Page:Sushruta Samhita Vol 2.djvu/64

8 baneful use of such oleaginous substances (as oil, clarified butter etc.) are the factors, which vitiate in common the blood and Pittam of a person. The foregoing causes especially tend to vitiate or agitate the Vayu and blood in persons of delicate constitutions, or in corpulent persons, or in those who observe a form of perfect continence. 39.

The vital Vayu becomes enraged or agitated by excessive riding on horses, camels or elephants, or through the lifting or carrying of great weights, etc., or by an inordinate indulgence in things which are possessed of the specific virtue of enraging or aggravating that vital principle. On the other hand, an over-indulgence in such articles of food as are heat-making in their potency, or a surfeit of edibles largely composed of sharp, acid or alkaline substances, as well as a large consumption of potherbs etc., or an exposure to heat tends to vitiate the blood of the organism, and which, on account of such contamination, tends to speedily obstruct the passage of the fleet-coursing Vayu. The Vayu, thus impeded in its course, becomes more and more agitated each moment, and is prone to speedily agitate the blood in a similar way. The antecedence of the term "Vata" or "Vayu" in the nomenclature of the disease (Vata-Rakta) is owing to the precedence accorded to the action of the deranged Vayu in bringing about the malady, although it effects this In concert with the vitiated blood of the organism. 40.

Similarly, the disease brought about by the agitated Pittam, in conjunction with the vitiated or agitated blood, is called the Pitta- Raktam, while the one incidental to the combination of the deranged Kapham with the vitiated blood is called Kapha-Raktam. In a case of Vata-Raktam, the legs, or the lower extremities can