a substance possesses manifold natures, it never transcends fire and soma, which possess great power, just as the universe [never transcends] the manifest and the unmanifest. / In that condition, pouring ghee, fasting, and cauterization between the eyebrows [are prescribed].

17.22

Among them, the hot [potency] performs burning, digestion, sudation, liquefaction, and pacification of vāta and kapha. / In that condition, pouring ghee cooked with breast milk and madhuka, or cauterization at the outer corner of the eye [is done].

17.23

The cold [potency performs] gladdening, stiffening/checking, sustaining life, soothing raktapitta, and so forth. / Then, when he has gained strength and is unctuous, one should puncture.

17.24

Thus potency has been spoken of; now post-digestive effect (vipāka) is described: / Post-digestive effect, however, is generally sweet for sweet and salt [tastes], sour for sour, and pungent for the others. / It yields fruits equal to the tastes. / One should repeatedly purge and perform enema therapy with sātalā and trāyamāṇā, or with āragvadha—accompanied by urine when pitta is associated with kapha, and with milk combined with bitter ghee when associated with vāta. / Agitation, moving upward, downward, excessive rubbing of the visual aperture, and pushing the probe too far [into the eye are faults]. / From agitation by the probe arise throbbing, piercing pain, tearing pain, and hemicrania. / In that case, pouring [liquid] with a pouch of yaṣṭīmadhuka crushed in ghee and leeches [are applied]. / From moving [the probe] upward arise redness and excessive pain. / In that condition, fasting and pouring ghee that is pleasant to the touch [are done]. / From bringing it downward arise colic and flow of blood. / In that case, success is like [that for] agitation. / From excessively rubbing the visual aperture arises confusion of vision. / In that condition, an unctuous enema with ghee scum and nasal medication [are used]. / From thrusting the probe past the visual aperture arise bleeding and seeing red-colored forms. / In that case, pouring ghee, fasting, and leeches [are indicated].

17.25

And one should discern its deficiency, medium degree, or excess by the particularity of the substance's qualities. / And one should apply a poultice to the abdomen with milk pudding. / In that case, when cataract (liṅganāśo) touched by the probe bursts, one should sweat it with castor leaves and cleanse it piece by piece. / Then, a nasal pressing (avapīḍana) with pippalī, rock salt, and honey [should be given]. / But when it slips downward, having removed the probe, one should give a wash of breast milk, a nasal pressing, dried ginger with jaggery, and leeches. / When it is spreading, sudation with a cloth soaked in comfortably warm water and an application of ghee scum as nasal ointment [are done]. / Likewise, when it floats up, terrifying [the patient] with cold water and continuous snorting [should be done].

17.26

Parāśara, however, recites: / 'There are three post-digestive effects of tastes: sour digests as sour, pungent as pungent; / the other four digest as sweet; but combined tastes [digest as] combined.' / One should feed [the patient] with horse gram soup containing the three pungents, or with milk. / One should make [the patient with] abdominal enlargement due to condensed kapha drink alkali and sharp fermented liquors. / And one should constantly foment [it]. / One should apply a poultice to the abdomen with a paste of yeast, mustard, and radish seeds. / If it still does not subside, or upon removal of the probe, or if it floats up again, having prepared [the patient] with unction, nasal therapies, and the like, one should puncture again. / Even so, if it floats up again, cauterization between the eyebrows [is indicated].

17.27

'For those who hold the view that the post-digestive effect of pungent, bitter, and astringent is pungent, / how do bitter and astringent overcome pitta?' / Some say: 'All indeed [arise], because everything consists of everything, and because of extreme difficulty.' / But one should counteract according to the aggravation of the doṣas. / And ghee mixed with powder of śatāhvā and madhuka [is used] as a nasal application. / And here it is said:

17.28

There, whatever substance is sweet in taste and post-digestive effect and cold in potency, and whatever is sour in the two and hot in potency, or whatever is pungent—one should generally know their qualities and their pacification or aggravation of the doṣas in accordance with their respective tastes. / As, for example, milk, liquor, black pepper, and the like. / Or with [milk] prepared with euphorbia latex and urine.

17.29

Due to a mixture of tastes and other factors, however, there is variation. / As honey, though sweet, alleviates śleṣman because of its pungent post-digestive effect. / Because it is astringent and dry, and because of its cold potency, it produces vāta. / So too barley. / Marsh and aquatic meat, though cold [to the touch], produces pitta because of its hot potency. / Likewise, sesame oil, because of its pungent post-digestive effect—binds stool and urine purely by post-digestive effect. / Sour fermented wash (kāñjika) overcomes kapha because it is dry and hot; but wood apple [overcomes kapha] because of dryness, and pitta because of its cold potency. / Āmalaka [overcomes] pitta because of cold potency and sweet post-digestive effect, and kapha because of dryness and lightness; but it does not [overcome] vāta because of coldness, dryness, and lightness. / Rock salt overcomes pitta because of its sweet post-digestive effect, and overcomes kapha because of lightness. / Dry ginger, though pungent, destroys vāta through unctuousness, heat, and sweet post-digestive effect, as does pippalī. / Garlic too, through unctuousness, heat, and heaviness. / And onion [does the same]. / But that [onion] produces śleṣman through unctuousness and heaviness. / And mature radish [acts likewise] through its sweet post-digestive effect. / Unctuous and bitter substances—vyāghrī, viśalyā, arka, and agaru—produce pitta because of hot potency. / The great group of five roots (mahat pañcamūla), being astringent and bitter, overcomes vāta, but not pitta, because of hot potency. / And horse gram is astringent, and [acts thus] through sour post-digestive effect—this has been stated merely as an illustration. / At the end of seven days, bloodletting from a vein, purgation, and enema therapy [should be performed].

