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Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c20.s5: (e) Nervous System

Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c20.s5

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(e) Nervous System

c20.s5.1

Neither in India nor in Europe did the ancients understand the nervous system. Aristotle's error was committed by Charaka and Sushruta also. They all regarded the heart to be the central organ and seat of consciousness. The nerves (sensory and motor) were believed to ascend to and descend from the heart.

c20.s5.2

Later investigators, however, corrected this mistake both in the East and the West. Like Galen, the Greek (second century A.D.), the Tantrists and Yogaists of India came to know the truth that the brain (and the spinal cord) is the real organ of "mind."

c20.s5.3

According to Bamandas Basu the nervous system is more accurately described in the mystical "Tan-tras" than in purely medical treatises. We get the following from "Shiva Samhita:"⁵⁵
1. Familiarity with the brain and spinal cord;
2. The idea that the central nervous system is composed of gray and white matters;

c20.s5.4

3. Familiarity with the lateral ventricles of the brain (through the fourth and third ventricles);
4. Familiarity with the ganglia and plexuses of the cerebro-spinal system;
5. The idea that the brain is composed of *chandra-kala* or convolutions resembling half-moons;
6. The idea that the six *chakras* are the vital and important sympathetic plexuses, presiding over all the functions of organic life. Yoga or contemplation means con-trol over the functions of these plexuses.

c20.s5.5

According to Seal, also, the enumeration, by Yogaists, of the spinal nerves with the connected sympathetic chain and ganglia, is a distinct improve-ment on the anatomical knowledge of Charaka and Sushruta.⁵⁹ Thus, according to the Yoga physiologists,

c20.s5.6

(1) The *Susumna* is the central cord in the vertebral column. The two chains of sympathetic ganglia on the left and the right are named *Ida* and *Pingala* respectively. The sympathetic nerves have their main connection with *Susumna* at the solar plexus. There are 700 nerve-cords in the sympathetic-spinal system.

c20.s5.7

(2) The soul has its special seat within the *Brahmarandhra* above the foramen of Monro and the middle commissure, but traverses the whole cerebro-spinal axis, up and down, along the *Susumna*.

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