Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c7.s2.t1.10

c7.s2.t1.10

4. As to amsa, it is properly an indefinite term, denoting the shoulder-girdle generally. But in the Compendium of Suśruta it is frequently used as a synonym of akṣaka to denote the collar-bone, as distinguished from amsa-phalaka, which denotes the shoulder-blade or scapula. This usage is explicitly explained in a passage in the sixth chapter of the Anatomical Section (Śārīra Sthāna), where Suśruta defines the names and positions of those two parts of the shoulder-girdle. He says: