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Hindu Medicine c5: Editor's Preface

Hindu Medicine c5

Language
English

Contents

Editor's Preface

I

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I happened to make Zimmer's acquaintance in the early summer of 1924, an especially happy and important phase of his life: he was just beginning to come into his own. His earlier biography can be briefly told. Born in Greifswald in 1890, he attended school there and in Berlin; from 1909 until 1913 he studied at the University of Berlin. After having taken his degree in 1913, he underwent his one-year military training and stayed on in the army throughout the first World War. Discharged in December 1918, he resumed his work and became Privatdozent in Greifswald in 1920. In 1922 he moved to Heidelberg. Here at last he was able to carry out the decision which he had made on his return from the war—"free as a guest from the other world"—namely, to abandon completely the traditional pattern of interpretation that he had followed, however reluctantly, in his youth and to give expression to his own vision of India. In 1924 his first book was in print and he was working

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P R E F A C E

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on the second.¹ At the university he lectured on Hindu religion.

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¹ Karman, *Ein buddhistischer Legendenkranz*, 1925; *Kunstform und Yoga im indischen Kultbild*, 1926. For a more detailed account of Zimmer's life, cf. his *Biographical Remarks* in *Two Papers* by Henry R. Zimmer, 1944 (Van Vechten Press, Metuchen).

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It was in this lecture course that I saw Zimmer for the first time, and I shall never forget the impression which he then made upon me. A tall man, rather heavily built, his broad shoulders somewhat uneven, he stood before the few students in his characteristic attitude: his body erect, his massive head slightly tilted to the left. His face, —very unusual in its contour, its features stern rather than gentle,—showed no emotion. His eyes, deep-set under thick brows, were fixed upon his manuscript—he was reading the story of Dharmarutschi which tells of the cycle of incarnations, of the path followed by the Enlightened One and of that followed by the uninitiated. Only occasionally did Zimmer glance at us. If he saw us at all, if he paid any attention to our presence, it was in order to make sure that we were following him into that realm into which he himself was transposed. For his outward calm was apparently that of the body

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PREFACE

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which stays here while the spirit is far away. His voice, somewhat harsh and unmelodious, did not change much, nor did the rhythm and the tempo of his speech vary. Every word resounded the monotony and simplicity inherent in sacred prose. And behind the facts retold there was the reality of the world that lies beyond.

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Having been introduced to Zimmer by a mutual friend after one of the lectures, I welcomed every opportunity to talk to him. Such discussions often started in one of the narrow streets of Heidelberg or on the beautiful old bridge crossing the Neckar. He would come along walking swiftly, in very unconventional clothes—unconventional, that is, for a German professor: slacks, sport shirt with open collar, no tie, no jacket—carrying under one arm a number of books, under the other the food he had bought to prepare his meals. "I just found," or "I just read,"—thus the conversation would begin, and often it would not end until an hour, or hours, had passed, whether we remained standing where we were or walked on to his house, far out in the Neckar valley, and there sat down in his small study, a modest room, furnished with a few books and a relief of the Buddha of Gandhara.

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In discourse Zimmer excelled; here all the facets of his rich nature shone forth brightly. He always spoke about essential things, or rather whatever he touched upon became essential. Although he abounded in witticisms and sarcasms, although he was a brilliant raconteur, sparkling and overflowing with ideas, he was fundamentally serious, even grave. To him nothing was trifling, everything was part of the whole. Talking rapidly, as if possessed by his subject, as if driven on by a demon, he delighted in joining the nearest up with the farthest, in pointing out historical parallels, in establishing crossline combinations. The characterization which a great Sanskrit scholar once applied to Hindu philosophers—a characterization that Zimmer found most appropriate—might be applied to him also, perhaps with a slightly different meaning: he philosophized "in die Quere," latitudinally, as it were.² And he did so with a breadth of knowledge that was astounding. German, French, English poetry and prose, classical literature, art of the various periods, the story of man's highest endeavors and of his most ridiculous foibles—all

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² Cf. Ewiges Indien, Leitmotive indischen Daseins, 1930, pp. 111; 170 f. (note 42).

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this was ever-present to his mind which was associative rather than deductive and penetrated into the very core of things by intuiting rather than by computing them.

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This indeed was Zimmer's greatest gift: that he was able to divine the truth with his inner eye, a faculty that, in his opinion, was no merit, nor even an advantage. On the contrary, much as he hated shallow dialectics, he had an almost childlike admiration for those who were good at reasoning, at presenting conclusions from a well ordered argument. "Ich kann nicht denken," I am incapable of thinking, he used to say with sincere regret. But visionary as was his approach to any topic, it was at the same time distinct, sharp, and clear-cut. Moreover, his thought tended to become concrete, to take on flesh and blood. One day we walked along the Neckar, while he was trying to explain to me the Hindu attitude toward death. "To die—that means to cross *this* river in a boat and then to look back from over there to the eddy here." He would not use the old simile *in abstracto*; it was infused into the reality of the surrounding world. The water we saw became the dividing line

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between the two realms of existence.³ Even his retelling of stories, fired as it was by fantasy, the fantasy of the poet, reflected a fantastic realism, as Dostoevski called the fantasy of Poe, a writer of whom Zimmer was very fond.

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³ Compare *Ewiges Indien*, pp. 131 ff.

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Endowed with such a personality, Zimmer could not fail to impress people. In whatever circles he moved, he assumed a dominating rôle. Everybody was likely to share the experience of the Oxford classicist, C. M. Bowra, who met Zimmer in 1938: even if ordinarily he felt some reluctance in applying the word " genius " to any man of learning, in Zimmer's case he felt it was the only word that was appropriate.⁴ It was to Zimmer's credit—and it constituted part of his charm—that he remained an unspoiled genius. Sure as he was of himself, he was not conceited. He was aware of the dangers inherent in his make-up, of his inclination to go to extremes. His gratitude toward those who reminded him of his better self was unbounded. Genuine praise of others, the recognition of their

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⁴ *The Review of Religion*, 1943, p. 18. Incidentally, in this journal (pp. 14-19) the reader will find short memorials by David Friedman, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, and Herbert Steiner.

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achievements as compared with his own, were a matter of course with him. Although he could be very harsh in his judgment of people, in condemning what he loathed, he was always willing and eager to acknowledge merit. At heart he was kind, and behind a certain outward roughness which could sometimes be dismaying there was a great sensitiveness and delicacy of feeling.

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For four years I had the good fortune of living in the same town with Zimmer, and of staying at the same university. After that time—between 1928 and 1933—I saw him but rarely, on his occasional trips to Berlin or whenever I returned to Heidelberg for a visit. At such meetings everything was as it had been before; he was a faithful friend; whether one saw him regularly or not, his attachment to one did not change. His work in these years grew steadily. More settled and a trifle less unconventional since he had married—we used to say jokingly that he was now a tamed bear, but a bear nevertheless—he published book after book, article after article. His insight into Hindu art, philosophy, religion, poetry, deepened. The secret of India was captured in a language quite his own, and through his interpretation a past and a present

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that are so foreign to the Western mind began to be understandable to experts and laymen alike. As a lecturer, too, he became more and more popular. It was astonishing to see how large crowds, men and women of all walks of life, would listen to him, spellbound and enchanted, as were his students.

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Besides, Zimmer gradually transcended the boundaries of Sanskrit scholarship. After the death of Hugo von Hofmannsthal, the father of his wife, he became the co-editor of the legacy of the great poet. This undertaking he tackled not only with his usual zeal and unselfishness, but also with the enthusiasm of the connoisseur of literature. In 1932 he became acquainted with C. G. Jung and forthwith was drawn into the magic circle of the Jung movement. His own studies had made him aware of the psychological implications of mythology. The psychologist’s research was a welcome confirmation and clarification of the results of the Sanskritist. An exchange of ideas ensued, a give and take by which both profited.⁵ Some of Zimmer’s friends—and I was one of them—regretted these diversions of his activity, valuable as they

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⁵ For Zimmer’s relation to Jung, cf. *Two Papers*, pp. 21 f. Jung himself speaks about his friendship with Zimmer in the introduction to Zimmer’s book *Shri Ramana* (1944).

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were in themselves. We wished that he would devote himself entirely to his own field in which he could make a unique contribution. But Zimmer's overflowing energy, his expansiveness, could not contain themselves within the narrow limits of a specialty or of academic life. Not only did he think " latitudinally "; he also had to live in this way.

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After I left Germany in 1933, I heard from Zimmer at regular intervals. Although he was oppressed by the feeling that the world was closing in on him, and although he was irreconcilably opposed to the current political development, he continued to stay in Heidelberg. It was his sense of duty that made him remain at his post as long as humanly possible, and that also enabled him to go on with his research. Reprints and books came which showed that he was still the same. In 1938 he decided at last to leave Germany. After one year's residence in England, he came to this country and, shortly after his arrival, to Baltimore to deliver the Noguchi Lectures. When I saw him again, I found that he had grown much older than time warranted. The strain of his recent experiences was quite noticeable. He was both tired and

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restless. But he was also happy to be free again and he looked forward with confidence to the experiment of fitting himself into a new life. One day he came to my house and we talked in peace and quiet, from early morning until afternoon. He spoke of Heidelberg under the Nazi regime: even the beauty of the landscape had lost its charm and glamor through the impact of the deeds of men. He told me about his children with whom he was reading the sagas of classical antiquity and some of the works of Sophocles. He commented on English literature of which he had an even more intimate grasp now that he was living in the Anglo-Saxon world. He dwelt on his latest interests: the symbolism of the figures depicted on playing-cards and that of the chessmen. To him, the king on the chess board—this monarch who is so entirely dependent on his subordinates for his defense and rarely capable of taking a piece by himself—was the exact copy of the Hindu king who in spite of all his might is more endangered than all his subjects and must always work through his courtiers.⁶ Listening to all this and much more

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⁶ *Indische Sphären*, 1935, p. 43 (*Schriften der Corona*, XII); cf. also *The Polish Bulletin of Oriental Studies*, I, 1937, pp. 90 ff.

