Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c6.s4.9

c6.s4.9

‘(9) The three-versed hymn-form (trivṛt) is the head (śiras), whence that (head) is threefold—skin, bone, and brain. (10) The fifteen-versed hymn-form (pañcadaśa) is the neck-bones (grīvāḥ); for fourteen of these are the transverse processes (karūkara); and their strength (vīrya) is the fifteenth; hence by means of them, though small, man can bear a heavy load. Therefore the fifteen-versed hymn is the neck-bones. (11) The seventeen-versed hymn-form (saptadaśa) is the breast (uras); for there are eight costal cartilages (jatru) on the one side, and eight on the other, and the breast-bone (uras, sternum) is the seventeenth.