The Compendium of Bheḷa 1

English (machine translation) 1

Language: English

1.4 — 31 parts
1.5 — 28 parts
1.6 — 51 parts
1.7 — 17 parts
1.8 — 28 parts
1.9 — 38 parts
1.10 — 20 parts
1.11 — 15 parts
1.12 — 17 parts
1.13 — 18 parts
1.14 — 20 parts
1.15 — 11 parts
1.16 — 22 parts
1.17 — 15 parts
1.18 — 29 parts
1.19 — 12 parts
1.20 — 10 parts
1.21 — 9 parts
1.22 — 33 parts
1.23 — 12 parts
1.25 — 39 parts
1.26 — 34 parts
1.27 — 38 parts
1.28 — 48 parts

1.4.1

Long peppers, bishop's weed, and also mūṣikakarṇikā, / white shoots of bilva, turmeric, and likewise madhuka—

1.4.2

these destroy skin disease when applied as drinks and plasters. / Ox bile, dog's bile, and bitter gourd,

1.4.3

neem, nata, and sugar: one should likewise apply [these] as a plaster. / […] and roots of eḍagaja,

1.4.4

surādanī, and sugandhā: one should likewise apply [these] as a plaster. / Suvarṇapuṣpī, kaṭukā, śyāmā, and tejovatī,

1.4.5

and trivṛt […] they know as a purification in skin disease. / Āragvadha, bhārgī, aśvagandhā, and gavādanī,

1.4.6

śvetā, and jyotiṣmatī: one should have [these] made into fine powders. / That powder, thoroughly macerated seven times with ox bile,

1.4.7

is to be properly combined with mustard oil and rock salt. / Indeed, this is prescribed as a thin plaster for one whose morbific entities have been expelled,

1.4.8

who eats a measured diet of curds and rice, destroying parasitic worms and skin disease. / Both gavedhuka and moth bean, cooked in a decoction of khadira—

one should administer both of these to those afflicted with skin disease, for the alleviation of skin disease. / Now, the juices of itch-destroying trees are wholesome for those afflicted with skin disease;

1.4.10

in plasters and affusions, however, khadira is praised. / He should drink khadira water, and take meals with khadira water;

1.4.11

and for the purpose of water, he should mostly use the interior of khadira. / The two large trees possessing heartwood, dhavā and rohitaka,

1.4.12

śiṃśupā, aśvakarṇa, khadira growing upon a bilva tree, / plantain, muṣkaka, hiṃsrā, and the fruit of bhadrodumbarikā—

1.4.13

cow's urine steeped with these is an affusion in skin disease. / The resin of sāla, aśvakarṇa, and the resin of kuliśa—

1.4.14

these are suppressors of ulcers caused by skin disease. / I shall explain the treatment for puṇḍarīka that destroys the disease:

1.4.15

Āvartā, root of śālmalī, malayūkā, sudhā, varī, / root of bhadrodumbarikā, and the fruits of avalgujā,

1.4.16

having pressed [these] at night with a press, and also dantī, citraka, / pāṭhā, and the two turmerics: one should combine [them] with cow's urine.

1.4.17

Cooked down until one-eighth remains, well refined, / one afflicted with leucoderma, having risen at dawn, should drink [it]; he should drink cold water.

1.4.18

One should protect him from every side, yet place him in the sun. / The morbific entities, tormented by the medicament, having settled in his skin,

1.4.19

produce a blister upon the patches through the rays of the sun. / When the blisters have arisen, however, one should seat him in the shade;

1.4.20

having washed [him] with cold waters, one should feed him a meal with meat broth. / Then they become agitated, like clouds filled with water.

1.4.21

One should then pierce [them] with the sharp point of a needle or with a thorn. / And whatever is the heartwood of sandalwood, of badara, and of khadira,

1.4.22

with these ground with water and combined with ghee and honey, / while the person is lying upon lotus leaves,

1.4.23

the physician should then plaster the blisters flooded with cold water. / And the physician should crush the barks of lactiferous trees;

1.4.24

with their decoctions and pastes he should sprinkle and plaster him. / And one should apply seeds of kharjūra and conch columella,

1.4.25

collyrium, tagara, patra, red ochre, and blue water lily: / with a fine powder of these he should dust the discharging [sore].

