Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

It is better to drink the poison of the snake or the solution of copper, or swallow red-hot balls of iron, than assume the garb of a learned man and take food and drink and money from one afflicted with diseases and soliciting relief.*1 3 0-31 Hence that intelligent person who desires to be a physician should take great care in respect of his qualities, so that he may become the giver of the life-breaths of men.t133

That is the right medicine which can cure, and he is the best of physicians who brings about recovery.133

Success in producing the intended results proves the right application (of a medicine), and success (in bringing about re¬ covery) proves the physi cian to be endowed with every qualification and the foremost of his class.1 3 *

{Here are some verses containing a summary ),

The origin of the Science of Life, its cause, its publication, the permission (to Agnive^a and others) for composing its aphorisms, the ascertainment of its nature, J1,1 5 causes and effects in full, the necessity of the Science of Life, diseases and their causes, and remedies in brief, ^3 6 taste and the objects in which it inheres, the three great divisions of the objects of Nature, the plants whose roots and fruits are used, the oils and the salts, l;3? the urines, the milks, the six kinds of plants whose milk and bark are used, the actions of all these, their application and misapplication and consequences beneficial and otherwise,1®3 the defects and qualifications of

* Misled by an incorrect reading, viz., bibhratah (ablative) for bibhratd (instrumental) Dr. Sircar has wrongly rendered verse 131 ( vide pp. 478-79 of the Calcutta Journal of Medicine, vol. III., for i87o). The ablative, besides, would yield a meaning not in harmony lyith the context. — T, 2t I. e., “Should strive his best for improving himself and acquiring the necessary qualifications of a physician.” — T.

J I, e,, its definition. — f.

physicians,— all these have been stated in this Lesson by the great Rishi.139

Thus the first Lesson, called Dirghanjivitiya (about Longevity), in the treatise by Agnivefa as revised by Charaka,

And now we shall expound the Lesson on Apamarga-tundaliya. Thus said the illustrious son of Atri.

The seeds of Apamarga(a), long pepper, round pepper, Vidanga(^), Sigru(c), mustard seeds, Tumvuru(^)1 Ajajin(^), Ajagandha^, Pilu(^), Ela(A), Harenuka(z'), Prithvika,(/), Surasa(/&), Cweta(/), Kutheraka(w), Phanijjhaka(«),2 the seed of Cirisha(o), garlic, Haridra of two species(/>), salts of two varieties (y), Jyotishmati(r), and Nagara(j), are to be used as cerebral purgatives (errhines).8 In heaviness of the head, in headache, in catarrh affecting the nose, in hemicrania, in worms, jn epilepsy, in loss of scent, in fainting fits,4 Madana(7), liquorice, Nimba(a), Jimuta(w), a. Achyrantlies aspera.

b. jdmbeliq ribes.

c. Moringa pterygosperma ; syn. Hyperanthera moringa.

d. Called also Nepali Dhania ; Zanthoxylum alatum ; syn. Z. hostile .

e. A species of Krishnajiraka ; a species of Nigella sativa.

f. Called also Vana-yamani ; Ocymum gratissimum.

g. Salvadora persica.

h. Large cardamom.

i. Called also Renuka ; Udaya Chand Dutt supposes t to be identifiable with

Piper aurantiacum.

j. Galled also Krishnajira ; Nigella sativa.

k. Called also Tulasi ; Ocirnum basilocum, l. The white Aparajita ; Clitoria ternatea.

m. The black Tulasi ; Ocimum Sanitum.

n. A species of Tulasi or Ocimum.

o. Albizzia lebbek.

p. Circuma longa and Berberis asiaticq.

q. Rock salt and sea salt.