The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c8.187

c8.187

¹ kravyādam in the accusative refers to a demon, causing abortions and this is not the only example of a similar use. But frequently Agni itself receives the epithet of “eater of flesh”, kravyād. In this case, it refers specially to the fire of the funeral pyre (cf., V. Henry, Magie . . . p. 217). Here then is another example of antagonistic forms, assumed by the same entities. Here, Agni, the Fire, chases the kravyād; elsewhere he himself is the kravyād (cf., Oldenberg, Ṛgveda . . . Noten, Berlin, 1912 on X, 16-9-11).