Cakradatta (Cikitsasangraha) 3: Adhikāra 3

Because apart from the sequential treatment of āma and pakva conditions there is no effective treatment in diarrhoea, / therefore, in all diarrhoeas, the signs of pakva and āma must be known.

Faeces associated with āma sinks because of its heaviness, but the mature (pakva) floats in water, / unless there is excessive fluidity, compactness, coldness, or vitiation by kapha.

Stool that is foul-smelling, accompanied by gurgling, constipation, pain, and excessive salivation [is āma]; / the opposite is free of āma (nirāma), but mature faeces sinks due to kapha.

In the state of āma, fasting is commended at the outset, as well as digestive [measures]; / and at the end of fasting, very liquid, light food should be given.

Leaving aside fasting alone, there is no other medicament here for a strong person: / it pacifies the excited accumulation of doṣas and also digests it.

Boiled with hrīvera and ginger, or with musta and parpaṭaka, / or water boiled with musta and udīcya should be given to a thirsty patient.

At the mealtime of eating, one should feed light foods to one emaciated by hunger; / thin gruels prepared with medicaments, or parched-grain flour of roasted paddy, are wholesome in diarrhoea.

Scum of boiled rice strained through cloth is to be drunk, and soup of lentils; / a dense ball is very heavy, while the opposite [a loose preparation] is light.

An electuary made of parched-grain flour digests quickly due to its softness. / Śāliparṇī, pṛśniparṇī, bṛhatī, kaṇṭakārikā,

balā, gokṣura, bilva, pāṭhā, dry ginger, and coriander: / this combination in food is wholesome for all suffering from diarrhoea.

Thin gruels prepared with śāliparṇī, balā, bilva, and pṛśniparṇī, / soured with pomegranate, are wholesome for those with diarrhoea caused by pitta and kapha.

A person consuming thick gruel should surely not take supplementary dishes; / thick gruels combined with vegetables, meat, or sour fruits are difficult to digest.

Prepared with the five grains, or made with coriander and dry ginger: / such food should be administered by the physician to those suffering from diarrhoea caused by vāta and kapha.

With the minor group of five roots in vāta-pitta, or with the five spices in kapha, / water boiled with coriander and udīcya removes thirst, burning sensation, and diarrhoea.

One should employ food prepared with these two together with pāṭhā. / He whose doṣas in accumulation, agitated by burned food,

lead to diarrhoea—those [doṣas] one should further induce to flow out; / but one must not give an astringent/binding agent initially to someone with diarrhoea associated with āma.

For doṣas bound at the outset produce many diseases: / oedema, anaemia, splenomegaly, skin diseases, abdominal lump, abdominal disease, fever,

daṇḍaka, ālasaka, flatulence, and diseases of malabsorption syndrome and haemorrhoids. / But for one suffering from depleted tissues and strength, when abundant doṣa is excessively flowing out,

even though associated with āma, it must be arrested; from administering digestives, death might ensue. / He who is purged in little amounts, or with obstruction, accompanied by colic,

one should purge him with paste of abhayā and pippalī, pleasantly warm. / Coriander, dry ginger, musta, vālaka, and bilva:

destroying āma, colic, and constipation, digestive, rekindling the digestive fire— / this is the 'quartet of coriander'; in pitta, however, it is prepared without dry ginger.

Pippalī, dry ginger, coriander, yavānī, abhayā, and vacā; / hrīvera, bhadramusta, bilva, dry ginger, and coriander;

pṛśniparṇī, gokṣura, samaṅgā, and kaṇṭakārikā: / three pramathyā preparations are prescribed by half-ślokas for those with diarrhoea.

These are proclaimed in sequence for kapha, pitta, and vāta; / the technical term 'pramathyā' should be understood in a formulation that is digestive and appetising.

The three pungents, ativiṣā, asafoetida, balā, black salt, and abhayā, / drunk with hot water, destroy severe diarrhoea associated with āma.

