Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

The physician should thus know that these eleven (separate) kinds (of food) are included in the Group of Prepared food.283

Thus ends the Group of Prepared food.

The Group of Oils.

In subsidiary taste, the oil (of sesame) is astringent. It is sweet, capable of penetrating into even the minute nerves of the body, and hot. It operates as an aphrodisiac, enhances the bile, retains both faeces and urine, and does not increase the phlegm.28'

It is the foremost of all things that are destructive of the wind. It is a tonic ; it improves the skin, memory and intelligence, and the digestive fire.

If improved by admixture with other articles, the oil of sesame is regarded as capable of alleviating all diseases. t283

Through use of oil, Daitya chiefs, in days of old, transcended decrepitude and change, and became capable of bearing great fatigue and putting forth great might in battle.283

The oil of Eranda (Ricinus communis , Linn.) is sweet in taste, heavy, and increases phlegm, and is highly efficacious in alleviat¬ ing: leprosy, abdominal tumours, thoracic diseases, and chronic fevers.-

The oil of mustard seeds is pungent and hot and injures blood and bile ; and destroys phlegm, the vital seed, and the wind, and alleviates itches and urticaria evanida.231

The oil of Piyala seeds (Buchanania latifolia , Roxb) is sweet, heavy, and increases phlegm. In consequence of its not being very hot, it is beneficial in excitements of wind and bile.232

The oil of Atasi (Linnm usitatissimum, Linn.) is sweet and sour j it is pungent in assimilation. In energy it is hot. It is

* ‘Kalamla’ is something that has become sour through age and not anything that is naturally sour, or sour in a state of freshness.— T.

f Like Ghee, the oil of sesame has the capacity of receiving the virtues of articles steeped in it for sometime. The steeping of articles for this purpose is the principal kind of 'Samskara' (correction or improvement) to which oil is subjected. — T.

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beneficial in ( excitements of ) wind and it excites bilious hemorrhage.298

The oil of Kusumbha (Carthamus tinctorius, Linn.) is hot. In assimilation it is pungent. It is heavy and produces, in especial, a burning sensation of the skin. It is capable of exciting all diseases.294

The other oils made from ftuits, which are used in connection with food, should, in respect of their qualities and effects, be declared as similar to the fruits from which they are made.295

Serum and marrow are sweet, promote nutrition, increase the vital seed, and act as tonics. In respect, again, of their cooling and heating qualities, serum and marrow should be declared as conformable to the animals to which they belong.*298

Vi?wabhesaja (or dry ginger) is oily, excites the appetite, in¬ creases the vital seed, is hot, and destructive of wind and phlegm, and sweet in assimilation, and promotes cheerfulness and adds relish to food.297

Pippali (Piper longutn , Linn. ; syn. Chavica Roxburghii,) when juicy, provokes the phlegm, is sweet in taste, heavy, and oily.

When dry, it is regarded as destructive of phlegm and wind, pungent and hot, and capable of increasing the vital seed.293

Maricha ( Piper nigrum, Linn.) is not much hot. It does not increase the vital seed. It is light and adds relish to food. In consequence of its capacity to remove adherent phlegm and other matters, and of drying them, it promotes the appetite and subdues phlegm and wind.f299

Hingu (Ferula Assafcedita, Linn.) is destructive of wind and phlegm and retention of faeces, pungent and hot, provocative of the appetite, and light. It should also be known as capable of alleviating sharp deep-seated pains and operating as a Pachana and adding relish to food.300

* The sense is that serum and marrow, in respect of these two qualities, follow the meat of the animals from which they are taken. If the meat be heating, the serum and marrow also will be so. If it be cool, these also will be cool. — T.

t Chhedanas are medicines which remove by force adherent phlegm and bad humours ; emetics, expectorants, caustics, errhines, &c., probably come under it. — T.

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CHA RA KA -SA M HIT A.

Saindhava (rock) salt is the foremost of all salts. It adds relish to food and excites the appetite. It promotes cheerfulness, strengthens the vision, is not pungent, is destructive of all the three faults, and endued with a sweet taste.301

Sauvarchala salt, in consequence of the fineness of its grains, its heat-producing capacity, its lightness, and its aromatic quality, is capable of adding relish to food, and alleviating cases of reten¬ tion of faeces. It further promotes cheerfulness and alleviates nausea and vomiting.*802

Vit salt, in consequence of its keenness and heat-producing and aphorodisiac qualities, promotes the appetite, alleviates sharp, deep-seated pains, and causes the wind in both the upper and the lower parts of the body to move in its usual or ordinary course.f308

Audbhid salt is bitter and pungent and alkaline. It is keen, and operates as an expectorant. J 804