The Compendium of Bheḷa 6.1

In ancient times Dakṣa did not allot a share of the sacrifice to the wielder of the trident; / therefore Śaṅkara destroyed Dakṣa's sacrifice.

And as he destroyed that sacrifice, desiring to do what was dear to the Goddess, / having breathed out hotly with rage, fever pervaded those worlds.

This fever torments the world, moving and stationary; / and at the death of living beings, there is no other cause than fever.

However many other diseases of embodied beings have been declared, / they kill in a year; fever takes life immediately.

Fever is proclaimed as the king of the entire army of diseases; / it torments (jvarayati) living beings, hence it is traditionally called fever (jvara).

And fever is chief among physical and mental diseases; / therefore, I shall first explain its treatment.

And eight fevers are declared, arising from the stated forms; / in brief, fever is of two regular kinds: cold and hot.

For cold fever, which is of the nature of vāta and kapha, the physician should apply a heating treatment; / for hot fever, which is exclusively pitta, he should apply a cooling treatment.

First, vāta drives out the heat from the stomach; / reaching the skin and arriving at the body hair, it causes a person to shiver.

Then, cooked by the heat accompanying pitta, / kapha attains dissolution, just like a cloud from the connection [with heat].

When the cold has subsided, the person again experiences a burning sensation from pitta; / the fire burns the body, which, with aggravated pitta, has become fuel.

Afterward, its force spent, cooked by the heat, the wind / resorts to its own proper site and goes in the downward direction.

Thus does one contract fever, and thus indeed is one freed from it. / This treatment has been declared in brief for the intelligent.

The intelligent, however, are rare; therefore, I shall declare it in detail. / For the treatment of those suffering from fever is of eleven kinds.

And one should know medicated ghee as the eleventh; hear that from me in detail: / medicated sudations, decoctions, electuaries, and digestives,

powders, thick ointments, affusions, pills, large pills, and milk, / and medicated ghee is proclaimed as the eleventh, whether cooked or raw.

I shall declare their application and their individual potencies. / For having conquered phlegm and wind, [the dosha] that produces heat

in the pitta of embodied beings—because of that, one is called fevered (jvarita). / Wind combined with pitta, or phlegm stupefied with pitta,

produces heat; therefore, one should treat pitta. / And when one is thirsty, hot water should be given to ripen the doshas.

It destroys fever, stimulates digestion, removes phlegm, pitta, and wind, / cleanses the channels, and produces relish and sweating in men.

For when the bodily fire is kindled, phlegm and wind subside, / and through their downward movement, pitta also subsides.

Therefore, they declare that warm water as a drink is best in a newly arisen fever.

For cold water, when drunk, would aggravate phlegm and wind; / it would further cause sluggishness of the digestive fire, stiffness, and loss of appetite.

However, [water] prepared with bitter herbs and cooled after boiling is beneficial at will; / for them, a mixed drink [is suitable], as well as for those who are extremely cold.

For a hungry person, gruel should be given as food for six nights; / it dispels hunger and thirst, is wholesome, and removes feces, urine, and wind.

By its heat it destroys wind and phlegm, and especially by its lightness; / administered according to rule, it relieves distress in the heart and brings about sweating.

Therefore, in all fevers and when a man is released from fever, / one should have him drink gruels prepared with their proper medicines according to rule.

Thus the complete treatment that removes cold fever has been declared. / Hereafter, I shall proclaim in detail what is edible and what is not edible.

Śāli rice, ṣaṣṭika rice, nīvāra rice together with pramodaka rice, / and preparations of barley food are always beneficial in meals.

Kapiñjala birds together with deer, quails, black-tailed deer, / blackbucks, and vartīraka birds—dry-land animals are beneficial for a fevered person.

Cooked pulse-broths of mung beans, pigeon peas, lentils, and satīna peas / are praised, as well as thin soups, as destroyers of fever.

Hot vrīhi rice with wild barley, parched-grain flour, and citraka, / black gram and sesame seeds of hot potency—a fevered person should completely avoid.

Domestic, marshland, and aquatic meat, and likewise both beef and buffalo meat, / goat meat, meat of wild boar, curd, and sour gruel he should avoid.

All foods made of flour, various leafy vegetables, / [substances that are] burning, and those of hot potency—a fevered person should completely avoid.

Peacocks, partridges, curlews, doves, and domestic fowl— / these five scratching birds, being hot, a fevered person should completely avoid.

For emesis and purgation, for unction and fasting, / the proper times for a fevered patient have been declared by me in detail in the Sūtrasthāna.

Ministers and household servants, friends and counselors, / perceptive, endowed with intellect, and skilled in knowledge of the treatises—

they should recount varied stories endowed with dharma, desire, and worldly wealth, / to divert the patient, destroying drowsiness and grief.

Dreadful and unpleasant stories that do not promote delight / one should avoid for those afflicted with diseases of pitta.

The physician should generate enthusiasm alone in the patient; / for medicine administered to one whose spirits are high is conducive to immortality.

Moon-faced, plump-breasted, fragrant, white-clad / women he should attend upon to destroy pain and fatigue.

Overeating, excessive standing, and excessive pacing— / a fevered person should always avoid these and protect his vital breaths in every way.

Anger, women, walking, day-sleep, excessive talking, / heavy [foods], travel, incompatible [foods], physical exercise, suppression of urges,

vitiated wind, drinking [alcohol], and waking at night: / these are the causes for the recurrence of a fever that had subsided.

And one should never bathe him suddenly when emaciated by fever; / for the fever returns to his corrupted body.

Fever is declared by the great sages to have arisen from the anger of Maheśvara; / therefore, for release from fever, one should worship the Bull-Bannered One.

Baths, pacification rites, homa offerings, observances, restraints, and self-control, / and optional sacrifices taught in the Vedas are praised as destroyers of fever.

Fever is the sovereign of diseases, having fierce power, the womb of illnesses; / bringing an end to all creatures, terrible, having the nature of fire—thus fever is remembered.

Persistent, it is difficult to cure by physicians, born of sin; / therefore, one should turn it back with mantras spoken in the Vedas and with homa offerings.

Fierce ritual action originating in demonology (bhūtavidyā) removes fever; / that should be performed by a demon-physician (bhūtavaidya), and so fever does not enter.

By a physician who is devoted to Rudra, pure, austere, / and restrained, the treatment of chronic fever should be administered. Thus said the venerable Ātreya. / Thus ends the first chapter in the Section on Therapeutics in Bheḷa. / Second chapter. / Now we shall explain the treatment of intermittent fever (viṣamajvara); thus said the venerable Ātreya.