Page:Sushruta Samhita Vol 3.djvu/426

 Now we shall discourse on the chapter which deals with the Rules of Health (Svastha-Vritta-adhyáya). 1. Health indicates a normal condition of the (three) Doshas (fundamental principles), Agni (the digestive fire), Mala (excrements vie, feces, urine, etc.)*, and the (seven) Dhátus or root- principles of the body as well as a serene state of the body, mind and the sense-organs. It has already been stated in the Sutra-sthána, that the primary object of medical treatment is to maintain this healthy state (of the body and of the mind) in its normal equilibrium. A brief outline of the means to be applied and of the rules to be observed for the realisation of that end, has also been given before. Now we shall enter into a lengthy and elaborate dissertation on the subject. 2-3. Regimen of diet and conduct in the Varshá (rainy) season:— Articles of particular tastes which are remedial to the specific deranged bodily Dosha should be used or employed by experienced persons in the particular season of the year in which the Doshas are respectively aggravated. The bodily Váyu, etc., of a person is generally aggravated during the Varshá (rainy) season owing to a slimy condition of the organism, producing an impairment of the digestive fire as well as goose-flesh on the skin. Articles of astringent, bitter and pungent tastes should therefore be prescribed for a king and king-like personages during those months of the year for