A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c24.75

Language: English

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Chapter three (aṅgavibhāga) deals with the following subjects: the six major (aṅga)54 and the minor parts (pratyaṅga)55 of the body (3.1); the qualities of the five mahābhūtas (3.2); the parts of the body derived from each of the five mahābhūtas (3.3–4ab);56 the entities derived from mother, respectively father (3.4cd–5ab),57 from cetanā58 (3.5cd),59 sātmya (3.6ab),60 rasa (3.6cd),61 sattva, rajas and tamas (3.7–8ab);62 the seven layers of the skin, derived from blood (3.8–9ab);63 the seven kalās (3.9cd–10c);64 the seven receptacles (āśaya) (3.10cd–11ab);65 an eighth receptacle, found in women, is the garbhāśaya; it is situated between the pittāśaya and pakvāśaya (3.11cd);66 the viscera (koṣṭhāṅgāni) consist of the heart, kloman, phupphusa, liver, spleen, uṇḍuka, the two kidneys, navel, ḍimbha, intestines, and bladder (3.12);67 the ten seats of life (jīvitadhāman) are the head, frenulum linguae (rasanabandhana), throat, blood, heart, navel, bladder, semen, ojas, and ano-rectal region (guda) (3.13);68 the body possesses sixteen jālas⁶⁹ and an equal number of kaṇḍarās,⁷⁰ six kūrcas,⁷¹ seven sīvanīs,⁷² four māṃsarajjus,⁷³ fourteen asthisaṃghātas,⁷⁴ and eighteen sīmantas⁷⁵ (3.14–15);

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the number of bones, teeth and nails included, is three hundred and sixty, but their number is three hundred according to Dhanvantari;⁷⁶ there are two hundred and ten junctures (sandhi), but their number is two thousand according to Atri’s son (3.16–17ab);⁷⁷ the number of snāyus is nine hundred;⁷⁸ the number of muscles (peśī) is five hundred in men; women have twenty more of them⁷⁹ (3.17cd–18ab); there are ten chief sirās, connected with the heart, which carry rasa and ojas to all parts of the body; they split up repeatedly into a number of seven hundred branches (3.18cd–20ab);⁸⁰ the number of sirās in the various body parts; the sirās that should not be used for bloodletting (3.20cd–34);⁸¹ one-fourth out of the seven hundred sirās carry blood mixed with vāta; an equal number carry blood mixed with pitta, blood mixed with kapha, and pure blood respectively (3.35);⁸² the characteristics of these four types of sirā (3.36cd–38);⁸³ the twenty-four dhamanīs, attached to the navel (3.39–40ab);⁸⁴ the nine channels (srotas)⁸⁵ and the three additional ones in women (3.40cd–41ab);

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the thirteen internal channels (antaḥsrotas), which are seats of life (jivitāyatana): one for prāṇa, one for each of the seven dhātus, one for each of the three main waste products (mala), one for water, and one for food (3.41cd–42);⁸⁶ the characteristics of these channels (3.43);⁸⁷ causes of corruption of the channels (3.44);⁸⁸ the characteristics of corruption of the channels (srotoduṣṭi) (3.45);⁸⁹ the minute openings of the channels provide the body with rasa (3.45); the symptoms of injury (vyadha) to the channels and its treatment (3.47–48);⁹⁰ the kind of pitta called pācaka digests the food; this pācaka pitta is, in Ātreya’s opinion, identical with the heat (ūṣman) of the doṣas, dhātus, malas, etc. (3.49); its seat is the grahaṇī, but, in Dhanvantari’s opinion, it is the pittadharā kalā; its location and functions; its close association with the digestive fire; digestion of the food by the digestive fire as a crucial process leading to nourishment of the dhātus (3.50–54);⁹¹ the process of digestion and its stages (3.55–58);⁹² the fires (ūṣman) of the five mahābhūtas digest the respective fractions of the food (3.59);⁹³ when digested, these fractions nourish the corresponding components of the body (3.60);⁹⁴ the digested food is separated into a waste (kiṭṭa) and an essential (sāra) portion;

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the transparent (accha) part of kiṭṭa becomes urine, the inspissated (ghana) part becomes faeces (3.61);⁹⁵ sāra is further transformed under the influence of the fires of the seven bodily elements (3.62ab); the successive transformation of the seven bodily elements (3.62cd–63ab);⁹⁶ the seven waste products of the seven bodily elements (3.63cd–64ab);⁹⁷ the essential parts (prasāda) and the waste products are produced only by digestion (pāka) (3.64cd); the complete series of transformations of the bodily elements, from ingested food to śukra, takes one day; some adhere to a period of six days, others again to a period of one month (3.65–66); aphrodisiacs (vṛṣya), due to their specific action (prabhāva), produce semen immediately; other types of drugs often show their effect within a day and a night (3.67); vyāna makes the rasa circulate throughout the body (3.68);⁹⁸ a disorder arises at a place where the flow of rasa is obstructed; in the same manner, excitation of the doṣas occurs at a particular location (3.69–70ab);⁹⁹ the digestive fire is the most important among the bodily fires; it should be protected with great care, since all the other fires are dependent on it (3.70cd–72);¹⁰⁰ the digestive fire is steady (sama) when the samāna stays in its own seat, unsteady (viṣama) when the samāna leaves its pathway; it becomes very active (tīkṣṇa) by the association of samāna with pitta, sluggish (manda) by the association of samāna with kapha (3.73);

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thus, the fire is of four types: sama, viṣama, tīkṣṇa and manda (3.74ab); the characteristic features of these four types (3.74cd–76);¹⁰¹ the three types of strength (bala): sahaja, kālaja and yuktikṛta (3.77–78);¹⁰² the three types of country: jāṅgala, ānūpa and sādhāraṇa (3. 79);¹⁰³ the quantities of the bodily constituents (3.80–82);¹⁰⁴ the origin of the seven kinds of constitution (prakṛti) (3.83): dominated by vāta (3.84–89), pitta (3.90–95), kapha (3.96–103), two doṣas, or all three doṣas (3.104ab);¹⁰⁵ the typology according to the three guṇas (3.104cd);¹⁰⁶ the three main stages of the human life cycle (vayas) (3.105);¹⁰⁷ the ideal height of the human body (3.106ab); the eight censured (nindita) types of persons (3.106cd–107ab);¹⁰⁸ auspicious bodily and mental characteristics (3. 107cd–116);¹⁰⁹ the sāra typology (3.117–118);¹¹⁰ the praiseworthy features of persons with a predominance of sattva, in contrast with the characteristics of persons dominated by rajas or tamas (3.119);¹¹¹ features leading to a long span of life (3.120).