1.4.26

Dung mixed with grape and honey should be given for peeling. / The physician should have diet, unction, and inunction carried out according to the previous rule

1.4.27

for those afflicted with skin disease; thus he becomes happy. / A wise man should not neglect a disease that has fallen upon the body; / he should hasten to pacify it, as [he would] a burning house.

1.4.28

For just as a tree steadily grows slowly and at ease, / so indeed does a disease grow once it has reached the body.

1.4.29

Therefore, guarding the person who is not yet emaciated against its great force, / a discerning physician should destroy diseases before their proliferation.

1.4.30

Every three days an avapīḍa errhine [is given]; one should vomit at a fortnight or a month; / one should purge at the turning of the sun, and bloodletting is prescribed.

1.4.31

Wild rice, moth beans, and chickpeas are wholesome for those afflicted with skin disease. / For those who conduct themselves thus, skin disease indeed reaches pacification. / Thus said the venerable Ātreya. / Thus the fourth chapter in Bheḷa. / / Fifth Chapter / / Now we shall expound the chapter on eating to excess; thus said the venerable Ātreya.

1.5.1

Now, by food eaten, drunk, and chewed properly, / the creature's strength is replenished at once, like fire by fuels.

1.5.2

By that very meal, when taken in excessive quantity here, bodily / diseases proliferate when the digestive fire is impaired.

1.5.3

A physician should know that the lightness of food is of two kinds; / learn that heaviness in what is eaten is twofold, as it is being explained.

1.5.4

Food may be light by dose, and some is considered light by substance. / Likewise, it may be heavy by dose, and likewise heavy by substance.

1.5.5

Aged śāli rice, mung beans, hare, partridge, and quail— / whatever else is of such kind is considered light by substance.

1.5.6

Meat from domestic, marsh, and aquatic animals, curd, flour, and what is called sesame— / whatever else is of such kind is considered heavy by substance.

1.5.7

In that regard, when a person eats even a heavy substance in proper dose, / physicians regard his food as indeed light.

1.5.8

Even if one eats śāli and the like excessively, though they are very light, / such food clearly becomes heavy.

1.5.9

One who properly attains satiety with a light substance— / the skilled one should know that food to be entirely wholesome and light.

1.5.10

If one should attain satiety even properly with a substance that is not light, / such food here I declare to be heavy indeed.

1.5.11

Therefore, one should always seek light food that is taken of heavy substances / to two-thirds satiety or half satiety.

1.5.12

Or having obtained a light substance, if one indulges in it excessively, / that [substance], even though light, becomes heavy in the alimentary tract when taken in excess.

1.5.13

A physician who understands heaviness and lightness increases the lives of men; / therefore, one should thus know the heaviness and lightness of substances.

1.5.14

Just so, a man is nourished by wholesome food, / and he declines through unwholesome [food], with wind and the other [morbific entities] corrupted.

1.5.15

In a healthy person, the tissue elements such as blood and the rest increase through food; / but in a diseased person, food then transforms into a morbific entity.

1.5.16

For just as seed on earth is ruined by untimely rain, / and grows through timely rain, so too in an embodied being through the chyle [of food].

1.5.17

And whoever is always generous, with a happy and steady mind, / devoted to light drink, maintaining habituation, keeping far away from offense,

1.5.18

bathed, anointed, garlanded, with teeth cleansed, well adorned, / [practicing] virtue, truthfulness, and non-violence—for life is mostly based on food—

1.5.19

should vomit phlegmatic diseases, and purge biliary ones; / he should administer evacuating enemas for wind diseases, and let blood for blood-born ones.

1.5.20

Or again, he should eat red rice with mung beans, or ṣaṣṭika rice, / well-steamed, in measured quantity, combined with ghee and rock salt.

1.5.21

He should drink soup with a little long pepper and a little honey, / and also milk with a little salt, reduced by half.

1.5.22

Scatterer birds, pecker birds, goats, and wilderness beasts and birds, / and whatever other food is pungent in digestion—that he should always practice.

