English
Moreover, there are many passages which describe pitta and kapha as entities having a particular colour and material consistency, and it is also said that there are particular places in the body where they collect, and this would be impossible upon the interpretation that they are not real entities, but hypothetical, having only a methodological value as being no more than convenient symbols for a collective grasp of different symptoms?, _ The attribution of a certain number of specific qualities to the dosas is due to a belief that the qualities of effects are due to the qualities of causes. So, from the diverse qualities of our bodies considered as effects, the causes were also considered as having those qualities from which those of the effects were derived. Thus, in connection with the description of the qualities of vata, Caraka says that on account of the qualities of rauksya the bodies of those having congenital vata tendency are rough, lean and small, and 1 The secretory character of these dosas is amply indicated by such passages as those which regard vata, pitta and slesman as requiring some space in the stomach for digesting the food materials, e.g. ekam punar vdata-pitta-slesmanam (ibid. 111. 2. 3); slesma hi snigdha-slaksna-mrdu-madhura-saGra-sdndra-manda- stimita-guru-Sita-vijalacchah (Sslesman is smooth, pleasing, soft, sweet, substantial, compact, inert, benumbed, heavy, cold, moist and transparent—zbid. 111. 8. 14. 7.5); pittam usnam tiksnam dravam visram amlam katukam ca (pitta is hot, sharp and liquid, and possesses bad odour, and is acid and pungent and bitter—zbid. 11. 8.14. 7.6); vatas tu ruksa-laghu-cala-bahu-sighra-stta-parusa-visadah (vata is rough, light, moving, manifold, quick; cold, coarse and scattering—zbid. 111. hase ialy iar pV It must, however, be noted that the translation I have given of some of these words cannot be regarded as satisfactory; for in the translation I could only give one sense of a word, which in the original Sanskrit has been used in a variety of senses which the word has. Thus, for example, I have translated riksa as “ rough.” But it also means ‘‘slim,” ‘‘lean,”’ “ having insomnia,” or (of a voice) “‘broken,”’ and so forth. There is no English synonym which would have so many senses. Mahamahopadhyaya Kaviraj Gananatha Sen, of Calcutta, tries to divide the dosas into two classes, invisible (suksma) and visible (sthiila)—Siddhanta-nidana, pp. 9-11. But though such a distinction can doubtless be made, it has not been so distinguished in the medical literature, as it is of little value from the medical point of view; it also does not help us to understand the real nature of the dosas. The nature and the functions of the dosas do not depend in the least on their visibility or invisibility, nor can the visible dosa be regarded as always the product of the invisible one. DiI 22 338 Speculations in the Medical Schools [cH. the voices of such people are rough, weak, grating, slow and broken, and they cannot sleep well (jagariika) ; again, on account of the quality of lightness of va@yu, the movements of a man with congenital vata tendency would be light and quick, and so would be all his efforts, eating, speech, and so forth. It is easy to see that the resemblance of the qualities of va@yu to the qualities of the body is remote; yet, since the special features and characteristics of one’s body were considered as being due to one or the other of the body-building agents, these characteristics of the body were through remote similarity referred to them. There is another point to be noted in connection with the enumeration of the qualities of the dosas. The disturbance of a dosa does not necessarily mean that all its qualities have been exhibited in full strength; it is possible that one or more of the qualities of a ' dosa may run to excess, leaving others intact. Thus va@yu is said to possess the qualities of raksa, laghu, cala, bahu, sighra, Sita, etc., and it is possible that in any particular case the sita quality may run to excess, leaving others undisturbed, or so may sita and riiksa, or Sita, riiksa and laghu, and so forth. Hence it is the business of the physician not only to discover which dosa has run to excess, but also to examine which qualities of which dosa have run to excess. The qualities of dosas are variable, i.e. it is possible that a dosa in its state of disturbance will remain a dosa, and yet have some of its qualities increased and others decreased. The nature of the disturbance of a dosa is determined by the nature of the dis- turbance of the qualities involved (amsamsa-vikalpa)'. The natural inference from such a theory is that, since the entities having this or that quality are but component parts of a dosa, a dosa cannot be regarded as a whole homogeneous in all its parts. On this view a dosa appears to be a particular kind of secretion which is a mixture of a number of different secretions having different qualities, but which operate together on the same lines. When a particular dosa is in a healthy order, its component entities are in certain definite proportions both with regard to themselves and to 1 Caraka-samhitd, 1.1.10. 