The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c7.s2.174

c7.s2.174

This conclusion should, at least, suffice to establish the physiological theory of the Indian doctors of the classical epoch, according to which the wind plays an essential rôle in the organic life, has antecedents which go back right up to the Indo-Iranian epoch where the wind already, like fire and water, the other elements of the physical life, occupied a big place in the speculations. But this is a “minima” conclusion. Many indices show the possibility of the existence in Iran at an early date, of concepts still nearer to those of the Veda than are not those of the actual Avesta and which can eventually go back to the Indo-Iranian period. It is necessary to examine this possibility, which is important not only for a knowledge of the antecedents of the Indian physiology but also for the entire history of the ancient cosmo-physiological doctrines of Iran and the Hellenic world.