The Compendium of Caraka 7.12

English (machine translation) 7.12

Language: English

7.12.1

Now we shall explain the formulation of dantī and dravantī.

Dantī is udumbaraparṇī, nikumbha, and mukūlaka; / dravantī is known by the names citrā, nyagrodhī, mūṣikāhvayā, / (and also mūṣikaparṇī, upacitrā, śambarī, / pratyakśreṇī, sutaśreṇī, dantī, and caṇḍā).

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Having gathered their roots that are firm and thick, / shaped like elephant tusks, and greyish-copper, the wise person,

7.12.5

smeared with pippalī and honey, should sweat them between mud and kuśa grass, / then dry them in the sun; for fire and the sun remove their depressant property.

7.12.6

They are sharp, hot, fast-acting, depressant, and heavy; / they liquefy two doshas and aggravate the wind.

7.12.7

With curd, buttermilk, wine, or the scum of these, a bolus of the two equal to an akṣa, / and with priyāla, kola, badara, pīlu, or sīdhu,

7.12.8

a man suffering from gulma, abdominal disease, and afflicted by the doshas should drink it; / with broth of cow, deer, or goat, one with pallor, internal worms, or fistula-in-ano.

7.12.9

In a paste and decoction of the two, combined with a decoction of daśamūla, / he should cook ghee for kakṣyā, alajī, erysipelas, and burning sensation.

7.12.10

Oil [he should cook] in urinary disorder, gulma, upward movement of wind, and phlegm-wind; / the four fats in retention of feces, semen, and wind, and in wind afflictions.

7.12.11

In a broth of dantī and ajaśṛṅgī, combined with jaggery, honey, and ghee, / an electuary is prepared for purgation, destroying burning sensation, fever heat, and urinary disorder.

7.12.12

In wind-thirst and bilious fever, that same [electuary] may be prepared with ajagandhā; / he should cook roots of dantī and dravantī in āmalakī juice.

7.12.13

Three parts of that decoction and two of molasses / he should fry in heated ghee or oil, and add thereto

7.12.14

a paste of dantī and dravantī, and of śyāmā and the rest in parts; / when ready, he should eat that electuary: by this he purges easily.

7.12.15

And in the decoction of daśamūla, likewise in the juice of baibhītaka, / and in the decoction of harītakī, he should cook electuaries individually in this way.

7.12.16

A powder of the two equal to a bilva, impregnated with their juice, / is good with sour substances when feces are retained and in gulma arising from wind.

7.12.17

Or having split a sugarcane stalk, smeared it inside with the paste, / and sweated it, he should then chew it: by this he purges easily.

7.12.18

He should cook the root of dantī and dravantī together with mung beans / and with common quail, grey partridge, and the like; those soups serve for purgation.

7.12.19

Or having prepared gruel, meat juice of wild animals, / and soup of black gram with the decoction of the two, one should administer it; through these he is purged.

7.12.20

Three parts from their decoction, and likewise two of sugar, / and one of wheat flour: an excellent utkarikā cake should be prepared.

7.12.21

Or a modaka sweetmeat should be prepared according to its recipe, and that is a purgative; / or with the decoction of the two one should prepare liquors for him.

7.12.22

Stirred with a decoction of dantī and prepared with dantī oil, / a man should eat various snacks seasoned with jaggery and salt.

7.12.23

Dantī, dravantī, black pepper, yavānī, upakuñcikā, / dry ginger, hemadugdhā, and citraka: powdered,

7.12.24

one should impregnate [this] in cow's urine for seven days; then a handful [of it] / he should drink with ghee; when it has digested and he has purged, also a nourishing drink.

7.12.25

It dispels all diseases, is preeminent, suitable in all seasons; / that powder, being free from harm, is honored among children and the elderly.

7.12.26

In bad meals, indigestion, flank pain, gulma, spleen disorders, and abdominal enlargements, / in cervical lymphadenitis, in wind diseases, and in anemia, it is commended.

