Hindu Medicine c5.s3.69

c5.s3.69

Diet is an important part of Hindu medicine, not only as regards the sick but also as regards the healthy. India, with its peculiarly trying climate, is haunted by epidemics and infectious diseases. From these conditions results the extreme instability of human life which is reflected in the common Hindu outlook on human existence and forms the background of the pessimism voiced by the Hindu philosophers. It also determines the specific task of the Hindu doctor. Caution is the watchword: "By an elaborate system of dietetics Hindu medicine teaches man how to keep fit, how to deal carefully with the individual amount of life strength with which his organism has been endowed, how to reach old age, how to enjoy a long and healthy life."²⁹ A balance of the humors is needed and can be established primarily through a proper diet "corresponding to the age of the individual and to the type of organism, whether it is a bilious or a phlegmatic one, or one in