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

flesh of any domestic (Gramya) or aquatic (Anupa) beast or bird, as well as the flesh of those which live in marshy ground (Audaka), should not be eaten with boiled rice prepared from paddy which has commenced sprouting, or with lard, honey, milk, treacle or Masha-pulse. The pot-herbs,, known as the Rohini and the J4tu-shaka, should not be partaken of in combination with milk and honey ; nor the flesh of a heron, eaten simultaneously with Kulm^sha and the spirituous liquor known as V^runi. Maricha (black pepper) and Pippalis should not be eaten in combination with the pot-herbs known as the Kakam^chi. The pot-herbs known as the Nadima and Siddhi should not be simultaneously eaten with curd, and the flesh of a cock. Honey should not be taken immediately after drinking warm water, nor meat and bile should be simultaneouly eaten. Sura (wine), Krishara and Payasa should not be taken in combination. Similarly, Souviraka and sesamum paste, fish and modifications of sugarcane juice, treacle and Kdkam^chi, honey and Mulakam, treacle and the flesh of a wild boar, or honey and boar's flesh should not be taken in combination.

Similarly, milk and Mulakam, mango fruit and Jamboline fruit and the flesh of Godh^, Porcupine and hog should not be eaten together. All fish, specially those of the Chilichimi species, should not be taken with

1 88 I'HE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. XX.

milk, nor the fruit of a plantain tree should be simultaneously eaten with Tila fruit, milk or whey. The fruit known as Lakucha should not be taken with milk, curd or meat soup, nor with honey and clarified-butter, nor immediately before or after the drinking of milk.

I ncompatible preparations of food:—

Now we shall enumerate the names of substances, which become unwholesome through incompatible preparations. Flesh of pigeon fried with mustard oil should not be eaten. The flesh of a Kapinjala, Myura (peacock, L^va, Tittira, and Godha, boiled with castor oil and on a fire of the twigs of castor plants, should not be eaten. Clarified-butter, kept in a vessel of Indian bell metal for ten consecutive days, should be rejected as unwholesome. Honey should not be used in combination with an article or substance heated by fire, nor in the seasons of spring and autumn. The pot-herbs known as the Kakam^chi, boiled in a bowl in which fish or ginger had been previously boiled or prepared, should be rejected as positively injurious.

Similarly, the pot-herbs known as the Upodika should not be eaten by boiling them with the levigated paste of sesamum. The flesh of a heron prepared with hog's lard should not be taken with the pulp of the cocoanut fruit. The flesh of a Bhasa bird, roasted on a spit over a charcoal fire, should not be eaten.

Chap. XX. ] SUTRASTHANAM.

p. 189

Objectionable proportions :— Now we

shall enumerate the names of substances which become unwholesome by being mixed in objectionable proportions. Two oily substances (such as oil and clarified butter) or honey and any of the oily substances, mixed in equal proportions, should not be taken ; nor should rain water be drunk immediately after having taken honey and clarified-butter.

Incompatible tastes, potencies and chemical actions :— Now we shall describe the substances enumerated in couples, and possessed of different tastes, which prove incompatible to each other through their respective tastes, potencies and chemical actions Vipaka). Sweet and acid tastes, or sweet and saline tastes should be deemed incompatible to each other in respect of their potencies and inherent properties. Sweet and acrid tastes are incompatible to each other in all the above three respects.

Similarly, sweet and bitter, or sweet and astringent things should be deemed incompatible to each other in respect of their tastes, and chemical action. Acid and sahne things are incompatible to each other as regards their flavours. Acid and acrid things are incompatible as regards flavour and chemical action. Acid and bitter, or acid and astringent things, are incompatible to each other, both as regards their respective flavours, potencies, and digestive or chemical transformations.

IQO THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [ Chap. XX.

Saline and pungent things are incompatible to each other as regards their respective flavour (Rasa) and digestive (chemical) transformation.

Similarly, saline and bitter things or saline and astringent things are incompatible to each other in respect of all the three abovesaid relations and categories. Pungent and bitter tastes are incompatible to each other in respect of flavour and digestive transformation, whereas substances of pungent and astringent or bitter and astringent tastes are incompatible to one another as regards their respective potencies, flavours and digestive chemical) action or transformation.