Or else, pippalī-root, both types of pippalī, citraka, / black salt, vacā, the three pungents, asafoetida, ativiṣā, and abhayā,

powdered, one suffering from diarrhoea caused by kapha should drink with hot water; / or the wise person should drink the group beginning with haridrā, or that beginning with vacā, in cases of āma.

In thick soups and thick gruels, one should employ the group beginning with pippalī. / In buttermilk, with kapittha, cāṅgerī, black pepper, cumin, and citraka,

this is a well-cooked sour-sweet soup; another is the kāmbalika, / soured with curd, provided with salt, unctuous substance, sesame, and black gram.

Prepared with dry ginger, ativiṣā, and musta, or with coriander and dry ginger: / it destroys thirst, diarrhoea, and colic, is digestive, appetising, and light.

Pāṭhā, vatsaka seeds, harītakī, and dry ginger: / this certainly binds the stool arising from āma, accompanied by pain,

consisting of kapha, and accompanied by pitta. / Or, having boiled twenty tubers of musta, which are called bhadraka, in milk,

drunk with the milk remaining, it destroys āma accompanied by pain. / When mature diarrhoea repeatedly flows, as if moistening the malabsorption tract,

then a binding procedure should be performed without delay. / Preparations derived from the minor group of five roots, balā, dry ginger, coriander, blue water-lily, and bilva

should be given to one suffering from diarrhoea caused by vāta, along with buttermilk or any suitable fluid. / Kañcaṭa, jambū, pomegranate, leaves of śṛṅgāṭaka, bilva, and hrīvera—

combined with musta and ginger, would check even the rushing Gaṅgā. / Having made a very firm ridge around the navel with ground āmalaka, the physician, 36

should quickly fill the circle of the navel with fresh ginger juice. / It will arrest severe diarrhoea that resembles the torrent of a river. 37

One should drink kirātatikta, musta, vatsaka, and rasāñjana / with honey; it destroys pitta-diarrhoea and removes pain. 38

Having boiled a pala of vatsaka seeds, one should drink the water; / subsisting on meat juice, he will quickly overcome abdominal disease accompanied by pitta. 39

In pitta-diarrhoea, one should administer madhuka, kaṭphala, lodhra, and rind of pomegranate fruit, / smeared with honey, along with rice water. 40

Kuṭaja, ativiṣā, musta, haridrā, and the two parṇinīs, / combined with honey and sugar, are recommended for those suffering from pitta-kapha diarrhoea. 41

Having boiled the bark and fruit of kuṭaja and musta, one should drink the water / combined with sugar and honey; it quickly overcomes diarrhoea. 42

A decoction of bilva and mango stone, drunk with honey and sugar, / destroys vomiting and diarrhoea, just as fire destroys an oblation. 43

A very cold decoction of paṭola, barley, and dhanyāka should be drunk; / combined with sugar and honey, it destroys vomiting and diarrhoea. 44

One should administer the formulation called priyaṅgu, rasāñjana, and musta according to strength, / with honey and rice water; it destroys thirst, diarrhoea, and vomiting. 45

Taking kaliṅgaka, vacā, musta, devadāru, and ativiṣā in equal parts, / one suffering from a pitta-vāta disease should drink the paste with rice water. 46

Kuṭaja, pomegranate, musta, dhātakī, bilva, and bālaka, / and lodhra, sandalwood, and pāṭhā—one should drink their decoction with honey. 47

It is commended when accompanied by āma, accompanied by colic, even in blood and in discharges of mucus. / Known as 'Kuṭajādi', it destroys all diarrhoeas. 49

Samaṅgā, ativiṣā, musta, dry ginger, hrīvera, dhātakī, / bark and fruit of kuṭaja, and bilva—their decoction removes all diarrhoeas. 50

The fresh juice extracted from leaves of hijjala should be drunk with honey; / it overcomes āma-diarrhoea, or else a decoction of kuṭaja bark. 51

Having ground an aerial root of vaṭa finely with rice water, / one should drink it mixed with buttermilk; it removes the pain of diarrhoea. 52

Drinking half a karṣa of aṅkoṭha root ground with rice water / carries away the exceedingly terrible assemblage of all diarrhoeas and malabsorption syndromes. 53

