The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c11.6

c11.6

Vedic physiology is essentially based on the belief that multiple breaths circulate inside the organism. The concept of this circulation is associated with the existence of a system of internal canals. Both this concept and this notion will become fundamental in classical medicine. Already in the Veda the breaths have names which they will constantly have later on. When only two of them are named, they correspond either to inspiration and expiration or to the breath of the antiro-superior part of the body and to that of the postero-inferior part. When three, four or five breaths and sometimes more are named, they correspond to specialised diverse animal spirits whose functions have been specified by classical medicine.