decrepitude, death,*[1] hunger, thirst, sleep, etc. These phenomena are either Kálakrita (timely) or Akálakrita (untimely). They are called Kálakrita when they occur at the proper time in persons who strictly observe the rules of health, and Akálakrita, when they appear at the improper time (morbid or premature) as the effects of unhealthy living. These diseases belong to the Providential or Ádhi-daivikam type†[2]. Thus we have classified diseases into their several types.
The deranged bodily humours such as, Váyu, Pittam and Kapham should be looked upon as the primary sources of all diseases, inasmuch as symptoms characteristic of each of them may be detected in the case of a disease of whatsoever type, (which usually abates with their corresponding subsidence), and also because the Shastras have ascribed to them the fatherhood of all maladies that assail the human frame.
As the three qualities of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas‡[3] are inherent in, and inseparable from, all the phenomenal appearances in the universe which are, in reality,
- ↑ *According to certain authorities "Death" may also mean death of tissues.
- ↑ †Several authorities on the other hand include such diseases as thirst, hunger etc., within the Ádhyátmika class inasmuch as they are but the indications of the want of certain vital principles in the body and appear in the mental plane (Ádhyátmika) only as longings for water, food, etc
- ↑ ‡The Sattva:—Illuminating or psychic principle. Rajas:— Principle of Action and Co-hesion. Tamas:—Principle of Nescience or Illusion.
