Āyurveda: The Science of Life

Āyurveda means “the science of life”. It is the sacred Indian science of life and health. According to the Purāṇas, Dhanvantari, the divine physician, taught it to his disciple Suśruta. Two Purāṇas set out this teaching at length: the Agni Purāṇa and the Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa.

The Agni Purāṇa (Chapters 279–300) goes deeply into methods of treatment, including care of animals, snakebite, and healing through mantra (sacred sound formulas). The Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa (Chapters 146–204) is mainly a nidāna-sthāna, a section on diagnosis. It covers the five ways of recognising a disease, how the three doṣas (the body’s three energies: vāta, pitta and kapha) go out of balance and cause illness, the kinds of fever, cikitsā (treatment), and the medicine of animals.

How Āyurveda Was Passed Down

The Agni Purāṇa brings in Āyurveda through a conversation between Suśruta and Dhanvantari. Suśruta asks Dhanvantari to teach him the highest Āyurveda: the science that can bring the dead back to life, heal the diseases of people, horses and elephants, and bring about every kind of wondrous cure. Dhanvantari then reveals the whole science in an orderly way.

Medicine for People: Manuṣya-Cikitsā

Treating Fever (Jvara-Cikitsā)

The vaidya (physician) must first judge the patient’s bala (strength) before giving any treatment. The main method for fever is laṅghana (fasting, or lightening the diet). After laṅghana, the patient is given lāja-kañjī (a broth of roasted grain) with śuṇṭhī (dried ginger) to bring down heat and fever. Then a decoction (a medicine made by boiling herbs in water) of musta, parpaṭa, kośa, candana, udīcya and nāgara is given. After six days the patient takes tikta-kaṣāya (a bitter decoction). Once the fever breaks, the patient is made to sweat and is then given a purgative.

Good foods during fever include: ṣaṣṭika (sixty-day rice), nīvāra, rakta-śāli, old grains, dishes made from yava (barley), mudga (green gram), masūra (lentils), caṇaka (chickpea), kulattha, karkoṭaka, paṭola, nimba (neem) and dāḍima (pomegranate).

For rakta-pitta (a bleeding disorder of blood and pitta), purging downward is advised; if the bleeding flows upward, vamana (making the patient vomit) is preferred. The ṣaḍaṅga-kvātha (six-part decoction) made without śuṇṭhī is specially advised. Old rice, wheat dishes with milk and ghee, honey and rasa (meat broth) are advised for recovery. In atisāra (diarrhoea), old rice is the main food advised.

Remedies for All Diseases: Sarva-Roga-Harāṇi

The Agni Purāṇa lists a great many medicines for treating many diseases. It gives formulas that mix herbs in set amounts as kvātha (decoction), cūrṇa (powder), taila (oil), ghṛta (ghee) and leha (a thick medicinal paste, taken by licking).

• Making a kvātha: add sixteen times as much water as the herbs, boil it down to one quarter, and give it.
• Making a sneha (a medicine based on oil or ghee): mix the oil with four times its amount of kvātha, or with an equal amount of oil and kvātha.
• Testing an oil medicine: roll it between the fingers; it should feel like a varti (wick).
• Making a leha: measure the ingredients in equal parts.
• Dose: the usual dose is one akṣa of cūrṇa and four pala of kvātha (akṣa and pala are old units of weight). But these are changed according to the patient’s age, strength, power of digestion, region and the season, and the nature of the medicine.

Rasa, Vīrya and Vipāka: The Three Things That Decide How a Medicine Works

Dhanvantari explains that a physician who knows the rasa (taste), vīrya (potency, its heating or cooling power) and vipāka (the effect after digestion) of medicines can protect kings and all beings.

The six tastes (ṣaḍ-rasa) are: madhura (sweet), amla (sour), lavaṇa (salty), kaṭu (pungent), tikta (bitter) and kaṣāya (astringent). The first three, madhura, amla and lavaṇa, come from Candra (the Moon). The last three, kaṭu, tikta and kaṣāya, come from Agni (fire).

Vipāka (the change after digestion) is of three kinds: kaṭu (pungent), amla (sour) and lavaṇa (salty). Vīrya (potency) is of two kinds: śīta (cooling) and uṣṇa (heating). Madhura, tikta and kaṣāya have cooling vīrya; the other three tastes have heating vīrya.

But a medicine’s own prabhāva (special power) can go against what its taste would suggest. For example, guḍūcī is bitter but has heating vīrya because of its special power; in the same way, the astringent harītakī also has heating vīrya. Lavaṇa and madhura become sweet after digestion. According to some traditions, amla also becomes sweet after digestion. The other tastes become pungent after digestion. A medicine with very strong vīrya can give results opposite to its expected vipāka; so honey (madhu), though sweet, is pungent after digestion. Medicines of saumya (gentle) taste are usually dhātu-vardhaka, meaning they build up the body’s tissues.

