Bhelasamhita 1.13

“In which region do which diseases occur in excess?” / Questioned by Gurdālubhekin, Punarvasu explained:

“The easterners, continually feeding on fish and boiled rice, are of kapha and pitta nature; / elephantiasis and goiter are mostly seen among them.

They eat fish found in river waters and those born in the ocean; / because of that, men in the southern quarter are mostly afflicted with skin disease.

Those who consume lentils, barley, wheat, sesame, and koddāla— / because of that, piles are considered to be born mostly of dental origins(?) in Kāmbhoja.

Desiring meat, desiring liquor, desiring women, and fond of rash acts, / because of that, westerners are mostly seen to suffer from consumption (rājayakṣman).

For the Bāhlīkas generally eat sharp and hot foods, / meat that causes obstruction in the channels, drinks, and aquatic products;

and by nature, mountain valleys are always damp and obstructing; / because of that, balāsaka is mostly the disease in the Bāhlīka lands.

When the cloud does not rain in the rainy season, and rains in the dewy season, / at the time of seasonal aberration, epidemic pestilence breaks out.

There, one who fasts, is resolute, devoted to saluting brahmins, / and devoted to mantras and medicines is freed from epidemic pestilence.

From the sudden heat of the sun at the end of the rainy season, pitta is provoked; / therefore, in autumn, fever mostly occurs in embodied beings.

Among cattle it is called cāraṇa, and among quadrupeds and beasts of prey; / among fish it is indrajāla, and among birds pramīlaka;

it is citraka among all grains, and forest-fire among roots and fruits; / and among elephants it is pākala—thus is fever designated.

Likewise utkarṇaka among horses, and fiery energy among all illnesses; / for this resides everywhere, and this is called the end-maker.

One should quickly pacify that fever, a visible comet. / Where wind blows excessively carrying an unwholesome smell,

there common catarrh breaks out among mortals; / and a boil named batālikā arises in him:

in the armpit, at the root of the thigh, on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, / in the throat, or resorting to the ear, or in the bladder, or in the heart.

One should treat it hastening, for when aggravated it kills a man. / Arising from pitta and phlegm, swooning with vāta and blood,

they call it batālikā; one who makes effort survives it. / Thus has all this been properly set forth, whatever was inquired / by the sages asking questions in due succession.” / Thus said the venerable Ātreya. / Thus ends the thirteenth chapter in Bheḷa. / / Fourteenth chapter / / / Now next we shall expound the chapter on medical equipment; thus said the venerable Ātreya.