An English Translation of the Sushruta Samhita, Vol. II — trans. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (1911)

should not betaken during the rainy season and only in moderate quantities in autumn. Water may be sparingly taken during the first four months of the rainy season if found to be indispensaWy necessary). Hot water should ba taken in winter and spring (Vasanta), but cold water to one's fill in summer Sidhu and Arishta should be taken in winter and spring. Water boiled and subsequently cooled should be drunk in summer and meat-juice in Pravrit. Yusha (Mudgasoup, etc.,) should be taken in the rainy season and cold water after the expiry of the rains These rules sh ;uld be observed only by persons in sound health, whereas the rules regarding persons suffering from any disease should be regulated by the prescription of any diet according to the particular Doshas involved in each case. 81-82.

Any Sneha (such as oil or clarified butter^ .'saturated with powdered Saindhava salt and Pippali should be regularly taken for the purpose of improving the digestive capacity. The natural urging of the body

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should never be repressed (as a repressed physical propulsion is sure to usher in a physical distemper). A Sneha (oleaginous substance) should be freely and largely used during the Prdvrit and the spring seasons as well as in antumn (Sarat) as such a proceeding would act as a good appetising measure and a cure for diseases. Emetics, purgatives and applications of Vastis are respectively beneficial in diseases due to the actions of the deranged Kapha, Pitta andVayu, whereas a regular course of physical exercise tends (equally) to curb an aggravation of all the three preceding Doshas of the body, 30 much so that their aggravation can never be detected in persons in the habit of taking it regularly every day, though otherwise addicted to an incompatible diet, etc. 83-86.

The attention should not be diverted to any other subject at the time of urination, defecation, sexual intercourse, taking of food, as well as at the time of taking emetics and purgatives, etc. It is not wise to anticipate and indulge in the gloomy thoughts of a future and probable invasion of a disease, and to suffer any physical privation on that account. 87-88.

All sexual excesses should be studiously abstained inasmuch as they are sure to produce Sula (colic), cough, asthma, fever, emaciation, phthisis, jaundice, epilepsy, convulsions, etc. A person, who is moderate in sexual intercourse, lives a long life, becomes good-looking, healthy, strong and firm in his nerves and muscles, and becomes capable of averting (untimely) decay. One may visit his wife (lit. a woman) on each fourth night in all the seasons of the year except in summer when he may see her once a fortnight. 89- A,

Women unfit to visit :— A woman in her menses, not amorously disposed, uncleanly in her

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habits, not sufficiently endeared and endearing and belonging to a higher social order* older than one's self, affected with any disease, wanting in any limbs, inimically disposed to one's self, in her period of gestation, suffering from any uterine disorder, belonging to his ovvn blood ;Gotra), or leading the life of an anchorite, or who is his preceptor's wife, should not be gone unto by a man (seeking health and longevity). A woman should not be gone unto in the Sandhyds (morning and evening^ as well as on the Parva daysf (prescribed in the S'^stras), early in the morning, at mid-day, or in the dead of night. Going unto a woman at an infamous, unwholesome, or exposed place is similarly forbidden. Sexual intercourse by a man who is hungry, or thirsty, or who may be suffering from any disease, or may be angry, or in a cheerless spirit, is strictly forbidden. A man should not go unto a woman by repressing a natural urging for Vata (flatus^, stool or urine, or if he is in a weak state of health, (as it would be highly injurious to his health). Incest with lower animals, unnatural sexual intercourse, obstruction of semen in its passage, as well as sexual intercourse with a woman having any vaginal disease are strictly forbidden even in respect of a strong person. 89-B.

It is highly injurious for a man to indulge excessively in sexual intercourse, or to enjoy it while standing, or while lying on his back, or to shake his head at the time ; these should not be indulged in by an intelligent

* The text has "Varna- Vriddha" which literally means superior to the man in respect of Varna or the magnetic vibrations of the body, which are determined by one's birth in a certain family. It means several castes of the Hindus. — Ed.