The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c9.54

c9.54

The examination of numerous terms contained in the above list shows that many of these are metaphorical or periphrastic designations. They are not veritable terms, consecrated by the usage of the language. They are much less technical terms. Occasionally employed in the *mantras* of the ancient *Saṃhitās*, these designations have often remained in the vocabulary of the later Vedic texts, *Brāhmaṇas*, *Āraṇyakas* and *Sūtras*. This is how they are so frequently encountered, but it does not follow that they were never really in usage. It is quite natural that belonging as they did, to the fundamental *mantras*, they have often been taken up again in the literature devoted to the interpretation and the ritual application of these *mantras*. But they have not come out of the sacerdotal jargon and have not come into classical Sanskrit. Not possessing the value of the anatomical terms, they are not found in the medical texts. Moreover, a certain number of words used in the Vedic period have gone out of use during the centuries that passed between this epoch and that of the scientific manuals. On the other hand, in these manuals are to be found many other anatomical terms found from the Veda onwards. It is here that one finds terms which are quite often authentic and which have been preserved not because of the sacred character of the *mantras* containing them but following the preservation of the Vedic language itself in classical Sanskrit.