Rules Of Drinking Water, Etc

Water should not betaken during the rainy season and only in moderate quantities in autumn. Water may be sparingly taken during the first four months of the rainy season if found to be indispensably necessary). Hot water should be taken in winter and spring (Vasanta), but cold water to one's fill in summer Sidhu and Arishta should be taken in winter and spring. Water boiled and subsequently cooled should be drunk in summer and meat-juice in Právrit. Yusha (Mudga-soup, etc.,) should be taken in the rainy season and cold water after the expiry of the rains These rules should be observed only by persons in sound health, whereas the rules regarding persons suffering from any disease should be regulated by the prescription of any diet according to the particular Doshas involved in each case. 81-82.

Any Sneha (such as oil or clarified butter, saturated with powdered Saindhava salt and Pippali should be regularly taken for the purpose of improving the digestive capacity. The natural urging of the body should never be repressed (as a repressed physical propulsion is sure to usher in a physical distemper). A Sneha (oleaginous substance) should be freely and largely used during the Právrit and the spring seasons as well as in antumn (Sarat)as such a proceeding would act as a good appetising measure and a cure for diseases. Emetics, purgatives and applications of Vastis are respectively beneficial in diseases due to the actions of the deranged Kapha, Pitta and Váyu, whereas a regular course of physical exercise tends (equally) to curb an aggravation of all the three preceding Doshas of the body, so much so that their aggravation can never be detected in persons in the habit of taking it regularly every day, though otherwise addicted to an incompatible diet, etc. 83-86.

The attention should not be diverted to any other subject at the time of urination, defecation, sexual intercourse, taking of food, as well as at the time of taking emetics and purgatives, etc. It is not wise to anticipate and indulge in the gloomy thoughts of a future and probable invasion of a disease, and to suffer any physical privation on that account. 87-88.

All sexual excesses should be studiously abstained inasmuch as they are sure to produce Sula (colic), cough, asthma, fever, emaciation, phthisis, jaundice, epilepsy, convulsions, etc. A person, who is moderate in sexual intercourse, lives a long life, becomes good-looking, healthy, strong and firm in his nerves and muscles, and becomes capable of averting (untimely) decay. One may visit his wife (lit. a woman) on each fourth night in all the seasons of the year except in summer when he may see her once a fortnight. 89-A.

Women Unfit To Visit

A woman in her menses, not amorously disposed, uncleanly in her habits, not sufficiently endeared and endearing and belonging to a higher social order * older than one's self, affected with any disease, wanting in any limbs, inimi-cally disposed to one's self, in her period of gestation, suffering from any uterine disorder, belonging to his ovvn blood (Gotra), or leading the life of an anchorite, or who is his preceptor's wife, should not be gone unto by a man (seeking health and longevity). A woman should not be gone unto in the Sandhyás (morning and evening), as well as on the Parva days† (prescribed in the S'ástras), early in the morning, at mid-day, or in the dead of night. Going unto a woman at an infamous, unwholesome, or exposed place is similarly forbidden. Sexual intercourse by a man who is hungry, or thirsty, or who may be suffering from any disease, or may be angry, or in a cheerless spirit, is strictly forbidden. A man should not go unto a woman by repressing a natural urging for Váta (flátus), stool or urine, or if he is in a weak state of health, (as it would be highly injurious to his health). Incest with lower animals, unnatural sexual intercourse, obstruction of semen in its passage, as well as sexual intercourse with a woman having any vaginal disease are strictly forbidden even in respect of a strong person. 89-B.

It is highly injurious for a man to indulge excessively in sexual intercourse, or to enjoy it while standing, or while lying on his back, or to shake his head at the time; these should not be indulged in by an intelligent and judicious person even (occasionally for pleasure's sake. 89-C.

* The text has "Varna-Vriddha" which literally means superior to the man in respect of Varna or the magnetic vibrations of the body, which are determined by one's birth in a certain family. It means several castes of the Hindus. - Ed.

† The Parva days are the 8th, the 14th and 15th days of either fortnights and the last days of the solar months. - Ed.

Evil effects of the foregoing abuses:

- Visiting a woman in her menses results in the loss of sight, longevity and vital power, and should be accordingly considered as a sinful act The duration of a man's life is diminished by going unto a woman, older in age or higher in social status (Varna), or unto the wife of his preceptor or superior, in the morning or the evening, or on the Parva days (the interdicted days), or unto a woman belonging to the same blood as he. A visit to a woman big with child is extremely painful and injurious to the foetus confined in the womb. A visit to a diseased woman results in the loss of the man's vital power. A going unto a deformed, uncleanly, spiteful, non amorous, or sterile woman, or at an unclean, infamous, or exposed place is detrimental to the semen and intellect of the visitor 89-D.

Similarly, sexual intercourse enjoyed by a man at noon time, or by one who is in an enfeebled, thirsty, or hungry state of the body, in a standing up posture, or in a cheerless mood, brings on an excessive loss of semen and aggravation of the bodily Vayu. Phthisis due to the loss of semen is the result of over-intemperance in sexual matters. Pain, enlargement of the spleen, epilepsy and even death may follow from sexual gratifications in a diseased state of health. The Váyu and the Pitta become aggravated by the sexual intercourse enjoyed early in the morning or at midnight. An incest with lower animals, unnatural sexual intercourse, or that with a woman having a diseased vagina is attended with an excessive loss of semen and an aggravation of the bodily Váyu, and is the cause of Upa-dams'a (syphilitic virus). An act of coition enjoyed by holding the woman on one's bosom or by repressing the natural urgings towards urination or defecation, as well as a repressing of seminal discharge would help the early formation of seinioal concretions (in the bladder). 89-E.

Hence these injurious and harmful) practices should be shunned by a man for his welfare in this life as well as for that in the next On the contrary, repression of a natural and (legitimate) sexual desire, from a sense of unwise delicacy or shame, is a physical sin. * Hence a healthy and passionate man possessed of the necessary fecundating element, under the course of a proper Váji-karana (aphrodisiac) remedy, should cheerfully go unto and duly enjoy the pleasures of company with a girl, beautiful in looks, tender in years, modest, virtuous, equally passionate, cheerful, kindred to him both in physical and mental temperaments, and well-decked with ornments. Fatigue after coition should be removed by the enjoyment of a bath †. a cool breeze, or a sound sleep. Food or milk, saturated with sugar, and meat-juice, prove very refreshing after the act. 89.

* It should be always borne in mind that God has implanted this desire in the mind of man and provided him with the necessary organic appendages only for the propagation of his species and not for the gratification of any diseased or morbid sexual propensity which is found nowhere else in Nature save and except in debauched human subjects and which lowers them even below the level of brutes. Hence love should be the essence of the bond which binds a couple and converts them into a kind of human centaur, the man and the wife, and union sexually considered, should be effected only under the promptings of that sacred instinct in Nature which makes the lilies blow and causes the pollens to unite their fecundating principles with one another and which a healthy unsophisticated human heart can instinctively read as the seed time of youthful exuberance.

† A bath is recommended for a man of strong virile power, in case of sexual intercourse in the day time or it may be possible to take a bath early in summer nights. - Dallana.

Thus ends the Twenty-fourth Chapter in the Chikitsita Sthánam of the Sus'ruta Samhitá which deals with the rules of Hygiene and the prophylactic measures in general.