The Compendium of Caraka 5.12: dvādaśo 'adhyāyaḥ/

Now we shall explain the Indriya chapter on Cow-Dung Powder.

Thus said the venerable Ātreya:

One on whose head a powder resembling cow-dung powder arises
and falls off greasy, his life lasts until the end of a month.

A man who, as if scraping his feet and with fallen shoulders, runs about
morbidly, does not dwell long in this world.

One who, having bathed and been anointed, has his chest dry up excessively first
while all his other limbs are wet, does not live half a month.

A patient for whom the physician, striving to prepare medicine,
is unable to do so, his life is hard to obtain.

One for whom a recognized medicine, repeatedly effective and administered properly,
does not succeed, has no cure.

One who, consuming diet well prepared by the physician,
does not obtain its benefit, his life is hard to obtain.

Under the heading of messengers, we shall state the signs of those who are about to die, / seeing which a wise physician should refuse [treatment], unconstrained.

Having disheveled hair, or naked, weeping, or impure— / seeing a messenger who has arrived [in such a state], the physician should predict death.

Messengers who arrive when the physician is asleep, cutting, or splitting— / the physician should not follow after their master.

Messengers who arrive while the physician is offering into the fire or presenting rice-balls to the ancestors, / desiring to kill, they kill.

When the physician is speaking of inauspicious things or thinking [of them], / messengers arrive from men who are about to die.

Or when the physician is engaged with or speaking of dead, burnt, or destroyed things, / and other inauspicious matters, messengers arrive from those about to die.

In a place or time sharing the qualities of the disorder, / seeing a messenger arrive, the physician should not treat that patient.

A woman who is wretched, terrified, hurried, frightened, filthy, or unchaste, / three deformed persons, and eunuchs—one should know these as messengers of those about to die.

Seeing a messenger who has an injured limb, or is an ascetic, or is diseased, / or one who performs cruel deeds, the physician ought not to go.

Seeing a messenger arrived for the sake of a patient, / having a donkey, a camel, or a chariot as conveyance, the physician should know the patient's demise.

Straw, chaff, meat, bone, head-hair, body-hair, nails, teeth, / a broom, a pestle, a winnowing basket, a shoe, or fallen leather—

touching grass, wood, husk, charcoal, a clod of earth, or a stone, / before speaking in their sight, messengers speak for those about to die.

And while the messenger is speaking words relating to the patient, / if the physician should see an inauspicious omen, he should not follow him.

Likewise, a distressed person, a corpse, or funeral ornaments; / broken, burnt, or destroyed things, or words speaking of them;

or a sharp, pungent taste, or a strong, cadaverous smell, / or an intense, cruel touch, or whatever else may be inauspicious—

hearing the messenger's statement preceded by that, surrounding it, / or at the time of speech, the steadfast [physician] should predict death.

Thus this entire section on messengers has been spoken for those about to die; / and I shall speak further of portents on the road and at the patient's house.

A sneeze, a cry of distress, stumbling, and falling; / abuse, striking, prohibition, and censure;

calamity concerning cloth, a turban, an upper garment, an umbrella, shoes, or a yoke; / and the sight of dead or distressed persons;

the falling of memorial trees, banners, flags, or full vessels; / talk of what is killed or unpleasant; defilement by ashes and dust;

the path being crossed by a cat, a dog, or a snake; / cries of wild animals and birds facing a burning quarter;

and the sight of beds, seats, and vehicles overturned— / all these the wise describe as inauspicious.

The wise physician, seeing these on the road or in the patient's house, / or hearing [them], should not go to that house.

Thus the portents on the road condemned by physicians have been declared; / and one should also recognize this condition of the house of those about to die:

At entry, the departure of a full jar, fire, earth, seeds, fruit, ghee, / a bull, a brāhmaṇa, gems, food, and deities;

vessels full of fire, broken and without tops— / these the physician sees even as he enters the house of those about to die.

Cut, broken, burnt, fractured, crushed, / and frail [articles]—the household members of one about to die make use of them.

Whose bed, clothing, vehicle, gait, meal, or sound / is heard to be inauspicious, he has no cure.

Whose bed, clothing, vehicle, or other furnishings / friends treat as though for a corpse, he is indeed a corpse.

Whose food spoils excessively, and whose fire goes out / even with fuel in a place sheltered from the wind, he has no cure.

In whose house the patient's vessels break or fall / excessively, his life is hard to obtain.

And here are [verses]: That sign causing the end of life of men about to die / which has been proclaimed at length in twelve chapters,

that we shall declare in brief, relying on other terms; / for synonymous expression serves for the understanding of the meaning.

Indeed, no excessive desire to restate what was already uttered / in this very subject is undertaken [here].

Of embodied beings residing for their final time in bodies, / fierce for destruction, wishing to depart from bodies,

bearing beloved life-breaths, wishing to leave their dear abode, / their bodily mechanisms shattered, wishing to enter the final darkness—

whatever appearances and changing states occur here / toward destruction, I shall declare them according to summary and according to tradition.

The life-breaths are afflicted; discernment is obstructed; / the limbs cast off strength; and movements cease.

The sense faculties perish; consciousness becomes barren; / the mind gives way to longing, and fear enters the heart.

Memory and intelligence abandon [him]; modesty and prosperity depart; / misfortunes afflict him; vitality and splendor perish.

Conduct turns away exceedingly, and devotion is inverted; / reflections are altered, and shadows turn toward abnormality.

Semen falls from its place; the wind takes an upward path; / the flesh undergoes wasting, and blood too wastes away.

Bodily heats meet destruction; the joints undergo loosening; / odors turn abnormal; likewise complexion and voice undergo change.

The body takes on discoloration; the bodily orifice dries up; / smoke arises on the head, as well as the dust called dāruṇa.

Those regions in the body that are marked by constant pulsation, / all of them, overtaken by stiffness, do not move in any way.

The qualities of the bodily regions, such as cold, hot, soft, and hard, / exist inversely, or similarly in other locations.

White spots appear on the nails; slime appears on the teeth; / mats form in the eyelashes, and partings on the head.

Medicines do not find success according to desire, / and even those that are administered, their potency does not succeed.

Fierce disorders of diverse natures [requiring] various medicines / swiftly arise, destroying strength and vigor.

Sound, touch, taste, form, smell, movement, and thought— / only inauspicious [manifestations of these] arise when curative measures are undertaken.

Dreadful dreams are seen; wicked-mindedness arises; / servants become hostile; the appearance of a corpse manifests.

Natural disposition greatly diminishes, and morbid change flourishes; / every portentous, terrible fatal sign is observed.

These signs appear in men who are about to perish, / which have been explained concisely according to traditional teaching.

Even when seeing signs pointing to death in this world, an expert physician, / if unasked, should not declare that death is imminent.

Even when asked, he should not speak if it would be harmful, / causing grief to the patient or to anyone else.

Without declaring death, a skilled physician should not undertake to treat him / in whom he sees the signs pointing to destruction.

Seeing signs opposite to the signs called those of death, / a physician should firmly predict approaching recovery:

By means of messengers, portentous phenomena, factors relating to the path, patient, and family, / and marks of the patient’s conduct, disposition, and acquisition of desired materials;

[When] the messenger is well-behaved, joyful, free of bodily defects, auspicious, clad in white clothes, / not shaven-headed, not matted-haired, of identical caste, dress, and activity;

Not mounted on a conveyance drawn by camels or donkeys, not arriving at twilights or planetary conjunctions, / and during non-fierce, mild, and fixed constellations;

Excluding the fourth, ninth, and empty fourteenth [lunar days], / midday, midnight, an earthquake, and an eclipse of the sun or moon;

Excluding an unpraised region and unpraised portentous signs— / a physician should determine that an arriving messenger [who is] auspicious and calm [indicates recovery].

[Seeing] curd, unbroken grains, twice-born men, bulls, and a king;

Gems, full jars, a white horse, / divine banners and flags, fruits, and barley groats;

Maidens, dishes heaped with food, a single tethered animal, / raised earth, and a blazing fire;

Sweetmeats, white flowers, white sandalwood, / pleasing food and drink, and a loaded cart;

[Carts filled] with men; a cow with her calf, a mare, a woman; / jīvañjīvaka birds, white mustard seeds, cranes, pleasant-spoken persons;

Swans, woodpeckers, blue jays, peacocks, / fish, goats, twice-born men, conches, priyaṅgu berries, and ghee;

The sight of a rucaka ornament, a mirror, white mustard, and yellow orpiment; / a fragrant smell, a very white color, and a sweet taste;

Auspicious and favorable sounds of beasts, birds, and men; / the raising of umbrellas, banners, and flags; songs of praise;

Sounds of kettledrums, clay drums, and conches; auspicious day greetings; / sounds of Vedic chanting; and an agreeable, clockwise wind—

On the path or upon entering the house, he should recognize these as signs of recovery. / If the people of the household are endowed with auspicious conduct, free of disease,

Faithful, favorable, having gathered abundant supplies; / if there is attainment of wealth, lordship, and happiness, and easy acquisition of desired things;

The preparation of suitable substances there, and their success. / In a dream, climbing upon houses, palaces, mountains, / elephants, bulls,

Horses, and men; [or upon] the moon, sun, fire, twice-born men, / cows, and men with milk;

Crossing oceans, prosperity, escaping from tight spaces; / conversing in a dream with gods and ancestors who are pleased;

Seeing white garments and a clear lake; / receiving meat, fish, poison, impure matter, an umbrella, and a mirror;

The auspicious sight of white flowers in a dream; / riding in a vehicle drawn by horses or oxen, and traveling towards the northeast; / weeping, rising after falling, and crushing enemies;

Possession of the marks of mental clarity, devotion to physicians and twice-born men, / curability [of the disease], and absence of despondency—that is the mark of recovery.

From health, a man endowed with auspicious marks attains strength, longevity, / great happiness, and other desired benefits.

Here are two verses:

In [the chapter on] Cow-Dung Powder, the signs of death and of recovery have been stated, / relying upon messengers, dreams, the patient, portents, treatment, and success.

Thus has this subject been correctly stated; it must constantly be examined by an expert physician; / for thus, with actions crowned with success, he attains success, eternal fame, and riches.

Thus ends the twelfth chapter, entitled 'Indriya concerning Cow-Dung Powder,' in the Indriyasthāna of the treatise composed by Agniveśa and redacted by Caraka. //12

The Indriyasthāna is complete. / The Compendium of Caraka.