A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c46.88

v3.c46.88

Chapter five (66–80) is about characteristics of the pulse during the three parts of day and night (66) and during the six seasons (67–69ab). Each season endows the pulse with a characteristic type of pulsation (gati), resembling the way in which a particular animal moves about. The chapter proceeds with signs of the pulse connected with the preponderant taste of the food enjoyed; ²⁶ these signs consist again of ways of pulsation resembling the gait of particular animals (69cd–72ab). A combination of the sweet and sour tastes gives rise to the same signs as those attributed to kapha, a combination of the pungent and saline tastes to the signs of pitta (72cd–73ab). ²⁷ The tastes which should predominate in the food taken in a particular season are mentioned (75–76ab), as well as the relationships between the doṣas and the seasons (76cd–79ab) and those between the doṣas and the mahābhūtas (79cd–80).