Vṛkṣāyurveda: Medicine of Plants

The science of plant medicine (vṛkṣāyurveda) is given as a separate branch. Particular herbs and their uses are described for different conditions. Plants are grouped by their taste, and their use is matched to the doṣa being treated. A basic principle of treatment with plants is that saumya (gentle) herbs build up the tissues, while kaṭu (pungent) herbs stir up and cleanse.

Remedies for Various Diseases: Nānā-Roga-Harāṇi

A wide range of medicines for particular disorders is given: for fever, cough, piles, skin disorders, diseases of digestion and various sudden illnesses. Forms described include ghṛta, taila, kvātha, cūrṇa and lepa (paste applied on the skin).

• For śvāsa-roga (breathing trouble): kṛṣṇāśana, niśā, rāsnā, drākṣā, taila and guḍa (jaggery); or madhura-ghṛta with bārdhī; or paṭhā, āka and kaṇa with honey.
• For hiccups (hikkā): dhātrī, viśvasitā, kṛṣṇā, mustā, kharjūra, māgadhī and pīvarā work well.
• For jaundice (kāmalā): jīra, māṇḍūkī, nīlā and dhātrī-rasa are given.
• For disorders of kapha: a mixed powder of trikaṭu, padmakāṣṭha, triphalā, viḍaṅga and devadāru with guḍa cures cough.

Mantra-Rūpa Auṣadha: Medicine Through Mantra

Some mantras are given together with herbs for a complete cure. The principle is that a skilled vaidya uses both dravya (a substance) and mantra (a sacred sound formula) to heal. Particular mūla-mantras (root mantras) are named for treating disease and driving poisons out of the body.

Mṛta-Sañjīvana and Mṛtyuñjaya-Kalpa: Bringing Back Life

Mṛta-Sañjīvana Formulas

The Agni Purāṇa gives a whole chapter to formulas that can bring the dead back to life or cure illnesses that would otherwise end in death. They include:

• Madhu (honey) + mṛta (a mix of honey and ghee) + triphalā + amṛta: removes three hundred diseases
• Triphalā (one, two or four tulā), taken regularly
• Bilva-rasāyana for one month: gives five hundred years of life and the gift of poetry
• Tila (sesame) and bhallātaka: remove disease and untimely death

Mṛtyuñjaya-Kalpa: Overcoming Death

Dhanvantari reveals formulas aimed especially at overcoming death and disease:

• Khaṇḍa-durga-vaṇa (a mixed drink): allows one hundred years of life
• Madhu + ājya (ghee) + śaṃthu, one pala each morning: overcomes Mṛtyu (death)
• Māṇḍūkī cūrṇa with kṣīra (milk): prevents wrinkles and greying
• Ucca-ṭa with honey and milk: overcomes death
• Nirguṇḍī-rasa with madhu-mṛta or kṣīra: destroys disease and death
• Palāśa-taila (one tulā) with honey, for six months, with milk: gives five hundred years of life
• Jyotiṣmatī-patra-rasa or triphalā with milk: gives one thousand years of life
• Śatāvarī cūrṇa (four tulā) with madhu-ghṛta: gives a life of a thousand years
• Nirguṇḍī with madhu-mṛta or milk: destroys disease and death
• Pañcāṅga-nimba-rasa, steeped (bhāvanā) with bhṛṅgarāja-rasa (one tulā): destroys disease and gives immortality
• Rudantikā cūrṇa with madhu-mṛta or milk: overcomes death
• Harītakī cūrṇa, steeped with bhṛṅgarāja-rasa and madhu-mṛta: gives a disease-free life of three hundred years
• Vārāhikā, bhṛṅga-rasa, loha-cūrṇa, śatāvarī and ājya (one tulā): gives five hundred years of life
• Loha-bhasma (prepared iron ash) with śatāvarī and bhṛṅgarāja-rasa, with madhu-mṛta: gives three hundred years of life
• Tāmra-bhasma (prepared copper ash) + amṛtā + trivṛt + gandhaka in equal parts, made into golikās (pills) with kumārikā-rasa and taken with ghṛta: gives five hundred years of life
• Aśvagandhā + triphalā + śarkarā (sugar) + taila + ghṛta: gives one hundred years of healthy life

Gaja-Cikitsā: Medicine for Elephants

Pālakāpya taught the science of elephant medicine to King Lomapāda. Excellent elephants are known by: a long trunk, deep breath, patience, twenty or eighteen nails, giving out mada (the fluid of the rut season) in cold weather, a raised right tusk, a voice like the thunder of a cloud, broad ears and fine spots on the skin. Short elephants, those lacking good features, pregnant females, and the three kinds of wild, uncontrolled (utkaṭa) elephants should not be kept. Seven good qualities make an elephant win in war: varṇa (colour), sattva (courage), bala (strength), rūpa (form), kānti (lustre), saṃhanana (firmness) and java (speed).

