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Water falling from the sky and collected before it touches the ground is said to be like nectar.

Not all water is fit for bathing and drinking; some is like poison. Ground water in the rainy season is said to cause many severe diseases, while rain water caught from the sky before it…

The introduction says no definite time can be given for the origin of Ayurveda, the science of life, because the need for it begins wherever living beings have life; since it is essential…

Buttermilk is named as the suitable after-drink when eating boiled rice and the like.

One who wants happiness should not climb mountains, trees, vicious horses or elephants, should not enter rivers or the sea with crocodiles, high waves or swift currents, and should not…

Pratishyaya (coryza) arises when vata, kapha, pitta and blood lodged in the head are provoked singly or together. It has a prodrome, five kinds and a neglected, vitiated form, and if…

The introduction says the work includes a section on fatal signs (riṣṭādhikāra), full of secrets known through the yoga practice of great sages.

Fever is said to arise when the doshas, aggravated by wrong diet, other diseases, season, wrong conduct or injury, spread through the whole body. Its general signs and prodromes, its vata,…

The publisher's note opens with the saying 'the body is indeed the first means of dharma' and says that a healthy body is necessary for religious practice, and that only through a healthy…

The text says a newborn lives first on its mother's milk alone, then on mother's milk together with food, before taking food alone.

The introduction says that the treatment portion of the Kalyāṇakāraka resembles Caraka to a large extent, apart from the parts dealing with honey, wine and meat.

Chapter 23 ends with a series of pastes, oils and nasyas said to turn white hair black, most of them containing iron powder and matured in iron vessels or pots buried in grain.

A footnote says vāta is aggravated in the rainy season by the nature of the season, so enema therapy is given then.

Shāli rice is described as sweet and cooling and light in digestion, and therefore as removing pitta, increasing kapha and bringing on much urine.

The introduction says Ayurvedic diagnosis mainly considers the vitiation of the doṣas, which arises from many different causes: the doṣas accumulate, become aggravated and spread (caya,…

The introduction says Ayurveda has used medicines on a very large scale, surely and without strain, drawing them from animal parts, plants, minerals and substances such as milk; in using…

Emesis is judged proper when first the medicine, then kapha and then pitta are expelled and the doshas and the disease subside.

The introduction defines deśa as the region where one lives and says it is of three kinds: jāṅgala, ānūpa and sādhāraṇa.

Sharkara (urinary gravel) is described as kapha in the bladder that is dried by heat and broken by vata into sand-like grains; lodged in the urinary passage they cause severe pain, and…

Vata is presented as the root cause of many local and whole-body diseases. Each of the five vayus, aggravated in its own seat, causes the diseases of that seat; joined with kapha, pitta or…

Continuing the account of digestion, the introduction says the food is moved onward by a propulsive action, and samāna vāyu is needed for this and to keep the food moist; its actions of…

Warm water is named as the after-drink when eating dishes made with ghee and the like, or when drinking fats (sneha).

The seasonal rules name the drinking water for each season: in spring well or village water, or water heated, clean and cooled; in summer well water; in the rains hot water; in autumn water…

Every grain should be used after carefully examining the person's constitution, region, season, disease and so on, choosing what suits them.