Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c6.s2.t4.4

c6.s2.t4.4

Dallana, therefore, identifies Suśruta’s sole (*tala*) with Charaka’s long bones (*śalākā*) and base (*sthāna*), that is, with Nos. 5 and 6 in § 4. He thus obtains six bones for the sole. Adding to them two cluster-bones and two ankle-bones, he makes up the aggregate ten. It has been pointed out in § 9, cl. 1 *b*, that the terms cluster (*kūrca*) and base (*sthāna*) are merely two different names, employed by Suśruta and Charaka respectively, for the same portion of the hand and foot, viz. the carpus and tarsus. Differentiating them, after the manner of Dallana, argues a want of anatomical knowledge such as cannot be attributed to Suśruta. In fact, as will be shown in § 40, the person responsible for this incongruity is, in all probability, Vāgbhaṭa I. But in any case, it is quite sufficient by itself to discredit the genuineness of the Traditional Recension.