Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c7.s2.t2.1

c7.s2.t2.1

1. *Aṃsa-phalaka*, flat bone of the shoulder, *aṃsa-ja* or *aṃsa-samudbhava*, (bone) springing from the shoulder. All three terms are employed to denote the shoulder-blade or scapula, but the first-named, *aṃsa-phalaka*, is the term which is commonly used by Ātreya-Charaka, Suśruta, and Vāgbhaṭa I. The term *aṃsa-ja* is conjectural and only occurs in the Compendium of Suśruta (§§ 29, 55). The term *aṃsa-samudbhava* is found only in the Non-medical Version of Ātreya’s statement on the skeleton, and is probably a synonymous variation of the Suśrutiyan term *aṃsa-ja* (§§ 16, 17, 21). The Atharva Veda has the peculiar term *kaphoḍa* to denote the shoulder-blade (§ 43, cl. 6).