1.5.23

He should not walk on foot in ploughed ground, rough terrain, or among thorns; / he should not go into thickets, to other men's wives, or into swollen rivers.

1.5.24

He should also avoid quarrel, anger, and nighttime wandering; / he should not be near an elephant, or a horse wet with water.

1.5.25

He should never associate with gossipers, drunkards, / hostile men, barbarians, or deceitful minds.

1.5.26

He should not touch any reptiles or small-footed [creatures]; / he should avoid buffaloes, gayals, rhinoceroses, tigers, and lions.

1.5.27

He should not climb trees or roofs, nor run in the foul water of rain; / he should not go against the direction of cattle, nor between them, nor directly in front.

1.5.28

He should not climb the Himavat mountain immediately after rain; / he should resort to ghee and hot water—this is the highest health. Thus spoke the venerable Ātreya. Thus ends the fifth chapter in Bheḷa. Chapter six. Now we shall explain that which concerns the suppression of urges; thus spoke the venerable Ātreya.

1.6.1

A wise man should not suppress the arrived urges of urine and feces, / nor of wind, nor of bile, nor of semen, nor of phlegm,

1.6.2

nor should he hold back an arrived urge of eructation, vomiting, yawning, / or sneezing, nor of tears, nor of sleep and the rest.

1.6.3

For these, when suppressed, generate disease and destroy life; / and thus forced when they have not arrived, they produce the very same [troubles].

1.6.4

From the suppression of wind, urine, and feces, the wind and other [morbific entities] / become aggravated; and from [the suppression] of semen, gravel and stone [arise].

1.6.5

Or skin disease, or fever, or swelling in the limbs and the like may occur / through the suppression of vomiting, bile, and phlegm, due to wind.

1.6.6

Blindness [occurs] from the suppression of yawning and the like; cataract from the suppression of tears; / headache from the suppression of sneezing, eructation, sleep, and the rest.

1.6.7

Therefore, having risen early in the morning, one should discharge urine and feces. / The unsuppressible [urges] have been stated; now learn the suppressible ones:

1.6.8

The wise man should suppress an arrived urge of greed, delusion, fear, / thirst [for wealth], anxiety, intoxication, pride, / and likewise of rash heroism.

1.6.9

For one who suppresses these, strength and lifespan increase. / Facing north in a clean place, or facing east, covered [in clothes],

1.6.10

he should attend to what is necessary, and once it is done, touch water [for purification]. / Having performed purification, the person should then chew a tooth-stick:

1.6.11

dhava, palāśa, nyagrodha, or naktamāla, / śirīṣa, karavīra, the jātī tree, or arjuna.

1.6.12

Punarvasu declared the tooth-stick of these to be best, / splitting and crushing [the end] without injuring the gums.

1.6.13

That cleanses his mouth, and tooth-brushing / brings about the pacification of bile, phlegm, and vātarakta.

1.6.14

Paste of musta with triphalā, honey, oil, and warm water— / one should hold each in sequence as a mouthful.

1.6.15

Aggravated wind, bile, and phlegm are pacified by holding a mouthful; / and [a gargle] of madhūka destroys coating, clarifying the voice and blood.

1.6.16

Oil is beneficial to teeth, makes [the breath] fragrant, destroys chronic discharge, / heals a wound in the mouth, and checks decaying [teeth].

1.6.17

Inunction of the sense organs is considered to release heavy morbific entities, / pacify skin diseases, impart strength, and soothe vātarakta.

1.6.18

And for those [exhausted] by excessive sexual intercourse, by falling from chariots, horses, or elephants, / or struck by sticks and fists, it destroys pain and fatigue.

1.6.19

Inunction clarifies the skin; fatigue is pacified by unctuous rubbing; / affusion brings delight and firmness, and destroys dirt.

1.6.20

Anointment gladdens, destroys itching, and clears [the complexion]; / and cold collyrium destroys cataract of the vision.

1.6.21

Strength of hair and sense organs [comes] from errhine oil properly applied; / there is clarification of voice and blood, and grey hairs disappear.

