The verse and its meaning · Ayurveda · Ayurveda — Food and Eating

Place, season, fire, measure

Charaka Samhita, Sutrasthana 26.86

यच्चापि देशकालाग्निमात्रासात्म्यानिलादिभिः । संस्कारतो वीर्यतश्च कोष्ठावस्थाक्रमैरपि ॥ परिहारोपचाराभ्यां पाकात् संयोगतोऽपि च । विरुद्धं तच्च न हितं हृत्सम्पद्विधिभिश्च यत् ॥ विरुद्धं देशतस्तावद् रूक्षतीक्ष्णादि धन्वनि । आनूपे स्निग्धशीतादि भेषजं यन्निषेव्यते ॥ कालतोऽपि विरुद्धं यच्छीतरूक्षादिसेवनम् । शीते काले तथोष्णे च कटुकोष्णादिसेवनम् ॥ विरुद्धमनले तद्वदन्नपानं चतुर्विधे । मधुसर्पिः समधृतं मात्रया तद्विरुध्यते ॥

Meaning · English

Whatever is at odds by place, time, digestive fire, measure, habit, vata and the others, by preparation, potency, nature of the gut, condition and order, by what is to be avoided and what is to be taken, by cooking, by combining, by not pleasing the heart, by quality and by the rules of eating, is a mismatch and is not wholesome. At odds by place: dry, sharp food or medicine taken in desert country; oily, cold food or medicine in marshy country. At odds by time: cold, dry food in the cold season; pungent, hot food in the hot. So too food and drink at odds with the four kinds of fire. Honey and ghee in equal measure are at odds by measure.

Charaka widens the idea of a bad match. A meal can clash with the setting it meets, not only with another dish. He names eighteen things to weigh: place, time, agni (the digestive fire), amount, habit (what the body is used to), the doshas (vata, pitta and kapha, the body's three working forces), preparation, potency, the nature of the gut, the eater's condition, the order of eating, what is to be avoided and what is to be taken, cooking, combining, whether the food pleases the heart, its own soundness, and the rules of eating. Then four examples. Dry, sharp food in a dry land, oily, cold food in wet country, cold, dry food in winter, hot pungent food in summer: in this system's terms, each adds like to like. Food should suit each of the four kinds of agni, which Ayurveda describes elsewhere as even, irregular, sharp and weak. Honey and ghee, ordinary apart, clash in equal amounts. The asking is to look at the whole situation, not only the plate.

A heavy wool coat is a good coat. Worn on a July afternoon it leaves you sweating and wretched; in January it is exactly right. Nothing about the coat changed between the two days. The weather changed, and the person inside it. Charaka judges food the same way: by the fit between the dish, the day, the land and the body eating it.

Much of this matches ordinary good sense. Doctors do advise more fluids and lighter meals in heat, and warm, filling food is welcome in cold. Digestion clearly differs between people, and the same meal can sit well with one person and badly with another; that is close to what agni and habit describe, though the four kinds of fire have no exact modern match. Some of it does not hold up. Spicy food is eaten widely in hot climates without known harm, and there is no evidence that honey and ghee in equal amounts behave differently from any other ratio. The deeper point, that food should suit the person and the setting, stands. Anyone ill, pregnant or on a prescribed diet should follow their doctor over seasonal rules.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Foods that quarrel · Charaka Samhita, Sutrasthana 26.81
• Next: Examine, then eat · Charaka Samhita, Sutrasthana 28.41
• All of Ayurveda · Ask Krishna about it

Sacred Sargam

The sacred texts with their meaning, read aloud, with Ask Krishna, a Panchang and bhajans. Free, on the web and as an app. Open Sacred Sargam