17.30

Therefore:

A substance performs some action by virtue of its taste, another by its post-digestive effect,
something by its quality, by its potency, or indeed solely by its specific action.

Or one should cast poison into drinks and food;

or chew a section of sugarcane bitten by a black cobra, or fruits of climbers, or a radish;

one should not suddenly gaze upon subtle and radiant forms.

17.31

Whichever among the taste and the rest is present in a substance with greater strength,
that, overpowering the others, attains the status of the causative factor.

Thereby it attains the state of being an antidote,

or another state of being.

Flooding of the ocular tunic, sharp, internal wound, rough pain,
a constricted throat, uneven tears, short, long, and hard to seize.

17.32

For when qualities are opposed, the lesser is overcome by the greater.

Then, abstaining from food, he should eat for one month one among trivṛt, vāstuka, maṇḍūkaparṇī, kālaśāka, and yavaśāka, prepared with its own expressed juice, without sourness, salt, or unctuous substance, steamed or unsteamed;

and when thirsty he should drink only its expressed juice;

then, when the doṣa has been extracted by the leafy vegetables, one should subsequently administer camel's milk to the weakened [patient].

When the eye is pierced, a suppository combined with jaggery, ground with rainwater, should be applied.

17.33

Post-digestive effect displaces taste; potency displaces those two; specific action displaces those:
such is the natural order of strength among taste and the others when their power is otherwise equal.

And for the sake of making the blood flow, he should massage the spleen with his hand;

and again, when he has drunk an unctuous substance and has a purified body, one should have him drink with milk the alkali of oyster-shell, or asafoetida, or natron;

or barley alkali with palāśa-alkali water.

Copper smeared very thinly with this goat's [milk], after a week ground again with that very milk;

17.34

Even when opposed to one another, taste and the rest, in producing their effect,
are not necessarily for obstruction, just like merits and flaws mutually.

Or a decoction of saubhañjanaka combined with powder of long pepper, plumbago, and rock salt;

or alkali of pūtikarañja infused with sour gruel, rich in biḍa salt and long pepper;

and when the digestive fire is impaired, he should drink the three salts and so forth, alkalis, and fermented liquors;

or the six-pala ghee, the great six-pala ghee, or the rohītaka six-pala ghee.

By combinations of qualities, it is declared equal to this by antimony, coral, realgar, cuttlefish bone, and iron.

17.35

Taste, potency, and the like, through the excess or deficiency of the primary elements,
reside in a substance either uniform or diverse.

That is exceedingly beneficial for the spleen.

17.36

Sweetness, coldness, sliminess, unctuousness, heaviness, and dullness
co-exist in milk, but not in the meat of marshy and aquatic animals.

That juice cures spleen, abdominal swelling, enlargement of the abdomen, worms, urinary disorders, jaundice, and hemorrhoids.

If it does not subside in this way, when unripened water is not present and vāta and kapha are prominent, one should perform cauterization according to the procedure for abdominal swelling.

17.37

And the qualities that are stated in substances are the very same in the bodily tissues and doṣas;
therefore, the maintenance, increase, and decrease of those are indeed caused by substances.

And he should repeatedly draw blood;

this very same division of treatment applies to what is called the liver as well.

17.38

One should know taste by contact [with the tongue], and by its remaining [in the mouth];
potency and post-digestive effect of substances [are known] through the final outcome of the action.

And laxative foods, removers of upward movement of vāyu, sharp purgatives, and whatever relieves vāta [should be given].

17.39

Among ghee, oil, jaggery, and so forth, mentioned in the sweet group,
the set of six tastes is not applicable by distinction of qualities, flavor, and the like.

In ascites, however, first to extract the fluid and the doṣa, one should administer decoctions, powders, and alkalis with rough, sharp drugs accompanied by cow's urine, and food and drink that destroy kapha and stimulate the digestive fire.

