The Compendium of Caraka 5

English (machine translation) 5

Language: English

5.1 — 43 parts
5.2 — 24 parts
5.3 — 16 parts
5.4 — 29 parts
5.5 — 49 parts
5.6 — 27 parts
5.7 — 34 parts
5.8 — 29 parts
5.9 — 26 parts
5.10 — 23 parts
5.11 — 31 parts
5.12 — 93 parts

5.1.1

Now, therefore, we shall explain the section of the senses [dealing with fatal signs] regarding complexion and voice (Varṇasvarīya Indriya).

Here, indeed, complexion, voice, smell, taste, touch, eye, ear, nose, tongue, skin, mind, disposition, cleanliness, conduct, behavior, memory, appearance, constitutional nature, pathological alteration, strength, debility, intellect, exhilaration, dryness, unctuousness, drowsiness, exertion, heaviness, lightness, bodily qualities, diet, regimen, digestion of food, expedient means, harm, disease, premonitory symptoms of disease, pain, complications, shadow, reflection, dreams, messenger's condition, omens on the road, condition and state of affairs in the patient's household, and the response to medicine and application of therapeutics—these are to be examined through direct perception, inference, and authoritative testimony by a physician seeking to know the remaining span of life.

5.1.4

Among these objects of examination, some do not reside in the person, while others do reside in the person.

5.1.4_1

Among them, those that do not reside in the person should be examined by authoritative instruction and reasoning; those, however, that reside in the person [should be examined] through constitutional nature and pathological alteration.

5.1.5

In that context, constitutional nature is related to caste/species, related to lineage, dependent on region, dependent on season/time, dependent on age, and fixed to the individual.

5.1.5_1

For specific bodily characteristics belong to those respective individuals as determined by caste/species, lineage, region, season/time, age, and individual uniqueness.

5.1.6

Pathological alteration, moreover, has marks as its cause, has what is to be marked as its cause, and corresponds to a cause.

5.1.7

Among these, that which has marks as its cause is that for which bodily marks themselves become causes by destiny; for certain marks are bound to the body, which, finding their locus there at such and such a time, produce such and such a pathological alteration.

5.1.7_2

That which has what is to be marked as its cause is that whose cause is observed as stated in the etiology (Nidāna).

5.1.7_3

That which corresponds to a cause is that which imitates the object of a cause; physicians consider this causeless [alteration] to be a sign for knowing the remaining span of life, and furthermore, being caused by the exhaustion of life, it corresponds to the signs of death, which the wise teach for the sake of knowing the term of life.

5.1.7_1

And with reference to this, we shall explain the signs residing in the person of those about to die.

5.1.7_2_2

Such is the brief statement.

5.1.7_3_2

We shall explain it in detail.

5.1.8

In that regard, right at the beginning is the topic of complexion.

5.1.8_1

Namely: black, dark brown, fair-dark, and fair are the constitutional complexions of the body; and whichever others an observant person may recognize, as handed down by tradition or otherwise pointed out by experts on the subject.

5.1.9

Blue, greyish-black, coppery, green, and white are the pathological complexions of the body; and whichever others an observant person may recognize as having arisen without previously existing as a pathological alteration.

5.1.9_1

Thus the constitutional and pathological complexions of the body have been stated.

5.1.9_2

In that regard, having observed the constitutional complexion in half of the body and the pathological complexion in the other half of the body, both complexions being divided by a boundary—whether divided by left and right, whether divided by front and back, whether divided by upper and lower, or whether divided by interior and exterior—one should know it to be a fatal sign (ariṣṭa) for the patient; similarly, a difference in complexion occurring in half of the face or elsewhere leads to death.

5.1.10

By means of the difference in complexion, debility, exhilaration, dryness, and unctuousness are explained.

5.1.11

Likewise, the emergence on the face of a patient of any one of freckles, dark pigmentation, moles, or eruptions should similarly be recognized as inauspicious.

5.1.12

Moreover, the appearance of any of the stated pathological complexions on the nails, eyes, face, urine, feces, hands, feet, lips, and so forth, in persons diminished in strength, complexion, and sensory faculties, is a sign of the exhaustion of life.

5.1.13

And whatever other unnatural change in complexion, never seen before, should arise suddenly without any apparent cause in a patient who is constantly declining, one should know that to be a fatal sign.

5.1.13_1

Such is the topic of complexion.

5.1.14

The topic of voice, however: voices resembling a swan, a sarus crane, a chariot wheel, a kettle drum, a sparrow, a crow, a dove, or a cracked vessel are constitutional voices; and whichever others an observant person may recognize, as handed down by tradition or otherwise pointed out by experts on the subject.

5.1.14_1

Those resembling a sheep, sweet, choking, indistinct, stammering, faint, distressed, or disordered are the pathological voices of patients; and whichever others an observant person may recognize as having arisen without previously existing as a pathological alteration.

5.1.14_2

Thus the constitutional and pathological voices have been explained.

5.1.15

In that regard, the sudden manifestation of constitutional or pathological voices, multiplicity of voices, and one [voice] becoming multiple are inauspicious.

5.1.15_1

Such is the topic of voice.

5.1.16

Thus the topics of complexion and voice have been properly stated for the purpose of knowing the signs of those about to die.

5.1.17

And here are [the verses]:

5.1.17_1

In whom a pathological complexion appears on the body, / whether in half or in the whole, and there is no [external] cause for it, he does not survive.

5.1.18

If half the face is blue, or greyish-black, or coppery, or reddish, / and the other half of the face is of another complexion, it is called a fatal sign.

5.1.19

Distinct unctuousness on half the face and extreme dryness on half the face, / likewise debility on half and exhilaration on half the face is a sign of death.

5.1.20

Moles, freckles, dark patches, and lines of various kinds / arising quickly on the face of a patient about to lose his life [indicate death].

5.1.21

White spots on the nails or teeth, or slime adhering to the teeth, / or chalky powder on the teeth—that is a sign of death.

5.1.22

Discoloration on the lips, feet, hands, eyes, urine, feces, / and also on the nails—in one whose strength is depleted, this brings about the end.

5.1.23

A wise man should recognize that a person whose two lips are blue, / resembling a ripe jambu fruit, is about to die, his life having come to an end.

5.1.24

A single or multiple pathological voice that arises suddenly / in a declining living being—he does not survive.

5.1.25

And whatever other unnatural change there may be in voice and complexion / in one devoid of strength and flesh, all of that brings about death.

5.1.26

Here is the summary verse:

5.1.26_1

Thus complexion and voice have been stated for the sake of the signs of those about to die; / he who understands these two properly is not deluded in the knowledge of the span of life.

5.1.26_2

Thus ends the first chapter, named Signs Relating to Complexion and Voice, in the Section on Signs of Death, in the treatise composed by Agniveśa and redacted by Caraka. //1

5.2.1

Now we shall explain the section on signs [of death] entitled The Flowered One.

5.2.2

Thus spoke the venerable Ātreya:

5.2.3

Just as the flower is the precursor of the fruit that is to come in this world, / so the sign named ariṣṭa is the precursor of one who is about to die.

5.2.4

There may indeed be a flower that is not followed by fruit, / and there may also be some fruit whose preceding flower did not exist;

5.2.5

but once an ariṣṭa has arisen, there is no destruction of it apart from death; / and there is no death that is not preceded by an ariṣṭa.

5.2.6

If a non-ariṣṭa is wrongly seen as resembling an ariṣṭa by an ignorant person, / or if an ariṣṭa is unrecognized, this arises from an error of judgment.

5.2.7

For the sake of awakening knowledge by means of signs preceding death, / we shall teach concerning many 'flowered' men of various sorts: / He whose smell day and night resembles various flowers, / like a flowering forest possessing various trees and creepers,

5.2.9

the wise call that man 'flowered' by the signs of death; / that man abandons his body within a year: this is certain.

5.2.10

Likewise, he whose smell is equal to flowers taken one by one, / whether pleasant or unpleasant, he too is called 'flowered'.

5.2.11

If the physician smells in his limbs unpleasant odors in combination, / or else singly, he should know him to be 'flowered'.

5.2.12

He on whose bathed or unbathed body pleasant or unpleasant odors / occur in reverse without a cause is also called 'flowered'.

5.2.13

Namely: sandalwood, kuṣṭha, tagara, aguru, honey, / a garland, and urine, feces, and dead carcasses;

5.2.14

and whatever other various kinds of smells of diverse origins there may be, / they too are to be known through this inference when they have undergone an unnatural change.

5.2.15

And we shall also state this sign relating to smell for the sake of extended application, / recognizing which the physician may predict death:

5.2.16

He in whose limbs there arises a remote smell of an unnatural origin, / whether agreeable or disagreeable, does not live for that year.

5.2.17

So much for the knowledge of smell; after this, the knowledge of taste / on the bodies of the sick will be stated according to rule.

5.2.18

That taste arising from the body in men in their natural state / undergoes a twofold unnatural change at their final hour:

5.2.19

In some, an excessive distastefulness of the mouth comes about, / while in another the taste attains excessive sweetness.

5.2.20

One should know through this inference that it has undergone an unnatural change; / for how could a human being obtain the taste of another human being?

5.2.21

Flies and lice, along with mosquitoes, / move away from the body of a dying creature because of its bad taste.

5.2.22

Flies come intensely from all sides to the excessively tasty body / of one whose time is ripe, even if he has bathed and applied anointment.

5.2.23

Here is the summary verse:

5.2.23_1

The signs of taste and smell have been stated in general by me; / for a 'flowered' man, one should predict this fruit: death.

5.2.23_2

Thus ends the second chapter, named The Flowered One, in the Section on Signs of Death, in the treatise composed by Agniveśa and redacted by Caraka. //2

5.3.1

Now we shall explain the section on signs [of death] entitled That Which Is to Be Palpated.

5.3.2

Thus spoke the venerable Ātreya:

5.3.3

In complexion, in voice, in smell, and in taste, the sign of those about to die / has been correctly stated individually; learn it also in touch:

5.3.4

Wishing to know the remainder of the measure of the patient's life primarily through touch, one should touch his entire body with a healthy hand, or have it palpated by another.

5.3.4_1

As he palpates the patient's body, these phenomena are to be recognized in various places: namely—lack of pulsation in body regions that pulsate constantly, coldness in those that are constantly warm, hardness in soft parts, roughness in smooth parts, absence of what is present, loosening, dislocation, and displacement of joints; loss of flesh and blood, hardness, continuous sweating, or stiffness; and whatever other such sign of touch there may be that is extremely abnormal and without cause. Thus the sign of tangible phenomena has been stated in brief.

5.3.5

We shall explain it in detail: If, when palpated individually, his foot, shank, thigh, buttock, abdomen, flank, back, spine, hand, neck, palate, lip, or forehead is sweaty, cold, stiff, hard, or devoid of flesh and blood, one should know: 'This man has lost his life-breath; he will die before long.'

5.3.5_1

If, when palpated individually, his ankles, knees, groins, anus, testicles, penis, navel, shoulders, breasts, collarbones, ribs, jaws, nose, ears, eyes, brows, temples, and so forth are loosened, displaced, dislodged from their places, or fallen away, one should know: 'This man has lost his life-breath; he will die before long.'

5.3.6

Likewise, one should observe his expiration, carotids, teeth, eyelashes, eyes, head-hair, body-hair, abdomen, nails, and fingers.

5.3.6_1

And if his expiration is excessively long or excessively short, one should know him to have lost his life-breath.

5.3.6_2

If, when palpated, his two carotids do not pulsate, one should know him to have lost his life-breath. If his teeth are scattered, white, and have developed tartar, one should know him to have lost his life-breath. If his eyelashes are matted, one should know him to have lost his life-breath. And if his eyes are devoid of their normal state and accompanied by abnormality—excessively bulging, excessively sunken, excessively crooked, excessively asymmetrical, excessively detached from their bonds, excessively watering, constantly open, constantly closed, excessively blinking, having wandering gaze, having distorted gaze, having impaired vision, having disjointed vision, mongoose-blind, pigeon-blind, the color of a firebrand, or inundated with any one of the abnormal colors such as black, yellow, blue, dark grey, copper, green, turmeric-colored, or white—then one should know him to have lost his life-breath.

