Nomenclature

Wasting or a general emaciation of the frame marks the sequel of and comes in as a premonitory symptom of an organic disease. Any cachectic condition of the bod}- accompanied by a low lingering fever is called Kshaya. A correct diagnosis and a radical cure of the disease under dis-cussion has baffled many a skilful physician. The disease is nameds Sosha from the fact of its consuming or drying up (Sosha - withering) the vital principles of the body such as Rasa - serum, etc. It is called Kshaya (wasting) since a wasting process is found to accompany all the functional activities of the body during its attack. Since the Moon-god, the king of the Brahmanas, was the first to fall a victim to its attack, it is also called Raja-yakshma (king's disease) † by some authorities. 2.

Some say that the disease is produced by the separate action of the three fundamental Doshas of the body. It being usually found to be attended with all the eleven distressing symptoms which arc manifested simultaneously with the ushering in of the disease, and being the only instance in the science of therapeutics in which the treatment does not vary according to the variation of symptoms. This disease, Sosha, is more properly said to originate in the simultaneous aggravation of all the three Doshas, and it is the symptoms of the most predominant Dosha only that are manifested. 3.

The Mythological Origin Of Sosha (Phthisis) Is

The Moon-god married 27 daughters of Daksha of whom he was attached to Rohini in the extreme. Thereupon the personated wrath of his father-in-law, Daksha entered the Moon-god in the shape of Phthisis, whereby the body of the Moon-god began to emaciate. The Moon-god became penitent and the wrath of his father-in-law having been subdued at the intervention of the other gods, he managed to send clown (Impersonated Phthisis to earth to take possession of men indulging in any kind of excess and more particularly - sexual excess. The moon-god was then medically treated and radii ally cured by the celestial phyician , the twin A's wins.

† Cf. Scrofula which is now known as the "King's disease".

AETiology And General Symptoms

The process of any wasting disease in the system, repression of any physical urging or propulsion, over-fatiguing physical exercise and irregular diet are the causes which, by aggravating the bodily Doshas and propelling them all over the organism, give rise to the disease. The aggravated Doshas with Kapha as the most predominant factor having obstructed the lymphatic channels, or the semen of a person having been exhausted by-sexual excesses consequently produce a loss of the other Doshas or the principal elements of the organism, thereby producing a cachectic condition of the body, and the following symptoms, viz, aversion to food, fever, asthma, cough, emission of blood, loss of voice, numbering six in all are found in cases of Raja-yakshma. 4 - 6. Specific Symptoms: - The symptoms which mark the action of the deranged bodily Vayu in the disease are loss of voice (hoarseness), aching pain (in the chest), contraction of the sides and stoop at the shoulders (Ams'a), while those which are exhibited through the action of the deranged Pitta are fever, burning sensation, Atisara and expectoration of blood, and the features which indicate the action of the deranged Kapha in the disease are a sense of fullness in the head, aversion to food, cough and a sense of the presence of a lump or plug in the throat (as if something is rising up). 7.

Prognosis: - A physician having an eye to his professional reputation or good name should not take in hand the treatment of a case of Sosha (Phthisis) whether marked by all the preceding eleven kinds of symptoms or attended with six of them viz. cough, Atisara, pain at the sides, loss of voice, aversion to food and fever, or accompanied by only three symptoms, viz. fever, cough and blood-spitting. 3.