Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna
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The translator’s English as printed (Avinash Chandra Kaviratna). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
These five different preparations of myrobalans have been well tried.* 49
The three myrobalans used with all varieties of iron reduced to powder, or with gold, or with ‘Vacha’ (Acorus Calamus ), or with honey and ghee, or with ‘Vidanga’ ( Embelia Ribes ), or with (powdered) fruits of Piper longum, or with ‘Saindhava’ salt, make a very potent ‘Rasayana.’
If used for a full year, any of these ‘Rasayanas’ would sharpen the understanding and the memory, and infuse strength. It would impart longevity. It is deserving of high praise ; it counteracts the effects of age and alleviates diseases. 5°-5i
QILAJATU RASAYANA,
RASAYANA MADE OF QILAJATU.
(Qilajatu is slightly sour ; it is astringent, and becomes pungent in course of digestion. It is neither very heating nor very cooling 111 its effects.
- Its birth is from four metals, viz., from gold, from silver, from : copper, and from black iron also ; that from the last being regarded as the best.f t./. e., each, of the four metals mentioned, lower down, begets Qilajatu. It is not the common product of. all the four jointly. ■ ......
* The measure of the ingredients which are to be mixed with the three iqyrctbalans should be equal to that of the, myrobalans themselves. The. measure of each of the myrobalans, again, should be the same. — T.
CHARAKA-SAMHITA. .
p. 1053
' (By itself) (^ilajatu is a ‘Rasayana.’
Used according to the ordinances it increases the semen. It is also an alleviative of diseases of all kinds. 52-53
If it be soaked in the decoction of such drugs as are alleviative of the' excited wind, bile, and phlegm, its efficacy becomes very great. It may be soaked in (the decoction of) such drugs also as are alleviative of only one of the faults. Its efficacy in this case also will improve.* * * § 54
The process of soaking should be as follows :
Dip £ilajatu in the decoction which should be slightly warm. Take it out (and have it dried in the sunshine). Again, dip it in the lukewarm decoction. Take it out once more and expose it to the rays of the sun. The process should continue for 7 days. 55 ,
(^ilajatu, corrected by the aforesaid process and taken with the pulv of iron, and milk, imparts a long happy life.-^- 56
It prevents the effects of age and removes all diseases.
It is the foremost of all medicines which make the body compact and durable.
It invigorates the memory and the understanding.
It gives tone to the system.
It should be used by one who takes milk. 57
The administration of the medicine has been laid down to be of three sorts, 1. full, 2. intermediate, and 3. partial, i. e., according as-- it is continued for seven weeks, three weeks, one week only.! 58
The measure to be used is also prescribed to be of three- sorts,. 1. one ‘pala’ (eight tolas), 2. half a ‘pala’ (four tolas), and 3. ‘karshas’.' (two tolas),§ 59
* The construction of the second line of fiftyfour is this : ‘Rasayanam tat vidhibhistad— vrishyam.’ The vernacular translators have not understood it correctly- Gangadhara issilent on the point. — T.
t The measure of the pulv of iron should1 be the same as that of Qilajatu. — T.
J The words of the text are tPara’, “Madhya’ and ‘Avara’, which mean superior, average,, and inferior. The superiority of the administration lies in its fullness, -and so on..— T.
§ The measure to be used depends upon the strength- pf the user. If- he be a man of superior strength, he should use the full measure. If he- be of average strength,- . .the -inter¬ mediate measure should be used. The lowest measure is ordained for a weak person.
There is a difference of reading in this verse. Gangadhara reads ‘Matrapalamardhapalam. s.y5t karshastu kaniyasi’. The other reading is — ‘Palamardhapalam, karsho . matra tasya-. tridha mata.’ Gangadhara’s reading is slovenly.— T1054
CHARAKA-SAMHITA
Now, we shall dwell upon the characteristics of the different classes of^ilajatu as also the ordinances regarding them.
The metals of the mountain, viz., gold and the rest, begin to dissolve, heated by the sun. 6o
That which constitutes the impurity of these metals, is termed £ilajatu. It resembles lac or earth in colour, and is soft.
That kind of £ilajatu which is (partly) sweet and (partly) bitter in taste, which is like unto the flower of Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis (in colour), which is pungent in course of digestion, and which is cooling in its effects, is the dissolved impurity of gold.
That sort of £ilajatu is the result of silver which is pungent in taste, white in colour, cooling in its effects, and sweet in course of digestion.
That kind is the product of copper, which resembles, in ' colour, the throat of the peacock, which is bitter in taste, possessed of heating virtues, and pungent in course of digestion.
That which has the sheen of ‘Guggula’ {Balsamodendron Mukul), which is bitter and saline in taste, and pungent in course of digestion is born of iron. It is the foremost of all sorts of ^ilajatu. 61-63
All the varieties have the smell of cow’s urine. They are fit for use in all sorts of medication.
But when (^ilajatu is to be used as a Rasayana’, the last variety, 1 viz., that derived from iron, is the best.* 64
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