Hārīta's Compendium of Medicine 1.8

English (machine translation) 1.8

Language: English

1.8.44 — 1 part

1.8.1

Now next the knowledge of age will be declared. / Age is said to be of four kinds: superior, inferior, middle, / and the fourth is declared as low; these I shall now declare.

1.8.2

Childhood, youth, old age, and likewise middle age: / fourfold is age properly declared; it will be told in brief.

1.8.3

One weary on the road, exhausted by exertion, a child, a woman, and a delicate person— / for these the designation 'middle' is declared in the medical tradition.

1.8.4

Up to sixteen years a person is a child; at twenty-five, a youth; / middle age is up to seventy; beyond that, one is called old.

1.8.5

And likewise the delicate are termed 'middle'; / but the period of life that exceeds sixteen years,

1.8.6

reaching up to twenty years, and one possessing an emaciated body, / or women who have attained full age: [this is] inferior age within the middle category.

1.8.7

Above twenty-five years up to fifty, a man / or a woman capable of hard work is regarded as of superior age.

1.8.8

Beyond twenty-seven years accompanied by fifty years [i.e. up to seventy-seven], / and one who has the growth of children [or youth]: this is superior age.

1.8.9

One who is stout, very tall, robust, and likewise a woman with large hips / who possesses superior limbs is to be known as the most superior.

1.8.10

Beyond sixty, reaching eighty years, is the age of diminished strength; / beyond that, it is to be known as the lowest of the low in the sequence of age.

1.8.11

Wasted, fatigued by travel, distressed, and afflicted by disease, / dry, and extremely emaciated is to be known as having suitability like a child.

1.8.12

A delicate person, one very timid, or women of medium body / should be known as having medium suitability, having the suitability of middle age.

1.8.13

A female child is recorded as up to five years, and an innocent girl up to six years; / she is recorded as a girl up to twelve years, and innocent up to the seventh [year].

1.8.14

A mature young woman is at nine years, and bold at thirteen; / beyond twenty-four years, those at thirty-seven are intermediate; / women who have reached full age: this is superior age.

1.8.15

One of medium suitability may be stout, strong, and spirited; / and one of superior suitability should be treated as strong.

1.8.16

Now next I shall expound the excellent knowledge of bodily constitution: / born of vāta, born of pitta, born of śleṣman (kapha), and born of the confluence of all three.

1.8.17

He who is dark-complexioned, restless, very slender, with sparse and dry hair, strong, enduring, / has small teeth, fast-growing nails, a deep voice, and endurance in walking;

1.8.18

taking long strides, covetous, lacking mental strength, and likewise desirous of eating sour foods; / by sudation and not too vigorous massage, a vāta-type man attains ease.

1.8.19

Fair, very tawny, delicate in form, pleased in the deep cold, with honey-tawny eyes, / sharp, easily provoked, fragile, fearful, soft, and having hairless limbs and body:

1.8.20

Fond of fickle desires, eating bitter tastes, averse to sharp things and resorting to fresh and hot food, / fond of praise, having teeth of clear colour—such a person is born of pitta constitution.

Having an unctuous complexion, satisfied with white eyes, dark-complexioned, with fine hair, nails and long body hair, / with a deep voice, fond of hearing scriptures, sleeping and drowsiness, eating bitter, pungent, and hot foods,

1.8.22

muscular and fond of unctuous tastes, accompanied by singing and instrumental music, very enduring of cold, / habitual in exercise, lusting for sexual pleasure—such a person is of kapha constitution.

1.8.23

Having a mixed complexion, with a very radiant body, deep and calm, with widely spaced body hair, / fond of women, bearing heavy burdens, highly balanced, endowed with enjoyment—this is balance of constitution.

1.8.24

Now I declare the movement of the winds: eastern, as well as western, southern, and northern. / Listen to me declaring one by one their qualities and their provocation of the doṣas.

1.8.25

Cold, possessed of an exceedingly sweet quality, when employed it provokes vāta and especially produces strength. / For those with an excess of vāta and those with wounds and swellings, the wind blowing from the east is not beneficial.

1.8.26

Slightly bitter and endowed with sweetness, it produces diseases arising from kapha and wind; / it is very cool; for wounds accompanied by swelling, the south-eastern wind is not beneficial.

1.8.27

Bitter, astringent, sweet, extremely gentle, excellent with qualities of fragrance and coldness, / they call it by the name 'Malaya breeze', which captivates the minds of excellent women.

1.8.28

It is an increaser of love, a wind arising from kapha; it comes as an excellent breeze; / neither too cold nor hot, and auspicious is the wind originating from the south.

1.8.29

The dry and hot wind is pacifying wind, causing vitiation in pungent and sour pitta and blood; / desiccant of bodily strength, wind endowed with kapha is the south-western breeze.

1.8.30

Now, exceedingly subtle wind is praised; indeed, the wind arising from the western quarter, / as well as the wind that stirs up raktapitta, is beneficial for wounds or for swellings due to kapha.

1.8.31

The wind arising from the north-west is praised, delightful with the qualities of astringency and dryness; / it brings vāta under control in humans, and is praised, not blamed, for those with wounds and swellings.

1.8.32

Sweet, astringent, and provoking kapha is the wind blowing from the quarter of Kubera [the north]; / it causes the arrival of rainclouds, is cold, not hot, and is not blameworthy.

1.8.33

Cold, excessively sweet, provoking kapha and vāta is [the wind] blowing from the north-eastern direction; / and it is not beneficial for those with wounds, swellings, and cough, nor suitable for those afflicted by breathing disorders.

