Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 375

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STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATI SUTRA
Diet
It appears from the denotation of the word 'gilāṇabhatta" used in the BhS, that the patient was served with a special kind of diet in the case of his disease.
[Ch. Vi
The evidences of the study and practice of the Medical Science are also fully corroborated by other Jain texts.
In addition, they provide information regarding the development of the different sections of this branch of knowledge in those days.
Thus, they give a long list of various kinds of diseases, such as, boils (gandi), leprosy (kuttha of eighteen types), consumption (rāyamsi), epilepsy (avamariya), blindness (kāniya), stiffness (jhimiya), lameness (kuniya), humpback (khujjiya), dropsy (udari), dumbness (mūya), swelling (sūniya), over-appetite (gilasani), trembling (vevai), disablement (piḍhasappi), elephantiasis (pilivaya), diabetes (madhumeha), asthama (sasa), cough (kasa), fever (jara), inflamation (daha), intestinal colic (kucchisula), fistula (bhagandara), piles (arisa), etc.5
According to those works various causes are attributed to the appearance of diseases in the human body, such as, overeating, taking of bad food, over-sleeping, over-walking, checking calls of nature, travelling, irregularity of taking food, indulgence in sexual intercourse".
1 BhS, 9, 33, 384.
Refer to Suśruta-Samhita, Nidanasthana, 5, 4, 5, p. 342; Caraka Ch. 7, pp. 2069-73 for eighteen kinds of Kusta,
3 Acaranga Sutra, 6, 1, 173. Vide 'Life in Ancient India, p. 179. Cf. Vivaga Suya 1, p. 7.
Refer to Jambu Sú (24. p. 120) which records family disease (kularoga), village disease (gamaroga), country disease (manda roga), etc.; see Nisitha Cu. II, p. 737 f.; Jivabhigama Sutra, 3, p. 153; Mbh. III, 230, 44 ff; Cf. History of Pali literature, p. 281
• Thānanga Suya, 9. 667. For all these references see 'Life in Ancient India', p. 180.