Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c13.52

c13.52

quent eruption, feebleness, thinness, cramps in calf of the leg, giddiness, swollen eyes, depression of limbs, colic, dislike for eating, indigestion, sleepiness etc. (Su, MN, AS, AHr). *Arsas* is either hereditary or acquired, dry or wet. It is usually of six kinds. 1. If caused by vāta, the small growths in the anus become inflated, dry, pricking, dark-red, rough, uneven, hard, resembling different kinds of fruits. 2. If caused by pitta, the *arsas* are red, yellow or black with blue top, like a parrot's beak, or resembling the colour of liver or the mouth of a leech and discharge thin blood. 3. By kapha the *arsas* are white, hard, round, smooth, like kernels of certain fruits or cow's nipples, nearby each other, burst and are not wet, and they itch excessively. 4. If caused by all doṣas, all symptoms are present. 5. If caused by blood the *arsas* resemble the hanging roots of Ficus Indica, corals or *kākaṇantikā* (red with black dot), or otherwise their appearance is as by pitta, but if accompanied by hard stools they discharge a good deal of foul, hot blood, the usual sequelae of bleeding also appear, while the patient becomes pale, feeble and dull. 6. Inherited *arsas* are bad looking, rough, whitish; one affected by them is very thin and weak from his very birth, pale, sad, irritable, suffers from retention of urine and constipation, urinary calculus and gravels and other troubles. In the above five forms there are obstructed, sparing, phlegmatic, painful and bloody stools, urinary troubles, change in colour of the skin, of the nails and other allied signs. The three skin-folds (*vali*) or muscles (*peśi*) in the anus are denoted as the seat of *arsas*. *Arsas* are easily curable if they are in the external skinfold and are not old. They are scarcely curable if they are in the middle skinfold and are an year old. They are incurable if they are in the innermost skinfold and are inherent or are caused by the three doṣas. For the *arsas* on the genitals see § 75. Papillary outgrowths on the skin (*carmakīla*) are also considered as a form of *arsas* (Car 6.14; Su 2.2; AS 3.7; MN 79-89; Vang 139 ff.; Bhāv 2.2).