Garudapurana 1.164

The glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa — 164
Dhanvantari said:
Through improper diet and conduct, especially unwholesome foods,
and through engaging in censuring or killing good people, fighting, stealing, and the like;

Impelled at once by sinful actions performed in past lives, the impurities [doṣas]
reach the channels, and united with them, corrupt the skin, fat, blood, and flesh;

And drying them up, emerging outward from there,
they produce discolouration of the skin; the wise declare that to be kuṣṭha.

When neglected over time, it invades the entire body and internal organs; / entering all bodily tissues, outer and inner, and moistening them, it brings on [affliction].

It produces sweating, discharge, contractions, and minute, dreadful worms; / and it attacks in succession the body-hair, skin, ligaments, and vessels.

It makes [the body] appear as if covered with ashes; this is declared the external kuṣṭha. / Kuṣṭhas are of seven kinds through the bodily humours, individually, in pairs, or combined.

Even though all three bodily humours are involved in every case, designation is based on the predominant one: / from vāta arises kāpāla-kuṣṭha; from pitta, audumbara; from kapha,

the type called maṇḍala, as well as vicarcikā; from vāta and pitta arises the type called ṛṣya; / carma-kuṣṭha, ekakuṣṭha, kiṭima, sidhma, alasa, and vipādikā

arise from vāta and kapha; from kapha and pitta arise dadru and śatāru; / puṇḍarīka, together with visphoṭa, pāmā, and likewise carmadala.

Kākaṇa arises from all [three bodily humours]. The first group of three, along with dadru, kākaṇa, / puṇḍarīka, and ṛṣyajihva, are the seven great kuṣṭhas.

Excessive smoothness or roughness to the touch, excessive sweating or absence of sweat, discolouration, / burning sensation, itching, numbness in the skin, piercing pain, contraction, swelling, faintness,

excessive pain in ulcers, rapid occurrence and long persistence, / dryness even when healed, and great flare-ups from slight causes,

horripilation, and blackening of the blood: these are the premonitory symptoms of kuṣṭha. / That which resembles a blackish-red potsherd, is rough, harsh, thin,

spread out in shape, turned outward, and covered with spoiled body-hairs, / with abundant piercing pain—that uneven kuṣṭha is known as kāpāla.

One should declare that kuṣṭha which resembles the fruit of the udumbara tree to be audumbara; / it is described as circular, thick, with excessive burning and pain,

uncovered, painless upon bursting, and containing worms. Such is audumbara. / Firm, cohesive, heavy, unctuous, white and red, accompanied by excretions,

with swollen edges adhering to one another, intense itching, discharge, and worms, / smooth and yellowish in appearance—such is proclaimed as maṇḍala.

Vicarcikā has itchy, dusky eruptions accompanied by moist discharge. / That which is harsh, red at the edges, dark inside, raised,

and shaped like the tongue of a bull antelope is described as ṛṣyajihva, possessing many worms. / That which feels rough like elephant hide is called carma-kuṣṭha.

Devoid of sweat and resembling fish scales is kiṭima; / dry, resembling the colour of fire, painful to the touch, itchy, rough, and black,

rough on the inside, smooth on the outside, scattering powder when rubbed within, / smooth to the touch, thin, unctuous, clear, and without sweat, resembling a flower [is sidhma].

Generally causing emaciation in the upper body and covered with deeply itchy patches; / vipādikā causes very sharp pain on the hands and feet with red cracks,

severe agony, intense itching, and is covered with reddened eruptions; / it resembles spreading dūrvā grass with long tendrils, having the hue of an atasī flower,

and has raised circular patches; it is called itchy dadru. / [Śatāru] has thick roots, is attended by burning and agony, has bloody discharge, and many sores,

accompanied by burning, moisture, and pain, and generally appears all over. / [Puṇḍarīka has] a circle smeared with red, pale, accompanied by itching, burning, and pain,

elevated and covered with red [spots], like a lotus leaf with water-drops; / that indeed is puṇḍarīka, covered with whitish-red vesicles.

Pāmā has vesicular pustules accompanied by itching, moisture, and pain, / minute, dusky-red, dry, and generally found on the buttocks, hands, and elbows.

Intolerant of touch due to vesicles, with itching, bleeding, and intense burning / is carmadala, with peeling skin; kākaṇa has severe burning and pain,

first red and then black, kākaṇa resembles a guñjā berry; / it arises from their respective causes endowed with all the characteristics of blackness.

One should diagnose it through the signs and actions laid down for differentiating the bodily humours. / One should abandon a kuṣṭha that follows its own humour [when chronic], or one that has penetrated all bodily humours.

Any kuṣṭha stated to reside in bone, marrow, or semen is [incurable]; / that which resides in fat is regarded as difficult to cure; that which has entered ligaments, bones, and flesh is manageable.

That which arises from kapha and vāta, resides in the skin, and is free of morbid matter, is easily cured. / When kuṣṭha is situated in the skin, there is discolouration and dryness in the body,

sweating, heat, and swellings; when in the blood and flesh, however, / blisters settle on the hands and feet, with intense distress in the joints.

Through frequent association with the morbid humour, cracking occurs in the fat; / when in the marrow and bone, there is loss of sensation, loss of vision, force, and voice.

And when semen is injured by worms, there is affliction to one's wife and offspring. / All their respective symptoms appear in order in [persons of various constitutions] like deer and others.

Śvitra, arising from the same cause as kuṣṭha, becomes kilāsa and dāruṇa; / it is declared to be non-exudative and situated in the origin of three tissues.

From vāta it is dry and reddish; from pitta, coppery like a lotus petal, / attended by burning, and destroying body-hair; from kapha, white, dense, and heavy,

and accompanied by itching. One should indicate it as seated successively in the blood, flesh, and fat; / both are identical in colour, and they become successively harder to cure.

That which has abundant non-white hairs, whose [patches] are not joined together, is recent, / and is not caused by burns from fire is curable; otherwise, śvitra is to be avoided.

Even if recently arisen, when it occurs on the genitals, palms, or lips, / kilāsa is especially to be rejected by one who desires success [in treatment].

Diseases generally [spread] from touch, eating together, sexual intercourse and association, / sharing a single bed or seat, and from [using another's] clothing, garlands, and unguents.

Thus ends the one hundred and sixty-fourth chapter, entitled "Diagnosis of Kuṣṭha Diseases," in the Ācārakāṇḍa of the first section called Pūrvakhaṇḍa of the glorious Garuḍa Purāṇa.