Skip to content
Ayurkoshaआयुर्वेद ज्ञानकोश

Principleसिद्धांत

Ten times for taking medicine

दस औषध काल · दश औषधकाल

Extracted from the textNew name from the text7 references

Built from passages of the source by the curated extraction. Pending human review.

Search the library for itDiscussed in 2 sessions

Names and synonyms

Sanskrit
दश औषधकालदशभेषजकाल
Hindi
दस औषध कालऔषध सेवन का समय
English
Ten times for taking medicine

What the text says

Each statement reports the source, with its chapter, page and verse. Traditional descriptions are not presented as proven medical facts.

Definition5

  • Medicine taken alone in the morning without any food is called nirbhakta and is used only for strong people; taken thus it is said to be very potent and able to destroy all diseases.

    Chapter 20 · p. 448 · v. 18Hindi commentaryTraditional description

  • Medicine taken before the meal (pragbhakta) is said to digest quickly and be comfortable; after the meal (urdhvabhakta) it removes diseases of the upper body; in the middle of the meal (madhyabhakta) it destroys diseases of the middle of the body, and the wise physician chooses after weighing the disease.

    Chapter 20 · p. 449 · v. 18Hindi commentaryTraditional description

  • Antarabhakta is medicine taken at midday between the fixed morning and evening meals and is said to kindle the fire strongly; sabhakta is food prepared or cooked with medicines, to be given to those averse to medicine, children, the emaciated, the old and women.

    Chapter 20 · p. 449 · v. 19Hindi commentaryTraditional description

  • Samudga is medicine taken before and after the meal and is said to calm doshas provoked in the upper and lower body; muhurmuhu is medicine given again and again, with or without food, in dyspnoea, severe hiccup and severe belching.

    Chapter 20 · p. 449 · v. 20Hindi commentaryTraditional description

  • Grasa is medicine mixed with a morsel: digestive, nourishing and aphrodisiac powders for those with weak fire, depleted semen or weakness. Grasantara is medicine taken between two morsels: for cough and dyspnoea, emetic medicines, medicated smokes and linctuses made with pacifying drugs.

    Chapter 20 · p. 450 · v. 21Hindi commentaryTraditional description

Classification3

  • Ten times for taking medicine are named: without food (nirbhakta), before the meal (pragbhakta), after the meal (urdhvabhakta), in the middle of the meal (madhyabhakta), between meals (antarabhakta), with food (sabhakta), before and after the meal (samudga), repeatedly (muhurmuhu), with a morsel (grasa) and between morsels (grasantara).

    Chapter 20 · p. 448 · v. 18Hindi commentaryTraditional description

  • The text lists ten times for taking medicine: in the morning before food, before the meal, after the meal, in the middle of the meal, between meals, with the meal, before and after the meal (samudga), repeatedly, with each morsel and between morsels; it notes that meat is prescribed at none of them.

    Appendix: Hitahita · p. 615Sanskrit verseTraditional description

  • Ten times for taking medicine are listed: in the morning, before food, after food, in the middle of food, between meals, with food, with mudga (मुद्ग के साथ, as printed), repeatedly, with each morsel and between morsels; none of them is fixed for meat.

    Appendix: Hitahita · p. 631Hindi commentaryTraditional description

Cautions1

  • A footnote says only strong people can bear medicine taken this way, while children, the old, women and people of delicate nature become exhausted; a second footnote cites another text defining nirbhakta as the use of medicine alone.

    Chapter 20 · p. 448 · v. 18FootnoteTraditional description

Other1

  • A footnote notes that other texts call medicine taken after the meal adhobhakta, with the same meaning.

    Chapter 20 · p. 449 · v. 18FootnoteTraditional description

Where else is this mentioned?

Named 2 times on 2 pages. These are automatic name matches, so a few may refer to something else with the same name.

Questions and answers

What are the ten times for taking medicine in chapter 20?

Nirbhakta, pragbhakta, urdhvabhakta, madhyabhakta, antarabhakta, sabhakta, samudga, muhurmuhu, grasa and grasantara.

Detailed answer and sources
On what grounds does the hitahita chapter say that meat is neither food, nor medicine, nor rasayana?

Not food: Brahma and the others did not eat it, nourishment runs from milk to food, children are first given light food with milk at six months, and meat is very incompatible with milk. Not medicine: it is absent from the lists of drugs, it neither purifies nor, having no distinct taste of its own, pacifies, and no dose and none of the ten times for medicine is given for it. Not rasayana: it is absent from the rasayana section.

Detailed answer and sources
On what grounds does the translation say that meat is not a medicine?

It is not taken up in the sections on collecting medicinal substances, is neither purifying nor pacifying, has no taste of its own, and has no time or measure of use laid down for it.

Detailed answer and sources

All references

Every page and verse of the source that this entry draws on.

Extraction notes

  • सामुe is read as सामुद्ग (the commentary writes सामुद्र); in the grasantara commentary ग्रास श्वास is read as कास श्वास, following the verse सकासनिश्वासिषु.
  • The Sanskrit list on PDF 687 has samudga (before and after the meal) where the translation prints मुद्ग के साथ.

Quick facts

Content type
Principle
Source pages with records
5
Pages naming it
2
Extraction tasks
T22, T29, T30
Record id
concept_aushadha_kala