1.6.22

Well-anointed, well-rubbed, and rubbed down according to strength, / bathed in water according to the season, and then anointed thereafter,

1.6.23

with his head groomed, he should then have an errhine administered; / then, for him whose morbific entities have been cleansed, one should prepare smoke:

1.6.24

kuṭannaṭa, cardamom, hrībera, dhyāmaka, agaru, sandalwood, / kālānusāryā, spikenard, pṛthvīkā, and guggulu,

1.6.25

tālīsa, padmaka, musta, priyaṅgu together with hareṇukā, / turmeric, sugandhā, saralā, and devadāru,

1.6.26

śrīveṣṭaka, pine resin, and coraka—these he should assemble. / And his mouth should be smeared with ghee, and then he should drink this smoke.

1.6.27

A smoke-stick measuring eight finger-breadths, or twelve finger-breadths, / or six finger-breadths, is recommended.

1.6.28

A smoking pipe made of gold, silver, copper, or elephant tusk, / or made of tree heartwood, is recommended.

1.6.29

One should apply the smoke four or five times into the channel; / properly indulged in, smoke causes normal downward movement of wind, pulls out phlegm, / and gives strength to vision.

1.6.30

There are eight occasions for smoke, at the end of which it is praised: / just upon rising from sleep, after washing the teeth,

1.6.31

when one has ceased water sports, likewise when one has eaten a meal, / after sneezing, defecation, and intercourse, and likewise after vomiting a meal.

1.6.32

And hear one by one their benefits produced by smoking; / there, I shall explain them in order, beginning indeed with one who has risen from bed:

1.6.33

It destroys excessive phlegm of a person, awakens the six senses, / and, if smoke is [taken by] one who is awake, causes normal downward movement of wind.

1.6.34

After washing the teeth, it thoroughly dispels diseases, / removes discharged phlegm, and makes the mouth fragrant and clear.

1.6.35

Those diseases in the mouths caused by loss of the flesh of the teeth / and the morbific entities such as cough—smoke dispels those as well.

1.6.36

And the pains located in the head arising from water sports, / earache, and catarrh—smoke swiftly dispels these.

1.6.37

Smoke pacifies wind, bile, and phlegm excited by eating; / it purifies the head and also settles what has been eaten.

1.6.38

Wind, entered into the vessels and impelled by sneezing, / pervades all the channels; it is moved downward normally by smoke.

1.6.39

Wind raised up by the act of defecation, gone to the throat, top of the head, or cranium, / or blowing up the vital breaths, is moved downward normally by smoke.

1.6.40

Wind gone to the seminal channels goes only upward; / it produces dreadful diseases; one should move it downward normally with smoke.

1.6.41

To the chief of diseases, those [morbific entities] impelled from their seats by vomiting / conduce to illness; for them, smoke is praised.

1.6.42

When the morbific entities are removed, wind, roaming through the empty spaces / and reaching the head, swoons; one should move it downward normally with smoke.

1.6.43

Having eaten after drinking water beforehand, a man incurs emaciation; / for one who drinks in the middle of a meal, the food is not pulled down.

1.6.44

And who, having eaten, subsequently drinks water afterward— / that food, accompanied by water, leads to equilibrium.

1.6.45

One should warm both hands over fire until they are free of water; / then one should walk a hundred steps, for thus the food goes downward.

1.6.46

One should not eat curds at night, nor without ghee, nor without honey; / […] or what does an intelligent man desire from throat disease?

1.6.47

A person wishing to destroy the occurrence of disease / should not touch food thrown into water, nor eat stale food, nor eat during indigestion.

1.6.48

Wearing shoes, likewise carrying a staff, with an umbrella and a fan, / avoiding all afflictions, one should wander about short of fatigue.

1.6.49

Collected in mind, constantly honoring ascetics, ancestors, gods, / and Brahmins according to rule, a man lives for a hundred years.

1.6.50

For suppressed wind causes colic, and [suppressed] urine generates urinary morbidities; / when an urge is suppressed, it causes cough, catarrh, consumption, and dyspnea.

