A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c10.t16: The Charaka

A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c10.t16

Language: English

The Charaka

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[The subject-matter in the first few extracts in this chapter is practically based upon the Vaiseshika system ; see ante pp. 6 et seq.]

"The object of the tongue is taste. Water and earth are the objective existences in which taste inheres. In its manifestation and as regards particular kinds of it, space, air and light are also its adjuncts. Sweet, sour, salt, pungent, bitter and astringent, these are regarded as the sixfold catalogue of tastes. * * * Objects are again known to be of three kinds, viz., animal products, vegetable products and products appertaining to the earth. Honey, vaccine, secretions, bile, fat, marrow, blood, flesh, excreta, urine, skin, semen, bones, tendons, horns, nails, hoofs, hair, bristles and the bright pigment called *Gorochana*,¹ are used (as drugs) among animal products. Gold, the five metals and their ordure [*i.e.* their calces, the five metals *viz.*, silver, copper lead, tin and iron], sand, lime, red arsenic, gems, salt, red chalk and antimony, are indicated as drugs appertaining to the earth.”²

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¹ Concretions found in the gall bladder of the ox.

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² A. C. Kaviratna's Translation of “Charaka Samhitá,” pp. 6-7.

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A Discourse on the Tastes—Their Relationship to the Five Primal Elements—The Nature of the Alkali

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“Once on a time, the son of Atri, and Bhadrakāpyas Sākuntèya and the full-eyed Maudgalya, and the golden-eyed Kausika, the sinless Bharadvāja otherwise called Kumārasiras, the blessed king Vāryovida, that foremost of all intelligent men Nimi, the ruler of the Videhas, Vadisa of high intelligence, and Kāmkhāyana-vālhīka, that foremost of all physicians of the Vālhīka country,—these *Rishis*, all of whom were old in years and learning and all of whom had subjugated their souls, came together to the delightful Chaitraratha woods, desirous of passing a few days in enjoyment and pleasure. As those *Rishis* conversant with every topic were seated there, the following discourse of grave import took place among them on the subject of the proper ascertainment of the (different) tastes and food.

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"There is one kind of taste said Bhadrakāpya; which persons skilled in the subject regard as are of the five subjects of the senses, *viz.*, that which relates to the tongue. That, again, is not different from water.

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"The Brāhmana Sākuntèya said there are two tastes, their virtues being that one of them cuts or removes from the body all bad humours or ingredients, and the other only checks or curbs them.

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"There are three tastes, said the full-eyed Maudgalya. Their virtues are cutting, curbing, and both.

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"There are four tastes, said the golden-eyed Kausika. They are agreeable and beneficial, and agreeable and non-beneficial, disagreeable and beneficial.

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"There are five tastes, said Kumārasira-Bharadvāja. They appertain to Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether (or Space).

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"There are six tastes, said the royal sage Vāryovida. They are heavy, light, cold, hot, oily and dry.

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“There are seven tastes, said Nimi, the ruler of the Videhas They are sweet, sour, saltish, pungent, bitter, astringent and alkaline.

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“There are eight tastes, said Vadisa-Dhāmārgava. They are sweet, sour, saltish, pungent, bitter, astringent, alkaline and that which remains in an unmanifest form.

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“The tastes are infinite in number, said Kām-khāyana, foremost among the physicians of the Vālhika country, in consequence of the infinite variety of their virtues, operations or effects and methods of corrections (or mixture for adding to their virtues, etc.,).

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“The illustrious son of Atri, viz., Punarvasu, said that the number of tastes is truly six. They are sweet, sour, saltish, pungent, bitter and astringent. The source from which these six flow, i. e. their origin, is water. Their operations or effects are of two kinds, viz., cutting and curbing. In consequence, again, of mixture or combination, they become both cutting and curbing at the same time. Agreeable and disagreeable are their divisions that depend upon the likes and dislikes of men. Beneficial and non-beneficial are their powers. The refuge of the tastes are the modifications of the five primal elements (of Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether or Space). The tastes, again, depend upon the (original) nature of their refuge, the modifications of that refuge, combinations of the substances that form their refuge, as also place, and time.¹

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"The virtues or properties (attaching to the tastes) occur in those which constitute the refuge (of the tastes), called objects. Those virtues are heavy, light, cold, warm, oily, dry and others.

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"Kshāra (alkali) is so called from its being produced by ksharana (dropping down or straining). This is not a taste. It is, on the other hand, an object. It is, in fact, produced from many kinds of taste. Hence, it has many tastes. Among them, pungent and saline predominate. It is composed of many objects of the senses. It is manufactured with the aid of different processes.

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(1) The modifications of the five primal elements constitute the refuge of the tastes. Every substance is formed by modifications of those elements. What is said, therefore, is that material substances are the refuge of the tastes, i.e. the tastes inhere in them..

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“At the outset, however, we shall say something referring to the diversity of objects (which are the refuse of the tastes). All objects are the results of the combinations of five primal elements (viz., Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether or Space). As regards Medical Science, object are of two kinds, viz., those endowed with animation and those that are inanimate. The attributes which inhere in objects are sound, &c., heaviness &c., ending with solubility.”¹

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We now quote only a few typical instances of mineral and metallic preparations.

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The Five Kinds of Salts

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“The five kinds of salts viz., sauvarchala, saindhava, vit, audbhida, with sāmudra.” [See Index under the respective headings].

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Minerals for External Application

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“Sulphate of copper, sulphate of iron, realgar, orpiment and sulphur in combination with vegetable drugs are prescribed for external application in ringworm, eczema, leprosy, &c.,”²

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(1) Kaviratna's Trans., pp. 295-99.
(2) Sútra, Ch. III, 4-5.

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The Eight Varieties of Urine

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"The eight varieties of urine are those of the sheep, the goat, the cow, the buffalo, the elephant, the camel, the horse and the ass."¹

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¹ Ibid, Ch. I, 43.

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Preparation of Kshāra (Alkali)

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"A young *butea frondosa* is to be cut to pieces and dried and finally reduced to ashes. The ash is to be lixiviated with four or six times its weight of water and strained (through linen) 21 times."²

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² Chikitsá, Ch. XXIII, 26.

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Pill Iron Compound

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"Into the composition of pill iron compound pyrites and the rust of iron enter."³

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³ Ibid, Ch., XVI 28.

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A Collyrium

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"The ingredients of a collyrium are conch-shell, coral, lapis lazuli, iron, copper, the bone of the frog, sulphide of antimony and the seed *hyper-anthera morunga*.¹

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¹ Ibid, Ch, XXVI, 123.

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[The first five articles are interpreted as meaning the calces thereof.]

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Powder of Pearl Compound

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"Among the constituents we have, pearl, sulphur, powder of iron, copper and silver."²

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² Chikitsá, Ch. XVII, 40.

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[The text does not precisely say whether the metals are to be used *as such* or *killed* by being roasted with sulphur. The Hindu physicians however always take them in the latter sense.]

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Iron, Gold and Silver Tonics

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"A thin iron plate is to be made red hot and plunged into the decoction of the myrobalans, cow's urine, the solution of 'the salts', the solution of the alkali extracted from the ash of *butea frondosa*; *i.e.* made red hot and plunged into one of the above liquids at a time. When the iron becomes black like collyrium it is to be powdered. * * *"

Linked texts (1)

Carakasaṃhitā — Agniveśa (Āyurveda) & Caraka, Sanskrit