Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c7.s3.t5.1

c7.s3.t5.1

1. *Hanu*, jaw; *hanv-asthi*, jaw-bone, or chin; *hanu-mūla-bandhana*, bond, or tie-bone, at the base, or back, of the jaw; *hanu-citya*, pile or structure of the jaws. The term *hanu* properly means simply a jaw, and ordinarily may indicate both, the upper as well as the lower jaw. But it is in the treatment of these bones, as well as of the other bones of the face which are discussed in the next paragraph, that the second of the most striking differences (for the first, see § 59, cl. 3) between the systems of Ātreya-Charaka and Suśruta discloses itself. The difference, stated briefly and roughly, is that the system of Ātreya-Charaka (§ 4) recognizes the existence of only one jaw, viz. the lower, while the system of Suśruta includes two jaws, the lower and the upper. Accordingly, in the former system, the term *hanv-asthi* signifies the bone (or ‘body’) of the lower jaw, and particularly its more prominent portion, the chin, while the term *hanu-mūla-bandhana* signifies the two attachments (or ‘rami’) at the base, or back, of the lower jaw. In the list of Vāgbhaṭa I (§ 37) there occurs only the term *hanu-bandhana*, jaw-attachment, which is used in a loose way as synonymous with simple *hanu*, jaw (see § 38, cl. 6). The term *hanu-citya* is peculiar to the Atharva Veda (§ 43).