An English Translation of the Sushruta Samhita, Vol. I: Sutrasthanam — trans. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (1907)

During the cold months, when the nights are longer, substances, which tend to subdue the bodily humours which are naturally deranged during that season, should be eaten in the morning, while during the seasons, when the days are inordinately long, things which are congenial in those seasons should be eaten in the afternoon. (In spring and autumn ) when days and nights are equal, the meal should be taken just at the middle part of the day and night.*

A meal should not be eaten before the appointed time, nor before the appetite has fully come. Similarly, over or insufficient eating should be equally refrained from. Eating at an improper time and before the system feels light and free brings on a large number of diseases, and may ultimately lead to death. A meal eaten at an hour long after the appoiiited time tends to aggravate the bodily Vayu, which affects thg

" This rule holds good in the case of persons, who eat a single meal in the course of a day and night. Those, who are in the habit of eating two meals a day, should eat a light half meal at one and quarter Prahara in the morning and another between the third and the fourth Praharas in the afternoon (Panjikdkfira). According to Jejjada, the nieals should be between the third and ilie fourth Prahara both in the day and night.

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digestive fire, and offers serious obstacles in the way of its digestion. The food thus digested with difficulty in the stomach creates discomforts and destroys all desire for a second meal. Insufficient diet gives but inadequate^satisfaction, and tends to weaken the bod)'. Over eating, on the contrary, is attended with such distressing symptoms, as languor, heaviness of the body, disinclination for movements, and distension of the stomach, accompanied by rumbling in the intestines, etc. Hence it behoves a man to take only as much food as he can easily digest, which should be well cooked and made to possess all the commendable (adequately nutritive) properties. Moderation in diet is the golden rule, besides taking into consideration the demerits of a particular food before partaking thereof and the nature of the time (day or night) it is eaten.

Boiled rice food (Annam ) which is impure and dirty, infested with poison, or out of which another has eaten a portion as well as that which is full of weeds, pebbles, dust etc., which the mind instinctivel)^ repels, or cooked on the previous day or which has been kept standing over-night, as well as that which is insipid or emits a fetid smell, should be similarly rejected. Also food which has been cooked long ago, or has become cold and hard, and has been rewarmed or which has been imperfectly strained, or is burnt and insipid should also not serve as food. More

Chap. XLVi. ] SUTRASTHANAM.

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and more" palatable dishes should be successively taken in the course of a meal. During the course of a meal, the mouth should be frequently rinsed or gargled inasmuch as the palate thus constantly being cleansed becomes more susceptible to taste, and anythifig eaten thereafter is relished the better and gives all the pleasures of a first morsel. The palate affected with a sweet taste at the outset fails to appreciate the tastes of the successive dishes. Hence, the mouth should be washed at intervals during the meal. Sweet food eaten with a relish pleasurably affects the mind, brings joy, energy, strength, and happiness in its train, and contributes to the growth of the body ; whereas the one of a contrary character is attended with opposite effects. The food, which does not satiate a man even after repeated eating, should be considered as agreeable (Svddu) to him. After finishing a meal water

» should be drunk in a quantity whij:h would be beneficial.

Food adhering to the teeth should be gently drawn out by means of a tooth-pick, inasmuch as if not removed a kind of fetor is produced in the mouth.

•I The Vayu is increased after the completion of digestion, the Pittam, during the continuance of the process, while the Kapham is increased immediately after the act of eating. Hence, the Kapham is to be subdued after the close of a meal, and the intelligent eater should attain that end by partaking fruit 71p. 562 of an astringent, pungent, or bitter taste, or by chewing a betel leaf prepared with broken areca nut, camphor, nutmeg, clove, etc., or by smoking, or by means of anything that instantaneously removes the viscidity Mn the cavity of the mouth, and permeates it with Its own essence.