Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c7.s1.t6.2

c7.s1.t6.2

2. The truth regarding the way in which Suśruta contemplated the styloid processes and malleoli is clearly brought out by the term valaya, wristlet or anklet, which he applies to them (§ 30). It is obvious from this comparison that he looked upon each pair of styloid processes and malleoli as forming but a single composite bone encircling the lower part of the forearm, or leg, like a wristlet, or anklet (see Fig. 2, p. 80). It must be admitted that this is a rather fanciful way of treating those organs. At the same time, it is quite consistent with Suśruta’s methods; he treats the carpus and tarsus in exactly the same way. For him both are single, composite bones, or clusters (kūrca) as he calls them (§ 49). For the purpose of enumeration in the list of bones, the clusters, though consisting of a number of small bones, are reckoned each as a single bone, or—it would be better to say—as a single system of bones. Similarly, the pairs of styloid processes and malleoli are counted, in the list, each as a single bone, or rather as a single system of bones.