The Compendium of Caraka 1.26: ṣaḍviṃśo 'adhyāyaḥ

Now we shall explain the chapter on Ātreya and Bhadrakāpya.

Thus spoke the venerable Ātreya.

Ātreya, Bhadrakāpya, and Śākunteya,
Pūrṇākṣa Maudgalya, and Hiraṇyākṣa Kauśika,

and the faultless Bharadvāja who is named Kumāraśiras,
and the illustrious King Vāryovida, best among the wise,

and Nimi, King of Videha, and the highly intelligent Baḍiśa,
and Kāṅkāyana of Bahlīka, best among the physicians of Bahlīka—

these great seers, mature in learning and age, self-controlled,
assembled in the delightful Caitraratha forest, seeking recreation.

As they were seated there, this meaningful discussion
arose among those knowers of truth regarding the correct determination of tastes and food.

“Taste is only one,” said Bhadrakāpya, “which the experts declare to be one of the five sense-objects, an entity falling within the domain of the tongue; and it is non-different from water.”

“There are two tastes,” said the brahmin Śākunteya: “scouring and soothing.”

“There are three tastes,” said Pūrṇākṣa Maudgalya: “scouring, soothing, and general.”

“There are four tastes,” said Hiraṇyākṣa Kauśika: “palatable and wholesome, palatable and unwholesome, unpalatable and wholesome, and unpalatable and unwholesome.”

“There are five tastes,” said Kumāraśiras Bharadvāja: “earthly, watery, fiery, airy, and etheric.” “There are six tastes,” said the royal seer Vāryovida: “heavy, light, cold, hot, unctuous, and dry.”

“There are seven tastes,” said Nimi of Videha: “sweet, sour, saline, pungent, bitter, astringent, and alkaline.”

“There are eight tastes,” said Baḍiśa Dhāmārgava: “sweet, sour, saline, pungent, bitter, astringent, alkaline, and unmanifest.”

“Tastes are countless,” said Kāṅkāyana, the physician of Bahlīka, “because substrates, qualities, actions, and tastes are countless.”

“Tastes are only six,” said the venerable Ātreya Punarvasu: “sweet, sour, saline, pungent, bitter, and astringent.”

Water is the source of these six tastes; scouring and soothing are their two actions; their intermediate state arises from their mixture; their palatability or unpalatability is a matter of preference; their effects are beneficial or harmful; their substrates are transformations of the five great elements, governed by primary constitution, secondary alteration, processing, habitat, and season; the qualities residing in those substrates called substances are heavy, light, cold, hot, unctuous, dry, and so forth. Alkali is so called from burning [or sloughing]; it is not a taste. It is a substance arisen from multiple tastes, having multiple tastes, predominantly pungent and saline, endowed with multiple objects of the senses, and brought about through deliberate preparation. The unmanifest state of tastes, however, occurs in their natural source, as an after-taste, or in a substance endowed with an after-taste. Moreover, innumerability of those factors such as substrates due to innumerability of variations is not sound, for each of these factors such as substrates does not support [real] distinction merely because variations are innumerable, nor does distinctness from that follow; and because they are mostly mutually combined, no innumerability belongs to the qualities and elemental constitutions in their manifestation. Therefore, wise men do not teach the action of combined tastes [as independent tastes].

Considering that very reason, we shall explain the individual characteristics of the six tastes uncombined with one another.

First, however, with reference to the division of substances, we shall state something.

In this context, every substance is composed of the five elements, and it is both conscious and unconscious. Its qualities are those beginning with sound, those beginning with heavy, and those ending with substances. Action is said to be of five kinds, emesis and the rest.

Among them, substances predominant in the qualities of heavy, rough, hard, dull, firm, non-slimy, dense, gross, and smell are earthen; they produce nourishment, compactness, heaviness, and stability. Those predominant in the qualities of fluid, unctuous, cold, dull, soft, slimy, and taste are watery; they produce moistening, unction, binding, oozing, softness, and gladdening. Those predominant in the qualities of hot, sharp, subtle, light, dry, non-slimy, and visible form are fiery; they produce burning, digestion, radiance, illumination, and complexion. Those predominant in the qualities of light, cold, dry, rough, non-slimy, subtle, and touch are airy; they produce dryness, fatigue, movement, non-sliminess, and lightness. Those predominant in the qualities of soft, light, subtle, smooth, and sound are ethereal; they produce softness, porosity, and lightness.

According to this teaching, no substance in the world is found that is not a medicine, when viewed with this or that application and this or that purpose.