1.6.51

Feces causes severe abdominal distension, and retention of semen causes impotence; / therefore, a man who desires long life here should not suppress an urge." / Thus said the venerable Ātreya. / Thus the sixth chapter in Bheḷa. / Seventh chapter. / Now we shall explain the chapter on the management of the sense faculties; thus said the venerable Ātreya:

1.7.1

For all the sense faculties decay as one ages; / therefore, at every age one should approach a woman at the proper time.

1.7.2

However, one should not approach women when one's strength has not been replenished; / one should not practice in non-vaginal parts, and should avoid animal wombs.

1.7.3

One should not hold back an urge when it has arrived; having engaged [in intercourse], one should touch cold water; / but one should not engage when tired, nor newly eaten, nor distressed, nor agitated,

1.7.4

nor emaciated, nor having eaten excessively, or depressed should one engage in intercourse. / One who is constantly measured in speech, eating unctuous food, young, […] should practice.

1.7.5

Possessing abundant and unctuous semen, sleeping and eating according to the season; / one should avoid an aged woman, one near delivery, a diseased, dirty, emaciated,

1.7.6

deformed woman, one desiring another, and one with a putrid alimentary tract. / The strength, health, lifespan, body, and luster of embodied beings

1.7.7

is lost, indeed, having approached such a woman, as if reaching premature old age. / A man should practice intercourse season by season at the proper time:

1.7.8

in the rains after nine nights, and in autumn after ten nights; / in the winter season after five days, and likewise in the cold season after seven days;

1.7.9

in spring after a fortnight, but in summer one should practice month by month; / in the last month of the hot season, one should entirely avoid intercourse.

1.7.10

Or, endowed with youth, enthusiasm, strength, and unctuousness, / bathed in cool water, with agreeable garlands and ointment,

1.7.11

not devoted to excessive exercise, eating milk, meat, and ghee; / [with women] wearing agreeable garlands and garments, adorned with agreeable ornaments,

1.7.12

endowed with pleasing youth, beloved, compliant with pleasing speech, / exhilarated, at all times one should approach women with half one's strength.

1.7.13

One should avoid the fourteenth, the fifteenth, and the eighth [lunar days]; / one should drink milk and ghee daily, which promotes lifespan and is wholesome.

1.7.14

For this confers strength and complexion, and likewise promotes health; / a man should have body hair and nails cut three times a month.

1.7.15

One should constantly wear herbs and auspicious gems, / and should also repeat the eternal mantras spoken by Brahmā:

1.7.16

"May that wind and those vital breaths that are constant never depart from my body; / may Indra give me strength, and may the waters bestow auspiciousness on us."

1.7.17

Having eaten or having approached women, / reciting this mantra of the sages and touching water, his lifespan is not diminished. / Thus said the venerable Ātreya. / Thus the seventh chapter in Bheḷa. / Eighth chapter. / Now we shall explain the chapter on eating according to measure; thus said the venerable Ātreya:

1.8.1

A person should eat according to measure, eat cooked food, carry a staff in hand, and walk a moderate distance; / having eaten according to the season, he should drink this smoke:

1.8.2

kaiḍarya, śatapuṣpā, tālīsa, aguru, guggulu, / and priyaṅgu, and flax, uncted with ghee, one should drink.

1.8.3

Wind impelled by food from the alimentary tract stays in the head; / it is subdued by smoke, and phlegm departs from the eyes.

1.8.4

A person who has eaten should not eat rice, flattened rice, / all flour preparations, and sesame seeds; when hungry, he should eat a measured amount.

1.8.5

One should not incur fatigue by journeying; one should not suppress any urges, / even having abandoned all duties; thus his lifespan is not diminished.

1.8.6

One should avoid an uneven, painful seat, and dangling the feet; / one should constantly protect the body from winds [arising] from a bad seat.

1.8.7

Excessive sitting, excessive standing, and excessive walking, / excessive sleeping, lack of a bed, and likewise excessive talking,

1.8.8

and whatever a man does to excess through activities— / physicians declare all this to be unwholesome for longevity.

1.8.9

One who is moderate in standing, sitting, and walking, moderate in sleeping and eating, / and moderate in talking and activities, lives long as a man.

