The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c7.s2.4

c7.s2.4

The Avesta, called "recent", is our oldest source for the knowledge of medicine in Iran, as the Gāthās do not contain any reference to medicine. It is not a priori impossible that an element under Indian influence has been able to react, directly or not, on the redaction of some of its passages. According to Parsi tradition, the Achaemenid Avesta had been burnt by Alexander, except for the passages dealing with astronomy and medicine, which had been translated into Greek. Later on, in the 3rd century A.D., after the Chief Priest Tansar had undertaken, on the order of Ardaser I, the restitution of the Avesta already begun under the Arsacidian Parthians, Sahpuhr I, the son and successor of Aradaser (241-272), caused to be inserted therein certain passages relating to medicine, astronomy and cosmogony which had been "scattered in India, Greece and elsewhere".¹ Ordinarily, it is not thought necessary to believe in this traditional account.² But of course there is no decisive argument against it. In any case, the Avesta of the Sassanian period, which is today partly lost, did really contain, notably in the Huspāram-nask, certain passages relating to medicine, as can be seen from the résumé included in the Pehlavi *Denkart* (of the IXth century).¹ The same *Denkart* has kept the tenor of a medical text but the technical passages which would be the most important for judging about its doctrines are unfortunately vague.² This text seems to attest a Hellenistic influence, notably when it allows a big rôle to the cold, to the dry and to the hot which are *phukhron*, *eiron*, *ugron* and *thermon* in Greek. The points of resemblance with Indian medicine which have been pointed out, do not have much significance.³ For the rest, it takes up the data of the Avesta which are thus mixed up with foreign notions.