This section is from the book "The Sushruta Samhita", by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna. Also available from Amazon: The Sushruta Samhita.
The season of Hemanta is cold but dry (Ruksha). The sun is weak and the atmosphere is very airy. Hence, owing to the outside cold, the bodily Vayu is also aggravated in this season. The abdominal fire becomes dull owing to the internal cold and dries up the bodily Rasa (liquid portion of the system). The use of oleaginous things is, therefore, beneficial in this season. The use of saline, alkaline, bitter, acid and pungent articles of diet (prepared) with the addition of clarified butter or oil are beneficial. Food should not be taken cold, and drinks prepared with tikshna (hot-potencied) articles (such as strong wine should be taken, after pasting the body all over with Aguru-pastes. Baths should be taken in tepid water after rubbing in oil all over the body. Large inner apartments completely surrounded by rooms on all sides and containing fire-pots (serving the purpose of chimneys) should be used as bed-rooms, and the bed-sheets should be silken. Sufficiently warm coverings for the body should be used. Kings (and king-like personages) should lie within the sweet embraces of maidens with big breasts and thighs and scented with the fumes of Aguru, and they can, in this season, enjoy the sexual pleasures to their heart's content and should take proper soothing food. Sweet, bitter, pungent, acid and saline articles of food and drink, as well as Tila (sesamum-seeds), Mashr-pulse, pot-herbs, curd, different modifications of sugar-cane-juice, scented and newly husked Sati-rice, flesh of Prasaha, Anupa, Kravyada, Bilesaya, Audaka (aquatic), Plava and Padin classes* of animals, as well as clear transparent wines and all other invigorating articles of diet should be used to his content at the advent of cold by a person wishing vigour (of the body and of the mind). The rules for Hemanta enumerated above would hold equally good for the Sis'ira (winter) season. 8-9.
* The waters in the rainy season are generally muddy and impure. When, after the rains, the waters become purer, it is said in Hindu mythology that owing to the rise of Agastya (a star making its appearance in the horizon after the rains - generally in the beginning of September) the waters become clear and transparent.
The bodily Kapha already stored in the organism owing to the coldness of the body during the Hemanta season is aggravated during the spring by the (increasing) heat (of the sun and consequently of the organism) and gives rise to many diseases. Acid, sweet, demulcent and saline articles of food and drink as well as those that are heavy (of digestion) should, therefore, be avoided, and recourse should be had to vomiting, etc. Shashtika-rice, barley, articles of cold potency, Mudga-pulse, Nivara rice, and Kodrava-rice, should be duly prescribed after the cold i. e. in the spring with the soup of the meat of the animals of the Vishkira class, such as Lava, etc., as well as with the soup of Patola, Nimba-leaves, bringals and other bitter vegetables. All sorts of Asava and especially the Asava and Sidhu prepared from honey should be freely used in the spring. Physical exercise should be had recourse to, Aujana (collyrium) should be applied (to the eyes), strong smokes should be inhaled and strong gargles used in the spring. Everything should be used with tepid water and a diet consisting of Tikshna (strong-potencied), Ruksha (non-demulcent), pungent, alkaline, astringent, tepid and non-liquid articles and especially the preparations of barley, Mudga pulse and honey would be beneficial in the spring. Physical exercise in the shape of mock-fight, walk, orthethrowing-of stones would be beneficial. Utsadana (massage) and bath should be had, and groves should be resorted to. Sexual pleasure may be enjoyed in this season. The bodily Kapha stored in the body during the Hemanta season should be eliminated by means of Siro-Vireka (errhines), vomiting, Niruha-vasti and gargles, etc. Day-sleep and sweet, demulcent aud liquid articles of fare as well as those hard to digest should be strictly avoided. 10.
* For a list of the animals of the different classes mentioned here, see Chapter XLVI (Symptoms And The Medical Treatment Of Faint-Ing Fits (Murchchha-Pratishedha)). Sutra-sthana, pages 480 etc, Vol.I.
 
Continue to: