Hārīta's Compendium of Medicine 1.17

English (machine translation) 1.17

Language: English

1.17.26 — 1 part

1.17.1

Chapter Fourteen. / Now, therefore, I shall declare the virtues and defects of oils; / that should be understood in brief, according to suitability and rule.

1.17.2

Having an astringent secondary taste, sweet, penetrating, hot, and pervasive, / promoting pitta, pacifying vāta, and increasing diseases of phlegm and the like;

1.17.3

Slightly appetising, promoting intellect, dispelling itching and disorders of leprosy, / aphrodisiac, and removing exhaustion: thus the wise know sesame oil.

1.17.4

In cuts, punctures, dislocations, abrasions, and also in fractures and burns from fire, / in vāta-induced ophthalmia and fissures, sesame oil is used for inunction;

1.17.5

In poisoning, in inunction and baths for [bites of] wild beasts, dogs, snakes, and frogs, / in drinking, enema, and phlegm [disorders], sesame oil is prescribed.

1.17.6

Sesame oil should be employed for the eradication of all diseases.

1.17.7

Pungent, bitter, and also astringent-binding, hot, dispelling phlegm and vāta, / purifying worms and itching, and promoting pitta is the pressed mustard oil.

1.17.8

In ear disease, in parasitic diseases, and likewise in diseases of vāta, / in itching and diseases of leprosy, and in the properties of phlegm and fat,

1.17.9

Mustard oil is commended, and one should consider it for [these] diseases; / it is not recommended in enema therapy, [as] it produces great burning and pitta.

1.17.10

The oil derived from linseed is thick, sweet, unctuous, / hot in potency upon post-digestive transformation, and dispels vāta and phlegm.

1.17.11

Castor oil is also thick, cool, and considered mild; / it dispels pain, abdominal distension, and constipation of the heart, bladder, calves, hips, and thighs.

It destroys [afflictions] of those suffering from abdominal distension, prostate swelling, gout, spleen [disorders], upward movement of wind, and colic; / one should administer it for the pacification of disorders of vāta.

1.17.13

All the vegetable oils that have been concisely mentioned, / all are to be known as having the properties of oil, and all destroy wind.

1.17.14

Yet among all oils in this world, sesame oil is commended the most.

1.17.15

Castor oil is strength-giving, heavy, hot, and sweet; / sharp, hot, unctuous, and foul-smelling is that arising from red castor.

1.17.16

Safflower oil is hot, pungent in post-digestive transformation, and heavy; / it is especially burn-producing and aggravates all humours.

1.17.17

Whatever oils have been stated to pacify phlegm, / having understood their property and action, one should prescribe them for phlegm and vāta.

1.17.18

Mango-seed oil is slightly bitter, very fragrant, dispelling vāta and phlegm, subtle, / sweet, astringent, and does not excessively produce pitta in the blood.

1.17.19

That which comes from the pith of sauvarcala, ingudī, pīlu, and śiṃśapā, / and that which arises from trees such as sarala, aguru, and dev[adāru];

1.17.20

That arising from tamburu, that from karañja, and likewise that produced from jyotiṣmatī: / they dispel haemorrhoids, leprosy, parasites, phlegm, semen [disorders], fat, and wind.

1.17.21

One should declare karañja and ariṣṭaka to be bitter and not exceedingly hot.

1.17.22

Astringent, sweet, bitter, purgative, and wound-cleansing / is that arising from pure atimuktaka, akṣoḍa, coconut, and madhūka.

1.17.23

That arising from trapuṣī, urvāru, kūṣmāṇḍa, śleṣmātaka, and pīlu / destroys vāta, pitta, cardiac disease, and haemorrhoids, promotes phlegm, is heavy and cooling.

1.17.24

That arising from śrīparṇī and kiṃśuka pacifies pitta and phlegm.

1.17.25

Muscle fat is considered to destroy vāta and provide strength, pitta, and phlegm; / the fat of boar and buffalo increases vāta and phlegm.

1.17.26

The fat of snake, mongoose, and monitor lizard destroys wounds and leprosy when used as an ointment; / such is also the muscle fat of fish, porpoise, crocodile, alligator, and the like: / it dispels erysipelas, is beneficial to the heart, and destroys diseases of leprosy.

1.17.26.p1

Thus ends the section on oils and animal fats in the first book of the Uttaratantra of the Hārītasaṃhitā spoken by Ātreya,

1.17.14-2

Being the fourteenth chapter.