Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

When the element called Ojas becomes attenuated, the patient yields to causeless fears, becomes Weak, indulges in anxious thoughts ceaselessly, and feels pain in all his senses. His body again loses its splendour ; he becomes cheerless ; a dryness pervades the whole system ; and a languor comes over him so that he feels fatigue upon the slightest exertion.72

There resides in the heart a quantity of pure blood, which is slightly yellowish. This blood in the body is called Ojas. Through attenuation of this, blood or its loss, even death may overtake the man.}74

« At the end of the first line, some texts read ‘bhramah ’ for ‘ klamah.’ If the former reading be adhered to, the meaning would be * swimming of the head.— T-.

I < Praviddhah san’ should be supplied after ‘marutah.’ Some texts read • unnamayet ’ for ‘ unnamayan.’— T.

+ ja Some texts there is a Verse of two lines on the subject of Ojas. It is as follows : “ That which is called Ojas at first appears in the bodies of embodied creatures, endued with the color of clarified butter. In taste it resembles honey. Its scent resem25

1:94

CHA RA KA-SAMHI TA.

The following are the causes of the attenuation, or loss of the constituent elements of the body, viz., excessive physical exercise, fasting, anxiety, taking food that is dry and insufficient, or food in excess, exposure to wind or the sun, circumstances creating fear, grief, drinking liquids whose properties are dry, night-keeping, the excessive emission of phlegm, blood, and semen (through disease), or expectorations and emissions of the same through other causes, phthisis, and afflictions caused by evil spirits or forces of nature.*74-75

Of persons who eat heavy, oily, sour, saltish food or food in excessive quantities, or who take new rice or new water or drinks that are newly manufactured, or who enjoy in excess the pleasures of sleep and of soft beds and seats, or who give up every kind of physical exercise and mental exertion, or who abstain from having recourse to corrective treatment when such treatment has become necessary, the phlegm, bile, fat, and flesh increase and stop the free course of the wind. The wind of such people, having its free vent thus obstructed, seizes the Ojas and proceeds to the anal canal. When such becomes the case, a painful form of Diabetes appears. 7 5-TI

The disease Diabetes repeatedly shows the symptoms of in¬ creased or excited wind, bile, and phlegm. Those symptoms (during the continuance of the disease) having shown themselves again undergo attenuation and then disappear.7^

If this disease, upon its first appearance, be not attended to, seven painful diseases, all belonging to the class called Pidaka, appear in those parts of the body that are fleshy, in the vital organs, and in the joints also. Those seven diseases are (jlaravika, Kachcchapika, jalini, Sarshapi, Alaji, Vinata, and Vidradhi.f79-80 bles that of fried puddy. As honey is gathered by bees from diverse kinds of flowers and fruits, even so is the Ojas of men gathered by the wind, bile, and phlegm from the several elements mentioned above. ” — T.

* ‘ Ativartana mokshanam’ is explained as ‘A tivartanam vahirnihsaranam vyadhyaditah ; mokshanam vamanadibhiratipravartanam.’ — T.

t All these diseases have been described in the following verses. Their English names, so. far as they are identifiable, have been given under the respective verses treat¬ ing of them, Pidakas are either eruptions or abscesses. — T.

CHAR AKA -SA IK HIT A.

p. 195

When the nature of the eruption is sueh that its form is like that of the circular cup called £arava, the boundary line raised above the level of the skin; the middle portion is depressed, blood and secretions flow from it without pus, and when it is attended with pain* the eruption is then called (^aravika.81

When the eruption is such that the pain it generates is deepseated and afflicts the patient very much, and when it covers a large area, presents a smooth appearance, and resembles this back Of a tortoise, it is called by the name of Kachcchapi *82

When the eruption is such that it neither abates nor grows, when its surface seems to consist of fleshy chords or strings laid in the form of warp and woof, when it emits oily secretions and covers a large area, when it is attended with pain as if innumerable needles are piercing the part, and when its surface is perforated with numerous minute holes, it comes to be called by the name of Jalirii.f 83

That eruption or abscess, which is not very large in circum¬ ference, which ripens very quickly, which is attended with consider¬ able pain, and whose surface is covered with innumerable pimples each resembling a mustard seed, is called Sarsapi.84

That eruption or abscess which produces a burning sensation on the skin when it begins to appear, which is accompanied by thirst, loss of consciousness, and fever, which incessantly changes its place (going from one part of the body to another), and which burns, causing excessive pain, like fire, is called Alaji.f85