Treatments for elephants include:

• Jvara (all fevers): anuvāsana (an oil enema) is the main method
• Vāta-roga: massage with ghee and oil, followed by a bath
• Skanda-roga: the same method as the usual pāka treatment
• Pāṇḍu-roga: gomūtra (cow’s urine) + haridrā (turmeric) + ghṛta
• Kalabandha (problems of the rut season): oil massage and bathing
• Mūrcchā (fainting): a mouthful (grāsa) of vāyu-viḍaṅga, triphalā, trikaṭu and saindhava (rock salt), with honey-water
• Śiraḥśūla (headache): massage and nasya (nasal drops)
• Pāda-roga (foot disease): an oil pack, followed by cleansing with kala-kaṣāya
• Kampana-roga (shaking disease): the flesh of tittiri and lāva birds with pippalī and marica
• Atisāra (diarrhoea): bilva, bilva-lodhra and dhātakī with śarkarā
• Trombolā (disease of the trunk): nasya of salt and ghee
• Carmadoṣa (skin disease): nimba-kvātha or vṛṣa-kvātha
• Mūtrakṛcchra (painful urination): the eight salts with surā and mṛta
• Wounds: a decoction of śṛṅgī, beka, kaṇa, drākṣā and śarkarā

Aśva-Cikitsā: Medicine for Horses

Śālihotra set down the science of horses. The Agni Purāṇa gives both the lakṣaṇa (signs of good horses) and the cikitsā (treatments).

Good horses are known by: a broad chest, firm legs, a curved neck (arched like a swan’s), bright clear eyes, soft skin, a fine coat, strong hooves, a flowing tail and a well-formed face. Such horses are fast, can travel long distances, can carry heavy loads and bring victory in battle. Horses from Sindhu, Kāmboja, Bāhlika, Vanāyu and other famous regions are described as examples of the finest breeds.

Diseases of horses and their treatments include:

• Jvara (fever): a lighter diet and cooling decoctions
• Vāta-vikāra (vāta disorders): oil massage and warming medicines
• Kapha-vikāra (kapha disorders): kaṭu (pungent) medicines and purging
• Wounds and festering sores: healing pastes made with ghṛta and candana (sandalwood)

For aśva-śānti (rites to calm horses), a particular mantra-pūjā is given to calm horses that are disturbed or show bad omens.

Gavāyurveda: Medicine for Cows

The Agni Purāṇa has a separate section on the medicine of cows (gavāyurveda). Cows’ diseases are treated in ways like those for people, with the doses changed to suit. Medicines combining gomūtra (cow’s urine), haridrā (turmeric), ghṛta and healing herbs treat fever, digestive problems and skin conditions in cattle. The cow is sacred, and caring for the health of cows is treated as a duty of dharma.

Mantra-Paribhāṣā: The Principles of Healing by Mantra

Chapter 293 sets out the basic ideas behind using mantras in healing. Different mantras carry the presence of particular devatās, such as Rudra, Viṣṇu and Sūrya, and are used according to the nature of the disease. The chapter explains that dravya-cikitsā (treatment with medicines) and mantra-cikitsā (treatment with mantras) work together to make a complete system of healing. Its key principles are: proper japa (repetition of the mantra), nyāsa (placing the syllables of the mantra on parts of the body), dhyāna (meditation on the devatā), and using mudrās (sacred hand gestures) together with healing herbs.

Sarpa-Lakṣaṇa: The Science of Serpents

Over several chapters, the Agni Purāṇa gives a very full account of the science of serpents.

The Eight Great Nāgas

The eight foremost of all nāgas (serpent beings) are: Śeṣa, Vāsuki, Takṣaka, Karkoṭaka, Padma, Mahāpadma, Śaṅkhapāla and Kulika. Of these, two are Brāhmaṇa nāgas, two Kṣatriya nāgas, two Vaiśya nāgas and two Śūdra nāgas. The numbers of hoods they bear are, in order: one thousand, eight hundred, five hundred and three hundred. Five hundred nāgas were born in their line, and from them came countless others.

