Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c6.s4.24

c6.s4.24

9. Continuation. As to the ribs, the very non-anatomical view is taken of counting the collar-bones as a species of ribs, and thus obtaining a total of thirteen ribs on either side of the sternum. This explanation of the otherwise unintelligible count of thirteen ribs has been suggested by Professor Eggeling in his Translation of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (Sacred Books of the East, vol. xliv, p. 164, footnote 2), and is undoubtedly correct. The fanciful count itself, of course, is due to the mystical exigencies of the author of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa.