This section is from the book "The Sushruta Samhita", by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna. Also available from Amazon: The Sushruta Samhita.
Of these the fruit of trees which belong to the genus Kshiri-Vrikshas is heavy and cooling, and is long retained in the stomach in an undigested state. It has a sweet, acid and astringent taste and does not inordinately derange the Vayu. The fruit known as the Jamvava generates the Vayu. It is astringent, and subdues the Pittam and Kapham, while the Rajadana is demulcent, sweet, astringent and heavy. The Todana is acid, astringent, and sweet in its taste and is parchifying and subdues the Pittam and Vayu. It is (heat-making) in its potency, easily digestible (light of digestion), astringent, demulcent and appetising and further generates the Pittam. Unripe Tinduka fruit is astringent, and heavy in digestion and produces Vayu in the organism, while in its ripe or fully matured stage it is sweet, and subdues the Kapham and Pittam. The Vakula fruit has a sweet and astringent taste, is demulcent and astringent in its properties, imparts a greater firmness to the teeth, and removes the viscid condition of the membranes. The fruit of the Dhanvana has an astringent taste, and is cooling and palatable and subdues the Vayu and Kapham. The fruit of the Gangeruka and Ashmantaka is possessed of similar properties as the preceding ones. The Phalgu fruit is long retained in the stomach in an undigested state, has a sweet taste, and is heavy of digestion, refreshing, and demulcent in its effect. Raw or unripe Parushaka fruit is extremly acid in taste with a shade of the sweet, leaves an astringent after-taste, is light of digestion, generates the Pittam, and subdues the Kapham; while in its ripe state it is sweet in taste, subdues the Vayu and Pittam, is sweet in digestion and cooling in its potency and proves curative in cases of haemoptysis, The Pushkara fruit is sweet, and is long retained in the stomach in an undigested state. It produces the Kapham and is tonic, and heavy of digestion (hard to digest). Raw and tender Vilva fruit subdues the Vayu and Kapham. It is keen, demulcent astringent, and appetising, has a pungent, bitter and astringent taste, and is heat-making in its potency, while in its ripe state it leaves a sweet after-taste. Further it is heavy of digestion, can be but incompletely digested, and is long retained in the stomach, causing it thus to distend and producing the emission of a fetid-smelling flatus. The Vimvi fruit, as well as that known as the Ashva karna, is galactagoguic. They destroy the Pittam and Kapham and prove beneficial in cases of thirst, burning sensation of the skin, fever, haemoptysis, cough, asthma and consumption.
The fruits such as, the Tala, Narikela, Panasa and Maucba, etc. are sweet in taste and of digestion, and subdue the Vayu and Pittam. They are cooling in their potencies, and act as constructive tonics. Of these the fruit of a Tala is sweet in taste and heavy of digestion. It subdues the deranged Pittam. The pulp found inside its seeds is sweet of digestion and diuretic, and it subdues the Vayu and Pittam. The Narikela fruit is heavy of digestion, demulcent, anti-choleric, sweet, cooling in its potency, tonic, tissue-building, pleasant, laxative and diuretic. It subdues the Pittam. The Panasam is sweet and astringent in taste, demulcent and heavy of digestion. The Maucham has a sweet and astringent taste, not cooling in its potency, proves curative in cases of haemoptysis, acts as a spermatopoietic and improves the relish for food. It generates the Kapham and is heavy of digestion.
The fruits such as the Drakshas, Kashmaryas, Madhukas, Kharjuras, etc., have a sweet taste, are heavy of digestion and prove curative in cases of haemoptysis. Of these grapes are laxative, beneficial to the voice, sweet, demulcent, and cooling in their potency. They prove beneficial in cases of haemoptysis, fever, asthma, thirst, burning sensation of the skin, and consumption. The fruit known as the Kashmarya Phala is pleasant and diuretic. It purifies the blood, improves the intellect and growth of hair, and is rejuvenescent and subdues the Vayu and Pittam. Kharjuras are possessed of the virtue of arresting all bodily wastes. They prove beneficial in Urakshata, are pleasant, cooling in their potency, refreshing, heavy of digestion, sweet in taste, and prove curative in cases of haemoptysis. The flowers of Madhuka trees are tissue-building, unpleasant and heavy of digestion, while their fruit subdues the Vayu and Pittam.