1.8.10

One should resort to a windless place, [or] occasionally to pleasant wind; / a windless place is wholesome for longevity and always for health.

1.8.11

One should not perform work in the sun, nor likewise without headgear; / and, except in summer, one should never move about in the frost.

1.8.12

One should administer unctuous enemas in autumn, spring, and the rainy season; / and to one whose diseases require an enema, one should administer it regularly.

1.8.13

At the ends of sleep and at the twilights one should not eat, nor should one lie down; / one should not wander alone at night, nor enter a deserted house.

1.8.14

One should avoid a crossroads; one should not stay long on a mountain; / and at night, [one should avoid] the roots of trees, and likewise another's wife.

1.8.15

Hostility toward the king, ruin of the people, forest fire, quarreling among men, / and intoxicated or mad persons—noticing these, one should shun them from afar.

1.8.16

One should not associate with enemies; one should not cross a river with one's arms; / and one should avoid elephants, horses, cattle, and serpents from afar.

1.8.17

Madhumeha, consumption, thirst, wind-induced disorders, and other complications / do not arise from drinking wine, therefore one should drink it according to rule.

1.8.18

One should drink boiled water in measured quantity for four months, / beginning with Śrāvaṇa; the remaining eight [months], at one's pleasure.

1.8.19

One should eat an āmalaka fruit before eating, and harītakī after eating; / and at the digestion of food, one should eat vibhītaka.

1.8.20

Due to its astringent nature it overcomes phlegm; due to its sour nature, wind; / and due to its sweet nature, the āmalaka properly conquers bile.

1.8.21

Due to its hot nature, bile instantly goes and enters the receptacle; / it properly conducts it; therefore, a man who has eaten should eat abhayā.

1.8.22

The digestion of food, however, increases bile and phlegm; / therefore, desiring their balance, one should take vibhītaka.

1.8.23

Having performed the morning regimen, one should bathe with waters comfortable for the season; / healthy, of pure conduct, established in the practice of good conduct.

1.8.24

A wise person should never pass urine or feces into water, / nor should he spit [there], guarding his own life.

1.8.25

One should not twist one's neck unevenly, nor should one sneeze unevenly; / seated upright, an intelligent man should take his food.

1.8.26

One should attend upon mother, father, wife, or teacher; / and through the practice of respectful greeting, one increases one's lifespan.

1.8.27

Men who act unwholesomely toward the king and those who are traitors to him, / the unrighteous, and the untruthful—one should never unite with them.

1.8.28

This also they call health-giving, auspicious, venerable, and fame-conferring, / practiced by the virtuous of old, approved by Ātreya. Thus said the venerable Ātreya. Thus ends the eighth chapter in Bheḷa. Ninth Chapter. Now we shall explain the chapter on the four limbs of medicine; thus spoke the venerable Ātreya.

1.9.1

Medicine with its four limbs indeed renders the patient free from disease; / it unites the physician with fame, and also gives him wealth.

1.9.2

Therefore, I shall declare the excellence that brings about success / of the combination of medicaments, of the physician, of the patient, and of the attendant.

1.9.3

Just as a handful of dust thrown against the wind perishes, / so indeed [the disease] goes to destruction without [difficulty] from an action performed by a physician.

1.9.4

Just as rain is lost in a flowing river, / in a chasm, and on dry land, so are ill-applied treatments [wasted].

1.9.5

Just as an archer, skilled and righteous, holding a sword in hand, / produces agitation among enemies, protects his own, and slays his foes,

1.9.6

so the healer, reinforced by the limbs and by medicaments, / protects himself from ill repute and subdues the disease.

1.9.7

“One succeeds when treating,” such is the teaching of Ātreya; / “even when not treating,” so declared Bhadraśaunaka.

1.9.8

Because [a treatment] provided with a qualified patient, substance, physician, and attendant / is seen to fail, yet in the reverse case it is not without result,

1.9.9

therefore, success is not invariable in four-limbed therapeutics. / But Ātreya does not concur with this view of Śaunaka.

1.9.10

For in one who treats, success is endowed with complexion, energy, and strength, / and there is no multiplicity of diseases; but never so in one who does not treat.

