The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c10.54

c10.54

*Samāna* is mentioned once in a verse of the *Atharvaveda* where the other three are also named. This is in the hymn X, 2, which asks as to who has made all the things in the cosmic body: “who has woven therein *prāṇa*? Who has woven *apāna* and *vyāna*? Which god has founded the *samāna* in the Man?”² This is one of the hymns which enumerate most carefully all that is found in the man; it is natural that its list of organic breaths is more complete than in any other passage of the same collection. The expression *avayat*, “has woven”, recalls by pun, as noted by Henry, *avayat*, “has breathed”, but it also evokes the idea of the network of the *dhamanis* and of the *sirās* stretched all over the body. One may ask oneself if the author has consciously desired to evoke it as being the one where the *prāṇas* circulate in the body. In any case nothing allows us to specify the special value of *samāna* in this passage.