Substances, however, are not active solely through the specific potency of their qualities; for substances act through the specific potency of the substance, through the specific potency of the qualities, and through the specific potency of both substance and qualities. What they do at that particular time, having reached that particular substrate, and keeping in view that particular application and that particular purpose, that is the action; that by which they do it is the potency; that where they do it is the substrate; when they do it is the time; how they do it is the means; and what they accomplish is the result.

Their division into sixty-three varieties arises from the specific potency of substance, habitat, and time; that we shall teach.

Sweet enters into combination with sour and the rest individually, and sour and the rest with the remaining ones; / these substances with two tastes are fifteen.

Of sweet combined individually with sour and the rest, there is combination with the remaining ones individually; / likewise of sour, of saline, and of pungent.

Substances with three tastes are said to be twenty in due order; / and substances [taken] by groups of four will be spoken of as fifteen.

Sweet and sour together, having entered into combination with saline and the rest individually, / enter into combination individually with the remaining ones, by the count of combinations of four tastes.

Likewise sweet and saline together [combine] with pungent and the rest individually; / sweet and pungent, combined together, enter into combination with the remaining ones individually.

Sour and saline joined together [combine] with pungent and the rest individually; / sour and pungent together enter into combination with the remaining ones individually.

Saline and pungent, with bitter, combine with astringent; / and they declare six substances with five tastes by omitting one [taste] at a time.

There are six substances with single tastes, and only one with all six tastes; / thus sixty-three substances are specified by the count of tastes.

The sixty-three would indeed be innumerable through the conception of taste and after-taste, / for tastes surpass that number through degrees of greater and greatest.

The combinations are fifty-seven, but the classification is sixty-three-fold; / because of their suitability, it was devised by the thinkers on tastes.

In some cases a single taste should be prescribed, and in some cases combined tastes, / by a physician desiring success, after considering the doṣas, medicines, and other factors.

Wise men prescribe substances with two or more tastes and combined tastes, / or even tastes one by one, against diseases.

One who knows the varieties of tastes and knows the varieties of the doṣas / will not be bewildered regarding the causes, signs, and alleviation of disorders.

The taste is perceived clearly in a dry substance and at the beginning; / conversely, the after-taste [is perceived at the end]; for there is no seventh taste.

Superiority and inferiority, rational application, number, conjunction, / disjunction, separateness, and also measurement,

processing, and repetition—these are to be known as the qualities beginning with superiority; / being the means to success in treatment, we describe them by their definitions.

Superiority and inferiority relate to habitat, season, age, measure, post-digestive effect, potency, taste, and so on; / while rational application is the planning that is suitably applied.

Number is calculation; conjunction is said to be union together: / it is born of the action of two, of all, or of one, and is non-eternal.

Disjunction is division, separation, or grasping by parts; / separateness is non-conjunction, distinctness, or multiplicity.

Measurement, again, is measure; processing is considered to be modification; / repetition is the practice of things, habitual use, constant action.

Thus all the qualities beginning with superiority have been stated by their own characteristics; / without knowing them, treatment cannot proceed properly.

Qualities residing in qualities are not mentioned; therefore a physician should know / the qualities of tastes as the qualities of substances; the intentions of an author are of various kinds.

Hence, having understood the context and the variations of habitat and time, / one should explain the intentions, the means, and the meaning of the author of the treatise.

Hereafter I shall explain the six divisions of tastes, / and how the six tastes are numbered as originating from the five elements.

Water, indeed, is gentle by nature, originating from the atmosphere, cool by nature, light, and of unmanifest taste. But falling and fallen from the atmosphere, endowed with the qualities of the five great elements, it gratifies the bodies of animate and inanimate living beings. In those bodies, the six tastes manifest.

Among those six tastes, sweet taste arises from the predominance of the lunar quality; sour from the abundance of earth and fire; salty from the abundance of water and fire; pungent from the abundance of wind and fire; bitter from the excess of wind and ether; and astringent from the preponderance of wind and earth.

Thus the sixfold nature of these tastes is established through the specific deficiency and excess of the great elements, just as the various distinctions of color and form among inanimate and animate beings [are established]; and the specific deficiency and excess of the great elements is established because time has six seasons.

There, the tastes consisting of fire and wind generally move upwards, due to the lightness and rising tendency of wind, and due to the upward burning of fire. Those consisting of water and earth, however, generally move downwards, due to the heaviness of earth and the downward-flowing nature of water. But those consisting of a mixture move in both directions.

We shall explain in detail the qualities and actions of each one of those six tastes according to its substance.

There, sweet taste, because it is wholesome to the body, promotes chyle, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow, ojas, and semen; it prolongs life, clarifies the six senses, bestows strength and complexion, destroys bile, poison, and wind, relieves thirst and burning sensation, is beneficial for skin, hair, and throat, gives strength, pleases, animates, nourishes, is nourishing, produces firmness, promotes the healing of the emaciated and wounded, refreshes the nose, mouth, throat, lips, and tongue, alleviates burning and fainting, is most beloved by bees and ants, and is unctuous, cold, and heavy.

Even though possessing such qualities, when used solely in excess it produces obesity, flaccidity, laziness, excessive sleep, heaviness, loss of desire for food, weakness of the digestive fire, overgrowth of flesh in the mouth and throat, dyspnea, cough, catarrh, alasaka, cold fever, ānāha [intestinal obstruction / abdominal distension], sweetness in the mouth, vomiting, loss of consciousness and voice, galagaṇḍa [goitre / cervical lymphadenitis], scrofula, elephantiasis, throat swelling, coating of the bladder, vessels, and throat, eye disorders, abhiṣyanda, and other such disorders born of kapha.

Sour taste makes food relishable, makes food relishable, enkindles the digestive fire, nourishes the body, invigorates, awakens the mind, strengthens the senses, increases strength, directs wind downwards, gladdens the heart, causes salivation in the mouth, carries down eaten food, moistens, digests, pleases, and is light, hot, and unctuous.

Even though possessing such qualities, when used solely in excess it sets the teeth on edge, causes thirst, makes the eyes close, makes the body hair stand on end, liquefies kapha, aggravates bile, corrupts blood, burns flesh, makes the body flaccid, causes swelling in the emaciated, wounded, lean, and weak; and moreover, because of its fiery nature, it causes suppuration of injuries from cuts, blows, bites, burns, fractures, swellings, dislocations, urine burns, spreading sores, contusions, incised wounds, punctures, tears, crushes, and poundings, and causes burning sensation in the throat, chest, and cardiac region.

Salty taste is carminative, moistening, enkindling, loosening, scouring, breaking, sharp, mobile, spreading, downward-moving, space-creating, wind-alleviating, disperser of stiffness, obstruction, and accumulations, an adversary of all tastes, causes salivation in the mouth, liquefies kapha, purifies the pathways, softens all bodily limbs, makes food relished, is suitable for food, is not excessively heavy, and is unctuous and hot.

Even though possessing such qualities, when used solely in excess it provokes bile, increases blood, causes thirst, causes fainting, heats, tears, tortures the flesh, sloughs away dermatoses, increases poison, bursts swellings, loosens teeth, impairs virility, obstructs the sense faculties, produces wrinkles, gray hair, and baldness; and moreover, it generates disorders such as bleeding disease, acid dyspepsia, visarpa [erysipelas / spreading eruption], vātaśoṇita, vicarcikā, alopecia, and others.

Pungent taste cleanses the mouth, enkindles the digestive fire, dries up eaten food, produces nasal secretion, purges the eyes, clarifies the sense faculties, destroys alasaka, swelling, obesity, udarda, abhiṣyanda, unctuousness, sweat, moisture, and impurities, makes food relished, cures anemia, reduces ulcers, destroys worms, scrapes flesh, breaks up blood clots, severs adhesions, opens channels, pacifies kapha, and is light, hot, and dry.

Even though possessing such qualities, when used solely in excess it impairs virility by the influence of its post-digestive effect; by the influence of its taste and potency it stupefies, causes languor, causes depression, lightens, causes fainting, bends the body, causes blackout, causes dizziness, scorches the throat, produces bodily heat, depletes strength, and causes thirst; and furthermore, due to the predominance of the qualities of wind and fire, it produces disorders born of wind characterized by giddiness, burning distress, trembling, pricking pain, and piercing pain in the feet, arms, flanks, back, and other parts.

Bitter taste, although not palatable itself, cures anorexia, destroys poison, destroys worms, alleviates fainting, burning sensation, itching, dermatoses, and thirst, gives firmness to skin and flesh, cures fever, enkindles, digests, purifies breast milk, is scraping, dries up moisture, fat, muscle fat, marrow, lymph, pus, sweat, urine, feces, bile, and phlegm, and is dry, cold, and light.

Even though possessing such qualities, when used solely in excess, owing to its dryness and its rough and clear nature, it dries up chyle, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow, and semen, causes roughness in the channels, drains strength, lightens, causes languor, stupefies, causes dizziness, parches the mouth, and produces other disorders of wind.

Astringent taste is pacifying, astringent, promotes healing, compresses, heals, dries, astringes, pacifies phlegm and bleeding bile, consumes body moisture, and is dry, cold, and heavy.

Even though possessing such qualities, when used solely in excess, it dries the mouth, oppresses the heart, distends the abdomen, arrests speech, constricts the channels, produces a livid complexion, destroys virility, digests with obstruction, retains wind, urine, feces, and semen, lightens, causes languor, causes thirst, and causes stiffness; and owing to its roughness, clarity, and dryness, it produces disorders of wind such as hemiplegia, convulsive seizures, tetanus, and facial paralysis.

Thus, these six tastes, when properly used either separately or together in due measure, bring benefit to the living being; but when used otherwise, they cause harm. Therefore, the wise person should use them properly in due measure, solely for the purpose of benefit.

And on this there are [the following verses]:
A substance that is cold in potency is sweet both in taste and post-digestive effect; / that which is sour in both is hot, and that which is pungent in both is [hot].

For those [substances] whose potency and post-digestive effect are not contrary [to their taste], / the summary of their qualities is to be stated by declaring their taste, as will be explained.

As milk, as ghee, or as cavya and citraka: / these and others like them the physician should designate by their taste.

Some sweet, astringent, and bitter [substances] may be hot, / as the great group of five roots, and as the meat of aquatic and marsh animals.

Saindhava salt is not hot, and likewise the sour āmalaka [is not hot]; / arka, aguru, and guḍūcī, though bitter, are said to be hot.

For some sour [substance] is astringent, while another sour [substance] is laxative: / as kapittha is astringent, and likewise āmalaka is laxative.

Pippalī and dry ginger are said to be aphrodisiac, while [other] pungent [substances] are non-aphrodisiac; / astringent is astringing and cold, but in abhayā it is the opposite.

Therefore, one should not declare every substance merely by the statement of its taste; / for even when the taste is identical, a difference of qualities is observed from substance to substance.

In terms of dryness, astringent is foremost among the dry, pungent is intermediate, / and bitter is inferior; likewise among the hot, salty is supreme in heat,

sour is intermediate, and pungent is last; among the unctuous, sweet is supreme, / sour is intermediate, and salty is last: thus is taste defined by unctuousness.

In terms of coldness, astringent, sweet, and bitter are intermediate, foremost, and inferior; / sweet is greater than astringent in heaviness, and salty is inferior [to it];

pungent is [lighter] than sour, and bitter is the highest of all in lightness; / some consider the salty taste to be the lowest among the light.

Both in heaviness and in lightness, that [salt taste] is indeed the lowest. / Hereafter, the characteristic of post-digestive effects will be explained.

The post-digestive effect of pungent, bitter, and astringent is generally pungent; / sour digests as sour, and sweet as sweet, as does salty.

Sweet, salty, and sour—these three tastes, owing to their unctuous nature, / are generally considered easy for the discharge of wind, urine, and feces.

Pungent, bitter, and astringent, however—these three tastes, owing to their dry nature, / are seen to bring difficulty to the discharge of wind, feces, urine, and semen.

The pungent post-digestive effect destroys semen, binds feces and urine, and increases wind; / the sweet post-digestive effect releases feces and urine, and increases phlegm and semen.

The sour post-digestive effect produces bile, releases feces and urine, and destroys semen; / of them, the sweet is heavy, whereas pungent and sour are the opposite.

Regarding the mild, moderate, or excessive degree of the characteristic of post-digestive effect, / one should discern it in each case from the specific qualities of the substances.

Soft, sharp, heavy, light, unctuous, dry, hot, and cold: / some hold potency to be of eight kinds; others maintain it to be of two kinds,

namely, cold and hot. But potency is that by which an action is performed; / nothing without potency performs anything: every action is performed by potency.

Taste is perceived upon contact with substances, post-digestive effect at the conclusion of action, / and potency is perceived throughout the period of residence [in the body] as well as upon contact.

Where similarity of taste, potency, and post-digestive effect is observed, / yet there is a distinction in actions, that is regarded as its specific potency.

Citraka is held to be pungent [in taste], pungent in post-digestive effect, and hot in potency; / dantī is likewise, but by its specific potency it purges a person.

