Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c7.s7.t2.21

c7.s7.t2.21

The manuscripts read *maṇibandhayoḥ*; the reading *maṇi-gulphayoḥ* is a conjectural emendation, which is suggested by the fact that otherwise the statement of Bhoja would entirely ignore the ankle-bones (*gulpha*), which, as homologues of the wrist-bones (*maṇi* or *maṇibandha*), should by parity of reasoning be included in it. The dual of the MS. reading would have to be made to refer, not to the two wrists of the hands, but to the couple of organs consisting of the wrists and their homologues, the ankles, respectively—a very forced interpretation. In the term *bāhu-jaṅghā-dvaya*, *bāhu* denotes the whole upper limb, and *jaṅghā*, the whole lower limb, either of which consists of a couple (*dvaya*) of organs: arm, forearm, and thigh, leg.