Bheshaja Kala is the appropriate time for the administration of medicine in Ayurveda. This exact time for taking medicine is identified by an able physician. This time is identified with reference to the day, the patient, the drug, the disease, the symptoms of the patient’s digestive capacity and the season.
Ayurveda adopts a holistic approach in the treatment of
disease. It is not only the disease that determines the manner of drug
administration, but one also takes into consideration the day on which the drug
is to administered. Considering the fact that the day includes the climatic
conditions and the season, Ayurveda describes the effects of the climatic conditions
on human health at length.
According to Charaka Samhita, a medicine can be administered
at one of the following ten points of time
- Before lunch
- Before dinner
- During lunch
- During dinner
- After lunch
- After dinner
- Frequently
- Before and After a Meal
- Mixed with a Meal
- Between morsels of food
The appropriate time is also related to vitiations caused by
planetary movements (doshas) that make such periods inauspicious.
Specific instructions include the following –
- If apna vayu is deranged, then the medicine should be taken before a meal
- If samana vayu (another kind of gas) is imbalanced then the medicine should be taken during a meal
- If the patient is strong enough to tolerate the medicine, he should take it on a empty stomach early in the morning
- When prana vayu (respiration) is imbalanced, the drug should be administered between morsels
- In the case of dyspnea, cough an dehydration the drug should be administered frequently.
- In the case of loss of appetite, the medicine should be administered in a mixture with appetizing food.