A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c23.28

v1.c23.28

The effects of the seasons on the doṣas are described. Pitta accumulates (saṃcaya) during the rains and gets excited (prakopa) in the autumn; śleṣman (= kapha) accumulates in the winter and gets excited in the spring; vāyu accumulates in the summer and gets excited during the early rains (6.11). These accumulated and excited doṣas ought to be eliminated (6.12). The diseases caused by pitta subside naturally (svabhāvatas) in the winter, those by śleṣman in the summer (nidāgha), those by vāta in the autumn (6.13). The divisions of day and night have characteristics similar to the seasons: the forenoon (pūrvāhna) is the analogue of the spring, the noon (madhyāhna) of the summer, the afternoon (aparāhna) of he early rains, the dusk (pradoṣa) of the rainy season, the midnight (ardharātra) of the autumn, the dawn (pratyuṣas) of the winter (6.14). Irregularities in the seasons, due to fate (adṛṣṭa),³⁴ cause various diseases or epidemics (maraka) (6.16–17). Sometimes, even when the seasons are regular, the people of a country may suffer through sorcery (kṛtyā), curses (abhiśāpa), the wrath of a rakṣas, or adharma.³⁵ Other causes are the exhalations of poisonous flowers, the noxious influences of planets (graha) and asterisms (nakṣatra),³⁶ and inauspicious omina (6.19).³⁷ The measures to be taken in such cases are listed (6.20).