7.12.27

A pala each of citraka and dantī, and twenty harītakīs, / two karṣas each of trivṛt and long pepper, [mixed] with eight palas of jaggery:

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having blended that, one should make ten modaka sweetmeats; he should eat one of them / and then drink warm water, every tenth day.

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These require no restrictions; they destroy all diseases, / dispelling grahaṇī, anemia, piles, itching, urticaria, and wind.

7.12.30

A decoction of two palas of dantī cooked with half a prastha of raisins / is commended as a purgative in cough caused by pitta and in anemia.

7.12.31

One should drink dantī paste with an equal amount of jaggery along with cold water: / an uppermost purgative, an excellent cure for jaundice.

7.12.32

An ariṣṭa made of jaggery in a juice of śyāmā and dantī, in a vessel smeared / with long pepper, [madana] fruit, and citraka, destroys wind, phlegm, spleen disease, anemia, and abdominal enlargement.

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Likewise, a jaggery drink should be made in a decoction of dantī and dravantī with ajagandhā / or with ajaśṛṅgī; that is indeed an easy purgative.

7.12.34

A madirā liquor produced from water, yeast, black gram broth, and the decoction of their powder / [is used] in kapha-gulma, low digestive fire, and stiffness of the flanks and hips.

7.12.35

With a decoction of ajagandhā, sauvīraka and tuṣodaka are prepared; / two formulations in surā and kampillaka are recorded for the two, just as for lodhra.

7.12.36

Here are verses on this subject:

7.12.36_1

[There are] three in curd and the like, five with priyāla and others, three in meat juice, / three in fats, six electuaries, but only one in powder;

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one in sugarcane, and three meat and mung juices; / three in gruel and the like, and one is stated in the procedure of utkarikā;

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and one in a modaka, one in liquor, and one in oil cooked with its decoction; / one powder, again one modaka, and five in fermented liquors;

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one in sauvīraka, then one formulation in tuṣodaka; / one in surā, one in kampillaka, and five are recorded in ghee.

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In this Section on the Formulation of Dantī and Dravantī, three times sixteen [formulations] / of various kinds have been stated according to dietary preferences, doshas, and ailments.

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Three hundred and fifty-five formulations are recorded for emesis; / and two hundred and forty-five formulations for purgation.

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Thus six hundred [formulations] for upward and downward elimination / have been stated based primarily upon fifteen substances.

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And here are verses:

7.12.43_1

Whatever predominant substance is applied to another, / that formulation is certainly named after it; this is the conclusion.

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Liquors and the like are subordinate to the principal substances such as the [madana] fruit; / for they follow them just as other men follow a king.

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Even those of contrary potency do not obstruct these principal [substances]; / for greater efficacy of action is desired when [potencies] are of equal potency.

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For the purpose of desired color, taste, touch, and smell, and with respect to the ailment, / the application of substances of contrary potency is thus established.

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Furthermore, an increase of their potency should be effected by impregnation with their own juices; / for even a small amount of a substance, when well impregnated, performs great actions.

7.12.48

Therefore, one should impregnate substances with their own juices or those of equal potency; / [this brings about] great efficacy even for a small dose and slight action for a large dose

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by means of combinations, separations, seasons, processing methods, and skillful design; / these six hundred should be regarded merely as an outline here.

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One may conceive thus thousands or even millions by one's own intellect; / due to the endless combinations of many substances, there is no fixed number of formulations.

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Now listen to the characteristics of the sharp, moderate, and mild among them: / That which acts comfortably, quickly, with great force, and without hindrance,

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causing no excessive exhaustion, nor pain in the anus or heart, / and expels the entire dosha without harming the internal organs,

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one should designate that purgative or non-unctuous enema as sharp. / Untouched by water, fire, or insects, endowed with qualities of place and season,

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combined with slightly larger doses, and well impregnated with substances of equal potency, / a medicine attains sharpness for one who has undergone unction and sudation.

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A medicine slightly lacking in these aforementioned qualities and likewise in dosage, / or administered to one properly unctuated and sweated, becomes moderate.

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A medicine of weak potency, given in a small dose to an unctuated person, / or joined with substances of unequal potency, is mild, having sluggish impetus.

