The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c8.38

c8.38

By the side of the Aśvins and of Indra, the basically favourable gods, there is another whose character, as depicted in the Veda, is equivocal and which will remain the same in the Ayurveda : he is the powerful and terrible Rudra. He can come to the rescue but he is always ready to fly into a rage; “May we not make you furious, Rudra, by the adorations, or by a song of maleficent tribute, O Bull, neither by means of a concomitant invocation. Make our sons grow by means of remedies; I hear that you are the best among the doctors.²