Garudapurana 1.167

The glorious Garuḍa Purāṇa — 167.
Dhanvantari said:
I shall tell you the diagnosis of vātarakta, Suśruta; listen to that:
By incompatible foods, eating before previous meals are digested, anger, daytime sleep, and night-waking;

mostly in delicate people, those of improper diet and conduct, / the obese, and the indolent, wind-blood (vātaśoṇita) becomes aggravated.

When the blood of humans is corrupted through loss of digestive fire and lack of purification, / the wind, aggravated and angered by wind-producing and cold substances, moves along wrong paths.

Obstructed by such blood, it immediately corrupts it; / then wind produces pain in the rectum, [aggravates] kapha, and causes vātaśoṇita.

Stiffening [the limbs], it first arises and then rushes everywhere; / its symptom is droopiness, especially after vomiting and the like.

When it is about to appear, resembling kuṣṭha and known as producing watery patches, / in the joints of the knees, shanks, thighs, hips, shoulders, hands, feet, and limbs,

itching, twitching, piercing pain, breaking pain, heaviness, and numbness / appear repeatedly, subside, and emerge again and again.

Starting at the base of the feet, and sometimes of the hands, / it furiously courses through the entire body, like a rat entering its hole.

Situated in the skin and flesh, it is superficial at first; / in the course of time, becoming deep-seated, it assails all bodily tissues.

In places bound to the hips and elsewhere, the skin turns copper-colored, dusky, or red, / with knotted swelling and suppuration; that wind, entering the bones and marrow,

swiftly moves within as if tearing apart and making them rigid; / moving throughout the body, it makes a person lame or crippled.

When wind predominates, there is severe colic, twitching, and aching pain, / dryness, blackness, or duskiness of the swelling, and fluctuating waxing and waning;

constriction of vessels and finger-joints, stiffness of limbs, intense pain, / aversion and non-suitability to cold, rigidity, trembling, and numbness.

When blood [predominates], there is swelling, severe pain and pricking, copper coloration, tingling sensation; / it does not subside with unctuous or dry [therapies], and is accompanied by itching and moisture.

When pitta [predominates], there is burning sensation, confusion, perspiration, fainting, intoxication, thirst, / intolerance to touch, crying out from pain, wasting, suppuration, and intense heat.

When kapha [predominates], there is stiffness, heaviness, numbness, unctuousness, coldness, / itching, and mild pain; in dual combinations, [there are signs of both], and all symptoms in a combination of all three.

That caused by a single dosha is curable, and that born of two doshas is manageable; / one born of three doshas should be quickly abandoned, as it is very dreadful raktapitta.

The wind swiftly destroys the blood in the body; / lodging in the joints of the extremities and mutually obstructing [the passages], it takes away life through painful afflictions.

When prāṇa, among the fivefold wind, is aggravated by dryness, restlessness, fasting, / overeating, physical trauma, and the suppression or premature urging of natural urges,

it brings about impairment of the eyes and other sense organs; / chronic catarrh, burning sensation, thirst, cough, dyspnea, and the like also arise.

Lodged above the collarbones, it produces obstruction of the throat, bowel dysfunction, / vomiting, loss of appetite, chronic catarrh, goiter, and similar ailments.

Vyāna, corrupted by excessive walking, bathing, play, sexual activity, / and incompatible, dry, fearful, exhilarating, or depressing circumstances,

causes loss of virility, energy, and strength, grief, mental flightiness, fever, / various forms of shooting pain, horripilation, and deep numbness,

kuṣṭha, erysipelas (visarpa), and other conditions causing exhaustion of all limbs. / Samāna, [corrupted] by irregular, unwholesome, cold, and mixed food,

and corrupted by sleeping at improper hours, waking at night, and the like, / produces colic, abdominal tumors (gulma), sprue (grahaṇī), and diseases situated in the liver and stomach.

Apāna, through excessive consumption of dry and heavy food, suppression of natural urges, / excessive riding in carriages, drinking, standing, and walking,

being aggravated, causes all diseases situated in the colon, / and many disorders of urine and semen, hemorrhoids, prolapse of the rectum, and the like.

The entire body is stretched; in the sāma state, there is drowsiness, numbness, heaviness, / greasy sensation, untimely sleep, coldness, swelling, and loss of digestive fire.

Through destruction of itching and excessive dryness, and through relief of like conditions, / one should know liberation from it as nirāma, by the reversal of drowsiness and the like.

Wind is said to have many varieties of occlusion (āvaraṇa). / When occluded by symptoms of pitta, there is burning sensation, thirst, colic, vertigo, and darkness of vision;

internal burning caused by pungent, hot, sour, and salty things, desire for cold, / and excessive coldness, heaviness, colic, loss of fire, [relieved by] pungent substances, ghee, and milk.

