Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

The meaning of the expression will be best understood as the reader goes on with the Lesson. — T.

CHA RA KA-SA MHI TA.

p. 547

buted sections, which is capable of being quickly understood, which has all the indications of a scientific treatise, and which con¬ tains proper illustrations.

A treatise of this kind dispels ignorance like the bright sun dis¬ pelling darkness and discovering all things.®

After this, he that should be selected as preceptor should be examined.

The following should be the qualifications.

He should be one whose doubts have all been cleared in res¬ pect of medical scriptures.

He should be possessed of experience (gained from treatment of disease).

He should be clever (in the practice of his profession.)

He should be compassionate towards those who approach him.

He should be of pure conduct.*

He should have a practised hand (in Surgery).

He should have all the implements of his profession (such as pestle and mortar, syringes, surgical instruments, &c).

He should have all the organs of sense. +

He should be conversant with (the) nature (of health, of disease, of medicaments, of time, of place, of men, &c.)

He should be conversant with the tendencies and acts of the healthy and of the diseased (as regards food and sports, &c.)

He should be one whose knowledge of the medical science has been supplemented by knowledge of other branches of study.

He should be without malice. J

He should be without a wrathful disposition.

He should be capable of bearing privations and pain.

* Purity may be internal or external. Here external purity is implied, such as cleanliness in dress or food, &c. — T.

t i.e., he should not be defective in any of the senses : — T.

} i.e., Not given to ill-speaking. — T.

p. 548

CHA RA KA-SAMHITA.

He should be one well-affected towards disciples and disposed to teach them.

He should be capable of communicating his ideas ( to pupils that seek his instructions.)

A preceptor possessed of these qualifications very soon succeeds in equipping an intelligent disciple with the requisite characteristics of a physician like a cloud belonging to the proper season equipping a fertile field with an abundant harvest.

Approaching such a preceptor, the pupil desirous of courting him should attend on him with heedfulness like one revering one’s sacrificial fire, or one’s deity, or one’s king, or one’s father, or one’s patron.

Then, studying the entire treatise through his grace, the pupil should duly strive to comprehend the relations of the different parts towards one another and of each part towards the whole, to understand the consistency and correlation of the words employed, t© apprehend the sense of the author, and to acquire the facility of exposition.8

The means for achieving these ends are as follow : —

Study, teaching, and conversations with fellow-students.

These are the means.4

Amongst these, the following is the method (to be observed) in study.

In health (*.*., when there is no disease), and observant of the rule regarding time, the pupil should rise at day-break or a little before, and going through the necessary morning rites, performing his ablutions, and bowing into the deities, the Rishis, the cow, the Brahmanas, preceptors, those venerable for age, those ascetics that have been crowned with success, and professors, and seating himself down at his ease on a level and clean spot of ground, he should repeatedly recite the aphorisms in due order, with his mind set on the recitation.* i.e., he should the words with mind set on other objects. — T.

p. 549

He should do this, duly entering into the sense with the aid of his understanding. ,

And he should do this for getting rid of his own faults and demonstrating the faults of others.

He should do this at mid-day, in the afternoon, and in night¬ time, steadily.

Without allowing his time to run to waste-, he should thus practise himself in recitation.

Even this is the method of study.5 After this comes the method of teaching.

The preceptor who has set his mind on teaching should at first examine the person that presents himself for becoming a pupil.

The disciple should be as follows: — ■

He should be of a mild disposition.

He should be noble by nature.

He should not be mean in acts.

His eyes, mouth, and nasal line should be straight.

His tongue should be thin, red, and unslimy.

His teeth and lips should have no deformity.

He should not have a nasal voice.

He should be possessed of intelligence.

He should be free from pride.

He should be endued with a large understanding.

He should have power of judgment and memory.

He should have a liberal mind.

He should belong to a family the members of which have studied the medical scriptures or followed medicine as a profession. He should have a devotion for truth.

He should not be defective in respect of any limb.

He should have all his senses perfect.

He should be disposed for solitude.

He should be free from haughtiness.

He should be of a thoughtful disposition.

p. 70

p. 550

CHARAKA-SA M II IT A

He should be free from those faults which go by the name of

Vyasana.*

He should be free from wrath.

He should be endued with excellent character, purity . of behaviour, devotion, cleverness, and compassion for all.

He should be fond of study.