CHAPTER XLIV.
Now we shall discourse on the chapter which deals with the (symptoms and) medical treatment of Jaundice, etc. (Pándu-roga Pratishedha). 1.
Etiology and Nomenclature:— The deranged bodily Doshas of a person addicted to sexual excesses*[1] or to eating clay or salts or articles of keen potency and of acid or saline taste or to strong liquors in excessive quantities or to sleeping in the day, contaminate the blood and produce a yellowish (Pándu) colour of the skin. This is known as Pándu-roga and is divided into four distinct types †[2] according as they are severally originated through the action of the deranged Váta, Pitta, or Kapha, the fourth being the one incidental to their concerted action. The disease has got the name of Pándu-roga from the fact that a deep yellow (Pándu) colour is imparted to the skin of the patient suffering therefrom. 2
Premonitory symptoms:— Cracking of the skin, salivation (spitting) a sense of lassitude in the limbs, (desire for) eating clay, swelling of the eye-lids, yellow colour of stool and urine, and indigestion are the premonitory symptoms which usher in an attack of Pándu-roga. The diseases known as Kámalá-Pálaki-Pándu (popularly called Kámalá), Kumbha-Kámalá,
- ↑ * Mádhava in his Nidána reads "Vyáyáma" (physical exercise) in the place of "Vyaváya" "sexual enjoyment." Charaka, however, includes both "Vyaváyá" and "Vyáyáma" in the long list of the causes of Pándu-roga.
- ↑ † A variant reads that Pándu-roga is of eight kinds. In that case the four dififerent varieties of Pándu, separately mentioned below should be added to the four kinds mentioned here. Charaka says that Pándu-roga is of five different tvpes:— by separating and adding the one due to the eating of clay to the four kinds enumerated here.
