Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c7.s3.t5.9

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3. The inferior maxillary (Fig. 31) is a large, strong, horse-shoe-shaped bone, which consists of a nearly horizontal body, and two posterior vertical portions, or rami. The body itself consists of three portions, the alveolar process above, the base beneath, and the mental protuberance, or chin, in front. The whole of this inferior maxillary is counted as a single bone by Suśruta, and constitutes his other *hanu*, or jaw-bone. Ātreya-Charaka, on the other hand, treats it as consisting of four bones: (1) the alveolar process (*dant-olūkhala*); (2) the base with the chin, which he calls *hanv-asthi*, or jaw-bone (chin-bone); (3) and