The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c10.20

c10.20

Moreover, although having collected in an appendix (p. 307) the definitions of the prāṇas given by Suśruta, Ewing has not thought of seeking light from the works of Indian physiologists regarding the physiological concepts of the breaths. Not only has he limited himself to the data of his texts without clarifying the ones by the others, unless they were of the same epoch, but he has also neglected the tradition of the specialists of the question studied by him. It is true that in this respect he was merely following a usage then current among the translators of Vedic texts. Those could have rejected the evidence of Āyurveda as being very late, but they did frequently accept the still more recent interpretations of commentators like Śaṃkara, who were not physiologists. Evidently the question must be taken up again. It must be taken up here specially as regards the most ancient references to the diverse organic breaths.