A paste drunk from tender babool leaves destroys diarrhoea. / A decoction made of kuṭaja bark, thickened and thoroughly cooled, 54

combined with red ativiṣā, removes all diarrhoeas. / In this recipe, they say [to add] powder of ativiṣā at one-eighth part of the decoction; 55

but our opinion is that it is added at one-fourth part because it is an electuary. / Roots of dārvī, aṅkoṭa, and pāṭhā, and the bark of kuṭaja, 56

gum of śālmalī and śāla, dhātakī, lodhra, and pomegranate: / having ground these with rice water and made pills measuring an akṣa, 57

a person who has risen in the morning and is afflicted with an excess of stool discharge / should drink them, one by one, mixed with honey and that same [rice water]. / Named Aṅkoṭavaṭaka, it destroys all diarrhoeas. 58

A thin gruel prepared in goat milk mixed with half water, with hrīvera, utpala, dry ginger, / and pṛśniparṇī, destroys diarrhoea with blood. 59

Rasāñjana, ativiṣā, fruit and bark of kuṭaja, / dhātakī, and dry ginger: one should drink this with rice water; 60

combined with honey, it dispels severe diarrhoea with blood, / stimulates a weak digestive fire, and also stops colic. 61

Viḍaṅga, ativiṣā, musta, devadāru, pāṭhā, and kaliṅgaka, / combined with black pepper, destroy oedema and diarrhoea. 62

A decoction prepared with vatsaka, ativiṣā, bilva, / udīcya, and musta / is beneficial in diarrhoea accompanied by āma, accompanied by colic, along with blood, / and even when longstanding. 63

A decoction of the bark of pomegranate and vatsaka, drunk with honey, / instantly overcomes diarrhoea with blood that is difficult to check. 64

One should make [the patient] eat bilva with jaggery; it destroys diarrhoea with blood, / cures āma, colic, and constipation, and destroys abdominal diseases. 65

Bilva, musta, dhātakī, pāṭhā, dry ginger, and mocarasa in equal parts, / drunk with jaggery and buttermilk, check diarrhoea that is hard to conquer. 66

Barks of śallakī, badarī, jambu, priyāla, āmra, and arjuna, / drunk individually with milk and plenty of honey, destroy blood. 67

One should crush tender shoots of jambu, mango, and āmalakī; / having extracted their fresh juice, one should combine it with goat milk. 68

One should drink it mixed with honey; it destroys diarrhoea with blood. / Bilva cooked with goat milk and combined with sugar and mocarasa, 69

and mixed with powder of kaliṅga, destroys diarrhoea with blood. / And taṇḍulīya drunk with liquorice water, with sugar and honey, [destroys it]. 70

A person suffering from diarrhoea with blood, subsisting on milk, will conquer it by drinking paste of śatāvarī with milk, / and by drinking clarified butter prepared with it. 71

One pala of kuṭaja should be taken and boiled in eight parts of water; / in the same way, one should boil it again combined with pomegranate juice, 72

until it appears like serous fluid; thus prepared, one should prescribe it. / One suffering from diarrhoea with blood should drink half a karṣa of it with buttermilk; 73

even if destined to die, he does not come within range of Death. / The pomegranate juice is equal to the decoction, because when a proportion is not stated, it is equal. 74

Paste of black sesame seeds combined with an equal part of sugar, / drunk with goat milk, instantly stops blood. 75

In burning sensation of the anus or suppurative inflammation, they praise affusion and the like / with water of paṭola and madhuka, or with goat milk. 76

In rectal prolapse, the treatment described for it should be performed. / One should treat diarrhoea that is painless, fully mature, of one with stimulated digestive fire, very chronic, / and of variegated colour, with closed-roasting preparations. 77

