Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c6.s3.t1.15

c6.s3.t1.15

4. The explanation of Vāgbhaṭa’s procedure, here suggested, of course, involves the assumption of his failing to note that he counted the four bones of No. 26 (i. e. the windpipe) twice over; that is, once separately, in No. 26, and again as included in the thirteen bones of No. 25. But this is, by no means, the only instance of such inattention on the part of Vāgbhaṭa I. We have another conspicuous example in his Nos. 4 and 5, where he also counts the same bones twice over, once in No. 4 as bases (*sthāna*) and again in No. 5 as clusters (*kūrca*), these being the Charakiyan and Suśrutiyan terms respectively for the same organ (see § 49). There is a third instance in Vāgbhaṭa’s Nos. 23 and 26, where he counts the windpipe twice over;