5.3.6_3

Then one should pull his head-hair and body-hair; if, when pulled, his head-hair and body-hair pluck out without him feeling it, one should know him to have lost his life-breath. If veins become visible on his abdomen, and are dark grey, copper, blue, turmeric-colored, or white, one should know him to have lost his life-breath.

5.3.6_4

If his nails are devoid of flesh and blood and have the color of a ripe jambu fruit, one should know him to have lost his life-breath.

5.3.6_5

Then one should pull his fingers; if his fingers do not crack when pulled, one should know him to have lost his life-breath.

5.3.7

Here is the summary verse:

5.3.7_1

Touching these many tangible entities, he who understands them
in a patient does not succumb to confusion regarding knowledge of lifespan.

5.3.7_2

Thus, in the treatise composed by Agniveśa and redacted by Caraka, in the section on prognostic signs, the third chapter entitled "Prognostic Signs Relating to Palpation" [is concluded].

5.4.1

Now we shall expound the chapter on prognostic signs regarding the array of sense faculties.

5.4.2

Thus declared the revered Ātreya.

5.4.3

How a physician who knows distinctions should examine the senses of a person,
wishing to know the span of his life—hear that:

5.4.4

One should examine [the senses of] sight and so forth properly through inference;
for direct cognition [is held to be through the senses, but] the senses themselves transcend the senses.

5.4.5

When a person's cognition residing in the senses is observed to be altered
from that of healthy people without cause, that is a sign of death.

5.4.6

Thus has been properly stated the sign foreboding misfortune in the senses;
now learn that same matter once more in detail.

5.4.7

Seeing space as if dense, or the earth as if space—
seeing both these in an unnatural state, he meets death.

5.4.8

One to whose sight the wind moving through the sky becomes visible,
and a blazing fire does not become visible, one should declare his loss of lifespan.

5.4.9

When a man sees a net in perfectly clear water where no net is cast,
whether standing or flowing, he is released from life.

5.4.10

One who while awake sees ghosts, various demons,
or any other prodigy—he is not fit to live.

5.4.11

He who sees a fire that is of natural color as blue and lusterless,
or black, or white, passes to the seventh night.

5.4.12

Seeing rays of light where there are no clouds, or clouds where none exist in the sky,
or lightning without clouds, he meets death.

5.4.13

He who looks upon the clear sun or moon as if it were an earthen vessel
covered with a black cloth—he does not live.

5.4.14

When one sees an eclipse of the sun or moon on a day that is not a new or full moon,
whether diseased or free from disease, that marks the end of his life.

5.4.15

Seeing the sun at night, the moon by day, smoke rising where there is no fire,
or a fire without luster at night, he meets death.

5.4.16

Men wishing to abandon their bodily existence see entities contrary to their marks:
those possessing luster as devoid of luster, and those without luster as possessing luster.

5.4.17

Distorted, discolored, and of altered count,
men see forms without [external] cause at the exhaustion of life.

5.4.18

He who sees invisible things, and he who does not see visible ones—
both of them quickly look upon the realm of Yama, without doubt.

5.4.19

He who hears what makes no sound, and he who does not perceive sounds—
both of these are to be understood by the discerning as if already dead.

5.4.20

The sick person who, closing his ears with his fingers, does not hear
the sound of blazing fire, the intelligent physician should abandon him as one whose life-breath is gone.

5.4.21

He who perceives perversely the goodness or badness of odors,
or does not perceive them at all, one should know him to have lost his lifespan.

5.4.22

He who does not recognize tastes, or does not recognize them as they truly are,
in the absence of stomatitis, the skilled declare that man to be ripe [for death].

5.4.23

Touching hot, cold, rough, smooth, soft, and hard tangibles,
one who is about to die regards them as something other than they are.

5.4.24

Without intense asceticism or proper yoga,
if one perceives beyond the senses, he goes to the dissolution into the five elements.