1.9.11

He would become discolored, weak, and afflicted with diseases, / or impaired, like a patient treated by ignorant [practitioners].

1.9.12

That which, being seen, does not lead to attainment is not success, it is failure; / therefore, an intelligent physician should seek the success belonging to the knowledgeable.

1.9.13

Therein, first understand from me the limb that is medicament: / space, wind, fire, water, and earth is the fifth here.

1.9.14

One should contemplate all [these] as increasingly possessing qualities, according to their order; / and those qualities of the elements among them that indicate distinct states,

1.9.15

exist in substances only through mutual combination. / The characteristic of space is porosity, and dryness is wind-natured;

1.9.16

heat is of fire, coolness of water, and roughness is an earthy quality. / In whichever substance this characteristic is prominent,

1.9.17

that substance is considered to be of the nature of that element. / Where there is porosity and lightness, that medicament is of the nature of space;

1.9.18

roughness, distinctness, and dryness are of the nature of wind; / unctuousness, moistness, coolness, and softness are water-born;

1.9.19

sliminess, heaviness, solid form, stability, and smell are earthy. / A substance endowed with these elemental qualities is of the nature of that [element].

1.9.20

Therein, endowed with all qualities of the nature of the five elements, / [… taste, smell, and …]

1.9.21

[… cold and hot water … / readiness of equipment, and collection of roots, bark, and fruits;]

1.9.22

fragrance of roots and other parts, possession of pleasant touch, / neither deficient nor excessive, and possessing [proper] form, is praised.

1.9.23

In dry land, declivities, sandy places, and stony grounds, / that which is hollow, not deeply rooted, and grows obliquely is censured.

1.9.24

That by which the purpose of medicine is instantly achieved, and not obstructed— / that medicament is to be known as the first limb in therapeutics.

1.9.25

The attendant should be the second; his qualities one by one are: / strong, dexterous, skilled, pleasing in speech, not disgusted,

1.9.26

courageous, accommodating, affectionate, possessing varied conversation, / intelligent, attentive, and conforming to the treatise,

1.9.27

and he should not overly impede during all medicinal operations. / An attendant who endures hardship is praised in accordance with [these] qualities.

1.9.28

And the third limb is the patient; he is praised if truthful in speech, / possessing good bodily signs, self-controlled, grateful, and cheerful,

1.9.29

receptive to medicine, and he does not conceal diseases, / firmly devoted, not envious, and one who does not despair,

1.9.30

and compliant in every respect, not transgressing the treatment. / Endowed with these qualities, one should know the patient to be curable.

1.9.31

The physician, however, is the fourth limb, well-versed in the meaning of the aphorisms, / free from disease, experienced in treatment, and skilled in accomplishing what must be done,

1.9.32

practical, bold, forbearing, resourceful, / wise, skilled in reasoning, endowed with energy, nobility, and strength,

1.9.33

unpretentious, vigilant, constantly self-restrained in the senses, / spirited, knowledgeable in medicaments, and aware of application according to place and time.

1.9.34

The physician should be the fourth limb, endowed with such qualities. / Medicament, attendant, physician, and indeed the patient—

1.9.35

through the union of their mutual qualities, these become bringers of success; / and these very [limbs], due to deficiency of qualities, become promoters of that person's disease.

1.9.36

Therefore, success in therapeutics is sought in the four limbs, / just as vessel, fuel, and fire are the causes of cooking for a cook,

1.9.37

or the ground, army, and weapons are [causes] for victory to a victor; / likewise, the limbs beginning with the patient are designated as causes of success.

1.9.38

Just as clay, rod, wheel, cord, and the like, without a potter, / do not produce beneficial effects, so the three limbs [produce none] without the physician; / therefore, one should know that the physician is the principal cause in therapeutics. Thus said the venerable Ātreya. Thus the ninth chapter in Bheḷa. / Chapter ten. Now we shall explain the chapter on disorders of āma; thus spoke the venerable Ātreya.

Linked texts (1)

Bheḷasaṃhitā — Bheḷa, Sanskrit

The Compendium of Bheḷa 1

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