Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

* The word . ‘ faults’, as explained in many places ante, means wind, bile, and phlegm. These dwell in the body. In that respect they are similar. In consequence of their similarity or sameness of abode, they are capable of all commingling together, or any two of them of coming in contact with each other. ‘ Samsarga 1 is the contact of two ; ‘ Sannipata 1 is a commingling of all three. What the Rishi wishes to lay down is that things that are entirely different from one another cannot mingle. In order te be able to mingle, there must be similarity or sameness of nature ; or, as regards some particular phase. However different they are in other respects, wind, bile, and phlegm agree or are similar in this respect, viz., that they have the same abode. In consequence of this agreement or similarity, they are seen to exist in a state of union : sometimes wind with bile, or wind with phlegm, or bile with phlegm, or wind, bile, and phlegm all together. Wind, bile, and phlegm have been called ‘ doshas ’ or ' faults ’ because of their readiness or aptitude for being vitiated.

‘ Dushans ’ are those that have the power to vitiate. They are the different tastes, in fact, all exterior objects having anything to do with the body.

CHA BA KA-SAM HIT A.

5i7

That which is endued with characteristics of an opposite kind, is called accessory or adjunct.12*

Then, if the faults (wind, bile, and phlegm) exist together with the characteristics of principal and accessory, the co-existence of all three is called Sannipata, while that of any two is called Samsarga.

The distinctions are manifold that are due to the kinds of co¬ existence as principal and accessory.

In consequence of these distinctions of kind in faults and diseases, is the large group (of diseases^differentiated by physicians by means of names. 18f

What the Rishi says in the second part of the aphorism is that the faults are vitiated in consequence of their possessing qualities similar to those that vitiate them. In other words, in consequence of the ‘ doshas ’ and the ' dushans ’ being similarjn respect of qualities, the former are vitiated by the latter.

By vitiation should be understood the increase or diminution of some attri¬ bute already present in the object already vitiated. Compare aphorism 43, p. 4, Lesson I, Sutrasthanam, ante. — T.

*. The two words explained in this aphorism are ' Anubandhya ’ and 1 Anubandha’. The first I render as ' principal’, the second, as ‘ accessory ’ or ‘ adjunct.’ In most ailments what is seen is that some diseases exist in a predominating state and some in a subsidiary form. Those that may be called principal have the characteristics noted above ; those, on the other hand, that exist only as accessories or adjuncts have characteristics of an opposite kind.

‘ Yathoktasamutthanaprafania ’ means, as explained by the commen¬ tators, ‘ of origin and alleviation conforming to what has been said ; ’ that is, whose origin and alleviation correspond with what has been said in this treatise under those very heads. — T.

+ In the first part of the aphorism the Rishi explains the meanings of the words ‘ Sannipata ’ and ‘Samsarga’. Co-existence must be in the form of principal and accessory. All the three, or even any two, cannot exist together, each as a principal. When the three faults exist together, such co-existence is ‘ Sannipata.’ When any two of them exist together, that co¬ existence or union, of course as principal and accesory, is ‘ Samsarga’.

The forms in which they may exist as principal and accessory, it is said in the second part of the aphorism, are many.

p. 66

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CHAR A KA-SAMHITA

In the fires dwelling in the physical system, a fourfold dis¬ tinction may be made agreeably to difference of strength. It is as follows :

Keen, mild, even, and uneven.

Amongst these that fire is said to be keen which can bear all kinds of dietary riotousness.

That fire which is endued with characteristic of an opposite kind is called mild.

That fire is said to be even which becomes vitiated by dietary riotousness, but which exists without being deranged when no dietary riotousness is indulged in.

That fire which possesses characteristics that are the reverse of the above, is called uneven.

These are the four different kinds of fire of four different kinds of persons.14*

Amongst these, of those persons that are of equable wind, bile, and phlegm, and that are in their normal state, the (digestive) fires are even.15t

The conclusion, therefore, is inevitable that individual diseases must be many. Physicians, in naming many diseases, have been guided by the consideration explained! in the second! part of the aphorism. — T.