Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

KAVIRAJ AVINASH CHANDRA KAVIRATNA,

EDITOR OF CHARAKA-SAMHITA AND OF SUSRUTA-SAMHITA (in original) WITH COMMENT¬ ARIES ; BENGALI AND HINDI TRANSLATOR OF CHARAKA-SAMHITA AND OF SUSRUTA-SAMHITA ; EDITOR OF CHIKITSA-SAMMILANI (Medical journal in Bengali) ; practitioner of the HINDU SYSTEM OF MEDICINE, &C,, &C,, &C.

CALCUTTA :

200, Cornwallis Street,

PRINTED BY B. N. NANDI AT THE KAVIRATNA PRESS, 12, SIMLA STREET, BYE-LANE.

1908.

( The right of reproduction is reserved. )

OPINION OF EMINENT MEN.

( Extracts front their Letters .)

Professor Max Muller : — I have no doubt you ought to publish an English transla ■ tion of Charaka. The book is of great importance. I shall be very glad to help yort in any way ypu may wish. — Writing again in November 1893, he says, — . I am surprised that your excellent and most useful translation has not attracted more attention

. Our Regius Professor of Medicine, Sir Henry Edward, was much interested in it.

Sir Monier Williams, K. C. I. E. : — I have received your kind gift of the successive parts of the Charaka and Susruta Samhita. I regard them as a valuable addition to my library. No doubt, an English translation would be very interesting.

Dr. Reinhold Rost, C. I. E. late Librarian to the India Office— . Your excellent translation . -a most valuable and praiseworthy work which will not fail to make ancient Hindu medicine better understood and appreciated in the West .

1 shall draw the attention of Oriental scholars to your difficult and meritorious work .„ ... ... Many important additions to your Sanskrit dictionaries will be gleaned from your translation.

Austin Flint, Esq., New York , £7. S A. : — I have read with much pleasure the first fasciculus of your translation of Charaka Samhita and shall be very glad to receive the rest of the work, it cannot fail to be of great interest to the medical profession, which will be under great obligations to you.

A. H. Edgren, Esq., Gothenburgk, Sweden-.— I am deeply interested in anything Indian, and I need not say that I shall consider it as a gain to obtain whatever insight I may into the subject treated of in your valuable translation.

Professor A. V. Williams Jackson., Columbia College , New York, V. S. A. — I must congratulate you, with true appreciation of your efforts. I should very much like to make a little note, in one of our papers, of the praiseworthy work you are doing. . Be assured. Sir, of my hearty thanks and appreciation and of my deep interest in India and antique lore.

Mons. A. Barth., Paris : — Your efforts to place within reach of the readers of ancient literature a work of so interesting a nature both of the Oriental scholars and to the men of medicine, are very praiseworthy, and I shall be happy to bring the work to the notice of the French public, or, at least, of those who take an interest in these researches.

Mons. B. St. Hailaire, Paris .—I praise you on your undertaking and wish yon all success. The work is of interest to all learned men and to medical men, and the commentaries written on it prove its value and utility. I will put in a notice in the Journal des Savants as soon as I can and shall be happy to do you justice.

Professor H. Jacobi, Bonn University, Germany : — The work you have undertaken will interest Sanskritists as well as medical men who care for the history of their science. I shall not fail to draw the attention of some eminent physicians whom I know personally, to the ancient work of Charaka.

Herr. R. Garbe, Prinzenstram Konigsbweh, Germany : — English translation of Charaka Samhita is, perhaps, at least from an historical point of view, the most important work of the medical literature of your country.

Sir Alfred Croft, M. A., C. I. E., Director of Public Instruction, Bengal : — I have been greatly entertained as well as edified by the examination, in part IV, of all the things which a man shall not do. A layman can understand the precepts and such a guide to life, cannot be other than valuable.

CHAR A K A-S AM HIT A.

*'559

^aggravated, vis., bile-born diarrhoea, fever, dropsical swellings,* abdominal tumours, indigestion, diarrhoea, and diseases of the ‘Grahani.’ 97

If that person who is afflicted with bile-born diarrhoea, neglects to ■adopt the course of treatment laid down above, and indulges in food and drink that are provocative of the bile, then his bile becomes ■exceedingly provoked, 98 and, speedily vitiating the blood, causes diarrhoea characterised by bloody evacuations.

It also generates thirst, burning of the skin, ‘£ula’ pains, and violent inflammation of the rectum (followed by suppuration). 99

[What is stated here is that one afflicted with bile-born diarrhoea should lose no time in adopting the modes of treatment laid down above. If, instead of doing this, one indulges in such food and drink as are provocative of the bile, one’s evacuations soon become bloody. This is a bad disease the treatment of which is laid down below.]