The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c8.s1.15

c8.s1.15

healing type. In the ritual of the *Kauśikasūtra*, where the translators have, this time, recognised the real nature of the product, appearing one under the name of *lākṣā*, this *lākṣā* is dissolved in boiling water, mixed with milk and given to the patient to drink.¹ In another practice taught by the same text and its commentaries,² the wound is washed with a solution of lac, which is also given to the wounded person to drink. One can easily understand the sense of this curative rite. If the wound is bloody, it is probably a homeopathic rite if the lac used is red as supposed by Caland and Henry,³ but lac is chiefly given for drinking to repair the wound of the patient by the same process as that of the tree. Because the resin which springs in the wound fills it up and closes it, comes from the interior of the tree.