Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

For enabling you to understand which Vidradhi is curable and which not, we shall instruct you about their especial symptoms as depending upon the particular part of the body in which they may appear. Amongst the several kinds of this disease as depend¬ ing upon the locality, when the Vidradhi appears in the thoracic region, the especial symptoms are excessive pain in the region about the heart, that form of asthma called Tamaka, fainting or loss of consciousness, and consumption. In those cases of Vidradhi which appear in the region joining the throat and the chest, the especial symptoms are thirst, dryness of the mouth (as if it were parched), and a choking sensation of the throat, accompanied with pain. When the disease appears in the liver, the especial symptom is asthma. When it appears in the spleen, the especial symptom is suffocation or difficulty of breathing. When it appears in the abdominal cavity, the special symptoms are excessive pain in the flanks, the back, and the waist. When it appears in the navel, the especial symptom is hiccup. When it appears in the groins, the especial symptom is stiffness or paralysis of the

108 CHA RA KA - SA MH I Tl thighs. When it appears in the anal canal, the especial Symptoms are difficulty of micturition, and very foetid stools.88

When the Vidradhi that appears in the upper regions of the body ripens and bursts, the secretion emanating from it comes out through the mouth. When that which appears in the lower parts of the body ripens and brusts, the secretion emanating from it comes out through the anus. When it appears in the havel and ripens and bursts, its secretion escapes through both the outlets, viz., the mouth and the anus.88

Amongst the different kinds of Vidradhi, when those that appear in the thoracic region, the navel, and the anal canal, ripen, they lead to. death. Those also that are caused by disorders in all the three elements (of wind, bile, and phlegm), lead to the same result. The rest, if treated by a skilful physician competent to give relief without delay, abate and admit of cure. Hence, as soon as the Vidradhi is generated that afflicts the patient like a sharp weapon or a snake or the lightning-fire, it should be treated with Oils, Sweda, and Purgatives. All cases of Vidradhi should be treated in the same way as glandular enlargements in the abdomen.100

Here occur some Verses.

All these diseases, included under the common name of Pidaka, may be generated in even the absence of Diabetes in the patient. They may be due to a diseased state of the fat. They are, again, not noticed till they actually localise themselves by occupying some part of the body.101

Of one who is possessed of copious fat or phlegm, the diseases £aravika, Kachcchapika, and Jalini, when they appear, become very painful. Indeed, they assume a virulent type in such persons.102

That Sarshapi, and Alaji, and Vinata, and Vidradhi, which are due to the inordinate excitement of the bile and to which persons without much fat are liable, are all capable of being Cured with ease.105

. That person, suffering under diabetes, who gets the diseases called Pidaka in his vital parts, or the shoulders, or the anus, orp. 199 in the tips of the ears, or in the breasts, or in the hip-joints or knee-joints or ankle-joints, meets with death.104

There are other kinds of Pidaka some of which are yellow, or blood-red, or dark, or reddish, or yellowish white, or whitish, or brown as ashes, or dark-blue. Some are mild and some virulent ; some are large, some minute ; some appear slowly and some rapidly ; some are attended with little pain, and some with much pain. Ascertaining their nature, from observation of the causes and indications of wind or bile or phlegm (to which they may be ascribable), one should explain ( what they are to the patient), guided by observation of the supervening afflictions.106'108

The supervening afflictions of the diseases called Pidaka are thirst, short or asthmatic breath, sloughing of the flesh, diabetes, hiccough, sensation of intoxication, fever, erysipelas, and sense of heavy pressure upon the heart and other vital parts.108

The faults of the system, viz., wind, bile, and phlegm, have three kinds of courses : first, they may be attenuated, or remain in normal measure, or be increased or excited ; second, they may range upwards, or downwards, or in transverse directions ; and thirdly, they may travel into the stomach, the branches, or sub¬ sidiary ducts, or all vital parts and bone-joints. These are the three courses, in respect of kind, of wind, bile, and phlegm.10*-110

The growth, aggravation, and attenuation of wind, bile, and phlegm, in their due order, happen one after another, in the six seasons beginning with the season of the clouds.*111 Such growth, aggravati°n, and attenuation constitute a fourth kind of course ( in respect of the faults) called the course dependant upon season or time. This course, again, is of two kinds, viz., normal and abnormal.112

The digestion of men arises from the heat of the bile. The bile, when excited, produces diverse kinds of disorders.113