7.12.57

Because they do not eliminate all the doshas, they are insufficient cleansings for strong persons; / however, they are to be employed in those of moderate and inferior strength by one who seeks success.

7.12.58

A disease is sharp, moderate, or mild when its symptoms are fully developed, moderate, or slight; / keeping strength in view, one should apply sharp and other medicines in these cases.

7.12.59

When what was drunk previously has not been eliminated, medicine for the purpose of emesis / should generally be given again and again subsequently until the appearance of pitta.

7.12.60

Observing the threefold strength of the doshas and of the patient, / one should give the medicine again or completely avoid it.

7.12.61

When the dosha-eliminating medicine has either been expelled or digested, / the wise physician should administer another, seeking supreme success.

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An emetic expels the undigested dosha, whereas a purgative [expels it] / while being digested; therefore, one should not await the digestion of an emetic.

7.12.63

When a downward purgative has been drunk and undergoes digestion without having eliminated the doshas, / or when the medicine has been vomited, the prudent physician should make him drink the medicine again.

7.12.64

A man with a blazing digestive fire, abundant doshas, strong oily disposition, / who was improperly purged, should be fed that day and made to drink it again on the next day.

7.12.65

A man who is weak and has abundant doshas, who purges / slowly through the digestion of the dosha, one should further purge with dietary foods.

7.12.66

In one who has been purified excessively through emetics and purgatives, / one should pacify the remainder of the dosha by meals and following-drinks.

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A human being who is weak, previously purified, having few doshas, / and whose bowel [nature] is unknown, should be made to drink mild medicine.

7.12.68

Better is a mild one taken repeatedly, causing little distress and free from danger, / and not an excessively sharp one, which quickly might endanger life.

7.12.69

Even a weak person who has great doshas should be purged frequently in small measures / with mild medicines; for unexpelled doshas would indeed kill him.

7.12.70

If a purgative medicine, when drunk, goes upward associated with kapha, / one should vomit him, cleanse him with mouth rinses, fast him, and then make him drink [again].

7.12.71

When the dosha is obstructed, scanty, or oozing out slowly, he should drink hot water; / by that, tympanites, thirst, vomiting, and constipation are pacified.

7.12.72

If the medicine is blocked by doshas and moves neither upward nor downward, / accompanied by eructation and body-aches, sudation should be administered there.

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When well purged, however, one should quickly throw up the medicine with eructation; / when digested, if there is excessive evacuation, the physician should check it with very cold [measures].

7.12.74

Sometimes the medicine, blocked by kapha, remains in the chest; / when kapha has diminished, it begins to act in the evening or at night.

7.12.75

When the food of a dry person is digested, or if [the medicine] is arrested and goes upward / due to vāta, he should drink another medicine with unctuous substance and salt.

7.12.76

If thirst, confusion, dizziness, and fainting occur while the medicine is digesting, / then a pitta-destroying, sweet, and cold medicine is commended there.

7.12.77

When enveloped by kapha, salivation, nausea, indigestion, and horripilation [occur]; / there, a medicine that is sharp, hot, pungent, and so forth, destroying kapha, is beneficial.

7.12.78

One who is well unctuated and has hard bowels, but is unpurged, should be fasted; / thereby his mucus born of unction and the obstruction are both pacified.

7.12.79

In those who are dry, have abundant vāta, hard bowels, are given to exercise, / and have a blazing digestive fire, the medicine is digested without purging at all.

7.12.80

To them, one should first administer an enema and afterwards give a purgative; / the purgative quickly carries away the dosha mobilized by the enema.

7.12.81

Men who eat dry food, are constantly active, and have a blazing fire— / their doshas go to depletion through physical work, wind, sunshine, and fire.

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They tolerate even incompatible food, excessive eating, and disorders of indigestion; / they should be unctuated, protected from vāta, and should not be purified when free from disease.

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To one whose body is not overly unctuated, one should give an unctuous purgative; / to one whose body is aggravated by unction, one should give a dry purgative.

