Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c7.s1.t2.1

c7.s1.t2.1

1. *Pāṇi-pāda-śalākā*, or the long bones of the hands and feet. These are the metacarpal and metatarsal bones. Charaka counts twenty of them, five in either hand and foot (§ 4), which agrees with the actual number. Suśruta, in his list (§ 27), aggregates them under the term *tala*, which signifies the palmar and plantar portion of the hand and foot respectively. The Atharva Veda (§ 43) denotes that portion by the term *uchlakha*.