Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

They are soft, flabby, delicate, painful to touch, red or yellow, or blue or dark, covered with sweat and filth, or endued with a fcetid smell, emiting scanty and yellowish blood, or copious blood, charac¬ terised by a burning sensation, or itching, or ‘gula’ or cutting pains, ending in suppuration, and relievable by the application of things that are cold. 4°

Piles characterised by predominance of bile manifest the follow¬ ing symptoms :

Liquid stools of yellow and green colour ;

Stools and urine that are yellow in colour, of a very fcetid smell, and copious in quantity ;

Thirst, fever, that variety of asthma called ‘Tamaka,’ swoons, and disgust for food ; and

Yellow colour of the nails, the eyes, the skin, the urine, and the stools. 41

( Here are two verses ).

The following should be regarded as the exciting cause of Piles characterised by predominance of bile :

Indulgence in food and drink that are pungent, or sour, or saline, or hot ;

Indulgence fn physical exercises, or exposure to fire or the heat of the sun ;

Residence in climes and regions that are hot, or indulgence in wrath, wines and malice ;

CHARAKA-SAMHITA.

*375

Food and drink and medicines that burn the stomach, or are of keen virtues, or hot, 42-43

Those Piles should be known as characterised by predominance of .phlegm which manifest the following symptoms :

They are large in size ;

They are well developed ;

They are of smooth and oily surface ;

They are capable of being touched without .pain They are white in colour, or pale, and slimy ;

They are paralysed, heavy, and wet in appearance, and unfeeling to touch ;

They are swollen, and the swelling is constant 1 They are characterised by excessive itching ;

They emit secretions that are copious and frequent, and that are yellow, or white, or red, in colour, and slimy ;

The urine and the stools are heavy, slimy, and white ;

Indulgence in food and drink that are dry produces relief ; Excessive straining in passing stools ;f Frequent passing of stools ;J Sensation of straining in the groins ;

Cutting pains in the mouth of the anal canal ;

Nausea ; spitting ; cough, disgust for food ;

Catarrh in the nose ;

. Heaviness of limbs ; vomiting ; difficulty of micturition ;

Drying up (waste) of the ‘dhâtus’ or body ;

Swellings (in different parts of the body) ;

Chlorosis ; fever of that variety which is characterised by a sensa¬ tion of cold ;

* Some texts read ‘Spar^asukhani’, meaning ‘they yield pleasure if touched’.— T.

•j. ‘Pravahika’ is explained by the commentators as ‘excessive straining in passing stools.’ X ‘Atimatrotthana’ is explained by Gangadhara and others as ‘frequent passing of stools.’ Probably, it means that the patient has to rise up and sit down repeatedly while passing stools, — T.

*74

p. 1376

CH A RAKA-SA MH1 TA.

Calculi ; gravels ;

A sensation of the heart (cardiac region) being wrapped round with a cover ;

Dulness of the senses ; sensation of sweetness in the mouth ;

Capacity to engender gonorrhoea ;

They take a long time to cure :

Excessive weakening of the digestive fire ;

Capacity to bring about loss of manhood ;

Appearance of diseases characterised by the presence of mucus in the stomach ; and

Whiteness of the nails, eyes, face, skin, urine, and the stools, 44-4&

( Here are some verses ).

Eating of food that is sweet, oily, cold, saline, sour, and heavy abstention from physical exertion, sleep in the daytime, indulgence in soft beds and seats,

Exposure to the east wind, residence in a cold country or cold climate, and abstention from thinking,

These have been regarded as the causes of Piles characterised by predominance of phlegm. 47-4§

From combinations of causes and symptoms (of two distinct varieties), the physician should infer that the Piles are characterised by two faults ; when all the causes exist together as also all the symptoms (of the simple varieties), the Piles must be regarded as characterised by all the three faults simultaneously excited.* 49

The following are regarded as the premonitory indications of Piles, viz..

Indigestion of the food with which the stomach is filled -r

General weakness or debility of the body ;

# What is said here is this : the three simple varieties of Piles are I. those characterised by the excited wind, 2. those by the excited bile, and 3. those by the exeited phlegm. When the causes and symptoms of any two of these varieties exist together, the Piles are regarded as characterised by two faults, viz., wind and bile, or wind and phlegm, or bile and phlegm. When the causes and symptoms of all the three simple varieties exist together, the Piles are regarded as characterised by all the three faults excited simultaneously. — T.

CHARAKA-SAMHITA.

p. 1377

Borborygmi of the intestines ;

Leanness of the body (or loss of flesh) ;

Frequency of eructations ;

Langour of the thighs and the calves ;

Scantiness of stools ; apprehension of the existence of disease, of the ‘Grahani,’ or of chlorosis, or of abdominal dropsy ;* 5°-5i Piles, verily, are never generated unless all the three faults are simultaneously excited.