This section is from the book "The Sushruta Samhita", by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna. Also available from Amazon: The Sushruta Samhita.
Now we shall discourse on drinks and potions which are found to be beneficial when taken after a certain kind of food (Anupanas.)
Certain people oppressed with an acid taste naturally long for sweets, while others in full satiety of sweet articles have a relish for acid things. Hence something acid is good for the eater of sweets, and sweets are good for men who have partaken of an acid food.
Cold water and warm water Asava (wine), Madya (spirits), the soup of Mudga pulse etc., the juice of acid fruits, sour paddy gruel, milk and essence of meat are generally used as drinks after a full meal. Of these, that alone which would prove beneficial to a person should be given him in an adequate quantity. The intelligent physician should determine the kind of after-drink (potion) required in each case after taking into consideration the nature of the disease under treatment, the season of the year, and the properties of the solid or liquid substances that enter into the composition of the diet. Of all kinds of after-potions, clear heavenly (atmospheric) water, kept in a pure vessel, should be deemed the best, inasmuch as such water contributes in every way to the welfare (is conducive to the bodily growth) of a person throughout his life, and all the six different tastes are inherent in that heavenly fluid. Briefly we have stated the rule to be observed in respect of after-potions, now we shall dilate upon their specific properties. Hot water should be taken after any oily or lardaceous substance other than those known as the oils of Bhallataka and Tauvaraka. Certain authorities hold that the soup of Mudga pulse and sour rice gruel (Kanjika) should be respectively taken (in summer and winter) after having taken a large quantity of oil in the course of a meal. Cold water should be taken after cakes and honey, as well as after curd, Payasa porridge, and also in cases of poisoning and derangements due to the effects of wine. According to several authorities tepid water should be taken after any kind of cake (preparation of rice paste etc.)
Milk or meat essence should be prescribed as an after-potion to persons habituated to meals of Shall-rice or Mudga pulse, or who have become fatigued with the labours of a battle or of a long journey, or who are oppressed with the heat of the sun or of a blazing fire, as well as to those who would be found to be overcome from the effects of poison or wine. Sour rice gruel, or cream of curd should be drunk after having taken Masha pulse, etc. Wine (Madya) is the proper after-drink for persons addicted to it, which is also recommended after a meat diet. Cold water or acid fruit juice (such as that of the pomegranate, etc.) forms the best after-drink for those who are not in the habit of taking wine. Milk is ambrosia to persons enfeebled with arduous study, or excessive sexual intercourse, and to every one after an exposure to the sun after a long troubled journey. Wine (Sura) is the after-drink for enfeebled subjects, and water saturated with hone}' is the potion for corpulent persons. Healthy persons may use a variety of desserts and beverages during and after meals. Things which are demulcent, in their virtues and heat-making in their potency should be considered as a wholesome diet in diseases due to the deranged Vayu. Substances, which are heat-making in their potency and tend to produce a condition of parchedness (Ruksha) in the organism, should be prescribed as a wholesome diet in diseases brought about through the action of the deranged Kapham. Similarly, those which are sweet and cooling in their potency, prove wholesome in Pittaja distempers. Milk and the expressed juice of sugar-cane are beneficial to persons suffering from haemoptysis. The Asavas (wines) of the Arka, Shelu, and Shirisha are beneficial to those suffering from the effects of any poison.
Now we shall separately describe the after-drinks to be taken after having used the articles of food dealt with under the several groups discussed before. The acid soup of Indian Jujubes (Kola) should be taken after a meal consisting of any of the afore-said cereals such as, the Shukadhanyam, Kudhanyam, etc. Sour gruel should be used after a meal of Mudga pulse, or of any similar grain. The Asava (wine of the Pippali should be used after a meal of the long thighed venisons, or of the flesh of those of the Dhanvaja family. Kola and Vadara wines should be used after having taken the cooked flesh of the fowls of the Vishkira species. The wine of Kshira-Vriksha should be used after a meal consisting of the flesh of the Pratuda species. Cocoanut and date palm wines should be used after having eaten the flesh of the cave-dwelling (guha-shaya) species. Krishna Gandha wine should be used after the flesh of the Parna-Mriga (arboreous) family. Ashvagandha wine should be taken after the flesh of the Prasaha species. Phalasara wine should be taken after the flesh of any of the hole-dwelling (Vileshaya) animals. Triphala wine should be taken after the flesh of an animal with unbifurcated hoops (Ekashapha). Khadira wine should be taken after the flesh of an animal with bifurcated hoofs.
