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Its actions are sedative (upasamana) and denutritive (chedana), and a basis of equilibrium (sadharanatva) of the rasas is reached when those having the above opposite actions are mixed together. Pleasantness (svddu) or unpleasantness (asvadu) of taste depends on liking or disliking. The seats of rasas are the essences of the five elements (parica-maha-bhiita-vikarah) modified in accordance with five conditions, viz. (1) specific nature of the substance (prakrti); (2) as acted upon by heat or other agents (vikrti); (3) association with other things (vicara) ; (4) the place in which the substance is grown (desa); (5) the time at which it is produced (kala)!. The gunas of heaviness, lightness, cold, warm, moisture and dryness belong to the things to which the rasas belong. The alkaline (ksara) should not be counted as a separate rasa, as it is made up of more than one rasa and affects more than one sense-organ; for it has at least two important rasas (of “‘hot and pungent” and “‘saline”’) and it affects not only the organ of taste, but also that of touch, and does not naturally belong to any substance, but has to be created by artificial processes. There is po such separate rasa which can be called unmanifested (avyakta). Water is the origin of all rasas; so all rasas may be considered as existing in an unmanifested state in water, but that is no reason why we should say that water has a separate taste called ‘‘ unmanifested ”’ ; moreover, when a substance has two rasas, one dominant and the other extremely feeble, the feeble rasa may be regarded as unmanifested ; or, when in a compound of different rasas, say, of a syrup, a slight hot taste is added, this may be con- sidered as unmanifested; but certainly there is no rasa to which the name “‘unmanifested”’ (avyakta) could be given. The view that there is an infinite number of rasas is untenable; for, though it may be urged that the same rasa may occur differently in different objects, that would only go to show that there are various grades of forms of each particular rasa and not prove that with each variety of a particular rasa the rasa itself is wholly different. Again, 1 Thus mudga (a sort of kidney-bean), which is a bhita-vikara, has the rasas of astringent and sweet and is yet light by nature, though one would expect it to be heavy on account of its rasas of astringent and sweet. Vikrti is best exemplified in the case of fried paddy, which is lighter than rice. It is well known that by composition wholly new properties may be generated in the product. Medicinal herbs vary in their properties in accordance with the time of plucking. XIII] The Theory of Rasas and their Chemistry 359 if different rasas are mixed together, the mixed rasa itself is not entitled to be counted as a separate rasa; for its qualities are just as the sum total of the qualities of the different rasas which are its constituents, and no independent work can be attributed to this mixed rasa (na samsrstanam rasanam karmopadisanti bud- dhimantah), as in the case of a compound of two or more sub- stances, as mentioned above (vicara). Though on account of the predominance of one or the other of them they are called earthy (parthiva), watery (a@pya), fiery (@gneya), airy (vayavya) or ethereal (akasatmaka), yet all substances are compounded of the five elements. All substances, whether animate or inanimate, are to be considered as medicines (ausadha), provided they are applied in the proper way (yuki) and for specific purposes (artha). A substance can be a medicine only when it is applied in the proper way and for specific purposes; nothing can unconditionally be considered a medicine. The medicative in- fluence is exerted both by virtue of the specific agency of a sub- stance (dravya-prabhava) and by the specific agency of its qualities, as also by their joint influence1. The action of medicines is called karman, its potency virya, the place where they operate adhi- karana, the time of operation kala, the mode of operation upaya, and the result achieved phala. As regards the origin of rasas, it is suggested that water gets mixed with the five elements in the air and also after its fall on the ground. These rasas nourish the bodies of all plants and animals. All the five elements are present in all rasas; but in some rasas some of the elements predominate, and in accordance with this there are differences among the various rasas. Thus, with the predominance of soma there is a sweet taste, with the pre- dominance of earth and fire an acid taste, with water and fire a saline taste, with air and fire, hot and pungent, with air and akasa, bitter, with air and earth, astringent. The different elements 1 The medicinal effect of substances may be distinguished from the medicinal effect of qualities, as