Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

Sir M oilier Williams, K. C. I. E. : — I have received your kind gift of the successive parts of the Charaka and Susruta Samhita. I regard them as a valuable addition .to my library. No doubt, an English translation would be very interesting.

Dr. Reinhold Rost, C. I. E. late Librarian to the India Office — . Your excellent translation ... . . a most valuable and praiseworthy work which will not fail to make ancient Hindu medicine better understood and appreciated in the West .

I shall draw the attention of Oriental scholars to your difficult and meritorious work

. Many important additions to your Sanskrit dictionaries will be gleaned from your translation.

Austin Flint, Esq., New York, U. S A. : — I have read with much pleasure the first fasciculus of your translation of Charaka Samhita and shall be very glad to receive the rest of the work, it cannot fail to be of great interest to the medical profession, which will be under great obligations to you.

A. H. Edgren, Esq., Gothenburgh, Sweden:—! am deeply interested in anything Indian, and I need not say that I shall considerit as a gain to obtain whatever insight I may into the subject treated of in your valuable translation.

Professor A. V. Williams' Jackson., Columbia College, New York, U. S. A. — I must congratulate you, with true appreciation of your efforts. I should very much like to make a little note, in one of our papers, of the praiseworthy work you are doing, Be assured, Sir, of my hearty thanks and appreciation and of my deep interest in India and antique lore.

■ Mons. A. Barth., Paris : — Your efforts to place within reach of the readers of ancient literature a work of so interesting a nature both to the Oriental scholars and to the men of medicine, are very praiseworthy, and I shall be happy to bring the work to the notice of the French public, or, at least, of those who take an interest in these researches,

Mons. B. St. Hailaire, Paris: — I praise you ort your undertaking and wish you all success. The work is of interest to all learned men and to medical men, and the commentaries written on it prove its value and utility. I will put in a notice in the Journal des Savants as soon as I can and shall be happy to do you justice.

Professor H. Jacobi, Bonn University, Germany : — The work you have undertaken will interest Sanskritists as well as medical men who care for the history of their science. I shall not fail to draw the attention of some eminent physicians whom I know personally, to the ancient work of Charaka.

Herr. R. Garbe, Prinzenstram Konigsbuigh, Germany !■ — English translation of Charaka Samhita is, perhaps, at least from an historical point of view, the most important work of the medical literature of your country.

Sir Alfred Croft, M. A., C. I. E., Director of Public Instruction, Bengal: — I have been greatly entertained as well as edified by the examination, in part IV, of all the things which a man shall not do. A layman can understand the precepts and such a guide to life, cannot be other than valuable.

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TREATMENT OF LEPROSY.

We shall now expound the Lesson on the treatment of Leprosy.

Thus said the illustrious son of Atri.

Hear me discourse, O Agnivega, on the causes, the diverse symp¬ toms, the seats, and the means of alleviation, particularly and in their entirety, of the different varieties of Leprosy which are all destructive of the sense of touch. 1

Of persons who take food and drink made of incompatible in¬ gredients, as also food and drink that are liquid, oily, and heavy,

Of persons who check the urgings of vomiting as also the other urgings (of nature), 2

Of persons who indulge in physical exerci^s, or expose them¬ selves to great heat, after having overloaded the stomach with food (and drink),

Of persons who expose themselves to cold and heat, or indulge in fasting and gorging, in violation of proper sequence, 3

Of persons who, when afflicted with excessive perspiration, or toil, of terror, quickly indulge in cold water,

Of persons who eat before the food previously taken has been digested,

Of persons who injudiciously indulge in the five well-known acts {viz., the administration of emetics, purgatives, enemata that is oily, enemata that is dry, and errhines), 4

Of persons who take, in excessive measures, rice that is new, curds, fish, salt, and things that are sour,

Of persons who eat (in excessive measures) the seeds of Masha (Pkaseolus radiatus), Mulaka (garden radish), cakes, treacle (raw sugar), milk, and sesame seeds, 5

Of persons who indulge in sexual congress at a time when the food taken by them has not been digested, and of those who indulge in sleep at daytime,

Of persons who humiliate Brahmans and seniors, and of those who perpetrate sinful acts, 6

The three faults, viz., wind, bile, and phlegm, becoming vitiated, vitiate the skin, the blood, the flesh, and the watery substance which lies next to the skin (called Lasika).

p. 1208

CHARAKA-SAMH1 TA.