The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c8.74

c8.74

² Utt., XI-I: anekarogānugato bahurogapurogamah durvijñeyo durnivāraḥ śoṣo vyādhir mahābalaḥ ||3|| samśoṣaṇād rasādīnām śoṣo ityabhidhīyate| kriyākṣayakaratvāc ca kṣaya ity ucyate punaḥ||4|| rājñaś candramaso yasmad abhūd eṣa kilāmayaḥ| tasmāt tam rājayakṣmeti kecid āhuḥ punar janāḥ||5|| Dalhaṇa glosses kriyākṣayakaratvāt as follows: kriyā cikitsā kāyavāṅmānasam vā karma tasya kṣayakaratvāt|, “kriyā is the therapeutics or the activity of the body, of speech and of mind, this is what is referred to by kṣayakaratvāt”. The first term of the alternative is not creditable, yet Vāgbhaṭa (Aṣṭāṅgasaṃgraha & Aṣṭ.-hṛd., Nidāna, V, 3) takes up, with slight modifications, this passage and declares that the disease in question is called kṣaya on account of its reducing action on the body and on medicines (dehauṣadhakṣayakṛteḥ).