Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

Of wind as one of the causes Of the union, nothing particular fleed be said:

Of acts, it should be observed that they are those of previous lives of conditions of existence. It is those acts that determine the particular forth of Shape with which the Self becomes vested. One becomes a man ; another, h horse ; a third, a goat ; &c. The determining factor is the unexhausted dcti df

p. 103

CHARAKA SAMHITA .

{Here are two verses containing a summary .)

That physician who knows the members of the body as regards all its parts, is never at fault in consequence of ignorance of this topic.'1

Possessed of knowledge, such a man is never confounded by those faults which have their origin in ignorance.

Such an individual, becoming bereft of faults, bereft of desire, and acquiring tranquillity, attains to freedom from rebirth.8

Thus ends the Seventh Lesson, called Carira-sankhya, in the Division called Carira, of Agniveja’s treatise as revised by Charaka.

previous states of life. It should be noted, however, that when union and disunion are mentioned, the acts of this life also may be regarded as playing an important part.

The increase (by which is meant the accession of new atoms) and the decrease (by which is meant the loss of atoms) of ihe body are certainly due to the acts of this life also.

‘ Ekatwena sangah ’ means ‘ In union is the cause of attachment.’ 1 Sanga ’ implies, as explained by Chakrapani, ‘ the cause of sanga.’ The sense is, as long as one thinks of the body as a whole and as something belonging to one’s self, one remains attached to the things or concerns of Life. ‘ Prithaktwena apavargah,’ that is, when one regards the body as really a mass of atoms united together for some time and certain to be disunited after a few short years, one ceases to remain attached to the concerns of life. This dissociation from attachment is ‘ apavarga ’ or Emancipation.

‘ Tatra Pradhanamasaktam ’ is misread and mis-interpreted bgr Gangadhara and all the Bengali translators. Chakrapani adopts the correct reading and correctly explains it. The final word is not ‘ asaktam ’ but ‘ asaktam.’ The sense is ‘ in such thought does the soul or Self become dissociated.’ Truly, if the Soul can regard the body as only a mass of atoms, beauty, wrath, enjoy* ments, all cease to affect it.

The last clause or sentence is ‘ sarva-satwa-nivrittau nivartate.’ The sense is, ‘ when all entities (are regarded to) cease to exist, the soul becomes dis¬ sociated.’ This is another form of saying what has already been said. When existent things -existent, that is, in the ordinary view— are regarded as non¬ existent, which, of course, is the truth beheld by true knowledge, the Soul becomes divested of all attachments.

It is very much to be regretted that even with Chakrapani as a guide Gangadhara should have failed to understand the last but one sentence, —T.

CHARAKA SAMHITA .

813,

LESSON VI It

After this we shall expound the Lesson called ‘ Jatisutriya ’ m the Division called ‘'Carira’ (of this treatise).* * * §

Thus said the illustrious son of Atri.1,

We shall now lay down instructions about those acts which may accomplish the desire which a woman and a man, of un¬ diseased semen and blood and genital organ and womb, may cherish for good offspring.-f-2

Aministering unto both the woman and the man medicated oils and gJtees as also the (required) processes of Swedana (vapour baths), and correcting their constitutions by emetics and purga¬ tives, the health of the couple should be strengthened.

After correction, they should be treated with enemata both? dry and oily.

After this, the man should be treated with ghee and milk corrected by such medicines as fall within the class called sweet, and the woman should be treated with oils and the seeds obtained" from the beans of Phaseolus radiatus ,\z

From the beginning of the menses, for three nights the woman should live as a Brahmachârini (that is, wholly abstain from sexualcongress), sleeping on the bare ground, eating from off the palmsof her hands or some vessel that is not broken. She should not, . again, subject her person to any sort of rubbing or cleansing process.§4 1

* ‘ Jati ’ means birth' ; and ‘ sutra,’ aphorism. The compound ‘jatisutriya.’ means ' relating to the aphorisms about birth.’ The whole of this Lesson treats of topics connected with birth. — T.

t The adjective ‘ avyapanna ’ qualifies all the four substantives after it, viz., ‘sukra’ (semen), ‘ §onita ’ (menstrual blood), ‘ yoni ’ (the genital- organ of woman), and ‘ garbhasaya ’ (womb)..

Those acts which are calculated to lead to the fruition of the desire which a healthy couple may entertain for good issue, will be spoken of in the subsequent aphorisms. — T.