Page:Sushruta Samhita Vol 1.djvu/239

Chap.XV.] Parisheka (washes) and a diet comprising light, cooling and well-cooked articles of food.

Metrical texts:—A person suffering from a wasting of any of the constituent humours or fundamental principles or excrements of the body, as well as one suffering from loss of Ojah (albumen) naturally craves for drink and food that tend to contribute directly to the formation of the matter (or bodily principle) so lost or wasted. Conversely, the particular food or drink longed for by a person suffering from a loss or waste of any of the abovesaid fluids or principles, should be looked upon as possessed of a curative virtue in that particular case. Such a person devoid of consciousness and divested of his bodily and intellectual functions through a deranged state (of the bodily Váyu nerve-force) and extremely weak and enfeebled owing to the loss of the vital fluid should be regarded as past all cure.

Etiology of Obesity:—Obesity or loss of flesh (Kársha) should be ascribed to changes in the condition of the lymph chyle. The lymph chyle derived from the assimilated food of a person, who is habituated to a course of diet which tends to promote the quantitv of the bodily Kapham or is in the habit of pampering his belly even when a previous meal has not been thoroughly digested, or who is addicted to a habit of sleeping in the day, or leading a sedentary life, or is averse to taking