Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c7.s1.t3.6

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Referring to Fig. 7, it will be seen that Suśruta’s *kūrca*, or cluster (of bones), lies on the exterior and interior sides of the foot, beyond the great and second toes. As a matter of fact, the seven bones of the tarsal cluster are in modern Anatomy considered as ‘placed in two rows, side by side, two bones in the external row, five in the internal, as follows: externally, os calcis (No. 1), and cuboid (No. 4); internally, astragalus (No. 2), scaphoid or navicular (No. 3), and the three cuneiform (Nos. 5, 6, 7).’¹ *Mutatis mutandis* these remarks apply also to the carpal cluster. The eight bones of that cluster are now usually considered as ‘placed in two rows, one in front of the other, with four bones in each row.’¹ But they may also be considered as placed (Fig. 6) in two rows, side by side, four bones externally (Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, unciform, pisiform, cuneiform, os magnum); and four internally (Nos. 1, 2, 7, 8, scaphoid, semilunar, trapezoid, trapezium).