Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c15.1

c15.1

§ 89. Diseases of Vata (*vātavyādhi*) :—These mostly nervous diseases are caused by filling of the empty canals of vāta either in the whole body or in particular parts, when it is deranged by unsuitable or insufficient diet, overexertion, loss of blood, anxiety, grief etc. Symptoms : contraction and stiffness of the joints, the bones as broken down, goose-skin, phantasy, pain in the arms, in back and in head, the limbs shrunk up, sleeplessness, abortion and loss of menses in women, of sperm in men, convulsion and numbness of limbs etc. The deranged vāta can further cause the most varied other diseases according to the part in which it comes, thus in the bowels it causes constipation, heart-disease, swelling of the body, hemorrhoids etc. The five kinds of vāta, if accompanied by pitta, also cause different troubles. Special vātarogas are :— *ākṣepaka*—convulsions; *apatantraka*—apoplectic convulsions; *dāruṇa apatānaka*—hysteric convulsions (?) *daṇḍapatānaka*—the body is stiff like a stick; *dhanuḥstambha*—the body is crooked like a bow, tetanus; *abhyantarāyāma*—the body is bent inside like a bow; *bāhyāyāma*—curving outside, an incurable form; *pakṣavadha*—hemiplegia (vedic *pakṣahata*); *sarvāṅgaroga*—paralysis of the whole body; *tetanus universalis*; *ardita*—facial paralysis; *hanugraha*—lockjaw, trismus; *manyāstambha*—stiff neck, *jihvāstambha*—tongue-paralysis, *śirograha*—brain paralysis (?), *gṛdhrasī*—Ischias (sciatica); *viśvācī*—paralysis of the arms and hands; *kroṣṭukaśīrṣa*—inflammation of the knee joints; *kalāyakhañja*—St. Vitus' dance (?) *vātakantaka*—dislocation of the foot-joint; *pādadāha*—burning in the feet particularly while walking¹: *pādaharṣa*—numbness of the feet; *avabāhuka*—convulsion or stiffness in the arm; *vepathu*—paralysis agitans etc. Limping and complete paralysis, dumbness and stammering and other sufferings are also enumerated among *vātavyādhis* (MN 171-87 and Dutt 1. c. 95-102; cf. Car 6.28; Su 2.1; AS 3.15; AHr 3.15; Vang 344 ff.; Bhav 2.2).