Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s3.185

v2.c4.s3.185

The Rigveda⁸ contains a hymn in which a physician celebrates his plants and their healing powers. Moreover, wonderful cures are referred to as performed by the Aśvins: the healing of the lame⁹ and of the blind;¹⁰ the rejuvenation of the aged Cyavana¹¹ and of Puramdhi's husband;¹² the giving of an iron leg (jaṅghā ayasī) to Viśpalā,¹³ a deed only more wonderful if we assume that Viśpalā was a mare, as has been suggested by Pischel.¹⁴ It would in all probability be a mistake to assume¹⁵ that the Vedic Indians had any surgical skill: they no doubt applied simples to wounds,¹⁶ but both their medicine and their surgery must have been most primitive. All that the Atharvaveda shows in regard to medicine is the use of herbs combined with spells,¹⁷ and of water (cf. Jalāṣa), remedies Indo-European in character, but not of much scientific value. On the other hand, the knowledge of anatomy shown (see Śarīra), though betraying grave inaccuracies, is not altogether insignificant; but that was due no doubt mainly to the practice of dissecting animals at the sacrifice.