The chapter is so called because it is devoted to a precise understanding of dravya and the other factors. Dravya here means a medicinal substance, and rasa includes tastes such as madhura. Twenty gunas are listed: shita, ushna, snigdha, ruksha, manda, tikshna, guru, laghu, picchila, vishada, shlakshna, parusha, kathina, mridu, drava, sandra, sthira, sara, sthula and sukshma. Eight of these are also designated virya: shita, ushna, snigdha, ruksha, vishada, picchila, mridu and tikshna. Asked how virya differs from guna, the commentary observes that Amalaki and Haritaki may share gunas while differing in virya: Haritaki is described as ushna-virya and Amalaki as shita-virya. It then identifies virya with the power or prabhava by which a substance performs an action that cannot be accounted for by dravya, rasa, guna and vipaka, citing power, a distinctive mode of origination, capacity and prabhava as equivalent expressions. Vipaka is the designation used when a substance, during transformation, leaves its natural rasa and assumes another rasa.
Key terms
dravya
A medicinal substance in this chapter.
rasa
Taste, beginning with madhura, considered as a property of a substance.
guNa (guna)
A quality; the commentary enumerates twenty qualities.
vIrya (virya)
The operative potency or power assigned here to eight selected qualities.
vipAka (vipaka)
The transformed taste understood to arise during the substance's final transformation.
prabhAva (prabhava)
A distinctive efficacy or power invoked for an action not explained by the other stated factors.
केचिदाचार्या ब्रुवते- द्रव्यं प्रधानं, कस्मात्? व्यवस्थितत्वात्, इह खलु द्रव्यं व्यवस्थितं न रसादयः, यथा आमे फले ये रसादयस्ते पक्वे न सन्ति; नित्यत्वाच्च, नित्यं हि द्रव्यमनित्या गुणाः, यथा कल्कादिप्रविभागः, स एव सम्पन्नरसगन्धो व्यापन्नरसगन्धो वा भवति; स्वजात्यवस्थानाच्च, यथा हि पार्थिवं द्रव्यमन्यभावं न गच्छत्येवं शेषाणि; पञ्चेन्द्रियग्रहणाश्च, पञ्चभिरिन्द्रियैर्गृह्यते द्रव्यं न रसादयः; आश्रयत्वाच्च, द्रव्यमाश्रिता रसादयः; आरम्भसामर्थ्याच्च, द्रव्याश्रित आरम्भः, यथा- ‘विदारिगन्धादिमाहृत्य सङ्क्षुद्य विपचेत्’ इत्येवमादिषु न रसादिष्वारम्भः; शास्त्रप्रामाण्याच्च, शास्त्रे हि द्रव्यं प्रधानमुपदेशे योगानां, यथा- ‘मातुलुङ्गाग्निमन्थौ च’ इत्यादौ न रसादय उपदिश्यन्ते; क्रमापेक्षितत्वाच्च रसादीनां, रसादयो हि द्रव्यक्रममपेक्षन्ते, यथा- तरुणे तरुणाः सम्पूर्णे सम्पूर्णा इति; एकदेशसाध्यत्वाच्च, द्रव्याणामेकदेशेनापि व्याधयः साध्यन्ते, यथा- महावृक्षक्षीरेणेति; तस्माद्द्रव्यं प्रधानं, न रसादयः, कस्मात्? निरवयवत्वात् |
द्रव्यलक्षणं तु ‘क्रियागुणवत् समवायिकारणम्’ इति ||३||
Meaning of the śloka
Some teachers hold dravya to be primary. Their reasons are that the substance remains established while rasa and the other properties change, as in an unripe and ripe fruit; that the substance persists while its gunas are impermanent, as a preparation may remain the same despite sound or impaired taste and smell; that it remains within its own elemental class; that a substance is apprehended by the five senses whereas rasa and the other factors are not; that it is their support; that practical procedures begin with the substance, as when a named group of drugs is collected, crushed and cooked; that authoritative instructions prescribe substances in formulations; that rasa and the other factors depend on the substance's stage of development; and that disease may be treated by even one part of a substance. Therefore dravya, rather than rasa and the other factors, is said to be primary, since the latter are without constituent parts. Dravya is defined as that which possesses action and qualities and serves as an inherent cause.
