A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c25.586

v1.c25.586

Caustics (kṣāra) are said to be very important in medical practice; they possess all the tastes, but are in particular kaṭuka and lavaṇa; tīkṣṇa and uṣṇa are their most outstanding properties; their actions are dahana, pācana, vidāraṇa, vilāyana, śodhana and ropaṇa; they remove parasites, āma, medas and viṣa. They are used for two purposes: external and internal parimārjana (39.2).938 Indications for each of both types of parimārjana are enumerated (39.3),939 followed by contra-indications for the use of a caustic (39.4).940