Fruits such as the Vatama, Akshoda, Abkishuka, Nichula, Pichu, Nikochaka, and Urumana, etc. are demulcent, heat-making in their potency, heavy of digestion, constructive, tonic, and sweet in taste. They subdue the Vayu, Pittam and Kapham. The fruit known as the Lavali is astringent and slightly bitter in taste, improves a relish for food, and is pleasant, aromatic and refreshing to the whole system. It subdues the Kapham and Pittam. The fruits such as the Vasiram, and the Shitapakyam, as well as the stems of Bhallataka trees, are hard to digest and are long retained in the stomach in an undigested condition. They tend to produce a state of dryness in the organism, derange the Vayu, are cooling in their potency, sweet of digestion, and prove curative in cases of haemoptysis.
The fruits known as the Airavata and the Dantashatha have an extremely acid taste and tend to bring on an attack of haemoptysis. The fruit known as the Tanka is cooling in its potency, has a sweet and astringent taste, is heavy and generates the Vayu. The fruit known as the Aingudam is demulcent, and heat-making in its potency, has a sweet and bitter taste, and subdues the Vayu and Kapham. The Shami fruit is heavy, sweet and heat-making, produces a state of parchedness in the organism, and helps the falling off of hair. The Shleshmataka fruit is heavy of digestion, generates the Kapham, and is sweet in taste and cooling in its potency.
Fruits such the Karira, Akshaka Pilu and Trinashunya have a sweet, bitter and pungent taste, and are heat-making in their potency. They subdue the Vayu and Kapham. Of these the Pilu has a bitter and astringent taste. It generates the Pittam, acts as purgative, is pungent in digestion, keen, heat-making and oily. It subdues the Vayu and Kapham. The Arushkara and Tauvaraka fruits have an astringent taste, are pungent in digestion, heat-making in their potency and prove curative in cases of worms in the intestines, fever, constipation of the bowels (Anaba) and Meha. Fruits such as, the Karanja, Kinshuka, and Arisktaphalam (Nimva) are vermifugenous and pungent in digestion, and prove curative in cases of Leprosy, Gulma (internal tumour), Ascites, Piles and Prameha. The Vidanga fruit produces a state of dryness in the body, is heat-making in its potency, light, and pungent in digestion, subdues the Vayu and Kapham and is slightly bitter and anti-toxic. The Abhaya (Chebulic Myrobalans) proves curative in cases of ulcers, is heat-making (in its potency), and acts as a purgative, tends to reduce corpulency and subdues the deranged humours. It is appetising and invigorating to the eye-sight, has an acid and astringent taste, and proves curative in oedema and cutaneous affections. The Aksham fruit is possessed of purgative properties, is light (of digestion), and produces a state of dryness in the organism. It is heat-making in its potency, produces hoarseness (Aphonia), is a vermifuge and is beneficial to the sight, has an astringent taste, is sweet in digestion and subdues the Pittam and Kapham. The Puga fruit subdues the Pittam and Kapham, produces a state of dryness in the organism, cleanses the mouth of all secretions and impurities, has a slightly sweet and astringent taste, and is possessed of laxative properties. The fruits and vegetables such as the Jatikosha, the Jati Phalam, the Kataka Phalam the Kakkolakam, Lavanga and the Karpura etc., have a bitter pungent taste, subdue thirst and Kapham, are light in digestion, and remove bad odours from the mouth and cleanse it of all impurities. The Karpura has a slightly bitter taste, is aromatic, cooling in its potency, and light in digestion. It is possessed of liquefacient properties and is specially recommended in dryness of the mouth and fetid breath. The Lata-Kasturika is similar in its virtue to the Karpura and is cooling and both laxative and diuretic. The pith of the Piyala fruit has a sweet taste, is spermatopoietic and subdues the Vayu and Pittam. The pith (the kernel found inside the seeds) of the Vaibhitaki fruit is intoxicating and subdues the deranged Vayu and Pittam. The pith or the kernel of the Kola fruit has an astringent sweet taste, subdues the Vayu and Pittam allays thirst and alleviates nausea and vomiting. The kernel of the seed of the Amalaka resembles the last named pith in its properties. The kernels of such fruits as the Vijapuraka, Shampaka and Koshamra are sweet in digestion, appetising, demulcent, and subdue the Vayu and Pittam. These kernels of seeds should be regarded as possessing identical properties as the pulps of the fruits from which they had been extracted. All fruits with the exception of Vilva are efficacious in their ripe and matured condition. The latter (Vilvas) have been enjoined to be eaten unripe for medicinal purposes as well as with a view to derive a greater efficacy from their use. Unripe Vilvas are astringent and appetising in their effect, heat-making in their potency, and have an astringent-pungent-bitter taste.
Fruit, which is blighted or that affected by any other disease or that which has grown in an improper season, or raw or over-ripe, or worm-eaten, should be rejected as unfit for use. Here the description of the fruit-group is ended.
 
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