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than I can recount here, I forgot how many years had passed, how many changes had taken place; I only felt the old fascination of his personality, the importance of the spiritual quest to which Zimmer was devoted.

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Our meeting in 1940 was to be our last. From time to time letters came, discussing the revision of the lectures, talking about New York. As I learned also from others, Zimmer adjusted himself quickly, despite the many odds he had to overcome. At first he lectured before various private groups, but finally he found a position at Columbia University. Of his reaction to the new surroundings I need not write; he has himself described them in a short paper.⁷ He was impressed by the cheerfulness of America, the teeming life of towns and factories, but also by an element of monotony in the form of human existence here as compared to Europe. He was overwhelmed by the vastness of this continent, by the emptiness and desolation of its deserts. The grandeur of its nature appeared to him imbued with the divine indifference of the Hindu gods and the unearthly radiance of compassionate Buddhist saviors. In this, he saw one of the fundamental ingredients of the inexhaustible strength of American civilization. The epic of geology—the precipices of the Grand Canyon, their union of opposites—revealed to him the essential enigma of reality: the paradoxical harmony of antagonistic principles forming one whole.

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⁷ Address to the Analytical Psychology Club of the City of New York in Two Papers, pp. 23 ff.

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It seemed that in the new world he would find the strength to make a new contribution; a future full of promise seemed to lie ahead of him. When I heard that he had suddenly died, I felt, as all his friends will have felt: it could not be true; he could not be dead. For he was fullness of life itself, unable to rest, destined to carry on forever. Surely for him death can be but a twinkle of eternity.

II

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Zimmer’s interpretation of Hindu culture had two aims: to understand its meaning in its own terms, and to ascertain its value for men of today.

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This attitude, historical and non-historical at the same time, was innate in him. When in his fifth term he turned away from Western studies and chose Sanskrit as his main subject—he had first studied

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German philology and taken Sanskrit only as the usual auxiliary language—he was instigated also by the conviction that in his new field the major victories were still to be won, while in the one relinquished the decisive research had already been done. But above all he was attracted by India herself, yet unknown, perhaps unknowable; he was in quest of the India of Schopenhauer.¹ The routine of editing texts, or of establishing the meaning of every single word did not satisfy Zimmer. He did not only ask, what do they say; he added a profession of faith: "This is what they state and mean—and it is true. It is the truth, though I do not understand it as yet, and feel not any too confident that I shall ever grasp its point."² Or as he formulated it at the height of his life: "The time has passed when one could hope to grasp the scope of the message of the Hindu spirit by way of a merely historical analysis and a philologically correct interpretation of words, when one could hope to penetrate into the essence of the manifestations of Hindu life through

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¹ *Two Papers*, pp. 8 ff.; 20; and *Schopenhauer und Indien* in *Corona*, VIII, 1937, Heft 1.

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² *Two Papers*, p. 8.

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a study in the comparative psychology of its conditions.” And he was willing to recognize that India could provide us with a “direction for our own ordering search, our own groping divination, where our knowledge has to admit its failure.”³

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³ *Ewiges Indien*, pp. 43 f.

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Taking such a stand, Zimmer at first felt rather isolated and was conscious of his being different from his fellow students and from his teachers, among them the eminent Sanskritist, H. Lüders. For Sanskrit studies were then in their positivistic phase; the validity of the content of Hindu teaching was hardly debated. Later he came to realize that at least in his basic approach he was not as lonely as he had thought. Arthur Avalon and J. J. M. de Groot were on his side. These names were given as examples in his *Autobiographical Remarks* which he jotted down shortly before he died.⁴ Of the older generation, men like P. Deussen and K. E. Neumann could probably be added; among his contemporaries there was J. H. Woods, and there was A. W. Ryder, for whom the Sankhya came “nearer to the truth than any philosophy Western or Eastern.”⁵

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⁴ *Two Papers*, p. 17.

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⁵ H. Cherniss, *Arthur W. Ryder*, p. 9 (privately printed). David

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At any rate, one thing is certain, that Zimmer gave an original answer to those questions in which he was primarily interested. He defined anew the meaning of the various segments of Hindu culture as well as their eternal value. Of this re-interpretation which forms the background of his analysis of Hindu medicine, I shall try to give a short outline.

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Zimmer’s first book *Karman* clearly reveals in which direction he was seeking his goal.⁶ The novels here translated—products typical of the tradition current among Buddhist monks—are understood as didactic prose in the strict sense of the term. Addressed to those whose horizon is narrow, whose intellectual ability is limited, they illustrate and rationalize in simple narrative the Hindu concept of fate and freedom—a “ vegetative ” concept as compared to that of the West. They are not the outgrowth of the principle of art for art’s

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⁶ Zimmer’s doctoral dissertation (*Studien zur Geschichte der Gotras*, Berlin, 1914) in his own opinion showed little of the approach characteristic of his later work; cf. *Two Papers*, p. 9.

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Friedman (*The Review of Religion*, 1943, p. 15) compares Zimmer with Otto Strauss and Stanislas Schayer, and he points out that this group took up and carried on the research initiated by the German Romanticists of the early 19th century.

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sake; they are a means by which to impart and clarify an attitude of life.⁷ From India, where it originated, this type of psychagogic narrative was brought to other countries, as Zimmer added later on. It has become world-famous through the stories of *The Thousand and One Nights*, told as a charm that was to cure a blood-thirsty tyrant’s soul of the passions which haunted it.⁸

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⁷ Karman, pp. 199-205.

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⁸ *Umrisse indischer Seelen-Führung* in *Reich der Seele* (Arbeiten aus dem Münchener psychologischen Arbeitskreis), 1937, pp. 64 f.

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It is, then, the functional importance of the creations of the spirit that is here re-discovered. In his later research, Zimmer applied this concept to other fields and brought it to full fruition. Hindu fine arts, like Hindu literature, must not be judged by aesthetic standards alone. The temples and their statues reflect religious experience and teachings. Nirvana or emptiness finds its material expression in the image of Buddha. The representation of Śiva and Śakti as lovers symbolizes the antagonistic principles of the Absolute, a cooperative pair of opposites.⁹ If it is true of all

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⁹ *Kunstform und Yoga*; esp. pp. 7-19: 188-191; *Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization* (*The Bollingen Series*, VI), 1946, pp. 137 ff. For the Hindu temple and its architectural outline

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“ static ” pictures that they are to be understood in the light of the sacred texts and their doctrines, this is especially characteristic of the “ dynamic ” representations, that is, of the geometrical cult pictures which are nothing but instruments through which to realize religious contents. “ We may say,” thus Zimmer summarized his theory in his last lecture course at Columbia University, “ that a yantra is an instrument designed to curb the psychic forces by concentrating them on a pattern, and in such a way that this pattern becomes reproduced by the worshiper’s visualizing power. It is a machine to stimulate inner visualizations, meditations, and experiences. The given pattern may suggest a static vision of the divinity to be worshiped, the superhuman presence to be realized, or it may develop a series of visualizations growing and unfolding from each other as the links or steps of a process.” ¹⁰

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¹⁰ *Myths and Symbols*, pp. 141 f.

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Mythology, too, is a means of guiding the soul. To be sure, the myth also reflects the integration of old Hindu traditions into those of the Aryan

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that is determined by religious ideas, cf. also *Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art*, 1937, pp. 111 ff.

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immigrants. In this respect, it gives a symbolic representation of the history of India, expressing ancient thought in a new language.¹¹ But the greatest significance of the myth is this, that it is not merely an irresponsible play of fantasy, but teaches in pictorial script an attitude toward life. As “Nietzsche says: ‘It is not true that there is some hidden thought or idea at the bottom of the myth, as some in a period of civilization which has become artifical have put it, but the myth itself is a kind or style of thinking. It imparts an idea of the universe, but it does it in the sequence of events, actions and sufferings.’” That is the reason why for us it is a mirror “telling us what we are and how we should behave”¹² In the same way, it is spiritual guidance that is provided by all the sacraments, or rites, or initiations, or steps, or however one may choose to call the multiple practices and customs that in India take hold of the human being and carry him throughout life.¹³

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¹¹ Indische Sphären, pp. 19 ff.

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¹² The Involuntary Creation, p. 10 (Spring [The Analytical Psychology Club of New York City] 1941).

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¹³ Prabuddha Bharata, 1936, p. 178. Cf. Emil Abegg, Neue Züricher Zeitung, March 25, 1943.

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This, then, is the first result that one has to

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bear in mind when in the representation of Hindu medicine one reads of the old saga, of the gods and demons, of initiations, when one reads of religious practices; for the Hindu, these stories are not dead matter, these concepts are not meaningless fictions; they are indicative of a living power that has always shaped and is still shaping his existence. Far from being an adornment, they express the essence of his thought.¹⁴

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¹⁴ The principles laid down for the interpretation of Hindu art would have to be applied also to the representation of medical deities. The book rarely mentions the relation of medicine to art.

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But so far I have spoken only of the way in which the documents of Hindu culture ought to be understood. What value does such an understanding have for the Western interpreter? The answer to this question depends on a clearer definition of the specific character of Hindu wisdom, and in this connection mythology assumes central importance. In India, the myth was neither destroyed nor replaced by philosophy; it remained at all times the teacher of man.¹⁵ As the highest embodiment of knowledge it clarifies the paradox of human existence, namely that man transcends

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¹⁵ *Indische Sphären*, p. 13.

