Editorial note: graded diet after purification

After purification the digestive fire is usually weak and must be built up step by step. Purification is of three grades (best, medium, least); after a warm bath, when hungry, the person is fed red shali rice according to digestive strength and, over three, two or one meal-times per step, peya, vilepi, unseasoned and seasoned pulse soup and milk, reaching normal food on the seventh day after the best grade. The physician may vary this by place, season, constitution, habituation and dosha; yavagu may replace peya, and with strong digestion milk and rice may be given from the start. The note ends by defining peya, vilepi, yusha, kritayusha and akritayusha.