The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c9.2

c9.2

THE number of anatomical terms found in the Vedic Saṃhitās is quite large. A large number of different parts of the body have each a special name and sometimes several names. Many of these names have passed from Vedic Sanskrit into classical Sanskrit and are consequently met with both in medical texts and in Vedic hymns, because they do not have a strictly technical value and their knowledge has never been limited to savants. The notions represented by them are quite rudimentary in so far as the internal organs are concerned, their anatomy, even in Europe, having been unravelled much later. Moreover, it is difficult to understand, by means of the Vedic texts, the manner in which the authors of these hymns understood the organs named by them. It goes without saying that the Vedic hymns contain no anatomical description; it is only accidentally that the different parts of the body are mentioned chiefly in magical incantations, where they are enumerated in order to chase away the disorders of each one of them or in the passages where the elements of the body are placed parallel to those of the universe. And, unfortunately, there are no precise anatomical descriptions in the medical books, lesser still the figures. In India, where oral instruction surpasses other forms, anatomy, which can be really learnt best only by direct examination, was certainly taught orally. The books contained only lists to help the memory. We cannot, therefore, always identify an organ, whose name is nevertheless employed both in the Vedic and Ayurvedic texts. Moreover, a certain number of names are found only in the Veda.