The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c11.9

c11.9

The legends of the origins of Āyurveda could not have, in this respect, fixed our judgement. They may take back its origins to the farthest antiquity and attribute the transmission of its teaching to Vedic personalities with known names, but we cannot follow them therein. They do not, as we have seen, inspire confidence. They cannot be taken to be based on authentic facts. Above all, they invoke arbitrary and tendentious geneologies whereby obscure families claim descent from illustrious stocks. They form a part of a system of similar legends concerning the origin of other sciences; therein they resemble more the products of a competition in a sort of nobiliary pride than the souvenirs of schools concerning their real history. At present we see, however, that these legends have not deceived us, at least concerning the essential fact emerging therefrom, namely, the existence of a continuous intermediary tradition between the speculations of Vedic times and the teachings of medicine in the specialised manuals.