Explore the knowledge

The people of marshy (ānūpa) land are described as very stout and kapha-predominant, and physicians there are told always to treat kapha and vāta.

The six seasons, two months each, are listed from Caitra: vasanta (also called madhu, when flowers and fruits flourish) in Caitra and Vaiśākha, grīṣma in Jyeṣṭha and Āṣāḍha, varṣā in…

The verse describes sesame as hot, pervaded by astringent, bitter and sweet tastes, binding and appetising, light in digestion, and, applied to wounds, cleansing and healing.

Worm disease is described with head and heart pain, vomiting, sneezing and fever; worms arise in kapha, faeces and blood and are treated with medicated ghee, purification, juices, powders,…

Raktapitta is described as blood, corrupted in the liver and spleen by vata and pitta after vata, injury or heat, flowing upward, downward or both ways. Its prodromes, incurable and fatal…

Rajayakshma, also called kshaya and shosha, is described as a severe wasting disease of all three doshas that dries up the tissues and is the seat from which many other diseases arise.

The five elements—earth, water, fire, air and space—are said to cause the manifestation and origin of tastes such as sweet in every substance; when, in their mutual interpenetration, the…

A person troubled by worms should avoid curd, jaggery, sugarcane juice, fruits such as mango, all kinds of milk, meat, sweet tastes and food or drink containing any leafy vegetables.

For pitta and blood coryza, ghee cooked with bitter, amalaki and sweet drugs is called beneficial; the commentary reads bitter, sour and sweet tastes.

The introduction lists the qualities of kapha as stable (sthira), unctuous (snigdha), smooth (ślakṣṇa), clay-like (mṛtsna), cold (śīta), heavy (guru) and slow (manda), and says kapha, like…

The introduction says meat, like wine and honey, is used in no medicinal formula of the Kalyāṇakāraka, because obtaining it involves killing living beings and its renunciation is needed to…

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.

Taking digestion as the example, the introduction says the pācaka pitta in the āmāśaya, pakvāśaya and similar organs is gross and can be seen directly, with qualities such as a raw smell…

Prameha is the first of the major diseases treated in chapter 11. The text gives its causes (too much heavy, liquid, unctuous and cold food, day sleep, lack of exertion), its prodromes, its…

The verse lists the habitual use of a single taste among the causes that bring on the doshas, to be avoided.

The text calls faulty the one-sided views of those who see substance, taste, potency and post-digestive effect as separate: if taste, potency and vipaka were different from the substance…

The verse gives a threefold order of diet for children (milk only, milk with food, then good food) and says that for the other stages proper meals are best.

Eating sesame oil is listed among the causes of pitta aggravation.

Stiffness, coldness, swelling, heaviness, hardness, intense cold, severe itching, unctuousness and wetness, salivation, distaste for food, heaviness of the head, excessive sleep, weak…

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…

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…