Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

At times when indications of more than one season appear, the water that is poured by the clouds becomes productive of faults. There is no doubt in this.210

By kings and those that are equal to kings, as also by men of delicate constitutions, the water carefully collected at autumn should be used.f211

Rivers whose waters are obstructed in their course by rocks, by constant beating against them, become clear and transparent.

* The four kinds of food are food that is swallowed, that is chewed, that is lapped, and that is drunk. — T.

f Verses 201 to 211 do not occur in all texts. Chakrapani regards them as interpolations. Gangadhara, though doubting their genuineness, includes them in his text and comments upon them. As, however, these. verses enunciate some quaint propositions, I have thought it proper not to reject them. — T.

3&8

CHA RA KA-SA MHITA.

Rivers that have their sources in the Himavat mountains are sacred and resorted to by the deities and the Rishis. Their waters are worthy of being used.212

Rivers that flow over rocks and sands, have clear and trans¬ parent waters. Rivers that have their source in the Malaya mountains have waters that resemble nectar itself.218

Those rivers that flow westwards are full of waters that are clear and transparent and worthy of being used.

Those that fall on the eastern ocean have generally slow currents. Their waters are heavy.214

The waters of those rivers that have their rise in the Paripatra mountains, as also those that have their source in the Vindhya and Sahya mountains, cause diseases of the head and thorax, the different kinds of leprosy, and elephantaisis.215

Rivers, when they carry the waters of the rainy season, become stained with mud and worms and the filth of snakes and rats. Hence they are capable of exciting all the faults.218

The waters obtainable from tanks, wells, ponds, springs, large tanks or lakes, and rillets escaping from fountains, should be regarded as possessed of the virtues and faults that attach to marshy soil, or rocky land, or arid deserts.217

Water that is slimy, or full of worms, or foetid in consequence of (putrified) leaves and and moss and mire, that has lost its color and taste, and that has become thick and stinking, is not beneficial.218

The water obtainable from the ocean is saline. It is provoca¬ tive of the three faults, and possesses a bad odor.219

Thus has been declared the eighth Group, viz., that about Waters.

The Group about Milk.

The milk of the cow has these ten properties, viz., it is sweet, cool, mild, oily, copious, fine, slimy, heavy, not pungent, and free from impurities,220

p. 369

In consequence of the possession of these properties and of their parity with the element called ojas, vaccine milk enhances ojas. Vaccine milk is the foremost of all things that prolong life. It has also been said to operate as a Rasayana.221

The milk of buffaloes is heavier than vaccine milk and cooler. Being excessively oily, such milk produces sleeplessness. It is beneficial for those persons whose digestive fire is keen.222

The milk of camels is dry and hot. It is slightly saline and light. It has been recommended for alleviating excitements of the wind and the phlegm, in cases of retention of urine, worms, intu¬ mescence, stomachic and abdominal disesases, and piles.228

The milk of animals that are of undivided hoofs operates as a tonic, strengthens the muscles, is hot, and sour, with a saline taste, and dry, and alleviates wind generated in the blood and other elements of the body.*224

The milk of the goat is astringent-sweet, cool, operates as an inspissant, and is light. It alleviates hemorrhage due to excite¬ ments of the bile, and diarrhoea. It cures also phthisis and fever.22*

The milk of sheep is very hot. It causes hiccup and asthma, and excites the bile and the phlegm.

The milk of the elephant is a tonic. It is also heavy, and great!}7 strengthens the muscles.226

Human milk prolongs life, promotes nutrition and corpulency, is capable of being properly assimilated by the human system, operates as an emollient, is used as a cerebral purgative in hemorr¬ hages due to excitements of the bile, and acts as a sedative in the cases of persons suffering from inflammation of the eye.222

Curds create relish for food, promote the appetite, increase the semen, operate as emollients, and increase strength. On assimilation they become sour and hot. They are destructive of the wind, and regarded as an auspicious object. They also promote nutrition, adding to the bulk of the body.228

* CakhS is explained by the Commentators as implying blood and other con¬ stituents of a like nature. — T.

p. 74

p. 370

CHA RA KA -SA MHITA.

Curds are applauded as remedies in inflammations of the Schnei¬ derian membrane with loss of smell, in diarrhoea, in fits of cold, in obstinate fevers, in disgust for food, in difficulty of micturition, and in emaciation.2*9

Curds are generally harmful in autumn, summer, and spring.

They are also harmful in all ailments that arise from bilious hemorrhage and phlegm.230