The Three Kinds of Serpents

All serpents belong to three main classes: Phaṇī, Maṇḍalī and Rājila. These match, in order, a strong share of vāta, pitta and kapha. Besides these three there are the Vyantara (born out of season), the doṣa-miśra (of mixed doṣas) and the darvīkara (hollow-fanged) kinds.

Each kind bears particular marks on its body: a cakra (wheel), a hari (lion mark), a chatra (umbrella), a svastika or an aṅkuśa (goad). The Gonasa serpent has detailed round markings, a long body and moves slowly. The Rājila is smooth and shiny with lines along its sides. The Vyantara has mixed markings. Four subtypes based on the elements, pārthiva (earth), āpya (water), āgneya (fire) and vāyavya (air), give twenty-six sub-varieties.

Birth of Serpents and the Four Venom Fangs

Serpents conceive in the month of Āṣāḍha and carry their young for four months. The female lays 240 eggs. The parent serpents usually eat most of the young before it can be seen whether they are male, female or neuter. The black serpent (kṛṣṇa-sarpa) opens its eyes on the seventh day and hatches in one month. On the twentieth day after hatching, on seeing sunlight, it grows thirty-two teeth. Four of these are the viṣa-danta (venom fangs). These four fangs are named Karālī, Makarī, Kālarātrī and Yamadūtī, and they sit on the left and right sides.

The Seven Nāga Rulers of the Weekdays

Each day of the week has a ruler among the serpents, who governs serpent activity on that day:

Daṣṭa-Cikitsā: Treating Snakebite

The Agni Purāṇa gives full methods for treating snakebite across four chapters (295–298).

The Gāruḍa Mantra Method (Chapter 295)

The main treatment for snakebite begins with mantra-nyāsa in the tradition of Rudra. The vaidya does hṛdaya-nyāsa (placing the mantra on the heart) with the mantra “Hara hara hṛdayāya namaḥ”, then śiras-nyāsa (on the head), śikhā-nyāsa (on the crown tuft) and kavaca-nyāsa (as armour).

The devatā called upon is Rudra. He has four faces, white, yellow, red and dark, facing the four directions. His four hands show the abhaya-varada mudrā (gestures of protection and blessing) and hold a dhanu (bow) and Vāsuki (the serpent). He wears a yajñopavīta (sacred thread) and Pārvatī is with him.

After full nyāsa from the feet to the head and on the fingers, the śūla-mudrā (trident gesture) is formed, joining the little finger and the index finger while stretching out the three middle fingers, to bind and destroy the poison. The mantra from “Oṃ namo bhagavate” to “rudra-manyave” is recited to drive out the venom. The mantra can also be whispered into the patient’s ear. Or the ground beside the patient can be struck with a sandal while the mantra is recited, and the venom dissolves. Pūjā of the blue-throated Maheśvara (Nīlagrīva), done in the way of Rudra, removes viṣa-vyādhi (illness from poison) completely.

The Pañcāṅga-Rudra Method (Chapter 296)

The highest method for snakebite, the Pañcāṅga-Rudra, has five limbs:

1. The Śiva-saṅkalpa (Yajurveda 34.1–6) as the hṛdaya (heart)
2. The Puruṣa-sūkta (Yajurveda 31) as the śiras (head)
3. The sūkta beginning “Adbhyaḥ saṃbhūtaḥ” as the kavaca (armour)
4. “Āśuḥ śiśānaḥ” (Yajurveda 17.33) as the section of twelve mantras
5. The Śata-Rudrīya as the complete limb of Rudra

For each mantra in the Pañcāṅga, the ṛṣi (seer), chandas (metre) and devatā are given in detail.

Other mantras are also named as working against venom:

• The Trailokya-mohana mantra, “Iṃ Śrīṃ Hrīṃ Hrūṃ trailokya-mohanāya viṣṇave namaḥ”
• The ānuṣṭubh Narasiṃha mantra, which is just as powerful
• The dvādaśākṣarī and aṣṭākṣarī mantras (the twelve-syllable and eight-syllable mantras of Viṣṇu), which also remove viṣa-vyādhi
• The mantra “Kubjikā, Tripurā, Gaurī, Candrikā viṣahāriṇī”, which removes poison and helps long life
• All mantras of Sūrya, Vināyaka and Rudra, which together are viṣa-nāśaka (destroyers of poison)

Viṣa-Hṛn Mantras and Herbal Treatment (Chapter 297)

The vaidya recites particular Rudra-mūla mantras to drive the venom out of the bitten person. One who has gained mantra-siddhi (mastery of a mantra) in the pātāla-kṣobha mantra can bind serpents for good.

