Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c7.s2.t3.12

c7.s2.t3.12

1. Pārśva, region of the ribs; stana, breast; pārśvaka or parśuka, rib; sthālaka, socket; arbuda, tubercle. The last three terms are peculiar to the list of Ātreya-Charaka (§ 4), from which they are adopted into the list of Vāgbhaṭa I (§ 37). Suśruta uses only the first term, but that he agrees with the theory of Ātreya-Charaka, implied in the use of the other three terms, is evident from the fact that both hold the same number of bones to constitute the pārśva, or region of the ribs. According to Ātreya-Charaka these bones number seventy-two, while according to Suśruta they number thirty-six on either side, and therefore seventy-two altogether. The term stana occurs in the list of the Atharva Veda (§ 43).