In the ancient teachings of Sanātana Dharma, the sages describe the nature and progression of certain formidable diseases, beginning with the spreading affliction that forms a chain of nodules throughout the body. This chain is long, thick, and rough, causing intense pain and fever, and is suffused with blood. As it advances, the patient suffers breathlessness, cough, diarrhea, dryness of mouth, hiccups, vomiting, dizziness, confusion, discoloration, fainting, breaking of limbs, and loss of appetite. This nodular spreading arises from the aggravation of phlegm and wind. When phlegm and bile are involved, further symptoms emerge: fever, stiffness, sleepiness, drowsiness, headache, weakness and trembling of limbs, delirium, loss of appetite, and dizziness. The disease brings fainting, loss of digestive fire, breaking of bones, thirst, heaviness of the senses, accumulation of impurities, and coating, as it spreads through all bodily channels. It usually affects the stomach, though the pain is not concentrated in one place. The affected area becomes covered with pustules, displaying extreme yellow, red, or pale hues. The affliction may appear sticky, black like soot, dirty, swollen, and heavy. As it matures deeply, it is often moist and, when touched by heat, bursts open. The flesh appears ripened, tendons and veins become exposed, and all parts of the body are affected with all symptoms, spreading everywhere and emitting the foul smell of a corpse. This form of spreading is known as ‘muddy’. Sometimes, external causes such as injury, agitated blood and bile, and the action of wind produce spreading marked by nodules resembling horse gram. These eruptions come with swelling, fever, pain, burning, and dark blood. The three pathologies caused by the channels are curable, and those arising from dual causes are without complications. However, those resulting from all causes, or invading vital spots—where tendons, veins, and flesh are ruptured, moist, and emit the smell of a corpse—are incurable. Dhanvantari, the divine physician, then explains that improper eating and living, along with actions such as slandering the virtuous, neglect, fighting, and theft, drive impure substances into the veins. These impurities, joined with the humors, reach the skin, flesh, blood, and fat, corrupting and drying them up. Emerging outward, they cause discoloration of the skin, and the remaining impurities manifest as leprosy and other skin diseases. When neglected over time, all the bodily channels are affected. The disease enters all tissues, both external and internal, disturbing and overflowing them. With sweat, moisture, and constriction, minute and harsh worms are produced, which successively invade the hair, skin, tendons, and vessels. This results in external leprosy, which appears as if covered with ash. Leprosy is said to be of seven kinds, arising from the humors singly, in pairs, or all together. Among all three humors, their combinations are further distinguished. Leprosy from wind is called Kāpāla, from bile Udumbara, and from phlegm are Maṇḍala, Vicarcū, Ṛṣya, and those from wind and bile. Other types include Carma, Eka-kuṣṭha, Kiṭima, Sidhmā, Alasā, and Vipādikā. Those arising from wind and phlegm, and from phlegm and bile, are Dadru and Śatāruṣī; Puṇḍarīka, with blisters, Pāmā, and Carmadala as well. Of all these, Kākaṇa, Pūrvatrika, Dadru with Kākaṇa, Puṇḍarīka, Ryajihvā—these seven are considered the major types of leprosy. The symptoms may be excessively smooth or rough to the touch, with sweating or dryness, discoloration, burning, itching of the skin, numbness, pricking pain, swelling, and darkness. There is severe pain in the sores, rapid onset, and long duration; even when healed, the skin remains rough, and with the slightest cause, the disease flares up greatly. Goosebumps and blackness of the blood are early signs of leprosy. When it is black, red, dry, rough, and thin like a skull, spread out in shape and scattered with corrupted hairs, this is Kāpāla leprosy, marked by much pricking pain and considered irregular. Leprosy resembling the fruit of the Udumbara tree is called Audumbara; it is round, with thick edges, and marked by intense burning and pain. It is uncovered, not spreading, worm-infested like Udumbara; firm, true, heavy, oily, white or red, and accompanied by impurities. Another type, Maṇḍala, has lesions with tails attached to each other, much itching, discharge, and worms. It appears smooth and yellowish. Vicarcikā is dark, with itching and pimples, moist; rough, with red inside, dark within, and raised. Carmākhya leprosy is described as having the appearance of a rishya-jihva (deer’s tongue), with many worms, rough to the touch like elephant skin. Kiṭima does not sweat, resembles fish scales, is dry, of fiery color, unpleasant to touch, itchy, rough, and grayish-black. Another type is dry inside, oily outside, sheds dust when rubbed within, smooth to the touch, thin, oily, clear, and like the blossom of sweat. Generally, with upward emaciation, clusters of intense itching, and red, thread-like lines on the hands and feet, it produces Vipādikā. Vipādikā is marked by severe pain, intense itching, filled with red pimples, spreading widely, resembling the color of dūrvā grass or the atasi flower. A raised, circular lesion called Dadru is said to be itchy; it has a thick base, constant burning pain, red discharge, and many sores. Accompanied by burning, moisture, and pain, Dadru often recurs in every birth; it is a pale, circular lesion, tinged with red, with itching, burning, and pain. Puṇḍarīka is raised and filled with redness, like a lotus leaf with water, marked by blisters that are white and reddish. Pāmā is characterized by blisters and pimples, with itching, moisture, and pain; fine, dark-reddish, dry, and mostly found on the buttocks, hands, and elbows. Kākaṇa presents as blisters, painful to touch, with itching, redness, and intense burning; it is a red patch or skin lesion with severe burning and pain. Kākaṇa is first red, then black, resembling triphalā; it may have all dark features, each arising from its own cause. For the proper differentiation of humors, one should indicate the signs and actions as prescribed. Leprosy that follows all humors, affecting every aspect, should be abandoned, for its nature is most severe and intractable. Thus, the ancient wisdom carefully details the origins, symptoms, and types of these diseases, urging discernment and reverence for the complexity of the body and the consequences of actions.