Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c6.s3.70

c6.s3.70

It is not that this knowledge of physical sciences was confined to human beings: it was also applied to animals. Elephant lore, for instance, must have been a deep study of this animal, its characteristics, its diseases and cures, its training and so on. And there were elephant-doctors (hatthivejjā) who were well-versed in this science.⁵ They knew how to find out any ailing in elephants and to cure it.⁶ Once a certain elephant trod upon a splinter of accacia (accā-tapādaṃ). With a sharp tool an incision was made about the splinter, a string was tied to it, and it was pulled right out. The gathering was then lanced, washed with warm water and doctored properly, and in a very short time the wound was healed.⁷ Similarly characteristics of different animals and birds were known.⁸ Minute knowledge of anatomy of snakes was natural: a male snake is distinguishable from a female one by the following features: the tail (naguttham) of the male snake is thick (thūlam), that of the female is thin (tanukam); the male snake’s head is thick (thūlam), the female’s is long (dīgham); the eyes of the male are big: of the female small; the head (sovatthiko) of the male is rounded, that of the female cut short.¹