when by certain stones (mani) poison may be removed or by the use of certain amulets certain diseases may be cured. Again, there may be cases where simply by the application of heat a certain disease may be cured, irrespective of the substance which possesses heat as its property. It seems that only the sense-properties and mechanical properties are here counted as gunas; other kinds of properties were considered as being due to the thing (dravya) itself. For, in addition to the sense-properties, the twenty qualities, guru, laghu, sita, usna, snigdha, ruksa, manda, tiksna, sthira, sara, mrdu, kathina, visada, picchila, slaksna, khara, sitksma, sthiila, sandra and drava, are counted as gunas (Caraka-samhitd, 1. i. 48; 1. 25. 35; 1. 26. 11). 360 Speculations in the Medical Schools [cH. which take part in the formation of rasas are said to be instrumental causes (nimitta-karana) of the rasas; this explains how, though fire has no rasa, yet it may help the generation of a particular rasa’, Destiny or unknown cause (adrsta) is, however, the general cause of such combinations of elements with water. In the very first chapter of the Caraka-samhita, substances (dravya) are counted as being the five elements, viz. Gk@sa, air, light, heat, water and earth, together with soul, manas, time and space. Of these those substances which possess sense-organs are called animate and those which do not are called inanimate*. The gunas are the sense-properties of hearing, touch, colour, taste and smell, the mechanical and other properties which all elements have in common, such as heaviness, lightness, cold, heat, and moisture, dryness, dullness, sharpness, steadiness, mobility, soft- ness, hardness, motion, slipperiness, smoothness, roughness, grossness, fineness, thickness, liquidity, etc., and desire, hatred, pleasure, pain and effort, intelligence (including memory), con- sciousness, patience, egoism, etc., distance (para), nearness (apara), combination (yuktz), number, contact, disjunction (vibhaga), separateness, measure, inertia (samskara) and repetition (abhydsa). The definition of substance (dravya) is, that which possesses quality (guna) and action (karma) in the relation of inherence and is also the inseparable material cause (samavayi-karana) of all effects. Gunas are things which are themselves inactive and exist in dravyas in an inseparable relation of inherence. The gunas themselves cannot contain any further gunas°. The above being the theory of dravya and guna, the question arises as to the way in which medicines operate in human bodies. The most general and obvious way in which the different medicines were classified was by their different tastes, which were considered primarily to be six in number, as has already been pointed out. Each of the tastes was considered as being capable of producing certain good or bad physiological effects. Thus: the sweet taste is 1 Tha ca karanatvam bhitdnam rasasya madhuratvddi-visesa eva nimitta- kGranatvam ucyate. Cakrapani on Caraka, 1. 26. 38. ® Caraka-samhita, 1. 1. 47. Even trees were regarded as being possessed of senses and therefore animated or cetana. Cakrapani says that, since the sun- flower continues to turn its face towards the sun, it may be regarded as being possessed of the sense of sight; again, since the lavali (Averrhoa acida) plant fructifies through hearing the sound of thunder, the plants have auditory organs, etc. 3 Ibid. 1. 1.47, 48 and 50, with Cakrapani’s commentary. XII] The Theory of Rasas and their Chemistry 361 said to increase blood, flesh, fat, marrow, semen, life, to do good to the six senses, and to produce strength and colour of the body; to do good to the skin and throat, to destroy pitta, poison and maruta (morbidity of air), and to produce moistening, cold and heaviness, etc. The acid (amla) is said to rouse digestion, develop the body, and to remove v@ia; it is light, warm, moist, etc. The saline taste is digestive; it removes vata, secretes kapha; and it is moist, warm, etc. And so on with the other tastes. But, of course, all these qualities cannot belong to the tastes; as has already been pointed out, the gunas cannot possess further gumas, and the tastes (rasa) are themselves gunas; so, when certain functions or properties are attributed to the rasas, they must be considered as belonging to the substances which possess those specific rasas (rasa iti rasa-yuktant dravyani)'. From Susruta’s statements it appears that there was a great difference of opinion regarding the relative prominence of dravya and its properties”. There were some who held that dravya was the most impertant, since dravya remained permanent, whereas rasa, etc. are always changed; so dravya is relatively permanent. Again, dravya is grasped by the five senses, and not its gunas. 'The dravya is also the support of the vasas, etc.