Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c9.20

c9.20

According to AS 1.12 medicines are of two kinds : ( 1 ) those giving strength and ( 2 ) those removing disease. The former are elixirs ( rasāyana ) and aphrodisiacs ( vājīkaraṇa ); the latter appease the disease or prevent its recurrence, and consist partly of mineral, vegetable and animal stuffs, partly of fastings, smearings, incantations and other procedures. According to Caraka, there are animal, vegetable and mineral medicinal stuffs. Of the animal stuffs he mentions honey, milk, excretas, fat, marrow, flesh, faeces, urine, skin, sperm, bones, sinews, horns, claws, hair and the gallstone of the cattle; of the minerals he mentions gold, the five metals (silver, copper, lead, zinc and iron ), sand, lime, realgar, jewels, salt, red ochre and antimony. The plants are divided into four kinds : trees bearing fruit, trees having blossom and bearing fruit, plants living for one year and creepers and bushes (elrudh). Their roots, bark, solid interior, gum, stalk, juice, twigs, potash, milk, fruit, blossom, ash, oil, thorns, leaves, bud-covers, clods and shoots are used. Further Caraka specifies 16 plants among medicinal stuffs the roots of which are used, 19 the fruits of which are used, 3 the juice of which is used and 3 the bark of which is used; four kinds of fat (*sneha*) namely ghee, oil, fat and marrow; five kinds of salt namely *sauvarcala*-a blackish salt being the precipitate of a solution of the usnal salt in a solution of rocksalt, *saindhava*-rock-salt from the Indus region, *Vida*- black salt, a decoction of usual salt with an addition of myrobalans and Soda¹, *sāmudra*- sea-salt, *audbhida*- desert salt; eight kinds of urine, namely of sheep, goat, cow, buffalo, elephant, camel, horse and ass; eight kinds of milk, namely of sheep, goat, cow, buffalo, camel, elephant, horse and woman.