A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c25.617.3

v1.c25.617.3

in favour of this view they point to the fact that amputation of (part of) a limb, in spite of the presence of many marmans in it, is not fatal (7.21); still others explain this fact by arguing that, after amputation of a hand or foot, the sirās contract, thus leading to an only slight loss of blood and the preservation of life; injury to a marman, however, leads to much loss of blood, resulting in disorders of vāta, and, finally, death;⁴⁰⁴ therefore, when a marman in a particular limb is injured, this limb should be amputated at the nearest (proximal) joint;⁴⁰⁵ serious injury to a marman of a particular type necessitates placing this marman in a higher group; the reverse holds good in slight injuries (7.22);⁴⁰⁶ marmans are also divided into five groups by another criterion, namely their dimensions; urvī, kūrcaśiras, viṭapa and kakṣādhara measure one aṅgula,⁴⁰⁷ gulpha, maṇibandha and stanamūla two aṅgula, jānu and kūrpara three aṅgula; kūrca, guda, basti, nābhi, hṛdaya, the nīlās, manyās and mātṛkās, the sīmantas and śṛṅgāṭakas are as large as the palm of the hand; the remaining ones have the extent of an aṅguladala;⁴⁰⁸ other authorities hold that the kṣipras have the size of a grain of vrīhi rice, the stanarohitas and utkṣepas the size of a kalāya, and others the size of a sesamum grain⁴⁰⁹ (7.23).