5.4.25

Apart from visual perception by the senses, whatever man perceives
objects of the senses with other senses without a morbidity—he does not live.

5.4.26

Healthy persons who, through perversions of intellect, frequently see
unreal abnormality in the objects of the senses—one should predict their death.

5.4.27

Here is the summary verse:

5.4.27_1

He who understands this cognition of the senses as it truly is—
that physician is fit to know death and life.

5.4.27_2

Thus, in the treatise composed by Agniveśa and redacted by Caraka, in the section on prognostic signs, the fourth chapter entitled "Prognostic Signs Regarding the Array of Sense Faculties" [is concluded].

5.5.1

Now we shall expound the chapter on prognostic signs relating to prodromes.

5.5.2

Thus declared the revered Ātreya.

5.5.3

We shall explain individually the separated and combined prodromes
of incurable diseases, for the increase of knowledge among physicians.

5.5.4

He whom all the prodromes stated for fever enter in extreme excess,
him death enters, preceded by fever.

5.5.5

And that man whom the prodromes of any other disease
enter in this manner—for him too death is certain.

5.5.6

We shall explain other extremely dreadful specific prodromes
that attend diseases, and by which death is brought on.

5.5.7

He whose strength declines and whose coryza increases,
addicted to women, in him consumption arises leading to death.

5.5.8

He who in a dream goes to the southern quarter with dogs, camels, or donkeys,
contracts wasting and departs this life.

5.5.9

He who in a dream drinks liquor with ghosts or is dragged by a dog,
contracts a dreadful fever and departs this life.

5.5.10

He who sees the sky nearby resembling lac or red cloth,
contracts bleeding disorder and is brought to his end by that very condition.

5.5.11

He who, adorned with a red garland, his whole body red, wearing red garments, and laughing repeatedly,
is carried off by a woman in a dream, succumbs upon developing bleeding disorder.

5.5.12

Colic, flatulence with rumbling, intestinal noises, extreme weakness,
and discoloration of the nails and other parts: this seizure brings death by abdominal swelling.

5.5.13

A thorny, terrifying creeper that sprouts from one's heart in a dream—
such a man cruel abdominal swelling enters, bringing his end.

5.5.14

He whose body tears severely upon even slight touch,
and whose wounds do not heal, death destroys him through skin diseases.

5.5.15

For one who will die of skin diseases, in a dream, naked, basted with ghee, and making offerings
into a fire without flame, lotuses sprout upon his chest.

5.5.16

The man on whom flies swarm, even when he is bathed and smeared with ungents,
contracts urinary disease and is destroyed by that very illness.

5.5.17

The man who in a dream drinks various types of unctuous substances with Caṇḍālas
is seized by urinary disease and afflicted to his end.

5.5.18

Brooding, exhaustion, agitation, confusion arising without cause,
restlessness, and loss of strength: death preceded by insanity.

5.5.19

Seeing one who hates food, whose mind is lost, and who is tormented by urticaria,
the steadfast physician should know him to be about to die of fulminant insanity.

5.5.20

Wrathful, full of dread, his face suddenly breaking into laughter,
plagued by fainting and thirst: insanity destroys the embodied soul.

5.5.21

One who in a dream sinks into water while dancing together with hosts of rakṣases,
he, having contracted severe insanity, departs from this world to the next.

5.5.22

One who, while awake, sees profound darkness and hears many kinds of unreal sounds
is seized by epilepsy.

5.5.23

A man whom an ancestral spirit seizes and carries off in a dream after whirling him around as he dances drunk—
death preceded by epilepsy carries him off.

5.5.24

The jaws, carotid vessels, and eyes of one who has awakened become rigid:
opisthotonos seizing him destroys him without doubt.

5.5.25

A man who eats spirals of pastry or cakes in a dream,
if on waking he vomits such food, he does not survive.

5.5.26

He who properly understands these premonitory symptoms,
he is fit to know their consequence and their result.