The commentary presents this as one school's argument for the primacy of dravya. Stability is illustrated by a mango that successively has astringent-sour, sour and then sweet taste without becoming a different fruit. Here 'eternal' means remaining for a certain period, while qualities are destructible. Kalka and related preparations include expressed juice, decoction, cold infusion and phanta: the underlying substance remains, while taste and smell may become compounded or altered. Another reading has 'division according to time and so forth' instead of 'kalka and so forth'; on that reading, water, wind, place, moon and sun are included as conditions, with seasonal depletion and dryness of herbs cited as an example. Remaining in one's own class means that an earthy substance does not become watery or another elemental class. In sensory apprehension, the qualities of sound, touch, form, taste and smell are grasped through their supporting substance; examples of sounds are assigned to earthy, watery and fiery substances, while airy and spatial substances are inferred because they lack form. Rasa, guna, virya and vipaka themselves are said not to be grasped by all five senses. Dravya is also the support of these factors and the basis from which a procedure begins; sankshudya means crushing into powder. Further arguments appeal to scriptural formulations, to qualities following the substance's stage from new to fully developed, and to the efficacy attributed to a single part of a substance. The definition is then explained: dravya possesses action and the twenty gunas, and is a samavayi-karana, as threads are for cloth and a lump of clay for a pot; action does not inhere in action, nor qualities in qualities.
Key terms
dravya
The substance argued by this school to be the primary basis of qualities and actions.
samavAyikAraNa (samavayi-karana)
An inherent or intimately related material cause, illustrated by threads in cloth and clay in a pot.
kriyA (kriya)
Action, one of the features said to reside in dravya.
kalka
A paste preparation used in the commentary's account of changing qualities.
Other teachers reject that view and hold rasa to be primary. They argue from authoritative teaching, since scripture treats rasa as central and food depends upon rasa while life depends upon food; from direct instruction, as when madhura, amla and lavana are taught to pacify vata; from inference, because a substance is inferred through its rasa, as when it is called sweet; and from the words of the sages, regarded as Veda, such as the instruction to bring something sweet for a sacrifice. Thus they regard rasa as primary. The designation guna is applied among rasa and the related factors. The definition of rasa will be taught elsewhere.
This passage states the position of a school that assigns primacy to rasa and denies the preceding claim for dravya. 'Life is in it' means that life depends on food. The commentary identifies four grounds: authoritative scripture, explicit instruction, inference and the statement of a rishi. In the sacrificial example, the command is interpreted as asking for sweet rasa rather than merely naming a substance. In response to why guna has not separately been established as primary, the commentary says that an omitted word adi should be understood in the phrase concerning rasa; establishing the primacy of rasa and the related factors thereby also establishes that of guna. Rasa's definition is deferred to the Rasavijnaniya chapter.
Key terms
rasa
Taste, held by this school to be the primary factor.
Agama (agama)
Authoritative teaching or scripture used as one ground of the argument.
anumAna (anumana)
Inference, here the recognition of a substance through its taste.
RuShivacana (rishi-vacana)
A sage's statement, treated here as Vedic authority.
Another group rejects the preceding views and holds virya to be primary, because medicinal actions are accomplished under its influence. The text attributes to virya actions including cleansing through the upper or lower pathways or both, purification, pacification, retention, kindling agni, pressure, scraping, nourishing, rasayana, vajikarana, reducing swelling, dissolving, cauterizing, splitting, intoxicating, destroying life and counteracting poison. Virya is described either as twofold, ushna and shita, because the world is constituted through Agni and Soma, or by some as eightfold: shita, ushna, snigdha, ruksha, vishada, picchila, mridu and tikshna. Through the predominance of their own power and qualities, these viryas may override rasa and perform their characteristic action. Examples are given in which substances with a particular rasa act differently because of virya: Mahat Panchamula, kulattha and palandu are said to pacify vata; sugarcane juice to increase it; pippali, amalaki and saindhava to pacify pitta; kakamachi and fish to increase it; radish to increase shleshma; and kapittha and honey to pacify it. These examples are illustrative rather than exhaustive.
