Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c12.40

c12.40

The internal worms arise from the faeces, phlegm or blood as a result of various defects in the diet, want of movement, sleep by day, warmth and the like. Their existence is known by fever, pale colour of the skin, colic, pain in the chest, giddiness, exhaustion, dizziness, loss of appetite and diarrhoea. Of the internal worms, seven according to Su and only five according to Car, MN, originate from faeces. According to Suśruta they are white and small, others are broad and provided with tails, the gaṇḍūpada are red and long, and throng towards the anus. According to MN, they are broad or round, thin or thick, dark, yellow, white or black. According to Caraka some are partly tiny, round, white, like long threads of wool, some are large, round, dark-coloured, blue, green or yellow. They arise in the bowels and cause colic, indigestion, diarrhoea, constipation, salivation, loss of appetite, thinness, weakness, goose-skin, pale skin-colour, itching in the anus when they go below. If they have become large and climb into the stomach, they cause eructation and breathing that smell like faeces. From phlegm, according to Suśruta, are caused six kinds of worms with the names darbhapuṣpa, cipiṭa, pipīlikā, etc. According to MN, Car, they are seven with the names antrāda ( devouring the intestines ), udarāveṣṭa or udarāda ( choking or devouring the stomach, tapeworm according to Wilson and Bohtlingk-Roth ), hṛdayāda ( heart-eater ), mahāguda ( longtailed ), curu, darbhakusuma, ( Darbha flower ). They are produced in the stomach and crawl in all directions, are hairy or have hair on the head, possessing tails, with dark-coloured rings, like a long stalk of corn or thread or an earthworm or similar to fleshy muscle (?) thin, long or tiny, white or copper-coloured etc., devour the marrow, lick the eyes, disturb the palate and the ears, cause nausea, salivation, indigestion, loss of appetite, loss of consciousness, vomiting, fever, thinness, sneezing, cold, headache, pain in the chest etc. From the blood are caused seven (according to Car, MN, six) :- 1-3. kesaromanakhāda (devourer of the hair on the head and on the body and nails), 4. dantāda (teeth-eaters that cause decay), 5. kikkisa, 6. kuṣṭhaja (arising from skin-diseases), 7. parisarpa (a kind of leprosy). This is according to Suśruta. Caraka and MN have partly other names like romadepa (destroyer of hair-roots), audumbara or udumbara (exciting a skin-disease). These kṛmis originating in blood are found in the blood-canals, are quite tiny (so one cannot see them partly on account of their smallness), red like copper, round and without feet. According to Su they are bloody, black, sticky, broad, they cause most of the blood-diseases, and are invisible. In Suśruta's opinion both the hair-destroyers are incurable. According to Car they devour the skin, veins, sinews, flesh and the cartilage when they have attained a large size (Car 1.19.3; 3.7.11; Su 6.54.1-19; MN l.c.). The question whether the tapeworm is mentioned by the name udarāveṣṭa or by some other name in what has preceded, is difficult to decide. Individual passages seem to prove the same; so also the earth-wormlike belly-worm and the thin, slender oxyurids (white, small, thronging towards the anus, causing itching in the anus etc.) are clearly distinguished." As remedy for worms viḍaṅga (Embelic Ribes)⁴ is mentioned very frequently. For lice, smearing with quicksilver (rasendra) etc. is recommended (Su 6.54. 20 f.; AS 4.22; AHr 4.20; Bhāv 2.2.39 f.; Vang 202-205; Vr 7).