4. Cakrapani, in commenting on this, says: “‘ tatra dosanam amsamsa-vikalpo yatha—vate prakipite’pi kaddcid vatasya sitamso balavan bhavati, kadacil laghv-amsah, kaddacid riiksamsah kadacil laghu-riksamsah.” The dosa or dosas which become prominently disturbed in a system are called anubandhya, and the dosa or dosas which at the time of diseases are not primarily disturbed are called anubandha. When three of the dosas are jointly disturbed, it is called sannipata, and when two are so disturbed it is called samsarga (ibid. 111. 6. TI). XIII] Vayu, Pitta and Kapha 339 the total dosa. But, when it is disturbed, some of the component secretions may increase ia undue proportions, while others may remain in the normal state; of course, the quantity of the whole dosa may also increase or decrease. A dosa such as kapha or pitta should therefore be regarded as a name for a collection of secre- tions rather than one secretion of a homogeneous character. It will be easily seen that, on taking into consideration the com- parative strengths of the different components of a dosa and the relative strengths of the other components of other dosas and the relative strengths and proportions of each of the dosas amongst themselves, the number of combinations is innumerable, and the diseases proceeding from such combinations are also innumerable. The whole system of Caraka’s treatment depends upon the ascer- tainment of the nature of these affections; the names of diseases are intended to be mere collective appellations of a number of affections of a particular type. One further point which ought to be noted with regard to the constructive and destructive operations of vayu, pitta and kapha is that they are independent agents which work in unison with a man’s karma and also in unison with a man’s mind. The opera- tions of the mind and the operations of the body, as performed by vayu, pitta and kapha on the materials of the dhatus, rasa, rakta, etc., run parallel to each other; for both follow the order of human karma, but neither of them is determined by the other, though they correspond to each other closely. This psycho-physical parallelism is suggested throughout Caraka’s system. Caraka, in trying to formulate it, says: “‘sariram api satvam anuvidhiyate satvam ca Sariram”’ (the mind corresponds to the body and the body to the mind). It may be remembered in this connection that the ultimate cause of all dhatu-vaisamya or abhighata (bodily in- juries through accidents, a fall and the like) is foolish action (prajna- paradha). Again vata, pitta and kapha are found to perform not only physical operations, but also intellectual operations of various kinds. But all intellectual operations belong properly to mind. What is meant by attributing intellectual functions to vayu, pitta and kapha seems to be a sort of psycho-physical parallelism, mind corresponding to body, body corresponding to mind, and both corresponding to karma. - 1 yad vatarabdhatvadi-jfidnam eva karanam rogandm cikitsayam upakari; nama-jnanam tu vyavahara-matra-praygjanartham (Cakrapani on Caraka- samhitd, 1. 18. 53). 22-2 340 Speculations in the Medical Schools [cH. Head and Heart}. The most vital centres of the body are the head, the heart and the pelvis (vasti). The pranas, i.e. the vital currents, and all the senses are said to depend (sritah) on the head?. The difference between head (sirsa) and brain (mastiska) was known as early as the Atharva-Veda. Thus in A.V. x. 2. 6 the word sirsa is used in the sense of ‘‘head,” and in verses 8 and 26 of the same hymn the word mastiska is used in the sense of ‘‘brain?.”’ Head-disease is also mentioned in the Atharva-Veda,1. 12. 3, as Sirsakti. The brain- matter is called mastulunga in Caraka-samhita, vi. 9. 101; the word mastiska is used in the same chapter in the sense of brain- matter (VIII. 9. 80), as has also been explained by Cakrapani*. The passage from Caraka, vitl. 9. 4, quoted above shows that at least Drdhabala considered the head to be the centre of the senses and all sense currents and life currents. Cakrapani, in commenting upon this passage, says that, though the currents of sensation and life pass through other parts of the body as well, yet they are particularly connected with the head (sirasi visesena prabaddhani), because, when there is an injury to the head, they are also injured. According to Caraka and Drdhabala all the senses are particularly connected with the head, as well as the pranas, but the heart is regarded as the vital centre of the pranas, as well as of the manas, as I shall point out later on.