A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c13.3

v1.c13.3

Synonyms of therapy (bheṣaja, cikitsita, etc.) are enumerated (1.3–4a). Therapy is of two kinds: promoting vitality (ūrjas) in the healthy and dispelling disease (roganud) in patients (ārta); its opposite, adverse treatment (abheṣaja), produces its effects for a short or a long time³ (1.4b–5ab). Treatment aiming at the promotion of vitality consists of rasāyana and vājīkaraṇa; both types of therapy mentioned are, however, useful for these two purposes (1.5cd–6).⁴ Rasāyana and vājīkaraṇa are described according to the effects produced by them (1.7–12).