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existence, that he embraces thisworldliness and otherworldliness. In consequence of this truth, the goal of life is not visualized as a moral attitude, although the fulfillment of the supreme task involves moral values. Rather is the goal extinction of self, complete abandonment to life. Like God, unaffected by the course of events, man must live within the world and without it.¹⁶ The myth, in opposition to intellect, leads into spheres that lie beyond personality and intellect; myth is the brother of dreams reflecting the depths of the human soul, it expresses the realm of the collective subconscious. India, to put it differently, even to this day has remained the prototype of archaic wisdom, of the non-intellectual vision of the world.¹⁷

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¹⁶ *Ibid.*, pp. 33; 37 f.; 40.

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¹⁷ *Maya, Der indische Mythos*, 1936, pp. 34; 36. The Greek myth is but the creation of individuals and therefore, in Zimmer's opinion, it seems inferior to the Hindu myth and less typical.

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European culture is based on quite a different dream—the dream of the Greeks—on the Greek hybris which, through the hypothesis that the interrelation of things can be grasped by reason, created a world which reason understands. European life is determined by the Greek discovery that

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man is unlike nature, an “animal endowed with humanity.” To one who thinks of the abyss of the soul as it is revealed in the Hindu myth, the European world may seem shallow, just as the laughter of the Greck gods—these eternal symbols of rationalism--is shallow as compared to the ambiguous smile of the Hindu deities.¹⁸ But Zimmer was not romantically longing for the wisdom of the East as the truer or higher form of knowledge. Conscious of the inescapability of the situation in which the European mind finds itself, he did not uphold India as a model. He only wished to understand its truth, and by so doing to contribute to the understanding of our own truth: “The real treasure, to end our misery and trials, is never far away; it is not to be sought in any distant region; it lies buried in the innermost recess of our own home, that is to say, in our own being. . . . But there is the odd and persistent fact that it is only after a faithful journey to a distant region, a foreign country, a strange land, that the meaning of the inner voice that is to guide our quest can be

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¹⁸ *Spiel um den Elefanten, Ein Buch von indischer Natur*, 1929, p. 148; *Indische Sphären*, p. 35. For a different point of view, cf. P. Friedländer's spirited answer, *Die Antike*, X, 1934, pp. 209 ff.

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revealed to us. And together with this odd and persistent fact there goes another, namely, that the one who reveals to us the meaning of our cryptic inner message, must be a stranger, of another creed and a foreign race.” ¹⁹

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¹⁹ *Myths and Symbols*, p. 221.

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Both, myth and rational thought that develops later, spring from the unfathomable depths of life. Both have their limitations and prejudices, yet each one gives an interpretation of the world consistent in itself. Contact with the myth of another civilization, and such contact alone, can liberate modern man from his captivity, at least for a few moments of illumination. The myth lays upon him the invisible net of its presuppositions, thus reminding him of the hidden core of his own nature. For only the spear that inflicted the wound is capable of healing it, as Parsifal says; he who wounded will also heal, as even the Greek myth teaches.²⁰ Or to quote the concluding words of Zimmer’s last lecture at Columbia: “Hindu myths and symbols, and other signs of wisdom from afar . . . will speak to us of the treasure which is our own. And we then must dig it up from the forgotten recesses of our own being. And at last it will end for us our troubles and permit us to erect for the benefit of all around us a temple of the living spirit.” ²¹

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²⁰ *Maya*, pp. 26; 18 f.

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²¹ *Myths and Symbols*, p. 221.

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This, in rough outlines, was Zimmer’s interpretation of the mystery of India and of its message to men who live in the Western world. With such a belief he undertook to analyze Hindu medicine for those who are interested in it from the point of view of the historian and the scientist.

III

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Zimmer’s research in Hindu medicine extended over many years. According to his autobiography, he first turned to this subject in 1925, immediately after he had finished his book on *Kunstform und Yoga*. At that time, he saw in Paris a “charming minor hunting relief. It showed huntsmen on an elephant, the animal handing them with its trunk the deer they had killed. It gave me a pang; I felt a criticism and remorse for having dealt so exclusively with Hindu and Buddhist devotional yoga and esoteric doctrines. Here I was confronted with a scene of everyday life. I felt the necessity of

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balancing my interest in transcendental Hindu wisdom by knowledge of the realistic approach to life's experiences in the Indian tradition. Thus I delved into medicine, the best representative of Hindu earthly life and wisdom.”¹

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¹ *Two Papers*, pp. 16 f.

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The first fruit of these studies was a book on animal medicine, more specifically, on the treatment of elephants: a translation of the Mātaṅgalilā of Nīlakaṇṭha and of excerpts from the Hastyāyurveda; an introduction and commentary were added.² This is not the place to review in detail the results of Zimmer’s interpretation. But it is of interest to note certain parallels between Hindu animal medicine and human medicine, and to emphasize some of the findings concerning medicine in general which Zimmer formulated here, yet failed to integrate into the Noguchi lectures.

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² *Spiel um den Elefanten* (see above, p. xxxv, n. 18), pp. 91 ff.; 136 ff.

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The animal doctor—who is a specialist and not allowed to treat human beings, just as the human doctor may not treat animals (p. 148)—is chosen on the basis of the same qualifications and initiated into his art in the same way as the healer of

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human diseases (pp. 85 f.). In animal medicine, too, the pre-Aryan knowledge which became part of the priestly medicine of the Vedas (pp. 57 f.) is believed to be an insight derived immediately from the gods (p. 81); the physician to a certain extent remains a sorcerer (pp. 139; 142). Again, the self-reliant optimism of science is entirely absent (pp. 141 f.). Experience and tradition (pp. 138; 167 f.), observation and speculative theory (pp. 148; 138) go hand in hand. No attempt is made to establish a system consistent in itself (pp. 139; 141 f.; 172; 179).³

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³ Note also the references to the macro-microcosm relationship (p. 147), to diseases in men and animals (p. 164), to places suitable for incision (p. 166).

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A unique feature of the analysis of animal medicine is the discussion of physiognomy (pp. 54 ff.). Such a science is first of all developed for the sake of practical knowledge; it teaches what to expect from those with whom one comes in contact. In animal and human medicine alike, types are established which conform to the "essence" as expressed in each specific incarnation. They are constituted by what might be called a metaphysical theory of inheritance (p. 60), and they are the

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same in animals and men; for men and animals can be compared, while plants and human beings show no affinity (p. 62). As for the principles of classification, some of them are taken from the political order, since for the Hindu the castes echo natural distinctions of qualities (pp. 63 ff.). Others are derived from physiology. Phlegm, gall, wind, but not blood, are considered to be the constituents; the mixed or balanced type is the highest (pp. 66 ff.).⁴ Yet, many systems know only of three species (p. 70), and the phlegmatic type, at any rate, is nearest to the ideal combination of the humors, often it represents the supreme value. That this is so is in agreement with the climate of India and the temperament which derives from it. The same feeling, so utterly at variance with that of the Western world, is expressed in the Hindu ideal of contemplation, of inactivity, as the highest form of life, celebrated in Hindu philosophy and art (pp. 74 ff.).

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⁴ Colors too play a rôle (p. 72). The elephant’s place of origin is important (p. 76). The variations in behavior must be considered (p. 78).

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In those books that followed Zimmer’s study of elephant medicine and were dedicated to an ana-

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lysis of Hindu thought and culture in general, medicine is at least occasionally referred to, and some of its major aspects are emphasized. Thus, the origin of medical knowledge is characterized: “The sages, the wise men, who achieved knowledge comparable to that of our experimental science, in India were called *Kavi*, prophet-poets. It is on their immediate observation of the body, for instance, and of the powers which preserve and heal it, that all mediate and communicable knowledge of later medical tradition was based. Subsequently teaching and application ensued, where formerly prophetic experience of an inexpressible all-in-one of insight and fullness of meaning had prevailed.”⁵ Zimmer points out that according to Hindu medicine “ ‘it is impossible to fathom the causes of all worlds and of all beings’—why in every detail they are as they are: their hidden law—‘this is the secret of the gods . . . and that which cannot be thought out should be left to itself.’ This attitude implies that one rests satisfied with the juxtaposition of description and observation, of sifted experience and speculative synthesis.”⁶ The philosophical concept of fate is introduced into medicine: "The power of our decisions, their determining might [as Karma] is evidenced by the color of our hair, the shape of our nose, the diseases we suffer, the successes we gain, the length of our life, and the maturity of our understanding."⁷ Besides, Zimmer analyzes the Yoga technique of respiration in minute detail: he shows how "all the gods within our body" are made subservient to the human will. He elaborates on the parallel between medical teaching and the teaching of the Buddha. While Spinoza speaks *more geometrico*, the Buddha speaks *more medici*, as a practitioner.⁸ In his review of the translation of a play, *The Bliss of the Life-monad or Soul*, Zimmer finally clarifies the attitude of the average Hindu toward the medical art. His confidence in medicine is great. Yet the value of medical care is measured by man's higher destination. The sound body is,

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⁵ *Ewiges Indien*, pp. 118 f.; cf. 81.

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⁶ *Indische Sphären*, pp. 68 f. As the book on elephant medicine

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⁷ *Indische Sphären*, p. 74.

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⁸ *Op. cit.*, pp. 233 (cf. below, pp. 32 ff.); 237; 106 ff.; 123 ff. [191 f.].

