Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

* The Rishi divides the year into six seasons. There are three principal ones, and three intermediate ones. The three principal ones are winter, summer, and the rainy. Between winter and summer is the spring ; between summer and the rainy is that called ‘ Pravish ’ or anterainy, called ‘ abhrakala ’ in this verse, meaning 1 the season of clouds,’ that is, the season when the clouds begin to gather. Between the rainy

CHAR AKA SAM HIT A.

p. 713

f Here is a verse containing a summary. )

In this Lesson on disparity of race, the illustrious and great Rishi (Atri’s son Punarvasu) solved, agreeably to the truth, the the six and twenty questions of grave import, of Agnive5a, for the increase of knowledge.1*

Thus ends the second Lesson, called disparity of race, In the Division called Qarira in the treatise of Agnivega as revised by Charaka.

and the winter is that called autumn or ‘ carat this is called (in this verse) ‘ Ghanatyaya,’ meaning the season whence the clouds disappear.

It will be observed that the course of treatment called 4 corrective,’ which consists of the administration, mainly, of purgatives and emetics, including errhines, that is laid down in this verse, constitutes what has been called ‘ Pratikarma ’ or the administration of alleviatives, in verse 41 above. The subject has already been treated of in ‘ Vimanasthana ’ ante. — T.

* The six and twenty questions asked by Agnive?a are counted as six and thirty by Gangadhara, although he actually mentions only four and thirty in detail. The fact is, there are really, as Charaka sums up, cnly six and twenty questions put by Agnivega. These are, — one in verse 2 ; three in verse 4 (and not six as counted by Gangadhara) ; six in verse 10 (and not nine as counted by Gangadhara ; the fact being that each of the four questions that come first is followed by the disjunctive particle 1 va > meaning 1 or ’) ; seven in verse 16 (and not eight as counted by Gangadhara, the fact being that ‘ naranari :shanda ’ is: to be counted as one and not two ; two in verse 21 (and not three as counted by Ganga¬ dhara) ; three in verse 27 ;:and four in verse 37.

Unless the questions are counted properly, the answers cannot be intelligible. Some of the blunders committed by Gangadhara in explaining the answers, have arisen from his miscounting the questions. Indeed, .when Charaka, Jin the verse that embodies the summary, expressly says that the .'number of Agnive9a’s questions is six and twenty, it would be impertinent for an annotator to reckon them as six and thirty.

A careful perusal of this Lesson will show that the questions put by the pupil are of every great importance. Unfortunately, the answers for the most part show that imagination, instead of observation, was accepted as the guide.— T.

LESSON III.

After this, we shall expound the Lesson in brief on (the subject of) Garbhavakranti (the descent into the womb) in the Division called Qarira.

Thus said the illustrious son of Atri.*1

When congress occurs, during the menstrual period, of a person whose semen is not affected by any disease, with a woman whose generative organ, blood, and uterus, have no defects, and when in. ^ course _of such congress between a male aup a female., both of whom are possessed of such attributes, the semen and the blood^combined finds its way into the uterus and Jiva enters into it in consequence of the mind’s attachment with acts, then (what is called) Conception takes place.f*

* ‘ Khuddika ’ or 1 Khuddaka ’ (the masculine form of the former), means small or brief. It is opposed to ‘ Mahat.’ In the Sutrasthana occur two Lessons which are called (i) ‘ Khuddaka chatuspada ’ and (2) ‘ Mahachatuspada.’ In this Division also (viz., Carira), this Lesson is called 1 Khuddika garbhavakranti,’ and it is followed by the Lesson called ‘ Mahat Garbhavakranti.’ The feminine forms of the adjective have been used because the substantive ‘ Garbhavakranti 1 is a feminine one. ‘ Avakranti,’ literally, means ‘ a descent (from the other world).’ Hence, ‘ Garbhavakranti ’ implies ‘ the descent of Self in its linga or subtile form into the womb.’ According to both Hindu philosophy and medicine, that which is called birth is really the entry of Self into the seed that helps the growth of the body and that consists of a mixture of semen and blood.

It should be observed also that the words 1 Khudda ’ and ‘ Khuddi ’ exist in Bengali in the forms ‘ Khulla ’ and 1 Khulli,’ as also ‘ Khura ’ and ‘ Khuri ’ which are correct. — T.

t ‘ Anupahataretas ’ implies a male whose semen is unaffected by the eight rkinds of defects or diseases named hereafter; in other words, the productivity of whose semen has not been impaired.

CHAR-AKA SAMHITA

7 IS