Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

* ‘All the worlds depend upon women’, that is, women continue the creation ; besides, as piety and wealth depend upon women, the future worlds may be said to depend upon women, for it is by piety and wealth that man wins the future worlds. Women give birth to sons, by whomHhe father pays off his debts to his ancestors, and gains religious merits. Man may earn, but unless assisted by a good wife, he cannot save. By the wealth saved he performs sacrifices and religious rites which enable him to acquire merits that improve his position hereafter. — T.

+ This verse is difficult to be understood. The above rendering is offered tentatively. Gangadhara reads ‘nivartante.’ In other editions occurs ‘vivarddhante.’ Beauty and other accomplishments of women certainly arise from the influence of destiny which has been explained to be the acts of previous lives. They are due also to food and enjoyments. A starving and miserable woman, even if born beautiful, loses her beauty. So one gains in beauty by good living.

What is meant, however, by beauty, &c. , being enhanced by the companionship of con¬ genial males, is not very clear, unless it be that beauty is improved by the cheerfulness caused by agreeable companionship. — T,

CHA RA KA-SAMHI T A.

p. 1073

she in whose company one passes one’s hours in complete trust¬ fulness, she whose sight fills one with raptures, she unto whom one goes with ever-recurring pleasure and downright speed as if unto a charmer unseen before, 13 she unto whom one goes repeatedly without a feeling of satiety, she is regarded as the foremost of aphrodisiacs which one can have. This variety is due to the variety of temperament which distinguishes human beings.* H

One who is desirous of offspring should, when he is free from disease, go to a woman that belongs to a different ‘Gotra’, that is herself an aphrodisiac, that is cheerful, that is free from disease, and that has purified herself by the prescribed bath after her functional flow.f 15

As a branchless tree that is without shadow and without fruit, and that emits a disagreeable scent, even so is a man who is lone and childless.^ 16

As a painted lamp (which does not yield light) ; as a dry tank (which has no water), as a thing that looks like a (precious) mineral without being at all a mineral, even so should a childless man be known to be (no man but only) a human figure made of straw. *7 A man who has no offspring should be regarded as one having no position, as one who is nude, as one who is empty, as one who has only one sense, and as one who has no necessity for work. 18 A man with many children is like one who has many forms, or one having many faces, or one having many bodies, or one of great activity, or one having many eyes, or one having varied experience, or one having many souls. 19

A man with many children is praised as one who is auspicious, or one that is possessed of excellence, or one that is deserving of high

* The original is very terse. I expand it a little to bring out its sense clearly. In theabove verses (9 to the first line of 14), various kinds of women have been indicated. This variety is due, as the Rishi explains, to the variety of temperament of human beings. — T.

t As regards ‘Atulyagotra’, i. e., belonging to a different ‘ gotra vide (Jarirasthanam, Lesson II.— T.

t ‘EkaQakha’- is, literally, one-branched ; implying a tree that is without any branch and that consists of only a stem. — T.

CHARAKA-SAMHITA.

p. 1074

applause, or one endued with great energy, or one having many branches. 20Joy, strength, happiness, livelihood, expansion, wealth, continu¬ ation of lineage, fame, future worlds of bliss, happiness hereafter, gratification, all depend on progeny. 21

Hence, one who seeks progeny, as also the merits that are depend¬ ant on progeny, and also the pleasures of sexual congress, should habitually use aphrodisiacs. 22

I shall, after this, declare the various combinations of aphrodisiacs, which enhance the delights of (sexual) enjoyment, which have been well-tested, and which increase one’s energy and (the number of) progeny. 23

NUTRITIVE PILLS.

The roots of ( Saccharum Sard), the roots of Ikshu ( Saccharum efficiniram), the roots of KSndekshu fa variety of Saccharum ), the roots of IkshubSlika (a variety of Saccharum officinarum ), ^atSvari ( Asparagus racemosus), PayasyS (otherwise called KshirakSkoli, a bulb of the onion tribe brought from the Himalayas), VidSri ( Batatus paniculatus). KantakSri {Solatium Xanthocarpum ), Jivanti {Ccelogyne ovalis) Jivaka, * * * § Meda, f Vira (otherwise called £Slaparni, Desmodium gangeticum ), Rishavaka, J BalS, {Sida cordifolia ), Riddhi, § Gokshuraka {Tribulus lameginosus), RasnS {Vanda Roxburghii), Atmagupta {Mucuna pruriens ), and Punarnava ( Boerhavia diffusa ) : each of these, of the measure of 3 palas, should be taken ; also an ‘adhaka’ (8 seers) of new seeds of Phaseolus Roxburghii ; boil all. these together in a ‘drona’ (64 seers) of water till only a fourth of the water {viz., 16 seers) remains.||

Into it should be thrown the paste of liq uorice, the fruit of Vitis Vinifera , Phalgu (the fruit of Ficus hispida ), the fruit of Pippali

* Not identifiable. Physicians use, instead of it, Guduchi or Tinospora corifolia.