A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c23.512

Language: English

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The subjects dealt with in the first part of the chapter are: fever owes its origin to the fire of Rudra’s wrath; it afflicts all living creatures and is known by different names (dependent on the type of creature or substance affected) (39.9);⁴⁶³ as a disorder that may take possession of a living being from birth until death, 464 it is regarded as the king among all diseases (39.10); only gods and human beings are able to endure fever, while all other living creatures perish by it (39.11–13ab); the main characteristics of fever consist of the simultaneous occurrence of absence of perspiration (svedāvarodha), a general sense of heat (saṃtāpa), and an ache of all the parts of the body (sarvāṅgagrahaṇa) (39.13cd–14ab); 465 fever has various causes and is of eight types: caused by one of the doṣas singly, by a combination of two doṣas, by all the doṣas collectively, and by exogenous (āgantu) factors (39.14cd–15ab); 466 the pathogenesis of fever (39.15cd–19ab); 467 aetiological factors (39.19cd–22); 468 the pathophysiology of the rise of temperature and the obstruction to the flow of perspiration (39.23–24); 469 the general and specific prodromes (39.25–28); 470 the symptoms of fever due to vāta (39.29–30), 471 pitta (39.31–32), 472 kapha (39.33–34), 473 and concerted action (saṃnipāta) of the doṣas (39.35–38c); 474 the symptoms of a specific type of saṃnipāta fever, called abhinyāsa; 475 others call it hataujas 476 (39.38–41ab); a saṃnipāta fever is difficult to cure;

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according to others, it is incurable (39.41cd); 477 a saṃnipāta fever associated with sleepiness should be known as abhinyāsa, associated with decrease (of bodily constituents) as hataujas, and associated with inertia of the limbs (saṃnyastagātra) as saṃnyāsa (39.42); 478 the symptomatology of a fever characterized by an obstruction (nirodha) to ojas, caused by aggravation of pitta and vāta (39.43–45ab); 479 (a saṃnipāta fever) aggravates again on the seventh, tenth, or twelfth day, followed by a favourable turn (praśama) or death (39.45cd–46ab); 480 the symptoms of fevers due to the combined action of two doṣas: 481 vāta and pitta, vāta and kapha, pitta and kapha (39.46cd–50); 482 even a very small amount of a doṣa may increase in patients, released from fever and still weak, when they indulge in unwholesome diet and behaviour; this doṣa, reaching the seats (of kapha) successively, staying at each seat for one day and night, and ultimately arriving at the āmāśaya, causes the fevers called satata, anyedyuṣka (quotidian), tryākhya (tertian), cāturtha (quartan), and pralepaka (39.51–53); 483 the slow fever called pralepaka, which leads to desiccation of the elements of the body; it is very troublesome and extremely difficult to cure (39.54); 484 reversed types of irregular (viṣama) 485 fevers arise when the doṣa 486 stays in two, three, or four seats of kapha; 487 these fevers are difficult to cure (39.55);

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some assume that an outside factor or inherent nature (svabhāva) produces irregular fevers; usually, however, an exogenous (āgantu) factor is secondarily involved (anubandha) in an irregular fever (39.56); 488 tṛtīyaka and caturthaka fever are characterized by a predominance of vāta; 489 the fever occurring in lowlands at the foot of mountains (aupatyaka), 490 as well as the fever caused by (the abuse of) alcoholic drinks, are due to pitta; kapha is the predominant doṣa in the fevers called pralepaka and vātabalaśaka; 491 irregular fevers with fainting (mūrcchā) as a secondary development (anubandha) usually arise from a combination of two doṣas (39.57–58); kapha and vāta, staying in the skin, generate a fever beginning with shivering; later, after the pacification of these two (doṣas), pitta brings about a burning sensation; pitta, staying in the skin, causes an intense burning sensation at the onset (of fever); later, after the pacification of pitta, shivering arises due to kapha and vāta; these two fevers, beginning with a burning sensation or shivering, are caused by a combination of two doṣas; out of the two, the fever beginning with a burning sensation is troublesome and difficult to cure (39.59–61); the same applies to protracted (prasakta) fevers of traumatic or mental origin (39.62ab); an irregular fever may become manifest during any of the six parts of day and night;

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actually, it never leaves the body completely, as is evident from symptoms like languor (glāni), a feeling of heaviness, and loss of weight (39.62cd–64ab); during periods without bouts of fever, the disease appears to be gone, but this is due to its being hidden within the bodily elements and to other factors; indulgence in unwholesome diet and behaviour makes it flare up again, and causes a new attack when one of the bodily elements has been reached (39.64cd–66); 492 satata (continuous) fever resides in rasa and blood, anyedyuṣka in muscular tissue, tṛtīyaka in fatty tissue, cāturthaka in the bones and bone marrow; 493 the last mentioned fever is serious, may terminate fatally, and brings on a mixture of disorders (39.67–68ab); some are of the opinion that irregular fevers arise from possession (abhiṣaṅga) by bhūtas (39.68cd); 494 the fever that continues for a period of seven, ten or twelve days is known as saṃtata; 495 satataka appears twice in a day and night; anyedyuṣka appears once within twenty-four hours, tṛtīyaka on alternate days, and caturthaka on every fourth day 496 (39.71cd–75ab); the appearance and subsidence of bouts of fever caused by the doṣas, which are impelled by vāta, are compared to the tidal movements of the sea (39.71cd–75ab); traumatic fevers should be treated according to the doṣa(s) involved (39.75cd–76ab); 497 the symptoms of fever caused by poisoning (39.76cd–77ab);

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498 the symptoms of fever provoked by the smell of herbs (oṣadhīgandha) (39.77cd); 499 the symptoms of fevers caused by sexual desire (kāma) (39.78), fear and grief (39.79ab), magic (abhicāra) and curses (abhiśāpa) (39.79cd), and possession by malevolent beings (bhūtābhiṣaṅga) (39.80ab); 500 vāta, when excited by fatigue, wasting (of bodily constituents) or a trauma, may pervade the whole body and give rise to a violent fever (39.80cd–81ab); fevers resulting from other diseases, vidāha, 501 exogenous factors, etc., do not present other symptoms than those which are characteristic of one or more of the doṣas (39.81cd–82); 502 the symptoms presented by fevers after having reached and affected rasa, blood, muscular tissue, fatty tissue, bones, bone marrow, and semen (39.83–90ab); 503 the involvement of one or more of the doṣas in these fevers should be ascertained by means of the signs characteristic of them (39.90cd–92ab); the characteristics of a deep-seated (gambhīra) fever (39.92cd–93ab); 504 features indicating incurability of a fever (39.93cd–94ab); 505 slight, moderate and severe (excitement of the) doṣas leads to attacks of fever during three, seven or twelve days; the possibility of successful treatment diminishes in the mentioned order (39.94cd–95ab); fever is like kāla (time as a devouring factor), Yama (i.e., the god of death), niyati (fate) and death itself; someone who has got rid of it should be regarded as having gained rebirth (39.95cd–96ab).