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had formulated it, the unreconciled combination of opposite features is characteristic of the Hindu picture of the world, and the specific content of the Hindu attitude toward life is infinitely more important for the development of Hindu medicine than any trends inherent in medical thought itself (pp. 178 f.).

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and ought to be, made the instrument of spiritual experience through which one becomes conscious of the indestructibility of one's true self, of that part within man which is behind his individuation.⁹

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⁹ Frankfurter Zeitung, Jan. 23, 1938 (Literaturblatt); cf. below, pp. 61 ff.

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Almost simultaneously with these studies Zimmer published two articles on psychotherapy.¹⁰ India practises both, medicine of the body and medicine of the soul. But, while the former lies in the hands of the lay physician, the latter is practised by the priest; it is enshrined in the ritual that governs every act of life. Varying according to the various types of men—there is a hierarchy of rituals as there is a hierarchy of castes—, these ceremonies aim at the prevention of the sickness of the soul, they aim at a macrobiotics of the soul, just as lay medicine is concerned with a macrobiotics of the body, "the knowledge of the perfect and long life."¹¹ Thus, the "Guru," or housepriest, teaches the mother through a ritual, "the giving

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¹⁰ Indische Anschauungen über Psychotherapie in Zentralblatt für Psychotherapie, VIII, 1935, pp. 147 ff. (translated into English in Prabuddha Bharata, 1936, pp. 177 ff.); Umrisse indischer Seelen-Führung, quoted above, p. xxx, n. 8.

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¹¹ Seelen-Führung, p. 59.

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away of the fruit,” how to bear the separation from her child once it has grown up. The ritual begins “ at about the fifth year of the child’s life and ends when the son enters the circle of adult life.” It represents “ the unrelenting demand made by life and the outer world which can only be satisfied through sacrifices. The woman must, therefore, symbolically sacrifice to him [the Guru] the things that she most cares for, not only once but repeatedly through the years.” ¹² The limitation of this dietetics of the soul consists in that it does not make allowance for the development of the individual. As a compensation for the strict adherence to the community, enforced by the chain of rituals that fetter the masses, the system of Yoga represents the complete detachment of the few from all human bonds.¹³

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¹² *Prabuddha Bharata*, p. 179. In agreement with such an interpretation of the ritual as a kind of religious psychotherapy, the famous or notorious Kāmasutra is to be explained as a dietetics of the psyche in the erotic sphere (*ibid.*).

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¹³ *Op. cit.*, pp. 187 f.

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It was on account of the research just referred to that Zimmer was invited to give the Hideyo Noguchi Lectures, and it was with all these results already reached that he set out to prepare

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them. Nevertheless he found the work hard. A *publicum* which he read in the summer of 1937 had made him fully aware of the difficulty of the subject. In connection with our first discussion of the matter, he wrote that it was necessary to unearth all the details; otherwise the picture would remain incorrect. The two great encyclopedias, Caraka and Suśruta, had to be translated chapter by chapter. “An evaluation is a difficult though stimulating problem. The situation seems similar to that of occidental medicine which was carried on in the late ancient fashion until, in the ‘Biedermeier,’ modern medicine came into existence, based on chemistry and the natural sciences. Yet it would be . . . wrong to apply modern standards. . . . Age-old experience and intuition demand their rights even though one should refrain from romantic idealization. . . . Only by conquering the material step by step . . . can one hope to grasp the presuppositions which are explicitly and implicitly indicated and which serve to explain the entire style of thought and its inherent interrelations.” ¹⁴

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¹⁴ Letter, spring, 1938. I quote so extensively because these considerations might be of value for future students of Hindu medicine.

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While preparing his manuscript Zimmer became fascinated by another point of view. After a renewed perusal of Sigerist's *Great Doctors* he resolved to set the achievements of Hindu medicine against the background of Western medicine: " thus the story becomes plastic and amusing."¹⁵ And he actually proceeded in this manner in his lectures of 1940, which dealt with medical tradition and the human body, with the physician and his concept of dietetics, and with diseases and cures. Afterwards, he himself realized that the new scheme was inferior to that which he had originally envisaged. It prevented him from exhibiting his peculiar gifts, his original insights. That is why he wished to rework his manuscript for publication. This, to be sure, proved to be an unhappy decision, insofar as he was not allowed to conclude his revision. Yet in some respects it was fortunate, for the finished parts are, at least in my opinion, an infinitely better and much more stimulating presentation, both for the general reader and for the scholar.

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¹⁵ Letter, Fall, 1939.

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The book, as it now stands, first deals with the oldest Vedic tradition, the medical gods, the

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literary evidence, the general significance of medicine, the education and career of the physicians, the hospitals, the implications of medical wisdom, signs and names of diseases (ch. I). Next, the relationship between macrocosm and microcosm is analyzed, the doctrine of the life force and of breath, the theory of the humors and of the body, the teaching of anatomy and physiology are discussed (ch. II). It is safe to say, then, that the book, though fragmentary, covers most of the important aspects of Hindu medicine. For the majority of questions, and for the most intricate ones, we have Zimmer’s answers in their final form.

