A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c24.4

v1.c24.4

The subjects of chapter one are: the eight divisions of āyurveda: kāya, bāla,⁴ graha,⁵ ūrdhvāṅga,⁶ śalya, daṃṣṭrā,⁷ jarā,⁸ and vṛṣa⁹ (1.5cd–6ab);¹⁰ the three doṣas (1.6cd–7ab); the main seats of the doṣas (1.7cd); the stages of life, periods of day and night, and stages of the digestive process in which one of the doṣas is predominantly active (1.8ab); the four types of digestive fire (1.8cd); the krūra, mṛdu and madhya types of koṣṭha (1.9ab); the constitutions (prakṛti) (1.9cd–10); the normal qualities of vāta (1.11ab),¹¹ pitta (1.11cd)¹² and kapha (1.12ab);¹³ combinations of two doṣas (saṃsarga) and three doṣas (saṃnipāta) (1.12cd); the seven bodily elements (dhātu), also called dūṣyas (1.13ab); urine, faeces and sweat are called mala (1.13cd); similar (samāna) substances, etc., cause increase (vṛddhi) (of doṣas, dhātus and malas), dissimilar ones decrease (1.14ab); the six tastes and their actions on the doṣas (1.14cd–16ab);¹⁴ the three types of substances: śamana (alleviating), kopana (aggravating) and svasthahita (maintaining health) (1.16cd); the two types of vīrya: uṣṇa and śīta (1.17ab);¹⁵ the three types of vipāka: svādu, amla and kaṭuka (1.17cd);¹⁶ the twenty qualities (guṇa), which consist of guru, manda, hima, snigdha, ślakṣṇa, sāndra, mṛdu, sthira, sūkṣma, and viśada, along with their opposites (1.18);¹⁷ diseases are essentially caused by defective, improper and excessive contact (yoga) with time, the objects of the senses, and activities; proper contact is the main cause of health (1.19);¹⁸ disease is equivalent to imbalance of the doṣas, health to their balance (1.20ab); diseases are either endogenous (nija) or exogenous (āgantu) (1.20cd); the basic seats of disease are body and mind (1.21ab); rajas and tamas are the doṣas affecting the mind (1.21cd); a patient should be examined by means of inspection (darśana), palpation (sparśana) and interrogation (praśna) (1.22ab); nidāna (aetiology), prāgrūpa (prodromes), lakṣaṇa (symptomatology), upāśaya (diagnosis ex iuvantibus) and āpti (= saṃprāpti; pathogenesis) are the means of examining a disease (1.22cd);