5.5.27

And one should observe these other dreadful dreams,
which bring destruction or great suffering to the sick:

5.5.28

Upon whose head bamboos, shrubs, creepers, and the like grow,
upon which birds settle, and he who goes bald in a dream;

5.5.29

Who is surrounded in a dream by vultures, owls, dogs, crows, and the like,
by rakṣases, ancestral spirits, piśācas, women, caṇḍālas, Dravidians, and Andhras;

5.5.30

Who indeed gets entangled in a dream in thickets of bamboos, canes, creepers, snares, grass, and thorns,
or who while walking falls down;

5.5.31

Who falls down in a dream onto ground covered with dust, onto an anthill, onto ashes,
into a cremation ground, or into a pit;

5.5.32

Who in a dream sinks into turbid water, mud, or a well enveloped in darkness,
and who is carried away by a swift current;

5.5.33

Drinking unctuous substances, anointing the body, emesis, and purgation;
gaining gold, quarreling, imprisonment, and defeat in a dream;

5.5.34

The loss of a pair of shoes, slipping of the skin of the feet,
joy, and rebuke by enraged ancestors in a dream;

5.5.35

The falling or destruction of teeth, moon, sun, constellations, deities, lamps, or eyes,
or the split of a mountain in a dream;

5.5.36

A forest of red flowers, a site of wicked deeds, a funeral pyre,
a cave dense with darkness: he who enters these in a dream;

5.5.37

Wearing a garland of red flowers, laughing loudly, naked, toward the southern quarter,
or travelling in a dream through a dreadful wilderness on a monkey-drawn cart;

5.5.38

They do not wish for the sighting in a dream of persons wearing ochre robes, unkindly,
naked, holding staffs, black, and having red eyes.

5.5.39

Black, sinful, devoid of conduct, with long hair, nails, and breasts,
wearing discolored garlands and garments, she is considered the Night of Time in a dream.

5.5.40

These are the dreadful dreams by which a sick man goes to the five elements;
a healthy man, having entered into danger, is only rarely delivered.

5.5.41

Because of the clogging of the mind-carrying channels by the three excessively aggravated doṣas,
he sees dreadful dreams at a dreadful time.

5.5.42

A man not deeply asleep sees many kinds of dreams,
both fruitful and fruitless, by means of the mind, the ruler of the sense faculties.

5.5.43

Seen, heard, experienced, desired, imagined,
prophetic, and born of the doṣas: dreams are known to be of seven kinds.

5.5.44

Among these, the intelligent physician should declare the first five kinds to be fruitless,
as well as a daytime dream, one that is very short, and one that is very long.

5.5.45

A dream seen in the first watch of the night would have little result;
that after seeing which one does not sleep again would soon have great result.

5.5.46

Even having seen an inauspicious dream, if right then he again
sees a gentle, auspicious form, one should know its result to be auspicious.

5.5.47

Here is a verse:

5.5.47_1

The physician who understands these dreadful premonitory symptoms and dreams
does not, out of delusion, undertake treatments in incurable cases.

5.5.47_2

Thus, in the treatise composed by Agniveśa, redacted by Caraka, in the Indriyasthāna, the fifth chapter entitled 'The Indriya Concerning Premonitory Symptoms'.

5.6.1

Now we shall explain the Indriya concerning 'Which Bodies [Are Incurable]'.

5.6.2

Thus declared the venerable Ātreya.

5.6.3

Which diseased bodies, O great sage,
should the physician avoid, in which treatment does not succeed?

5.6.4

Thus questioned by Agniveśa with a question exceedingly hard to answer,
as the venerable Ātreya declared it to him, so understand:

5.6.5

For whom, while speaking, the upper chest aches severely,
and eaten food slips away, or even remaining is not digested;

5.6.6

And whose strength quickly wanes, whose thirst greatly increases,
and in whose heart colic arises: him the physician should avoid.

5.6.7

Whose hiccup arises from the depths and who passes blood in diarrhea:
one should not give him medicine, remembering the teaching of Ātreya.

5.6.8

Abdominal distension and diarrhea: which weak, diseased man
these two diseases enter, for him life is hard to obtain.

5.6.9

Abdominal distension and excessive thirst: which weak man
these two enter, the vital breaths abandon this man before long.