1.8.34

Cloth of various kinds, leather, bamboo, and palm-leaf fans, / uśīra grass, and peacock feathers: each has superior qualities.

1.8.35

Wind produced by cloth is not beneficial for those with wounds and swellings; / but one should especially avoid that generated from red cloth.

1.8.36

It causes provocation of kapha and blood, producing many diseases; / in fatigue, exhaustion, and thirst, it greatly causes drowsiness and sleep.

1.8.37

A bamboo fan also produces drowsiness and sleep; / it is dry, exceedingly astringent in taste, and does not provoke vāta.

1.8.38

Wind from a bronze vessel is dry, warm, and pacifies vāta; / it destroys burning sensation and fatigue, destroys sweat, and gives sleep and comfort to men.

1.8.39

A fan made of a palm leaf or a plantain leaf is cold, / sweet, highly fatigue-relieving, and provokes kapha on account of its moisture.

1.8.40

It induces sleep, produces pleasure, removes the disorders of grief and disease, / destroys burning sensation, pitta, fatigue, and exhaustion, and pacifies vertigo.

1.8.41

A fan fashioned from the root of uśīra grass and peacock feathers, / with such a fan, [the breeze] becomes fragrant and possessed of gentle, cold qualities.

1.8.42

It removes exhaustion, fainting, vertigo, desiccation, erysipelas, poison, and arrogance. / Thus wind is fivefold when artificially produced for humans.

1.8.43

In the cold season the wind blows from the east; the south-eastern wind blows in late autumn; / in spring the wind is southern; and in summer it is south-western.

1.8.44

In the rainy season the wind is western; in autumn it is remembered as north-western; / and in the cold season and in late autumn the northern wind is taught.

1.8.44.p1

The experts state that the rainy season is in the afternoon; the autumn is at midnight;
the cold season is taught to be in the late night; then the dewy winter season precedes the sunrise;

1.8.45

and at midday, the experts state, the summer season occurs; / the spring season is always taught by the sages to be in the morning and forenoon.

1.8.46

In Kārtika or Mārgaśīrṣa, and in Māgha and that named Āṣāḍha, / and at the junction of the seasons in late autumn, the wind becomes poisonous.

1.8.47

In whichever city, countryside, village, or even unpopulated place / that intense wind touches cattle, humans, elephants, or horses,

1.8.48

one should know it produces tilaka among cattle, consumption among humans, / one should know pāvaka among elephants, and among horses it is called vedya.

1.8.49

Pitta must be guarded against in elephants, and kapha in horses at all times; / this wind must generally be guarded against in humans at all times.

1.8.50

Wind is provoked inside during the rains; absorbed in autumn, wind is provoked into pitta disease; / pitta becomes absorbed in the cold season into the mass of phlegm, or in late autumn, even while accumulating.

1.8.51

Phlegm disease undergoes provocation in spring, and therefore peace from phlegm disease occurs in the heat; / pitta reaches the state of provocation in the summer time, and seeing its pacification, paittika [disorders] calm down in the rainy season.

1.8.52

From suppression of flatus, urine, and feces; from astringent and excessively cold foods; during night-vigils; / from sexual intercourse, or from the fatigue of carrying, from eating too much wind[-provoking food], commonly through shouting, speech, and extreme fear;

1.8.53

by dry things, by excessively alkaline, bitter, and pungent substances; likewise in a carriage, swing, horse, camel, or chariot, / or donkey, elephant, or climbing buildings; and by fasting, provocation of wind occurs.

1.8.54

On a cold day, on a foul day, after bathing and drinking, in the afternoon, or during night-vigil or daytime, / during the rainy season wind alone undergoes provocation; when indulged in, it digests what has been eaten.

1.8.55

Lentils, peas, flat beans, great black-gram, white lentils, and pure barleys, / great cāvala grains, black and others taught as cold, kaṅgu, wild rice, and red winter rice;

1.8.56

likewise kodrava, and śyāmāka: boiled rice made from these, or cooked barley-gruel; / watermelons, bathua, cillīka, pūtīka, onion, carrot, and tuberous vegetables:

1.8.57

these, when consumed excessively, cause provocation of wind; and that arising from liquor is also declared. / Therefore, men should diligently guard against it, if you desire auspicious, constant relief from disease.

1.8.58

By excessively hot, pungent, sour, and dry things; during heartburn; by resorting to sīdhu wine and surā; by fastings; / by heat, anger, sudation, or sexual intercourse, pitta undergoes provocation.

1.8.59

en: By the broth of horse gram or pigeon pea, radishes, horseradish tree, camphor root, mustard, and mustard greens, / also by staying awake at night, by fighting or exertion, at the end of the rainy clouds in autumn, its provocation is taught.

1.8.60

en: Or by sour [food], in the hot season, in autumn, severely at midday or midnight, / or when the food essence is digested immediately after eating, provocation is stated by the skilled wise to be caused by pitta.

1.8.61

en: By staying awake at night, excessive sleeping in the day, consuming very cold water, or in a cold place, / by drinking milk, colostrum, sugarcane, sesame, also by carrots, and by tuberous vegetables,

1.8.62

en: by regularly consuming goosefoot, small fish, slimy curds, black gram, wine, heavy foods, / and by consuming excessively unctuous foods in meals, the provocation of kapha in spring is taught.

1.8.63

en: At the end of day, in the morning, or at the end of the night, its provocation in a man is stated when he eats before [a previous meal] is digested; / the disease is taught by the wise and skilled; know the origin of kapha as accompanied by distress.

Hārīta's Compendium of Medicine 1.8

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