The commentary presents the doctrine of those who give primacy to virya. It explains the listed actions: samshodhana here includes cleansing wounds; samshamana calms a condition in place without emesis or purgation, and retention and agni-kindling are subdivisions of it; pidana is a particular wound procedure involving materials such as Shalmali bark; lekhana means thinning or scraping; brimhana promotes bodily increase; rasayana includes maintaining age; and vajikarana is explained either through potency likened to a horse or through promoting shukra. In the phrase about swelling and dissolution, the words may each connect separately with swelling; another reading is 'removing swelling and dissolving.' Burning is associated with alkali, splitting with substances such as vulture excrement, intoxication with liquor, life-destruction with poison, and poison-pacification with antidotal compounds; the concluding 'and so forth' includes wound healing and promoting hair growth. Virya performs its own action, either calming or aggravating doshas, by overcoming rasa through superior inherent force and quality. The commentary supplies omitted connections in the examples and examines difficulties in the pippali statement. If fresh pippali is intended, another passage must be read as describing it as both pungent and cool; if dried pippali is intended, its slight incompatibility with pitta is invoked. Some manuscripts read that pippali aggravates pitta, in which case pacification belongs only to the virya theorists' view; another resolution is that fresh pippali pacifies while dried pippali aggravates. Amalaki and saindhava are likewise connected with pitta pacification through mild, cooling virya. Kakamachi is said only to increase, rather than strongly aggravate, pitta because it is otherwise described as balancing all three doshas; another explanation distinguishes the virya theorist's view of it as hot from the author's view that it is neither markedly hot nor cold. Fish are connected with pitta increase. The radish meant is mature or large radish, rather than young radish, which is described differently.
Key terms
vIrya (virya)
Operative potency held by this school to govern a substance's actions.
saMshamana (samshamana)
Pacification of a condition in place without the evacuative procedures named by the commentary.
bRuMhaNa (brimhana)
An action described as promoting bodily increase or nourishment.
rasAyana (rasayana)
A category of action explained here as including maintenance of age.
vAjIkaraNa (vajikarana)
A reproductive-potency category given two related derivations in the commentary.
भवन्ति चात्र- ये रसा वातशमना भवन्ति यदि तेषु वै |
रौक्ष्यलाघवशैत्यानि न ते हन्युः समीरणम् ||६||
ये रसाः पित्तशमना भवन्ति यदि तेषु वै |
तैक्ष्ण्यौष्ण्यलघुताश्चैव न ते तत्कर्मकारिणः ||७||
ये रसाः श्लेष्मशमना भवन्ति यदि तेषु वै |
स्नेहगौरवशैत्यानि न ते तत्कर्मकारिणः ||८||
तस्माद्वीर्यं प्रधानमिति ||९||
Meaning of the śloka
Even a rasa ordinarily regarded as pacifying vata will not pacify it when dryness, lightness and coldness are present in that rasa. A rasa regarded as pacifying pitta will not perform that action when sharpness, heat and lightness are present. A rasa regarded as pacifying shleshma will not perform that action when unctuousness, heaviness and coldness are present. Therefore virya is primary.
After describing virya's action as residing in substances, the text now explains its action in relation to rasa. The vata-pacifying rasas are madhura, amla and lavana; the pitta-pacifying rasas are madhura, tikta and kashaya; and the shleshma-pacifying rasas are katu, tikta and kashaya. The verses argue that opposing qualities can prevent the action normally assigned to each group of tastes, supporting the claim that virya is primary.
Key terms
raukShya (raukshya)
Dryness, here a quality said to counter the expected vata-pacifying action of a rasa.
taikShNya (taikshnya)
Sharpness, here said to counter the expected pitta-pacifying action.
sneha
Unctuousness, here said to counter the expected shleshma-pacifying action.
vIrya (virya)
Potency concluded by the passage to be primary over taste in determining action.
Others reject the claim that virya is primary and instead regard vipaka, the transformation after digestion, as primary, because substances that are properly or improperly digested produce beneficial qualities or doshas. Several accounts of vipaka are then considered: one corresponding to each rasa; three kinds—madhura, amla and katuka; or the view that weaker tastes come under the power of stronger ones. The text rejects these positions as unsettled. Its accepted scriptural conclusion is that vipaka is twofold: madhura, which is guru, and katuka, which is laghu. This twofold division follows the shared qualities of the elements: prithivi and ap are guru, while tejas, vayu and akasha are laghu.
