Page:Sushruta Samhita Vol 1.djvu/149

 CHAPTER VI.

Now we shall discuss the Chapter which treats of the characteristic features of the different seasons of the year and their influence on health and drugs (Ritucharya'dhya'yam).

The Eternal Time is without origin, middle, or end, self-begotten, and the lord of all attributes. Contrariety or non contrariety of the natural attributes of drugs or substances endued with characteristic tastes, such as sweet, etc., are brought about by time; and time is the principal factor that controls the births or deaths of beings.

Etymology of the term K'ala (time):—The Kala or the Eternal time is so called from the fact of its not suffering even one of its own minutest particles or subdivisions (Kala) to perish, though perpetually moving, and in constant motion in itself; or it derives its epithet from the. fundamental quality of its destroying all beings and laying their dead remains in heaps in succession. Some assert that the name is due to the fact that time blends (kalanam) all beings with misery or happiness according to their respective acts, or to its leading all beings to destruction (kala).

The Sun-god, by his peculiar motions, divides eternal time which is measured by years (Samvatsaras)