Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c9.61.1

c9.61.1

food is the cause of ailment. Therefore, nourishing methods and substances serving that purpose (*brimhana, tarpana*), as well as the fasting methods and the remedies for becoming thin (*langhana, apatarpana*) play an important role. But actually all kinds of food, solid or liquid, are enumerated in groups with information of their medicinal properties and effects, their taste and natural temperature (warm or cold). Eating flesh is not principally forbidden as in religious literature, but in conformity with the viewpoint of Smrtis and Asoka's inscriptions (*Recht und Sitte*, § 59) only the use of deer and of the sauce of deer (*jāngalarasa*) is recommended. Of the birds, those of the *viṣkira* kind (scrapers), viz. quails, francoline, sparrows, peacocks, wild hens, partridges and the like should be eaten; of fishes, the *rohita* (Cyprinus Rohita). The flesh of the animals of marshy place (*ānūpa*), chiefly of buffalo, is also frequently recommended. On the contrary, one should not eat the flesh of pigs, cattle, most of the fishes, at least not regularly (*na śilayet*, Car 1.5.8.). The medical works also do not take a declining view of the use of spirituous drinks (*madya*) which appears in the Smrtis as a sin punishable by death, and warn only against overdose or excess (cf. § 92). According to Susruta, all *madyas* are sour in taste, excite appetite and digestion, increase *pitta* and lessen *kapha* and *vāta*, purge and purify the bladder, give an exhilarating effect etc.