Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

* The digestive fire is shown in this aphorism to be of four kinds : Keen is that which can digest every food, good and bad, or food however improper in itself or improperly taken. Mild is that which cannot digest all kinds of food ; indeed, the fire that digests only light food is called mild,

I have rendered ‘ Sama ’ even, and ‘ Visama’ uneven. The sense is that of equable and unequable. The words may also mean normal and abnormal.

That fire is ‘ Sama ’ which becomes deranged in consequence of riotous food and acquires its normal condition in consequence of good food taken regu¬ larly.

That fire is ‘ Visama ’ which sometimes is not deranged by riotous living and at other times is deranged thereby. Even proper food taken properly may at times derange it. Indeed, a digestive fire that is irregular is so called.— T.

■f Cbakrapani notes that the use of ‘ prakritisthanam ’ after ‘ samavatapitta^eshmanam ’ is not an instance of tautology. What the Rishi intends to say is that the digestive fire of men in whom the three are in a harmonious state and who are not old, is said to be even.

CHA RAKA-SA MHITA.

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Of persons in whose constitutions the wind predominates, when the wind overwhelms the seat of fire, the fires become uneven. Some say that there are no creatures that are of equable wind, bile, and phlegm, because of human beings taking food of unequal virtues. Hence, (they say), some have constitutions characterised by predominance of wind : some have constitutions with the bile predominating in it ; and some have constitutions with the phlegm predominating in it.

This, however, is not reasonable, for why would physicians regard a person of equable wind, bile, and phlegm as healthy ? The normal condition (of the body) is called Health,

The application of medicine has. health for its purpose.

That application has exertion for its form.

Through such exertion one becomes of equable wind, bile, and phlegm.

Without doubt, there cannot be persons with constitutions in which the wind predominates, or in which the bile predominates, or in which the phlegm predominates.

What really happens is that in consequence of the increase of any of these (three faults),, individuals come to be called as having constitutions with that particular fault predominating in them.16*

It is for excluding: the old that ‘ prakritisthanam ’ is used. This explanation is far-fetched. The passage is certainly pleonastic. — T,

* This aphorism contains an important explanation. The Rishi notices that what is called Health or Ireedom from disease is really the normal condi¬ tion of the body. When that condition becomes deranged, the state is called disease. That which is the normal condition of the body or Health consists in a harmony or equability of the three faults, viz., wind, bile, and phlegm. If this harmony were not the nature or the normal condition of the body, physicians when called to treat disease, would never try to restore the body to that con¬ dition. It is when that harmony is destroyed that one seeks the aid of medicine. The application of medicine involves exertion. It has to be sought out ; its virtues are to be examined ; its effects on the human constitution are to be observed ; it may have to be mixed with other objects possessing other virtues. All this labour has one object in view, viz., the restoration of the state of har¬ mony (of the faults) that has been lost.

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CHARAKA-SAMHITA.

If the faults are vitiated, such vitiation cannot in reason be regarded as one’s normal condition. Hence, faults, when they predominate, can never be said to constitute one’s nature or normal condition.

There are men that have the wind, or the bile, or the phlegm predominating in them. They should be taken as out of their normal condition.17*

For the four kinds of persons already indicated, {vis., those with wind, bile, and phlegm that are harmonious or equal, and those with any of these predominating over the other two) four different courses of living are prescribed as beneficial.

Amongst these, for them that have constitutions characterised by harmony or equability of ingredients, everything that conduces to maintain that harmony is beneficial.t

From these considerations it would seem that there cannot really be a person in whose constitution wind, or bile, or phlegm naturally predominates. What, therefore, is meant by a person having a constitution with this or that fault predominating in it, is that the original or normal harmony is lost, by any one of the three increasing or exeeeding its proper proportion. Such increase or predominance of one of the faults should, therefore, be taken not as nature but as a derangement or disease. — T.

* That which is said in the previous aphorism is further developed here. Any one of the three faults is seen to increase or predominate in this or that person. If this increase be, as it should be, regarded as vitiation from its normal condition, the person distinguished by it cannot be said to be in his normal condition. It is true there are men in whom one of the three faults may be seen to predominate. Such men, however, should be taken as out of their normal condition. — T.