Hindu Medicine c5.s3.77

c5.s3.77

Taking up the diseases and their cures themselves Zimmer first discusses those caused by foreign bodies, by worms and vermin. Such animals found within the human body are described and classified by Caraka (III, 7). Any cure should proceed along the lines indicated for all kinds of treatment, first by removing the worms through cleansing (samśodhana); next by counter-attacking and "smashing" (vighāta) the matter from which they spring; then through "appeasing" it (samśamana); and lastly by eliminating the cause (nidāna) of the disturbance.