The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c9.97

c9.97

Now the *Ṛgveda* has a passage showing that the notion of *rasa* (*rása*) as the maternal contribution in the process of fecundation had already been established: “The wife clasps the husband in her arms, they spread the virile milk, in delivering herself she milks for herself the *rasa* . . .”¹ This passage should be read in conjunction with those where a “semen” (*retas*) is attributed to the mother-Earth as also to the father-Sky (*RV.*, I-159; 2, et VI, 70, 1).² Hence the idea that the Indian medical men have formed of the rôle of the female *rasa* in generation has antecedents in the Veda. Moreover, in the hymns of the *Rgveda*, *rasa* is frequently associated with *soma*, whether it is a question of the *rasa* of the *soma* or that *rasa* be called “somic” (*somia*),³ and the precise souvenir of this Vedic correlation has remained alive in medicine. The *Suśruta-saṃhitā* after having posed the problem of knowing whether the *rasa* is *saumya* or *taijasa* (igneous), affirms that it is *saumya* but is modified by the fire.⁴ Of course, this epithet merely signifies that it is “somic”, whether it refers to Soma as a mythical liquid or as a sacrificial liquor. All that it says is that its nature is humid; the echo of the Vedic tradition is equally clear here.