For physical treatment, burning the place of the bite with fire, hot charcoal or a red-hot tool seals it and holds the venom back. Herbal remedies are also given:

• Śirīṣa seeds and flowers, arka-kṣīra (the milky sap of arka) and its seeds, and trikaṭu (pippalī, marica and śuṇṭhī), taken by mouth or put on the skin, destroy the venom.
• Kirīṣa-puṣpa-rasa (juice of kirīṣa flowers) with white marica, as a drink (pāna), eye-salve (añjana) or paste (lepa), clears all kinds of serpent venom.
• Herbal nasya (nasal medicine) made with kośātakī, vacā, hiṅgu, śirīṣa, arka-kṣīra and trikaṭu, together with moṣāmbhas, also removes venom.

Treating the Gonasa Bite and Other Poisons (Chapter 298)

• Gonasa (rat-snake) bite: the mantra “Oṃ hrāṃ hrīṃ āmalapakṣi svāhā”, said over tāmbūla (betel), cures venom of the maṇḍalī kind. Physical treatments include laśuna (garlic), rāmaṭha-phala, kuṣṭha, agni (fire) and vyoṣa. Snuhī-kṣīra with go-ghṛta (cow’s ghee) taken for fifteen days is the full treatment.
• Rājila snake bite: saindhava-lavaṇa (rock salt) + ājya + madhu + gomaya-rasa (juice of cow dung); and, taken internally, kṛṣṇa-khaṇḍa, dugdha (milk), ājya and honey.
• All kinds of venom: trikaṭu + a peacock feather + cat bone + mongoose hair, made into a powder in goat’s milk and used as smoke (fumigation).
• Scorpion (vṛścika) venom: a paste of mañjiṣṭhā, candana, vyoṣa, śirīṣa and kumuda flowers together.
• General venom: the mantra from “Oṃ namo bhagavate rudrāya” to “Oṃ hrūṃ phaṭ”, with a prepared medicine.
• Swallowed poison (viṣa-bhakṣaṇa): first make the person vomit (vamana), cool the body with cold water, then give honey and ghṛta, and then give a purgative.

Bāla-Graha: Afflictions of Childhood

Chapter 299 sets out the bāla-tantra, the system for recognising and treating the grahas (seizing spirits) that attack children from birth up to seventeen years of age.

Afflictions Day by Day (the First Thirteen Days)

Each of the first thirteen days of a newborn’s life is ruled by a particular grahī (a female seizing spirit) who may take hold of the baby. The day, the grahī and the signs are:

The treatment for each is a bali (offering) of fish, meat, wine, food, fragrance, garlands, incense and lamps to the particular grahī and to the mātṛkās (the divine mothers); and herbal lepa (paste) and dhūpa (medicinal smoke) applied to the baby’s body using suitable substances.

Afflictions Month by Month (Months 1–12)

Afflictions Year by Year (Years 2–17)

The treatment for each year is ritual bathing, bali offerings, dhūpa (medicinal smoke) and lepa (herbal paste) suited to each grahī. The protecting mantra from “Oṃ namaḥ sarva-mātṛbhyaḥ” to “rudrottāpayati” is said to fulfil all wishes, and is given especially for bāla-graha śānti (calming the children’s grahas). Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva, Skanda, Gaurī and the Gaṇa-devas are all called upon to protect the child and free it from fever and burning.

Graha-Hṛn Mantras: Mantras for Calming the Grahas

Chapter 300 sets out the graha-upahāra-mantras: mantras and remedies for affliction by grahas (planets and seizing spirits) in adults.

Five Kinds of Unmāda (Madness)

Five kinds of unmāda (madness) afflict human beings. They come from: too much joy, too much desire, fear, grief, and eating food that goes against one’s prakṛti (natural body type) or eating while ritually impure.

From Rudra’s anger, many kinds of deva-graha (seizing spirits) arise. These grahas live in rivers, ponds, lakes, mountains, gardens, embankments, places where rivers meet, empty houses, the mouths of caves and lonely trees, and they take hold of people who visit such places. They also take hold of pregnant women who are asleep, women close to their monthly period, women without clothes, and women doing ritual bathing. The signs of being seized by a graha are dishonour, enmity, obstacles and a turn for the worse in fortune. A person who breaks dharma, falls from mountains or trees, keeps shaking his hair, or cries with red eyes and jumps about should be known as seized by a graha.

Pūjā of Sūrya to Calm the Grahas

The Agni Purāṇa gives pūjā of Sūrya as the main way to remove graha-pīḍā (trouble from the grahas). The form of Sūrya for this pūjā is described in detail. He has four faces, eight arms and twelve eyes. He is seated on a lotus in the maṇḍala (sacred circle) of the Sun, surrounded by the Ādityas and other divine beings. His right hands hold a pāśa (noose), an aṅkuśa (goad), an akṣamālā (string of prayer beads) and a kapāla (skull-cup). His left hands hold a khaṭvāṅga (a staff topped with a skull), a kamala (lotus), a cakra (discus) and a śakti (spear).