Taking unctuous, thick bark of kuṭaja uneaten by insects, / and having crushed it exceedingly at that moment, / sprinkled with rice water in a packet of jambu and palāśa leaves, / bound with kuśa grass, and smeared on the outside with thick mud, 78

having well-steamed this, squeezed it, and collected the juice, / one should give it combined with honey to the diarrhoea patient. / This formulation, revered by the school of the son of Kṛṣṇātreya, / is itself a king in removing all diarrhoeas. 79

Because of the heaviness of the fresh juice, one should drink one pala of the closed-roasting preparation. / The proper cooking of the closed-roasting preparation is reddish coloration on the outside. 80

A ball of the bark of dīrghavṛnta, wrapped in kāśmarī leaves
and well smeared with clay, should be roasted in charcoal embers. // 81

Taking it out once steamed, carefully pressing it and extracting the juice,
one should cool it, mix it with honey, and administer it in abdominal disease. // 82

One should boil one hundred [palas] of crushed kuṭaja root in an armaṇa of water;
when the decoction is reduced to a quarter, one should strain it and cook it again into an electuary, // 83

adding two palas of the powder of sauvarcala salt, yavakṣāra, biḍa salt, rock salt, pippalī,
dhātakī, indrayava, and ajājī. // 84

One should lick this boiled preparation in a dose of a jujube berry mixed with honey.
It overcomes diarrhoea, whether ripe or unripe, multi-coloured, and painful,
as well as intractable malabsorption syndrome and dysentery. // 85

Then, having crushed a tulā of fresh girimallikā and boiled it, one should take the juice.
Into that, when well strained, having ground one pala each into a smooth paste
together with śālmala: // 86

pāṭhā, samaṅgā, ativiṣā, along with mustā,
bilva, and dhātakī flowers,
one should throw them in and cook it down again until
the juice adheres to the ladle. // 87

Drunk by one who knows the proper time with water,
or with scum of boiled rice, or indeed with goat's milk,
it destroys all severe diarrhoea,
whether black, white, red, or yellow, // 88

the various disorders of malabsorption syndrome, blood,
colic, as well as bleeding haemorrhoids,
and even menorrhagia that seems incurable;
this kuṭajāṣṭaka certainly destroys [all these]. // 89

For a tulā of raw drug, a droṇa of water is prescribed, and for a droṇa [of water], a tulā of drug.
The seeds of vatsaka and the barks of dārvī are the best. // 90

Pippalī, dry ginger, lākṣā, and kaṭukarohiṇī:
clarified butter prepared with these six, drunk mixed with scum of boiled rice,
quickly conquers diarrhoea, even the terrible tridoṣic kind. // 91

Clarified butter cooked with the decoction of milky trees,
with their pastes, and with milk,
combined with half [part] sugar candy and one-quarter honey,
pacifies severe bloody diarrhoea. // 92

In chronic diarrhoea, milk is especially like nectar;
goat's milk prepared with medicaments, or prepared with water, should be given. // 93

Tender bilva fruit, jaggery, sesame oil, pippalī, and dry ginger:
one should lick this when vāta is obstructed, with colic and with tenesmus. // 94

Or the paste of pippalī or black pepper drunk with milk
destroys, within three days, dysentery that has persisted for a long time. // 95

A paste of tender bilva fruits and an equal amount of sesame paste,
sour with the cream of curds, rich in unctuous substance, cooked as a confection, cures dysentery.
One should lick bilva, black pepper, jaggery, lodhra, and sesame oil during tenesmus. // 96

Afflicted with frequent bowel movements, one should eat
with curd rich in cream and honey;
or with milk boiled with red-hot clay pottery fragments,
cooled and flooded with honey. // 97

A person with blazing digestive fire and devoid of formed stool, who passes frothy faeces,
should drink treacle, dry ginger, curd, sesame oil, milk, and clarified butter. // 98

Seeing oedema, colic, fever, thirst, dyspnoea, cough, anorexia,
vomiting, fainting, and hiccough, one should abandon the patient with diarrhoea.
A man with excessive urination who has broken, loose stool does not survive. // 99

Bathing, oil-massage, immersions, heavy, unctuous, or excessive eating,
physical exercise, and the heat of fire: a diarrhoea patient must avoid these. // 100