The commentary presents another doctrine, according to which some deny the primacy of virya and assign primacy to vipaka, understood as a distinctive kind of digestion. Here ‘all substances’ excludes emetic substances. Properly digested substances produce a beneficial quality, while improperly digested ones produce dosha. It explains the competing view of a separate vipaka for each rasa, the threefold proposal, and the argument that tastes retain their own nature after digestion, illustrated by milk cooked in a pot and grains or pulses retaining their nature through growth. Another proposal makes weaker factors subordinate to stronger ones. Because these opinions lack a stable rule, the commentary understands the text to reject them as unsupported by authoritative teaching. It then states its own position: authoritative teaching recognizes only madhura and katuka vipaka, classified as guru and laghu through similarity to elemental qualities. The reading ‘agamastv iha’ is also reported. Agama may mean scripture, the teaching of learned authorities that does not conflict with perception and other means of knowledge, or an established conclusion.
Key terms
vipAka (vipaka)
The distinctive transformation or outcome following digestion.
prati rasaM pAka (prati-rasam paka)
The debated view that each rasa has a corresponding digestive outcome.
madhura
The sweet type of vipaka, classified here as guru.
kaTuka (katuka)
The pungent type of vipaka, classified here as laghu.
Agama (agama)
Authoritative teaching or an established doctrinal conclusion, with several explanations preserved by the commentary.
When the qualities of ap and prithivi become predominant as substances are digested, the resulting vipaka is called madhura. When the qualities of tejas, anila and akasha become predominant during digestion, the vipaka is called katuka.
This is a summary of the arguments of those who view the factors separately. In this matter, learned authorities accept the combined operation of all four.
After presenting the disputed opinions of those who separately give primacy to dravya, rasa, virya or vipaka, the commentary states its own view as their collective operation. ‘Those who see separateness’ means those who treat the factors as distinct, and the summarized arguments include such claims as ‘dravya is primary’ and ‘rasa is primary.’ The four named here are rasa, guna, virya and vipaka. The particle api emphasizes that the complete group is intended, rather than only one, two or three. Samagrya means their aggregate or combined presence in a dravya.
Key terms
pRuthaktvadarshinAm (prithaktva-darshinam)
Of those who regard the relevant factors separately.
caturNAm (chaturnam)
Of the four: rasa, guna, virya and vipaka.
sAmagrya (samagrya)
The aggregate or combined operation of the four factors in a substance.
The verse answers the objection that only dravya would then be active and rasa and the other factors would have no role. Dravya remains the agent in either reducing or producing a dosha, but it may act by its own elemental constitution, by twofold or eightfold virya, by rasa, or by vipaka. The commentary says that dosha may also mean disease here. It illustrates action through the substance itself with khadira in relation to kushtha; through virya with groups such as mahat-panchamula discussed in the chapter; through rasa with bitter guduchi, whose hot virya notwithstanding is said to calm pitta; and through vipaka with pungent shunthi, said to calm vata because its vipaka is madhura.
Key terms
AtmanA (atmana)
By the substance’s own nature or elemental constitution.
vIrya (virya)
A potency through which a substance may act.
rasavipAkAbhyAm (rasa-vipakabhyam)
Through rasa and the post-digestive transformation called vipaka.
doSha (dosha)
Dosha, with the commentary noting that the word can also denote disease in this context.
The commentary uses the dependence of rasa and the other factors upon dravya to show dravya’s primacy. ‘Foremost’ means most worthy of regard. Dravya is the supporting basis, while rasa and the other factors are what reside in that basis.
Key terms
dravya
The substance treated here as the supporting basis of rasa and the other factors.
Ashraya (ashraya)
The supporting basis; identified by the commentary as dravya.
AshrayiNaH (ashrayinah)
Factors residing in a basis, here rasa and the others.