The Sūrya bīja-mantra (seed mantra) is formed from coded seed syllables that combine as “Yauḥ Rauṃ Aiṃ Hrīṃ Kalaśārkāya Bhūrbhuvaḥ Svar Oṃ jvālinī-kula-muddhara”. The main Sūrya mūla-bīja is “Hrāṃ Hrīṃ Saḥ”.

The pūjā involves preparing the yoga-pīṭha (seat), installing the pāda-devatās (Prabhūta, Vimala, Sāra, Ārādhya, Paramasukha), and pūjā of eight śaktis at the stamens of the lotus petals: “Vāṃ Dīptāṃ”, “Eṃ Sūkṣmāṃ”, “Ūṃ Jayāṃ”, “Vṛṃ Bhadrikāṃ”, “Veṃ Vibhūtiṃ”, “Vaiṃ Vimalāṃ”, “Voṃ Āsighāta-vidyutāṃ”, “Vīṃ Sarvato-mukhīṃ” and “Vaṃ Pīṭham”. After this pūjā, Sūrya is honoured in the central petal. The other grahas are honoured at the points of direction: in the east, Candra, Budha, Guru and Śukra; in the south-east, Maṅgala, Śani, Rāhu and Ketu.

Bīja-Mantras of the Grahas

The bīja-mantra of each graha is formed by taking the first syllable (ādyākṣara) of its name and adding a bindu (the nasal dot, anusvāra). The graha-hṛd-mantras (heart mantras) for each graha are given using this method.

When given proper pūjā, all the grahas are described as saumya (gentle) and bala-dāyaka (giving strength), with forms as bright as lightning. Bṛhaspati is golden (paśupaccha), Śukra is white, Śani is as dark as black charcoal, and Rāhu and Ketu are the colour of smoke (dhūma-samāna-varṇa). All the grahas rest their left hands on their left thighs and show the abhaya-mudrā (gesture of protection) with their right hands.

Herbal Medicines for Calming the Grahas

Along with the mantra pūjā, particular herbal medicines are given:

• For all graha-bādhā (troubles from grahas): paṭhā, pathyā, vacā, śigru, sindhu and vyoṣa, one pala each, boiled in one kuñca of goat’s milk; the ghṛta taken from this milk cures all graha ailments
• For apasmāra (epilepsy): vṛścikāḥ-phala-kaṣṭa + lavaṇa + śārjaka, boiled in water
• For jvara caused by a graha: yaṣṭī + kūṣmāṇḍa-rasa with mṛta or pañcagavya (the five products of the cow); or the fever-gāyatrī mantra “Oṃ bhasmāstrāya vidmahe ekadaṃṣṭrāya dhīmahi tanno jvaraḥ pracodayāt”
• For śvāsa-roga (breathing trouble): kṛṣṇāśana, niśā, rāsnā, drākṣā, taila and guḍa; or pāṭhā, āka and kaṇa with honey
• For hikkā (hiccups): dhātrī, viśvasitā, kṛṣṇā, mustā, kharjūra, māgadhī and pīvarā
• For kāmalā (jaundice): jīra, māṇḍūkī, nīlā and dhātrī-rasa
• For kāsa (cough): trikaṭu, padmakāṣṭha, triphalā, viḍaṅga, devadāru and rāsnā, in equal parts as a powder with guḍa

Āyurveda in the Garuḍa Purāṇa (Chapters 146–204)

The Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa gives Chapters 146–204 of its Ācāra Khaṇḍa to a long section on Āyurveda, presented as Dhanvantari’s teaching to Suśruta. The first twenty chapters (146–167) form a nidāna-sthāna, focused on how to diagnose disease. The remaining forty chapters (168–204) cover cikitsā (treatment), the qualities of medicines, the medicine of animals, and protecting vidyās (sacred knowledges).

