The Compendium of Caraka 5.2

English (machine translation) 5.2

Language: English

5.2.1

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

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.

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

Linked texts (1)

Carakasaṃhitā — Agniveśa (Āyurveda) & Caraka, Sanskrit