That poison is declared to destroy poison—there specific potency is the cause; / and whatever directs upwards or downwards is empowered by specific potency.

Whatever diverse action belongs to gems that are worn, / that is produced by their specific potency; specific potency is said to be unthinkable.

Post-digestive effect, potencies, and specific potency have been properly explained; / [a substance] performs an action partly by taste and partly by potency,

a substance performs something by quality, by post-digestive effect, and by specific potency; / post-digestive effect overrides taste, potency overrides both of them, and specific potency overrides them all,

when there is equality of strength among taste and the rest: such is their natural strength. / Hereafter, I shall explain the recognition of the six tastes.

Sweet is perceived by unctuousness, gladdening, delighting, and softness, / and, residing in the mouth, it pervades and seems to coat the oral cavity.

By setting the teeth on edge, by salivation, sweating, awakening of the mouth, / and by burning sensation in the mouth and throat, immediately upon tasting, one should declare a taste to be sour.

That which, dissolving rapidly, produces moisture, outflow, and softness in the mouth, / and causes burning sensation in the mouth, is to be known as salty.

That which agitates the tongue upon contact, seems to prick it, / burns the mouth, nose, and eyes, and causes discharge from them, is considered pungent.

That which, upon contact, paralyzes the tongue and is not savory, / and brings clarity, dryness, and a refreshing feeling to the mouth, is bitter.

That taste which affects the tongue with clarity, stiffness, and numbness, / and seems to constrict the throat, is astringent, even though spreading.

When the venerable Ātreya had spoken thus, Agniveśa said: 'Venerable Sir, we have heard this true word of the Venerable One, endowed with rich meaning, regarding the topic of substances, qualities, and actions as it truly is. But we wish to hear the characteristics of incompatible dietary modifications taught in not too brief a manner.'

The venerable Ātreya said to him: 'Substances that are hostile to the bodily tissues enter into conflict with those bodily tissues: some through mutually incompatible qualities, some through combination, others through processing, others through place, time, dose, and the like, and others through their inherent nature.'

There, regarding those which are used most abundantly as food, we shall teach a portion concerning what is incompatible: one should not consume fish with milk, for both of these are sweet, have a sweet post-digestive effect, and are greatly abhiṣyandi; owing to being cold and hot they are incompatible in potency; because of their incompatible potency they vitiate the blood, and because of their great abhiṣyandi nature they obstruct the channels.

Having heard that statement of Ātreya, Bhadrakāpya said to Agniveśa: 'One may indeed consume all fish with milk except for a single one, the cilicima. That [fish], moreover, is scaly, red-eyed, red-striped all over, shaped like a rohita, and generally moves upon the ground. If one were to consume that with milk, one would undoubtedly incur one of the diseases born of blood or born of obstruction, or else death.'

'Not so,' said the venerable Ātreya. 'One should not consume any fish at all with milk, and especially not the cilicima; for that [fish], owing to being greatly abhiṣyandi, produces these diseases with more severe manifestations and excites undigested toxic residue (āmaviṣa).

And one should not eat the meat of domestic, wetland, or aquatic animals all together with honey, sesame, jaggery, milk, black gram, radish, lotus rhizome, or sprouted grains; for originating from that, one incurs deafness, blindness, tremors, numbness, a nasal voice, dumbness, indistinct speech, or else death.

One should not consume pauṣkara or rohiṇīka greens, or pigeons fried in mustard oil, together with honey and milk; for originating from that, one incurs one among conjunctival outflow of blood, atherosclerosis, epilepsy, śaṅkhaka, goitre, and rohiṇī, or else death.

Milk is not to be taken after eating radish, garlic, kṛṣṇagandhā, arjaka, sumukha, surasā, and the like, for fear of the affliction of obstinate skin disease (kuṣṭha).

Jātuka greens should not be consumed, nor ripe nikuca, together with honey and milk; for this leads to death, or else to the obstruction of strength, complexion, lustre, and semen, to serious disease, and to sterility.

That same ripe nikuca should not be consumed together with black gram soup, jaggery, and ghee, because of incompatibility. Likewise, mango, āmrātaka, citron, nikuca, karamarda, moca, dantaśaṭha, jujube, kośāmra, bhavya, rose-apple, kapittha, tamarind, pārāvata, walnut, jackfruit, coconut, pomegranate, āmalaka, and other substances of this kind, and all sour things, whether liquid or non-liquid, are incompatible with milk.

Likewise, kaṅgu, vanaka, makuṣṭhaka, kulattha, black gram, and niṣpāva are incompatible with milk.

