Hārīta's Compendium of Medicine 1.19
English (machine translation) 1.19
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1.19.1
Vegetables are declared to be of four kinds: leaf, flower, fruit, / and tuber is also specified. I shall explain these one by one.
1.19.2
Vegetable is specified as twofold: one should know [it as light], and similarly the other as heavy.
Almost all vegetables are constipating and heavy,
1.19.3
unctuous-less, producing much faeces, and evacuating stool and flatus.
Jīvantī is beneficial for the eyes, cures all diseases, is sweet, and cooling.
1.19.4
Taṇḍulīyaka has a sweet post-digestive taste and destroys bleeding disorders and poison;
it destroys various vāta-stool [disorders], and is beneficial in urine, vāta, and kapha [diseases].
1.19.5
Kāsamardaka is sweet, destroys kapha and vāta, promotes digestion, purifies the throat,
and is specifically declared to be a dispeller of pitta.
1.19.6
Jayantī produces vāta and kapha, and pacifies pitta;
kākamācī pacifies the three doṣas, is aphrodisiac, and is a rejuvenator.
1.19.7
Vāstuka is sweet, pleasing to the heart, and beneficial for vāta, pitta, and piles;
likewise, cillī is to be known as suitable for those afflicted by vāta and pitta.
1.19.8
Ketakī produces vāta, is aphrodisiac, and is considered to cause drowsiness and sleep;
methikā pacifies vāta, while vejikā is considered to produce vāta.
1.19.9
Mustard destroys the three doṣas, gives relish, and stimulates digestive fire;
śatapuṣpā destroys the three doṣas, improves intellect, is wholesome, and imparts relish.
1.19.10
Siṃhikā is declared an arrester of old age, and is commended in diarrhoea;
safflower creates relish, destroys vāta, promotes strength, and imparts relish.
1.19.11
It brings on a little vāta, is sweet in post-digestive taste, and dispels kapha;
it is slightly sour, alkaline, and commended in weak digestive fire.
1.19.12
Medana is unctuous-less, sweet, astringent, and exceedingly produces vāta;
cāṅgerī is hot, astringent, sweet, and kindles the digestive fire.
1.19.13
Kaphādanī, phañjī, tilaparṇī, siṃhikā,
and cakramardana—these are hard to digest and provoke vāta.
1.19.14
Piṇḍāluka, balā, bhiṇḍī, ciñcukā, and balādanī—
these vegetables produce kapha, produce vāta, and quell the digestive fire.
1.19.15
All vegetables diminish vision by their potency, except taṇḍulīyaka,
as well as śatapuṣpa, jayantī, kāsamardaka,
1.19.16
ālūṣaka, cane shoots, guḍūcī, apamardaka,
and sesame seeds together with kirātatikta: these are considered to pacify pitta.
1.19.17
Ash gourd, watermelon, cirbhaṭa, pointed gourd, its flower, tuṇḍī,
its seed, teasel gourd, bitter gourd, sponge gourd, and climber fruits:
1.19.18
In ash gourd, three stages are to be known: young, middle-aged, and fully grown.
The young destroys vāta and stimulates appetite; the middle-aged dispels the three doṣas;
1.19.19
[the fully grown] destroys swelling, vāta, and kapha, and eradicates bleeding disorders.
1.19.20
In watermelon, it produces kapha, generates vāta, and destroys pitta.
1.19.21
Bitter gourd destroys vāta, destroys kapha, causes pitta,
is hot, declared to impart relish, and produces blood disorders in humans.
1.19.22
The flower and cirbhaṭa are remembered to produce the three doṣas;
unripe, it produces chronic kapha; ripe, it is somewhat superior.
1.19.23
Tuṇḍīra promotes digestive fire and relish, and wards off vāta and pitta;
teasel gourd destroys the three doṣas, imparts relish, and is sweet.
1.19.24
The fruit of sponge gourd is pleasant, sweet, and dispels vāta and pitta;
in post-digestive taste it destroys kapha, and is commended in fever.
1.19.25
Pointed gourd leaf destroys pitta; the wise declare its stalk to destroy kapha;
and its fruit truly brings pacification of the three doṣas and is wholesome for a fever patient.
1.19.26
It induces sleep, gives pleasure, is heavy, accompanied by vāta, causes cough disorders,
and the best, very long one increases kapha, dyspnoea, cough, and anorexia.
1.19.27
Likewise, the fruit of bṛhatī is commended: it kindles the fire and destroys kapha and vāta;
they say this is commended in itching, erysipelas, fever, jaundice, and anorexia.
1.19.28
I shall explain tuber vegetables; listen, son, one by one:
elephant-foot yam, round yam, onion, carrot,
1.19.29
betel-leaved tuber, elephant tuber, / and wild boar tuber: these are remembered as tuber vegetables.
1.19.30
Elephant-foot yam kindles the fire, is appetising, destroys kapha, is non-slimy, light,
especially wholesome for all, and cures spleen diseases and abdominal swelling.
1.19.31
The tuber of tamarind is remembered to be beneficial in dysentery and piles, and is light.
1.19.32
Piṇḍaka produces vāta, produces kapha, is constipating, aphrodisiac, and very heavy;
piṇḍāluka produces kapha, increases semen, and is soft.
1.19.33
Onion destroys vāta and kapha, promotes semen, and dispels colic and abdominal swelling;
betel-leaved tuber promotes semen, is non-slimy, and light.
1.19.34
Elephant tuber is heavy, constipating, and considered to bestow increase of semen;
and wild boar tuber destroys piles and wards off vāta-induced abdominal swelling.
1.19.35
Other tubers are unknown, and have not been declared by me, faultless one.
Among all tuber vegetables, elephant-foot yam is said to be the best:
1.19.36
it kindles the fire, and destroys piles, abdominal swelling, worms, and spleen diseases;
it is not commended in ringworm, bleeding disorders, and leprosy.
1.19.37
These tubers have been fully described, glorious best of physicians.
1.19.16-2
Thus ends the sixteenth chapter, named 'The Group of Vegetables', in the first section of the later Hārīta taught by Ātreya.