Pañca-Nidāna: Five Ways of Recognising Disease (Chapter 146)

Dhanvantari teaches Suśruta that every disease can be understood in five ways:

1. Nidāna: finding the causes. Six terms are used for the cause of disease: nimitta, hetu, āyatana, pratyaya, utthāna and kāraṇa. All point to the part played by doṣas that have been wrongly stirred up.
2. Pūrvarūpa: the early signs that show before the doṣas have fully shown themselves. These are divided into sāmānya (general) and viśiṣṭa (particular).
3. Rūpa: the full signs of the disease. Other words for it are saṃsthāna, vyañjana, liṅga, lakṣaṇa, cihna and ākṛti.
4. Upaśaya: the test by treatment. Food, routine or medicine is given, and its effect (relief or worsening) helps confirm the disease. There are six kinds of upaśaya, based on hetu-viparīta (against the cause), vyādhi-viparīta (against the disease) and their combinations.
5. Samprāpti: how the disturbed doṣas spread through the channels of the body. It is divided into saṅkhyā (by number), vikalpa (by proportion), prādhānya (by which is strongest), bala (by strength) and kāla (by time) samprāpti.

The root cause of all disease is the kupita (stirred-up) doṣa living in the body. Wrong food (ahita-sevana) is the main thing that sets it off.

What Stirs Up Each Doṣa (Chapter 146)

Vāta-prakopa (stirring up of vāta): too much bitter, heating, astringent or rough food; running; too much talking; staying awake at night; fear, grief and worry; too much exercise, sexual activity and loud shouting. Stirred-up vāta shows itself especially in summer, at mealtimes and after them.

Pitta-prakopa (stirring up of pitta): bitter, harsh, rough, heating or salty foods; foods that increase anger and thirst; drinking too much alcohol. Pitta is stirred up especially in autumn, at midday and midnight.

Kapha-prakopa (stirring up of kapha): sweet, sour, salty, oily, heavy or cold foods; sitting for a long time; too much sleep; daytime naps; indigestion from heavy foods; lack of exercise. Kapha is stirred up at the start of digestion and at the start of the day and the night.

Sannipāta (all three doṣas stirred up together) comes from mixed, hard to digest, unsuitable or spoiled food; alcohol; and certain foods (raw radish, dried vegetables, certain pulses, fish and meat). Spoiled grains and the influence of the grahas are also named as causes of sannipāta.

Jvara-Nidāna: Kinds of Fever (Chapter 147)

The Garuḍa Purāṇa gives a full grouping of jvara (fever). The eight main kinds follow the combinations of the three doṣas:

• Kapha-jvara: palpitation, vomiting, cough, chills, swelling and discharge of kapha; gets worse with late or wrong treatment
• Vāta-pitta-jvara: headache, fainting, vomiting, great heat, confusion, weak voice, no appetite, pain all over the body, sleeplessness, restless mind, cold shivers
• Kapha-vāta-jvara: moderate temperature, headache, loss of taste (bitterness of the tongue), joint pain, repeated coughing up of phlegm, breathing difficulty, cough, paleness, chills
• Śleṣma-pitta-jvara: heat outside with a feeling of cold inside, numbness, sweating, thirst, burning feeling, cough, mucus discharge, fainting, tiredness, bitter taste, red eyes

Sannipāta-jvara (fever of all three doṣas) shows all of the above at once. Its signs include chills and heat taking turns, too much sleep by day and no sleep at night, strange behaviour (singing, dancing, laughing), inflamed eyes, pain in the bones and joints all over the body, mental confusion, noises in the ears, a tongue that looks partly red and partly black, extreme thirst, and typical rashes on the belly. When the sannipāta enters the body’s vital essence (agnitattva), recovery becomes impossible.

Āgantuja-jvara (fever from outside causes) comes from external causes: injury, overwork, burns, poison, anger, fear, grief or passion. Grahadoṣa-jvara (fever caused by the grahas) shows the signs of sannipāta, with extra digestive trouble. Śāpa-rakta-jvara (fever from a curse or from spoiled blood) is marked by great suffering and thrashing about when mantras are recited.

Fever Entering the Seven Tissues: Saptadhātu-Gata-Jvara (Chapter 147)

How serious a fever is depends on which of the seven dhātus (body tissues) it has reached: rasa (plasma), rakta (blood), māṃsa (muscle), medas (fat), asthi (bone), majjā (marrow) and śukra (reproductive tissue). Fever in rasa and rakta can be driven out. Fever that has entered māṃsa can be cured. Fever in asthi and majjā becomes very hard to treat. Fever that enters śukra is fatal. The outer signs of the fever moving through each dhātu are described in detail.