5.6.10

Whose fever occurs in the forenoon and who has severe dry cough,
deprived of strength and flesh: he is just like a corpse.

5.6.11

Whose urine and feces come forth in hard lumps,
who is devoid of heat, suffering from abdominal enlargement, and panting: he does not live.

5.6.12

Whose swelling situated in the belly spreads to the hands and feet,
after causing grief to his assembly of kinsmen, he is destroyed by that disease.

5.6.13

Whose swelling is located in the feet, and whose calf muscles droop,
and both of whose shanks collapse: him the physician should avoid.

5.6.14

A man with swollen hands, swollen feet, swollen genitals, and swollen belly,
deprived of complexion, strength, and food: one should not treat him with medicines.

5.6.15

From whose chest much phlegm—blue, yellow, and blood-streaked—
continuously discharges: him one should avoid from afar.

5.6.16

With hair standing on end, thick urine, swollen, afflicted with cough and fever,
wasted in flesh: such a man should be avoided from afar by a discerning physician.

5.6.17

Whose three doṣas are aggravated and marked by distress,
who is emaciated and devoid of strength: for him there is no treatment.

5.6.18

Fever and diarrhea at the end of swelling, or swelling upon the cessation of those two,
occurs especially to the end of a weak man.

5.6.19

Pale, exceedingly emaciated, overcome by thirst,
with a resonant belly, his breath agitated: he should be refused by the discerning physician.

5.6.20

Stiffness of jaws and carotid vessels, thirst, extreme reduction of strength,
and whose vital breaths dwell [only] in the chest: him one should avoid.

5.6.21

He faints, stretches out, and finds no comfort whatsoever;
wasted of flesh, strength, and food, the man is about to die before long.

5.6.22

Whose dreadful diseases, having incompatible origins and incompatible treatments,
increase greatly: he is killed quickly, quickly.

5.6.23

Whose strength, consciousness, health, digestion, flesh, and blood—
these waste away: he is killed swiftly, swiftly.

5.6.24

Whose health fails, whose constitution deteriorates:
suddenly, suddenly death snatches away his life.

5.6.25

Here is a verse:

5.6.25_1

Thus one should avoid these diseased bodies;
for the wise see no success whatsoever in them through treatment.

5.6.25_2

Thus ends the sixth chapter, named 'Sense Faculty on Which Bodies', in the Indriyasthāna of the compendium composed by Agniveśa and redacted by Caraka. //6

5.7.1

Now we shall explain the sense faculty concerning the sunken pupil.

5.7.2

Thus spoke the blessed Ātreya:

5.7.3

In whose eye one recognizes the pupil as having a sunken form,
consisting of a reflection, one should not wish to treat him.

5.7.4

In moonlight, sunlight, lamplight, and also in water or a mirror,
whose shadow on the limbs is abnormal, he is just as good as dead.

5.7.5

A shadow that is severed, split, confused, diminished or augmented,
lost, thin, divided into two, distorted, or perforated—

5.7.6

These and whatever other blameworthy reflections there are,
all are to be known as belonging to those about to die, if not arising from what is to be marked.

5.7.7

In terms of shape, measurement, color, and likewise radiance,
whose shadow deviates, even if healthy he is just as good as dead.

5.7.8

Shape should be known as form, and that is regular or irregular;
measurement in men is said to be threefold: medium, small, and large.

5.7.9

The shadow that corresponds to the measurement and shape in water, a mirror, sunlight, and so forth is the reflection (praticchāyā);
whereas shadow (chāyā) relies on color and radiance.

5.7.10

There are five shadows of diverse characteristics belonging to the five elements:
the etheric is clear, blue, oily, and radiant;

5.7.11

That which is rough, grayish, and reddish is the airy one, stripped of radiance;
that belonging to fire is pure red, brilliant in luster, and pleasant to behold;

5.7.12

That pure and spotless like clear cat's-eye and extremely unctuous is considered the watery one;
the earthly is firm, unctuous, dense, smooth, black, and white.

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Linked texts (1)

Carakasaṃhitā — Agniveśa (Āyurveda) & Caraka, Sanskrit

The Compendium of Caraka 5

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