"appropriateness" in Caraka Samhitaa

[elmar at philosophie.uni-tuebingen.de]

Dear Indologist,

since the field was just opened for AYURVEDIC topics:

I am about to write a M.A. thesis on ayurvedic medicine. It's going to be a
study on the usage of Sanskrit terms like
     SAMYAK, UCITA, HITA, SAATMYA, SAAMARTHYA, PATHYA etc.
in the Caraka Samhitaa. Even though it is not mentioned as a specific
concept in the scriptures (as far as I know), I would suggest that these
terms denote in one way or the other "APPROPRIATENESS". This appears to me
as a basic concept in ayurvedic therapeutics, i.e. the choice of
appropriate means after thoroughly examining the individual patient,
constitution, surrounding, time etc. (rogii, prakrti, desha, kaala etc.)
and their rational application (yukti) with regard to the right measurement
(maatraa).

In this context I would be very glad to receive some hints on publications,
shlokas or similar concepts in other traditions (e.g. "aptum" in ancient
european rhethoric; "sammaa" in buddhist eightfold path as a path of
"mental therapy" etc.).

Thank you very much for your help,

Elmar Stapelfeldt (elmar at philosophie.uni-tuebingen.de)