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Knowing the procedure thus, the steadfast [physician], knowing the measures of habitat and time, / does not err when administering purgation to those fit to be purged.

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One whose error is like poison does not err when administering [carefully]; / and it must necessarily be drunk at the proper times; therefore, one should employ it with effort.

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The quantity of substance stated here is for moderate bowels, age, and strength; / taking that as the basis, modification must be made; excess or deficiency of them is to be varied.

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Six dhvaṃśis are a marīci, and six marīcis are a sarṣapa; / eight of those sarṣapas are a red mustard seed, and two of them are a grain of rice.

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One dhānyamāṣa is [formed]; two dhānyamāṣas are a yava; / four of those are an aṇḍikā; and four of those are a māṣaka.

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It is called a hema and a dhānyaka; three of them are a śāṇa; / two śāṇas one should know as a draṅkṣaṇa, a kola, and a badara.

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One should know two drakṣaṇas as a karṣa, a suvarṇa, and an akṣa, / a biḍālapadaka, a picu, and likewise a pāṇitala,

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and one should know it as a tinduka and a kavalagraha; / two suvarṇas are half a pala, a śukti, and likewise an aṣṭamikā.

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Two half-palas are a pala, a muṣṭi, a prakuñca, and a caturthikā, / a bilva, a ṣoḍaśikā, and an āmra; two palas they know as a prasṛta.

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An aṣṭamāna is to be known, and two kuḍavas are a mānikā; / one should know four times a pala as an añjali and a kuḍava.

7.12.94

Four kuḍavas are a prastha; four prasthas are an āḍhaka; / that same is to be known as a pātra; and eight prasthas are a kaṃsa.

7.12.95

Four times a kaṃsa is a droṇa, and that is a cārmaṇa and a nalvaṇa; / that same is known as a kalaśa, a ghaṭa, and an unmāna.

7.12.96

Twice a droṇa is a śūrpa, and to be known as a kumbha; / one should know two śūrpas as a goṇī, a khārī, and likewise a bhāra.

7.12.97

The wise person should know thirty-two śūrpas as a vāha; / one expert in weights and measures should know a tulā as a hundred palas.

7.12.98

This measure, thus described, is declared for dry substances; / twice that is prescribed for liquids and likewise for freshly gathered [substances].

7.12.99

Whatever measure—a tulā or a pala—is stated, one should employ that; / but where the quantity is unspecified, an equal measure is proclaimed.

7.12.100

And where a liquid ingredient is unspecified, water is traditionally taught everywhere; / and where there is mention of a quarter, it is a fourth part.

7.12.101

Where the quantity of water, unctuous substance, and drugs is not stated, / there the unctuous substance should be four times the drug, and water four times the unctuous substance.

7.12.102

The cooking of unctuous substance should be known as threefold: mild, medium, and hard; / when the extract of the drugs is equal to the paste, it is remembered as mild.

7.12.103

When the extract is like saṃyāva [confection] and leaves the ladle, it is medium; / but when the extract crumbles when being rolled, it is hard.

7.12.104

Hard is recorded for massage, […] and mild in nasal therapies; / but one should employ medium cooking for drinking and in an enema.

7.12.105

They say that measure is twofold: of Kaliṅga and of Magadha; / that of Magadha is superior to that of Kaliṅga; thus those who know measures know.

7.12.106

Here are two summary verses:—

7.12.106_1

The purpose of formulation, purification, designations, distinct causes for action, / the properties of habitats and fruits etc., and six hundred formulations;

7.12.107

The causes of variation, names, signs of sharp, medium, and mild, / situational procedure, measure, and cooking of unctuous substance have been shown.

7.12.107_1

Thus, in the treatise composed by Agniveśa, redacted by Caraka, and, being incomplete, filled up by Dṛḍhabala, in the Section on Formulation, the twelfth chapter entitled "Formulation of Dantī and Dravantī" is concluded. //12

7.12.107_2

The seventh, Section on Formulation, is complete.

Linked texts (1)

Carakasaṃhitā — Agniveśa (Āyurveda) & Caraka, Sanskrit