Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c13.30

c13.30

The measles that often appear at present in India as epidemic and claim a big mortality are almost unknown to the older medicine. Caraka mentions the romāntikā briefly in the chapter on śotha ( 6.12.88 ) where he describes them as small spots spreading on the whole body accompanied by fever, heat, thirst, itch, loss of appetite and nausea. They are omitted in his list of diseases ( 1.19 ). According to Mādhava who treats them as a kind of small pox, the romāntī are small red dots with elevation equal to hair-roots. Accompanying signs are cough and loss of appetite, the fever comes beforehand. In the recipes also the measles appear along with small pox ( MN 318; Vr 56; Bhāv 2.4; Vāng 701 ).