Garudapurana 1.173

The glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa—173. / Dhanvantari said: / I shall declare the substances beginning with sweet that remove diseases: / śāli rice, ṣaṣṭika rice, wheat, milk, ghee, meat juices, honey,

marrow, śṛṅgāṭaka, barley, kaśeru, trapusa, ikṣura, / gambhārī, lotus seeds, grapes, dates, balā,

coconut, sugarcane, ātmaguptā, vidārī, priyāla, / madhuka, palm fruit, and kuṣmāṇḍa—this is the foremost sweet group.

It pacifies fainting and burning, and clarifies the six sense organs; / but indulged in excessively alone, it produces worms and generates kapha,

asthma, cough, excess sweetness, loss of voice, tumors, / goiter, and elephantiasis. One should apply jaggery plasters and the like [to counter it].

Pomegranate, āmalakī, mango, kapittha, karamarda, / mātuluṅga, āmrātaka, badara, and tamarind fruit,

curd, buttermilk, fermented gruel, lakuca, and amlavetasa— / the sour taste, combined with salt and dry ginger, is a digester and promoter of digestion;

it causes moisture, produces vāta, is pleasing, causes a burning sensation, and is a carminative. / Used excessively, the sour [taste] produces sensitivity in the teeth,

laxity of the body, and burns the voice, throat, mouth, and chest; / having an fiery quality, it causes cuts, torn wounds, and the like to suppurate.

Salts such as yavakṣāra, sarjikā, and the like are the saline [taste]. / It purifies, digests, moistens, and causes loosening, spreading, and the like;

it obstructs the channels and produces softness. Consumed alone [in excess], / that taste produces itching of the limbs, abdominal swelling, discoloration, / gout, pitta-blood disorders, pain in the male organ and sense faculties, and the like.

Vyoṣa, śigru, radish, devadāru, kuṣṭha, / garlic, seeds of valgujī, mustā, guggulu, lāṅgalī—

the pungent [taste] stimulates appetite, purifies, and ends skin disease, itching, and kapha; / it removes obesity, indolence, and worms, and checks semen and fat. / Consumed alone in excess, it causes dizziness, burning, and the like.

Kṛtamāla, kirātatikta, turmeric, and indrayava; / vikaṅkata, cane shoots, the two bṛhatīs, śaṅkhinī,

guḍūcī, dravantī, trivṛt, and maṇḍūkaparṇī; / bitter gourd, eggplant, karavīra, vāsaka,

rohiṇī, conch powder, karkoṭa, jayantikā, / jātī, varuṇa, nīm, jyotiṣmatī, punarnavā—

the bitter taste is excising, appetising, and digestive; / it purifies, relieves fever and thirst, and conquers fainting, throat ailments, and the like.

Yet used excessively, it dries up feces, urine, and bodily moisture, / and causes lockjaw, convulsions, pain, headaches, ulcers, and the like.

Triphalā, sallakī, jambu, āmrātaka, vacā, and the like, / tinduka, bakula, śāla, pālaṅkī, mudga, and cillaka—

The astringent [taste] is binding, healing, constipating, and dries up moisture. / Used alone in excess, it causes distress in the heart / and produces dryness of the mouth, fever, abdominal distention, stiff neck, and similar ailments.

Turmeric, kuṣṭha, salt, meṣaśṛṅgī, the two balās, / kacchurā, sallakī, pāṭhā, punarnavā, śatāvarī,

agnimantha, brahmadaṇḍī, śvadaṃṣṭrā, and likewise eraṇḍa, / barley, kola, kulattha, and karṣāśī, along with the daśamūla: / individually or together, this removes wind-afflictions and alleviates excessive bile.

Śatāvarī, vidārī, bālaka, uśīra, sandalwood, / dūrvā, vaṭa, pippalī, badarī, and likewise sallakī,

banana, water-lily, lotus, udumbara, and paṭolaka. / Now the group that removes phlegm: turmeric, jaggery, kuṣṭha,

śatapuṣpī, jātī, vyoṣa, āragvadha, and lāṅgalī. / Clarified butter, oil, fat, and marrow: among unctuous substances, [clarified butter] is considered foremost.

Clarified butter is praised likewise for those desiring intellect, memory, intelligence, and digestive fire. / Pure clarified butter is given for biliary disorders; mixed with salt, for windy disorders;

or when phlegm is predominant, it should be given combined with vyoṣa and alkali. / For patients suffering from tumours, sinus tracts, worms, phlegm, fat, and wind;

for lightness and strength in beings of hard bowels; / and for those whose bodily elements are depleted by wind, heat, water, heavy loads, women, and physical exercise;

for those afflicted with dryness, distress, consumption, excessive digestive fire, or channels blocked by wind; / and after cauterising a network of veins, for vaginal disorders, and head disease, oil [is praised].

A pala is the dose for the best [constitution]; three akṣas for the middling; / and half a pala for the lowest, in medicines consisting of unctuous substances or decoctions.

Hot water should be given after clarified butter; and it is commended separately after oil. / When unctuous substance [is taken] in biliary conditions or during thirst, a man should drink hot water.

Wind moving downwards, inflamed digestive fire, and lustrous stool are considered [signs] of one who is well oleated. / One who is unctuous should undergo drying; one who is dry should undergo oleation.

Sudation is prescribed with śyāmāka, kora[dūṣa], unpolished rice, buttermilk, oilcake, and groats / in conditions of wind and phlegm, or in wind, or in phlegm. / One must not apply sudation to the very obese, the dry, the weak, or those who have fainted.

Thus ends the one hundred and seventy-third chapter, entitled “Description of Medicinal Preparations and Related Matters,” in the Ācārakāṇḍa of the first part of the first section of the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa.