Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

All varieties of vomiting are regarded as arising from nausea of the ‘amâcaya’ (i. e., that part of the stomach where the food first goes after deglutition). Hence fast (or food that is very light and small in measure) is prescribable at the outset.

As regards, again, all other varieties save that born of wind, they should be treated with such correctives (z. e., purgatives, emetics, &c.), as are alleviative of bile and phlegm. *9

[The 'amSjaya’ is the seat of the phlegm. ‘Utklega’ means an upward tendency.’ Practically, it implies nausea.]

[The correctives to be administered are as follow :]

The pulv of Abhaya’ (chebulic myrobalans), mixed with honey, should be lickedThose purgatives, which are agreeable, should be taken with wines or milk, agreeably to considerations of measure and time.

The excited faults having an upward tendency will then be given a downward course. 20

[Only such purgatives should be taken as are alleviative of bile and phlegm. The treatment here laid down is for all varieties of vomiting save that born of wind.]

As regards emetics, one should take those which are prepared with Valli-phala, i. en bitter gourds and the like.

If one has become weakened, one should be treated with medi¬ cines that are called ‘^amanas,’ i. en alleviatives*

‘t^amanas’ are not emetics. They cure nausea and vomiting. — T.

p. 199

CMARAKA-SAMHITA.

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He should be treated with such ‘(^amanas,’ for example, as light and agreeable meat- juices, light and dry food (such as ‘laddus’), and also diverse kinds of light food with similar drinks.* 2t

(The meat-juices referred to above are specially indicated in the following verse).

Meat-juices prepared with the flesh of francoline partidges, pea¬ cocks, and quails (a variety of Perdix ckinensis ), well-dressed (z. e., fried in ghee and spiced with black pepper, cumin seeds, &c.), cures vomiting born of (excited) wind.

So the soup also of Kola (jujubes), Kulattha (the seeds of Dolichos biflorus ), DhSnya (corriander seeds), the roots of Vilwa and the rest i. e., the group of five roots beginning with those of {JEgle marmelos ), and barley, rendered sour (by the addition of ‘Kanji’), cures the vomiting born of (excited) wind. 22

If in wind-born vomiting, the person be afflicted with palpitation of the heart, and cough, he should drink ghee (boiled in water of four times its measure) mixed with ‘Saindhava’ salt ;

or, ghee boiled with Nagara (dry ginger) and DhSnyaka (corrian¬ der seeds), and curds (of four times its measure) ;

or, ghee boiled with the expressed juice of pomegranate seeds.

Or, the physician may give him the same measure of ghee (boiled with the expressed juice of pomegranate seeds), mixed with the pulv of Vyosha (the three acrids), and the three salts {viz., ‘Sauvarchala,’ ‘Saindhava,’ and ‘Vit’) ;

or, the physician may give him diverse kinds of food that are oily and agreeable, mixed with meat-juices and soups (of the usual pulses) and such sour articles as curds and the expressed juice of pomegranate seeds.-]- 23-24

* Having said that one who has become very weak should be treated with ‘Qamanas,’ the author specifies the varieties of ‘Qamanas’ in the second line of the verse. The adjective ‘laghubhih’ qualifies ‘rasaih,’ ‘bhakshaih’, and ‘sabhojaih panaih.’ — T.

~j- ‘Hriddyani’, i. e., agreeable, is explained as implying boiled with agreeable ‘mandas’ and ‘peyfis.’ The kinds of food prescribed should all be such as to be alleviative of the wind. — T.

CHAR AKA - SA MH1TA.

IS 11

In vomiting born of (excited) bile, the pulv of Trivrit ( Convolvulus Turpethnni), mixed with the expressed juice of Draksha (grapes), or with that of Vidari (Batatus paniculatus), or with that of Ikshu (sugar¬ cane), has the virtue of restoring the bile to its normal course.

As regards bile that has been exceedingly provoked in the seat of phlegm (i. e., in the stomach), the physician should seek to expel it upwards by emetics that are agreeable to the taste. 25

Unto one (afflicted with bile-born vomiting) that has been thus treated with correctives, the physician should, in proper time (/. e., when his appetite has been excited), give ‘mantha’ or ‘peya’ made of the pulverised product of ‘fried paddy, mixed with honey and sugar ;

or, (boiled) £&Ii’ rice, with the soup of Mudga (the seeds of Pkaseolus Mungo ) ;

or, boiled £ali’ rice, with meat-juice prepared with the flesh of of animals having their habitat in the wildernes. 26

[Paddy fried produces ‘Lsja,’ called ‘khai’ in Bengali. When hot,, it is capable of being pulverised.}

The flour of (fried) Kulmasha (or Chanaka, i. e., gram or chick¬ pea) and fried paddy and Yava (barley), and the pulv of Grinjana (carrots), mixed with the pulv of Pippali (the fruits of Piper longum) and white (purified) sugar and honey, may be given as a linctus ;

or, the soft substance obtained from the head of a date-tree, mixed with the pulv of Piper longum , white sugar and honey, or, the pulv of Narikela (cocoa-nuts), mixed with the pulv of Piper loAgum , white sugar and honey ;