Adhikarana ౧౧ (౧౬-౧౮) · Śloka ౧౮
జన్మ తు ద్రవ్యరసయోరన్యోన్యాపేక్షికం స్మృతం |
అన్యోన్యాపేక్షికం జన్మ యథా స్యాద్దేహదేహినోః ||16||
వీర్యసంజ్ఞా గుణా యేఽష్టౌ తేఽపి ద్రవ్యాశ్రయాః స్మృతాః |
రసేషు న భవంత్యేతే నిర్గుణాస్తు గుణాః స్మృతాః ||17||
ద్రవ్యే ద్రవ్యాణి యస్మాద్ధి విపచ్యంతే న షడ్రసాః |
శ్రేష్ఠం ద్రవ్యమతో జ్ఞేయం, శేషా భావాస్తదాశ్రయాః ||18||
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जन्म तु द्रव्यरसयोरन्योन्यापेक्षिकं स्मृतम् |
अन्योन्यापेक्षिकं जन्म यथा स्याद्देहदेहिनोः ||१६||
वीर्यसञ्ज्ञा गुणा येऽष्टौ तेऽपि द्रव्याश्रयाः स्मृताः |
रसेषु न भवन्त्येते निर्गुणास्तु गुणाः स्मृताः ||१७||
द्रव्ये द्रव्याणि यस्माद्धि विपच्यन्ते न षड्रसाः |
श्रेष्ठं द्रव्यमतो ज्ञेयं, शेषा भावास्तदाश्रयाः ||१८||
Meaning of the śloka
Dravya (substance) and rasa (taste) are understood to arise in mutual dependence, just as the body and the embodied self are mutually associated. The eight qualities designated as virya also depend upon dravya; they do not reside in the tastes, because qualities themselves are regarded as having no qualities. Since food substances, rather than the six tastes as such, undergo digestion within the bodily substance, dravya should be understood as primary, while the remaining factors depend upon it.
The commentary explains that dravya, rasa and the other factors do not arise from one another in sequence, as smoke arises from fire; their occurrence is simultaneous and mutually dependent. The body and the embodied self provide the comparison. Having established that rasa depends upon dravya, the text similarly establishes virya as dependent upon dravya. The word 'also' includes other qualities such as grossness and minuteness. Because rasa is itself a quality and qualities cannot inhere in other qualities, coldness, heat and the remaining qualities belong to dravya rather than to rasa. Vipaka is likewise dependent upon dravya: food substances undergo transformation in the body composed of the five elements, whereas the six tastes do not, because they are treated here as without constituent parts. Thus rasa and the other factors have dravya as their support. The commentator notes that many variant readings and alternative explanations exist but omits them to avoid excessive detail.
Key terms
dravya
The substance that serves as the support of rasa, virya, vipaka and other qualities in this argument.
rasa
Taste, described here as a quality dependent upon dravya.
vIrya (virya)
The group of eight designated active qualities, said here to reside in dravya.
vipAka (vipaka)
The post-transformational factor that the commentary also treats as dependent upon dravya.
Discerning persons should employ, on the authority of the received teaching, those medicines whose naturally established actions are not open to reasoning and cannot be fully conceived.
The verse restricts independent speculation about the medicines under discussion. 'Not open to inquiry' is explained as applying to effects that cannot be accounted for by reflection. The commentary limits this statement to particular traditionally recognized examples, such as khadira, tuvaraka, rasanjana and haridra in relation to kushtha, rather than to every substance; otherwise other passages that direct reasoned combination and formulation would be contradicted. Svabhavatah is glossed as 'from birth' or 'by inherent nature.' An alternative interpretation says that medicines established in the authoritative tradition are not to be questioned because their inherent nature cannot be fully reasoned out, just as liquidity belongs to water and heat to fire. Such medicines are therefore to be used according to the received teaching.
Key terms
amImAMsyAni (amimamsyani)
Not amenable to further rational inquiry in the limited context explained by the commentary.
svabhAvataH (svabhavatah)
By inherent nature; the commentary also glosses it as present from birth.
Agama (agama)
Authoritative received teaching used as the basis for employing these medicines.
bheShajAni (bheshajani)
Medicines or therapeutic substances discussed in the verse.
A learned person should never test through reasoning alone those medicines that are traditionally established by their directly observable characteristics and results. Even a thousand arguments could not construct the Ambasthadi formulation; therefore, an intelligent person should remain grounded in authoritative teaching rather than in reasoning alone.
The commentary raises the objection that these teachings may appear contrary to inference, and answers that authoritative tradition is stronger here because its results are directly perceptible. Those perceptible characteristics and effects distinguish what is beneficial from what is harmful. The second verse is then cited to explain why a medicine whose characteristics and results are already established should not be judged by reasoning alone.