The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c9.86

c9.86

We do not have a special term for denoting the points of the body, whose wounding can either be fatal or particularly serious because it causes paralysis. The Veda calls these points *marman* which the *Rgveda* employs mostly in the references to the killing of Vṛtra by god Indra. The form is derived from the root *mṛ*, “to die”, and it means above all a “mortal point”.¹