Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

‘ Birth in an age of strong men ’ is another reason of one’s gaining strength. Those born in the Krita or the Treta, or even the Dwapara age, had very favourable chances of becoming strong according to Pauranik writers and Hindu physicians. Those, for example, speaking of historical times, who were born in Sparta at the time of Lycurgus, had every chance of becoming strong.

‘ Kala ’ implies both season and the age of man. Season includes climate. The spring is the season when men generally becomes, stronger than at other times of the year. Similarly, youth is the time when one becomes stronger than at any other period of one’s life.

Wealth of seed and soil is one of the most powerful causes of strength. S'rong parents very generally be get strong children.

Continent couples may also be said to possess wealth of soil and seed. Nothing need be said of wealth of food ; wealth of body (meaning a wellformed body), and wealth of assimilation, are causes of strength. It very generally happens that wealth of assimilation is not possessed by rich people. There occurs a flue verse in the Mababharata. It runs as follows :

Prayena grimatam loke bhoktum gaktirna vidyate,

Kashthanyapi hi jiryyante daridranancha sarvasah.

“ Very generally, men of wealth lack power of assimilation ; while the poor succeed in digesting even hard wood.

It is one thing to have good food ; and another thing to digest the food one has. In many countries, there are stronger men among the poorer classes who live on coarser food thau their superiors in the social scale. This is, of course, due to wealth of assimilation.

By wealth of Mind is meant a cheerful and contented mind. None but a cheerful and contended man can have a good digestion. All his organs have full play. Such men are likely to have strength. A melancholy person is believed to have a bad liver.

p. 792

CHARAKA SAM HIT A.

The following are the entities which accomplish the transforma¬ tion of food (into juices, blood, and the other constituent elements of the body) :

They are, —

Heat or (digestive fire) ;

-Wind;

Secreted juices (such as saliva, gastric juice, &c.) ;

Oil ;

Time ; and

Judicious correlation.#19

‘ Swabbava-samsiddhi 1 ‘ I render, is ‘ dispensation of Nature. ’ The sense is this : there are some constitutions wh;ch are so endued by nature that they surmount all obstacles, and gain strength, or having gained it, succeed in retaining it under even the most unfavourable considerations. The vitality of such constitutions is simply wonderful. The enumeration of youth as a cause of strength seems to be a repetition, for ‘ Kala 1 has already been mentioned. It occurs third in the text.

‘ Acts as a source of strength, would imply physical exercises. Acts may also mean all kinds of righteous acts, particularly abstention from ugly and infamous deeds. It is the belief in India, among Hindus in especial, that sin destroys strength, and righteous adds to it. In one sense, this is undoubtedly correct.

The mention of cheerfulness or joy as a cause of strength, seems to be a repetition, for 1 wealth of mind ’ implies nearly the same thing, seeing cheerfulness especially mentioned. ‘ Wealth of mind ’ ought to be taken in a wider sense. — T.

* What is said here is this : it is food that is transformed into blood, bones, flesh, marrow, &c. The question is, what are those agents which transform food into these constituent elements of the body ? The answer is — Heat (meaning the digestive fire) ; wind (whose operation is referred to in the next aphorism) ; ‘ Kleda ’ (by which is meant recreted juice like snlive, the gastric juice) ; Oil (which means the oily substances in food ; without these, food cannot be softened and digested) ; Time (about whose eflects, there can be no doubt ; and judicious correlation, which implies the presence of harmo¬ nious elements or the absence of hostile elements, in the food taken. It is, of course, well-known that hostile elements in food are an impediment to digestion. — T.

CHARAKA SAMHITA.

p. 793

In this connection, truly, of these entities, viz.,, Heat and the rest, which accomplish the transformation of food, the following are the functions of each :

They are, —

Heat cooks (i. e., digests) ;

Wind draws ;

Secreted juices slacken ;

Oil generates softness ;

Time achieves the completion (of the operation) ; and, lastly, the

Judicious correlation (of the ingredients of the food taken) aids in accomplishing the transformation of food, and brings about harmony of the constituent elements of the body*“

* The function of Heat or digestive fire is to cook, that is, to digest the food in the stomach. (The root ‘ pach ’ means to cook ; digestion also is culled ‘ Paka ’ or ‘ paripaka, ' both of which are from the root ‘ pach. ' The fact is, digestion is regarded as a sort of cooking).

The function of wind is ‘ apakarshana, ’ literally meaning ‘drawing1 or 1 dragging. ’ Chakrapani explains that wind draws the food to the digestive fire ; that is, brings it near the fire.