Diagnosis of Other Diseases (Chapters 148–167)

The section on diagnosis goes on for sixteen more chapters. They give the signs, the course and the likely outcome of:

• Rakta-pitta (bleeding disorder of blood and pitta, Chapter 148): pitta spoils the blood; blood comes out from the openings of the body; the outcome depends on the direction of the flow (upward or downward) and on which doṣas are involved
• Kāsa (cough, Chapters 148–152): five kinds (vāta-kāsa, pitta-kāsa, kapha-kāsa, kṣata-kāsa and kṣaya-kāsa). Kṣata-kāsa comes from injury to the chest. Kṣaya, also called rāja-yakṣmā (wasting disease of the lungs), is the most serious stage. It has four causes (sāhasa, or overstrain; vega-saṃrodha, or holding back natural urges; śukra-kṣaya, or loss of reproductive tissue; and irregular eating), eleven breathing signs, and the grave sign of “broomstick limbs” (wasting that cannot be reversed)
• Śvāsa-roga (breathing blockages, Chapter 148): five kinds, kṣudra, tamaka, chinna, mahā and ūrdhva-śvāsa, with detailed signs for each
• Hikkā (hiccups, Chapter 148): five kinds, bhakṣyodgīrṇā, kṣudrā, yamalā, mahatī and gambhīrā, with their signs and outcomes
• Arocaka (loss of appetite, Chapter 153): loss of taste specific to each doṣa. The vāta kind has an astringent tongue; the pitta kind has a bitter mouth; the kapha kind has a sweet feeling that blocks all taste; and there is a fifth, mānasika (mental) kind
• Hṛd-roga and Tṛṣā (heart disease and thirst, Chapter 154): five kinds of hṛd-roga (from vāta, pitta, kapha, sannipāta and kṛmi, or worms); a sixth, infectious form; and the kinds of unhealthy thirst
• Chardi (vomiting, Chapter 155), Mūrcchā (fainting, Chapter 156), Prameha (urinary disorders, Chapter 157), Aśmarī (urinary stones, Chapter 158), Vidradhi and Gulma (abscess and abdominal lumps, Chapter 160), Udara-roga (diseases of the belly, Chapter 161), Pāṇḍu and Śotha (anaemia and swelling, Chapter 162), Vāta-vyādhi (diseases of vāta, Chapter 166) and Vāta-rakta (gout, Chapter 167)

The Treatment Section (Chapters 168–204)

The treatment section opens with a basic teaching on how disease arises from the seasons and from the working of the three doṣas (Chapter 168). Then come the four pillars of treatment: the vaidya (physician), the rogī (patient), the auṣadha (medicine) and the paricāraka (attendant). The physician’s judgement must take in deśa (climate and place), kāla (season), age, the patient’s agni (digestive fire), prakṛti (natural body type) and the exact nature of the doṣa imbalance. Key sections include:

• The six tastes and the qualities of foods (Chapter 169): a full list of foods and their effects on each doṣa. It covers kinds of śāli rice, valued for balancing all three doṣas; pulses (mudga, māṣa, kulattha); vegetables; fruits and spices (āmalakī, harītakī, pippalī, ārdraka or fresh ginger, śuṇṭhī); milk products; oils; honey, which has a special place as a calmer of all three doṣas; kinds of water (vāpī, taḍāga, nairgharaṭa), each with its own effect on the doṣas; and ghṛta as the best carrier of medicine for all conditions of the three doṣas
• Treating fever (Chapter 170): particular formulas using musta, parpaṭaka, uśīra, candana, nāgara and guḍūcī; laṅghana (fasting) as the basic method of treatment
• Treating wounds and nāḍī-vraṇa (sinus wounds) (Chapter 171)
• Strī-roga and graha-pīḍā (Chapter 172): women’s diseases and remedies for trouble from the grahas; ṛtu-caryā (routines for the seasons)
• Dravya-guṇa (Chapters 173–174): the healing qualities of medicinal substances, grouped by taste; the methods of sneha-pāka (cooking medicated oils and ghee)
• Remedies for many diseases (Chapters 175–199): formulas for palita-keśa (greying hair), karṇaśūla (earache), netra-roga (eye diseases), diseases of the teeth, garbha-sambandhī diseases (disorders of pregnancy), śotha (swelling), ajīrṇa (indigestion), gaṇḍamālā (swollen neck glands), viṣūcikā (cholera), prameha (urinary disorders), bhagandara (fistula) and treatment of poisons
• Bṛṃhaṇa and medhya formulas (Chapters 192–193): brāhmī-ghṛta preparations to strengthen memory; oils for massage; healing powders; virecaka (purgative) mixtures
• The Vaiṣṇava Kavaca as a healing protection (Chapter 194): the Vyādhi-hara Vaiṣṇava Kavaca, a protective “armour” of Viṣṇu’s names used as a healing mantra
• The Sarva-kāma-prada Vidyā (Chapter 195) and the Viṣṇu-Dharma Vidyā (Chapter 196): sacred knowledges for fulfilling all wishes and for upholding dharma

Sources

• Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 279–300
• Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Ācāra Khaṇḍa, Chapters 146–204