17.40

Let there be countlessness due to distinction, or unity due to the characteristic of tasting;
that distinction which is conceived through the slight excess or deficiency of the primary elements,

there, in [the abdomen with] intestinal obstruction and [the abdomen with] intestinal perforation, after the patient has been oleated and sudated, four fingers below the navel, avoiding the left side, having slit open the abdomen to the extent of four fingers, pulling out and inspecting the intestines, he should remove the hair, coating of stool, and stone that cause intestinal obstruction in the abdomen with obstructed rectum;

in the case of discharging fluid, having extracted the foreign body and purified the intestinal exudate, he should cause that perforation to be bitten by large black ants;

and when their heads are clamped, he should sever their bodies;

then, having anointed the intestines with honey and ghee and placed them back in their proper place, he should sew up the outer wound of the abdomen;

and having smeared the wound with black earth mixed with liquorice, he should bandage it;

then, having had him enter a windless room, he should place him on a milk diet to stay in a trough of oil.

17.41

that is not intended [here], because of mixture and because of equality in the result;
even when there is a difference among 'heavy' and the rest, they do not transgress their own category.

Then, having pulled out the tube and anointed [the wound] with oil and salt, he should treat the wound with a bandage.

17.42

Just as there is no difference in the count, such is the order among tastes as well;
that coating of the mouth and the like which is seen in all instances such as ghee,

and it fills up completely.
Therefore, having made an interval of any one among the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth, twelfth, or sixteenth day and night, he should drain the morbid fluid in small amounts;
and when the morbid fluid has flowed out, having massaged the abdomen, he should bandage it firmly with any one among sheepskin, silk, or leather;
in that way vāyu does not distend it;
and having made him fast, he should give him a measured amount of gruel with a little oil and salt to drink;
thereafter he should remain on a milk diet for six months;
then for three months he should drink milk-gruel;
and for another three months he should eat śyāmāka or koradūṣa grain with a little salt and a little milk.
And here it is said:

17.43

and that is not [seen] in pomegranate and the rest; therefore tastes are remembered to be only six.
And in the case of infinity or oneness, there would be no system governing distinct purposes.

Restrained regarding things to be avoided, moderate regarding what is prescribed, self-controlled,

17.44

'Heavy' and the like are called potency, as they possess capacity; otherwise they are qualities;
because they are devoid of another's capability, the other qualities are merely qualities.

Therefore, treatment that pacifies vāta and the others is praised everywhere.

17.45

Some have declared post-digestive effects to be six according to taste; that is improper;
because rice is sweet but [undergoes] sourness, and pomegranate is sour yet not [sour in post-digestive effect].

Therefore foods that are appetizing and light should be employed,

17.46

And oil goes to pungency, while long pepper, though pungent, does not;
if post-digestive effects corresponded to taste, there would not be such an inversion.

with grains of ṣaṣṭika rice soaked in cow's urine.

17.47

Because barley is observed to be sweet and heavy, yet it produces wind; / clarified butter is cold, yet it kindles the digestive fire; muscle fat is hot, yet it depresses the digestive fire; / and one should drink sugarcane juice afterward for the resolution of abdominal diseases.

17.48

Mung bean has a pungent post-digestive effect, yet destroys pitta; black gram increases pitta, / and though sweet in post-digestive effect, produces motion; molasses is unctuous, hot, and heavy; / excessively hot, sour, salty, dry, constipating, cold, and heavy.

17.49

Just as this is so with sweet taste, so it is observed with others as well; / the fruit of bibhītaka increases vāta and destroys kapha and pitta, although it is sour; / and one should avoid exertion, travel, daytime sleeping, and riding in vehicles.

17.50

Yogurt, though heavy, stimulates the digestive fire, but the pārāvata fruit does not; / wood apple and pomegranate are sour and constipating, but myrobalan fruit is not; / with pippalī and rock salt in vāta, with black pepper and sugar in pitta,

17.51

Dhātakī is astringent, constipating, and cold, but harītakī is not. / Therefore, taste and the rest, being dependent [on the substance], are of secondary importance by themselves; / combined with the three pungents, alkali, and salt in ascites caused by all three doṣas.

17.52

And because specific potency resides in the substance, the substance is regarded as foremost. / When taste and the rest are equal, that action which is distinguished arises from specific potency; / but when the spleen is obstructed, with hapuṣā, yavānī, rock salt, and cumin.

17.53

Dantī, though identical to citraka in taste and the rest, is purgative; / raisin [acts similarly] to madhuka, and clarified butter kindles the digestive fire, unlike milk. / For those suffering from heaviness, anorexia, abdominal distension, weak digestive fire, and diarrhea, / and afflicted with vāta and kapha, buttermilk serves as nectar.

17.54

Because garlic, having a pungent post-digestive effect, pungent taste, unctuousness, and heaviness, overcomes kapha and vāta, / yet by those very same qualities it does not produce vāta and kapha. / It stabilizes all bodily tissues, gives strength, and removes chronic complications of the doṣas; / for those whose limbs are emaciated by treatments, milk indeed acts like nectar.

Commentaries (1)

Śaśilekhā — Indu, Sanskrit

Linked texts (1)

Aṣṭāṅgasaṃgraha — Vāgbhaṭa, Sanskrit