Padmottarikā greens, śārkara liquor, maireya liquor, and honey consumed together are incompatible and excessively provoke wind.

Hāridraka [bird] fried in mustard oil is incompatible and excessively provokes bile.

Rice-milk followed by a churned drink as an after-potion is incompatible and excessively provokes phlegm.

Upodikā prepared with sesame paste is a cause of diarrhoea.

A crane is incompatible with vāruṇī liquor and also with boiled grains (kulmāṣa); the same, fried in boar fat, kills immediately.

Peacock meat attached to a spit of castor wood, roasted over a castor wood fire, and combined with castor oil, kills immediately.

Meat of the hāridraka attached to a spit of hāridra wood and roasted over a hāridra wood fire kills immediately; the same, sprinkled with ashes and dust and taken with honey, leads to immediate death.

Long peppers cooked in the oil used for frying fish, and likewise kākamācī with honey, lead to death.

Hot honey, and honey for one afflicted by heat, leads to death.

Honey and ghee in equal quantities, honey and rainwater in equal quantities, honey and lotus seed, hot water after drinking honey, bhallātaka and hot water, kampillaka prepared with buttermilk, stale kākamācī, and a bhāsa roasted on charcoal are incompatible.

Thus this has been set forth in detail according to the question.'

And here are [the verses]:
Whatever foodstuff excites the doshas but does not eliminate them from the body / is all conducive to harm.

And whatever is incompatible through place, time, digestive fire, dose, habituation, wind and the other [doshas], / through processing and potency, and also through bowel type, condition, sequence,

contraindications and regimen, cooking, and combination, / and that which [is incompatible] through inclination and quality of ingredients and procedure, is not wholesome.

Incompatible through place, firstly, is dry, sharp, and similar [food or] medicine used in an arid land, / or unctuous, cold, and similar used in a wetland.

Incompatible through time, also, is the use of cold, dry, and similar things / in the cold season, and likewise the use of pungent, hot, and similar things in the hot season.

Likewise, food and drink incompatible with the four kinds of digestive fire; / honey and ghee taken in equal measure are incompatible in dose.

The use of sweet, cold, and similar things for one habituated to pungent, hot, and similar things, / that is incompatible through habituation; but incompatible through wind and the other [doshas]

is the practice of food, medicine, and therapy that is incompatible by having qualities similar [to the aggravated dosha]. / That which is incompatible through processing is food that becomes like poison,

just like peacock meat attached to a spit of castor wood. / Incompatibility through potency should be known when that which is cold in potency

is consumed after combining it with a substance that is hot in potency; / and for one of hard bowel, [food that is] very scanty, weak in potency, and non-purgative,

and for one of soft bowel, [food that is] heavy, purgative, and abundant. / This is incompatible through bowel type; but incompatible through condition would be

food provoking wind for one engaged in fatigue, sexual intercourse, and physical exercise, / or food provoking phlegm for one who is sleepy and indolent.

And that which one eats without having excreted feces and urine, or when one has no appetite, / or when one is overpowered by excessive hunger, would be incompatible through sequence.

Incompatible through contraindication is when, after consuming pork and the like, / one consumes hot things, or having drunk ghee and the like, one consumes cold things.

Incompatible through cooking is that which is prepared with bad, rotten firewood, / or that which has unboiled rice, is excessively cooked, or is burnt. / That which is incompatible through combination is, for example, sour things with milk.

And that which is not pleasing to the mind is said to be incompatible through inclination; / that should be known as incompatible through quality of ingredients which has not developed its taste,

or whose taste has expired, or whose taste is spoiled; / but that should be known as incompatible through procedure which is not eaten in a secluded place. / Such food, when consumed, would be incompatible.

Of sterility, blindness, erysipelas, ascites, / boils, insanity, fistula-in-ano, / fainting, intoxication, tympanites, constriction of the throat, / anaemia, and undigested toxic residue (āmaviṣa),

Of leucoderma, skin diseases, disorders of the digestive tract, oedema, acid gastritis, fever, chronic rhinitis, / genetic defects, and even of death, they proclaim incompatible food to be the cause.

Indeed, for these and other diseases arising from incompatible [food], the following are the remedies: / namely, emesis and purgation, the use of substances contrary to those [incompatible foods] for the sake of pacification, and prior conditioning of the body with such substances.

And on this [subject] there are [two verses]: / Purgation counteracts diseases born of consuming incompatible food, / as do emesis, pacification, or prior habituation to wholesome substances.