The Asava (wine of Shringataka or Kasheruka should be taken after having eaten the flesh of an animal of the Kulechara (frequenting the shores of lakes etc.) species. The same wines should be regarded as proper after-potions after a meal consisting of molluscs (Koshastha), or of the flesh of an animal of the Padi (lizard) family. Asava of sugar-cane (vinegar) should be taken after having eaten the flesh of an animal of the Plava (diving) family. Mrinalam wine should be taken after any Nadeya fish (whose habitat is the river). Matulungu wine should be taken after the flesh of any of the sea fish (Samudra). Padma (lotus bulb), wine should be taken after acid fruits. Pomegranate, or Vetra wines should be taken after astringent fruits. The Asava of Kanda [Khanda - D. R.] treated with the three pungent drugs known as the Trikatus should be taken after sweet fruits. Sour and fermented rice gruel should be taken after Tala fruits, etc. The wine of Durva, Nala, or of Vetra should be taken after pungent fruits. The Asava of Shvadanstra or of Vasuka should be taken after Pippalis, etc. Darvi, or Karira wines should be taken after Kushmandas, etc. The Asava of Lodhra should be taken after taking the Chuchchu, potherbs etc. Triphala wine should be taken after the Jivanti, potherbs, etc., and the same rule should be observed in respect of Kusumbha potherbs.
The Asava (wine) of the drugs known as the Maha Panchamula should be taken after such potherbs as the Manduka-parni, etc. Wines of acid fruit should be taken after the pith or marrow of such trees as the Date-palm, Tala, etc. The wine known as the Surasava, or fermented rice gruel should be taken after an excess of Saindhava salt, etc. Water may be taken in absence of the proper after-drink in all cases.
Authoritative verses on the subject. - Atmospheric or rain water is the best of all drinks and cordials. That kind of water is wholesome to a person to which he is habituated from his birth. Hot water is beneficial in derangements of the Vayu and Kapham, and cold water is good in diseases which have their origin in the vitiated blood, or in the deranged Pittam. An excessively heavy meal, as well as the one which usually tends to derange the fundamental humours of the body, may be easily and speedily digested with the help of a suitable after-drink. A proper after-potion taken after a meal brings on a fresh relish for food, increases the bulk of the body, acts as a spermatopoietic beverage, disintegrates the combination or accumulation of the deranged bodily humours, soothes the organism, increases the softness of the body, removes the sense of fatigue and exhaustion, brings on pleasurable sensations in its train, stimulates the appetite, subdues or pacifies the deranged bodily humours, allays the thirst, improves the complexion, and imparts tone and vigour to the system.
Any beverage resorted to at the commencement of a meal tends to produce a gradual emaciation of the frame; the one taken during the course of a meal guards against both its thinning and corpulency, while the one drunk at the close of a meal serves to greatly add to its growth and rotundity. Hence, drinking at meals should be most judiciously determined and taken with the greatest forethought and discretion. The food carried down into the stomach of a person unused to such liquids long retains undigested and resists being converted into chyme or being digested, and becomes a positive source of discomfort. Hence, the use of an after-potion is imperatively obligatory on all human beings, except those suffering from dyspnoea, cough, ulcerative endocarditis (Urahkshata), ptyalism, aphonia, and from diseases affecting the part of the body situated above the clavicles.
After the use of an after-potion, a long walk, a lengthy conversation, singing, sleeping and reading should be refrained from, in order that the imbibed potion may not affect the stomach, and (aggravate the bodily humours) which taking lodgment about the regions of the throat and chest may give rise to a secretion of mucous, impair the appetite, develop such distressing symptoms as vomiting etc., and produce many other distempers as well.
The lightness or heaviness of a food stuff does not go contrary to nature. These properties depend more upon the mode of cooking or preparing them than upon the nature of the substances themselves; * more upon the quantity in which they are taken than the mode of their cooking or preparation; † and more upon the food (lit. boiled rice) itself than upon the quantity of its use, ‡ and more upon the time (of its maturity) than upon the food.§
The question of lightness or heaviness of a food stuff affects the idle, the unhealthy, the luxurious, and men of delicate constitution and impaired appetite, and such nice discernment of the properties of an article of food is not imperatively obligatory on strong, healthy men of active habits and good healthy digestion, who are habituated to hard and solid fares, and who can tolerably afford to dispense with such thoughts altogether. Here ends the description of the group of after-potions. should be made spacious and kept clean and pure, and none but the trusted ones should have access thereto. The physician should get the food or diet prepared by experienced cooks (so as to impart to it the taste and the colour he desires), and have it kept at a clean and pure spot, concealed from the view of the public. After that, the food having been made innocuous by the admixture of anti-toxic medicines, and freed from all poison by reciting (an Arthavan) mantra over it, and having been besprinkled with the water of mystic incantation, should be served (to the king).
Hear me, O my child, discourse on the rules to be observed in connection with eating. The kitchen
* If it be asked why the flesh of an animal of the Jamghalae, family is light ? The answer would be because it is naturally so.
* As for example, Vrihi corn is naturally heavy of digestion, but fried Vrihi seeds are light.† As for instance, a heavy food should be taken till the appetite is but half satisfied, while an article which is light with regard to digestion may be eaten to satiety.‡ As for instance, of the varieties of food such as the Manda, Peya, Vilepi, Bhakta and Pishtaka, each succeeding one is heavier than the one immediately preceding it.§ As for example, newly harvested rice is heavier than the one of a years standing.
 
Continue to: