The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c7.s2.13

c7.s2.13

On the other hand, several Indian texts on medicine, starting from the *Caraka-saṃhitā* show that for a long time before (these texts), Iranian doctors had been in contact with India and had been able to learn precisely the Indian theory regarding the physiological rôle of the wind. Several times and exactly in the chapter which deals with the functions of the wind,² the *Caraka-saṃhitā* brings in, in an assembly of savants assembled round the master Ātreya, a certain Kāṅkāyana Bahlikabhiṣaja “K. the doctor from Bactria”. The title of “Bactria” shows clearly his Iranian origin and even his name signifies that it is “Sogdian”. This is, at least, what appears to be most probable when it is seen that his name denotes a patronymic signifying “a descendant of Kaṅka” and that K’ang or K’ang-kiu in Chinese is a transcription of the name of Sogdiana.³ It is true that Sogdiana and Bactria are separated by the course of the river Oxus but there is no contradiction in a man coming from Sogdiana, in practising medicine in Bactria. Kāṅkāyana plays only a secondary rôle in Indian medicine but it is significant that this Iranian is presented in one of the fundamental texts of the Āyurveda as having been admitted into a circle of Indian doctors. By this example it can be seen that in the absence of direct historical evidence, it can be sometimes quite delicate to interpret recognised concordances between Indian and Iranian medical data.