When occluded by kapha, there is a desire for fasting, exertion, dry, and hot things; / when occluded by kapha, there is aching in the limbs, nausea, heaviness, and anorexia.

When occluded by blood, severe burning pain arises from the skin and flesh; / there is reddish swelling, and circular patches appear.

When occluded by flesh, the swelling is hard, with nausea and eruption of boils, / horripilation, and a feeling as if ants were crawling; / [or else] a mobile, soft, cold swelling on the limbs, with loss of appetite.

When occluded by fat, it should be known to resemble āḍhyavāta, and is difficult [to cure]. / When occluded by skin, touch feels hot or cold when covered. / When occluded by marrow, there is irregular yawning and twisting [sensations],

and colic; being squeezed with both hands gives relief. / But when occluded by semen, there is no excessive urge during swelling;

when food is eaten there is pain in the abdomen, and when digested there is certainly cutting pain. / When occluded by urine, there is retention of urine and distension of the bladder.

When occluded in the orifices, there is constipation, and it tears at its own location; / the person collapses quickly, stricken with fever, and faints.

Oppressed once by the other, one emits vitiated semen after a long time. / When vāyu is occluded by all the tissues, there is pain in the pelvis, groin, and back;

and when the wind moves contrariwise, the heart is tormented. / When prāṇa is occluded by pitta, there is dizziness, fainting, pain, and burning sensation.

When vyāna is [occluded by pitta], there is pain, drowsiness, loss of voice, and burning sensation everywhere, / fatigue, impaired bodily movement, and fever accompanied by pain.

When samāna [is occluded by pitta], there is impairment of body heat, cessation with sweating, intense thirst, / and burning; but when apāna [is occluded by pitta], the stool has a turmeric-like color,

excessive menses, heat, distension, and urinary distress. / When prāṇa is covered by phlegm, there is humming, obstruction of the channels,

spitting, perspiration, and retention of inhalation and exhalation. / When udāna [is covered by phlegm], there is heaviness of limbs, loss of appetite, and obstruction of speech and voice.

There is loss of strength and complexion; in apāna [covered by phlegm], stiffness of the joints and bones, / heaviness in all limbs, and marked corpulence ensues.

When samāna [is covered by phlegm], there is numbness, absence of sweating, and weak digestive fire; / when apāna [is covered by phlegm], the evacuation of all urine and stool is impeded.

Thus they know the disease of vātarakta to be of twenty-two kinds. / Likewise, prāṇa and the others, mutually overcome in due order—

the physician should understand the complete occlusion to be of twenty kinds as well. / Nausea, obstruction of respiration, coryza, headache,

heart disease, and dryness of the mouth occur when apāna is occluded by prāṇa. / When prāṇa is occluded by udāna, there occurs a loss of strength.

The physician should distinguish every occlusion through deliberation, / paying attention to the seats of the vāyus and the increase or decrease of their functions.

And of the five beginning with prāṇa, each may be mutually occluded by pitta; / the abode of pitta and the others [is affected] by them mixed together,

and likewise in various ways by mixed pitta and the others. / Being attentive, one should identify them from the arising of their respective symptoms,

and gradually by repeated, steady pacifications. / Prāṇa is especially spoken of as life, and udāna as strength; / by the affliction of those two, there would be loss of longevity and strength.

Occluded vāyus, whether unknown or known, when displaced from their locations, / become difficult to cure even with effort, or are without complications.

Abscess, spleen enlargement, heart disease, gulma, decline of the digestive fire, and so forth, / arise as complications due to neglect of those [winds] when occluded.

O Suśruta, the diagnosis spoken by Ātreya has been proclaimed by me / for distinguishing all diseases and for increasing the life span of humanity.

Having thus recognized diseases and their forms, one should then administer treatment. / Triphalā combined with honey, ghee, and jaggery cures all diseases;

or triphalā with tryūṣaṇa crushes all diseases; / or combined with śatāvarī, guḍūcī, citraka, and viḍaṅga;

śatāvarī, guḍūcī, citraka, dried ginger, mūṣalī, balā, / punarnavā, bṛhatī, nirguṇḍī, neem leaf,

bhṛṅgarāja, āmalaka, and vāsaka—triphalā macerated / with their juice seven times or once,

and as available mixed with the aforesaid: a powder, a sweet confection, / a pill, medicated ghee or oil, or a decoction cures consumptive diseases, / [in the dose of] a pala, half a pala, a karṣa, or half a karṣa.

Thus ends the one hundred and sixty-seventh chapter, on [the diagnosis of] vātarakta, in the Ācārakāṇḍa of the first part in the first section of the glorious Garuḍa Purāṇa.