A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c23.341

v1.c23.341

Its subjects are: characteristics indicating curability of pramehapiḍakās (12.3);132 general rules for the treatment of prameha patients who develop piḍakās; the stages of this development and the dangers involved (12.4); the preparation of dhānvantaraghṛta and its indications (12.5);133 the difficulty of inducing purgation in patients with madhumeha, owing to the abundance of fatty tissue (medas) in their body; strong purificatory measures are therefore required; cases of prameha in which piḍakās and other complications are present always show sweetness of the urine, etc., which smells like honey (madhu); for that reason, this disorder is technically known as madhumeha (12.6);134 sudation is contra-indicated in this disorder, because of the excess of fatty tissue, which would dissolve and make waste away the whole body (12.7); the weakness of the rasāyanī channels 135 prevents that the doṣas reach the upper part of the body in prameha patients; piḍakās appear for that reason in the lower half of the body of patients with madhumeha (12.8); non-suppurating (apakva) piḍakās should be treated like a local swelling (śopha), suppurating ones like a sore (vraṇa); various prescriptions which may further healing of the piḍakās (12.9); the preparation of an electuary (leha) useful in all types of (pra)meha (12.10); the preparation of navāyasa 136 and its indications (12.11); the preparation of lohāriṣṭa and its indications (12.12–19); characteristics of the urine indicating that a prameha patient should be regarded as cured (12.20).