Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

* ‘ Muhurtama'fwasya ’ is explained by the Commentator as ‘giving him rest for Some time and comforting him the while with soothing speeches.’ Smoke, as has been indicated in the Lesson on Smoking, is of diverse kinds. Some oilify the body, some act as purgatives ; and some correct the disorders of wind, bile, and phlegm. Any Of these three may be taken by the patient. ‘ Samarthyatah ’ is ‘ according to the extent Of his power’, i.e., of smoke the patient should take as much as he can. ‘ Avapyaya’ is night-dew. ‘ Gramya-dharmam ’, — the vulgarity of the act cannot be better indicated than by this word. The decency of the Sanskrit language knows no bounds. An instance of food whose ingredients do not agree would be ghee or milk and fish ; unseasonable food implies food that is taken unseasonably or at irregular intervals. ‘These should not fee indulged even mentally.’ The Hindu physicians understood the _ action of the mind Upon the body. — T.

p. 176

CHA RA KA -SA MHITA .

The patient should then, in the evening of that day, or on the next day, be caused to bathe in lukewarm water. Take then a little quantity of red Cali rice, boil it in water and make a manda of it. The Liquid portion that is to be obtained after the manda has settled down is the gruel that should be administered, while still agreeably warm, to the patient. Marking the strength of his appetite, similar food should be administered to him when the time comes for his second as also his thrid act of eating. When the time comes for the fourth act ofeating, similar kind of £ali rice should be taken and boiling it well into a jelly-like substance, mixing it with warm water, and without using any ghee or salt, or using a very little of either, it should be administered to him. The physician should do the same when the time comes for the fifth and sixth acts of eating. When the time comes for the seventh act of eating, take of the same kind of rice a quantity measured by two Prasritas* Boil it well till it becomes very soft. Mix it then with warm warter and make it very thin, and use a very little quan¬ tity of ghee and salt, and mix it then with the gruel of Mudga. Even this is the food that is to be administered to the patient. The same kind of food is prescribed for the eighth and the ninth acts of eating. When the time comes for the tenth act of eating, take any of these, viz., Lava, Kapinjala, and the others. Boiled rice, served with the decoction of such meat, with a little salt, will constitute a nutritive food that should be given to the patient. After taking such food, the water that is to be drunk should be warm- The same rule should be observed when the time comes for the eleventh and twelfth acts of eating. After that, the same kind of diet should be continued for a week in succession. On the expiry of a week, however, the patient may betake himself to his usual regimen.18

In this state the patient should once more be subjected to the processes of Oiling and Sweda. When he is seen to become cheerful and happy, digesting his food easily, and performing his daily Homa and offering the usual articles to the deities and going through the usual auspicious rites and doing his silent

* A prasrita is a handful. To this day, little quantifies of rice are measured by prasritas for domestic purposes. — T.

CHA RA RA -SA MHITA .

17?

Recitations, and when he goes through the prescribed rites of expia¬ tion, he should be advised to obtain the benedictions of Brahmanas at an auspicious lunation, under a sacred constitution, in a proper conjunction, and at a fit hour. He should next be made to take of the measure of an Aksha , the paste of Trivrit corrected by the pro¬ per ingredients being mixed with it.*19

After this, the physician, observing the differences of condition of wind, bile, and phlegm, of the drugs to be administered, the place inhabited by the patient or the seat of the disease, the season in which the disease has happened, of his strength, of the state of his body, of the nature and quantity of his food, of its suitability or assimilation, of the nature of the mind, of the disposi¬ tion the patient has, and of his age, and noting also all other dis¬ orders under which the patient may be suffering, should then treat the patient, that has been sufficiently purged, with such processes as have been laid down in that portion of this work which treats of vomiting, leaving out all methods that depend on smoking. Verily, he should pursue this treatment till the natural strength, complexion, and disposition of the patient returns.t*0