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How he intended to go on after having outlined the doctrine of generation, I have been unable to find out. But the second chapter certainly was planned to be not much longer.¹⁶ Moreover, it was to close with a short comparison of Hindu and Greek medicine. Zimmer’s opinion on this subject luckily can be deduced from his notes of a lecture

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¹⁶ The letter that came with chapter I states that the second chapter would be almost as long as the first. The letter which accompanied the manuscript of the second chapter says that that which was sent “is the greater part of chapter II.”

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given before the New York Academy of Medicine in the winter of 1942.¹⁷

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¹⁷ Cf. above p. x, note 2. The title of the lecture is "The influence of Hindu medicine on Greek medicine." I follow Zimmer's line of reasoning as closely as possible. For another interpretation of this problem, cf. A. M. Esser, *Berliner Medizinische Wochenschrift*, 1935, pp. 600 f.

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What is the relation between Hindu medicine and Greek medicine? A priori an influence of the one on the other even in early times seems not impossible. Quite apart from the dependence on Indian thought attributed by later tradition to men like Pythagoras, Empedocles, and Plato, it is a fact that Greek physicians in the sixth century B. C. lived at the court of the Persian kings to whose empire India belonged. Indian troops were among those whom Xerxes led against Greece in 480 B. C.¹⁸ These facts imply that there must have been an interchange between the two civilizations. But the uncertainty of the chronology of Hindu medical writings makes it difficult to determine the exact nature of any mutual influence. Is it permissible to assume that the old codifications of medical magic of the Aryan immigrants and their

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¹⁸ There follows an interesting digression on the mistake made by ancient geographers who identified Egypt with India.

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Brahmin priests fall into the first half of the first millennium B. C., and that they contain elements which go back even farther? On the other hand, if Caraka wrote in the first century A. D. and Suśruta in the fifth, it would be quite justifiable to assume that Hellenistic medicine shaped their thoughts, just as Hellenistic astronomy and art gained influence on Hindu civilization.¹⁹

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¹⁹ For the chronological problems involved, cf. below, pp. 46 ff.

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Turning to the content of medical teaching, one finds astounding parallels. The Hindu theory of the six essences or qualities or flavors (rasa) is strikingly similar to the corresponding Greek concepts (glyky, liparon, stryphnon, halmyron, pikron, drimy). But, whereas in Hindu medicine these qualities form the basis of dietetics and pharmacology, this is not true of Greek medicine.²⁰ Furthermore, Hindu and Greek physicians concerned themselves with the theory of humors. In India originally, that is before 700 B. C., the number of humors appears to have been restricted to three, while the fourth one, blood, was added later in the works of Caraka and Suśruta. The assumption of an influence of Greek medicine on that of the

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²⁰ On the subject of dietetics, cf. also below, note 30.

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Hindus, at least in this particular instance, seems the more plausible since the fourth humor was never as important as were the other three. Yet the four-humor theory, in Greek medicine, came to the fore at the time of Galen and his successors, while previously its rôle had been insignificant.²¹ Even more important, the Hindu interpretation of the various humors differed considerably from the Greek one. This can be shown of bile, and even more clearly of wind or breath.²² Finally, Hindu medicine did not recognize diseases of the brain; the brain was not regarded as the central organ of thought and consciousness. Thus, the truly startling discoveries of the Greeks were not accepted by the Hindus, and the coincidences, upon closer inspection, also reveal great discrepancies. It is, therefore, safer to suggest an "independent parallel growth and development of ideas, as they could easily come about with regard to the same

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²¹ Since in his lecture Zimmer referred to me as the one from whom he adopted this rather unorthodox view, I think it better here, too, to acknowledge my own responsibility.

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²² Cf. the elaboration of these topics below, pp. 134 ff. The content of the New York lecture is identical with the corresponding sections of the book.

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subjects and problems.”²³ The possibility of an exchange of details must of course be admitted and needs further investigation. Generally speaking, however, “the more archaic system of the Hindus apparently was incapable of influencing Greek medicine and, in turn, remained outside the impact and spread of the Hellenistic achievements.” Notions seemingly kindred are in the last analysis different, and the whole style and character of the two medical systems differ likewise.

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²³ Even in the case of the Greek Pneumatic School, Zimmer does not find any influence of Hindu theory. ²⁴ The nineteen pages preserved (cf. above, p. ix) consist of eleven pages of text and eight pages of notes. The letter accompanying chapter I says that the third chapter would be shorter than the first chapter.

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To turn now to the third chapter: here Zimmer intended to start with a discussion of Hindu materia medica, which as “the foundation of countless prescriptions, forms the most impressive bulk of India’s therapeutical wisdom.”²⁴ Anyone who is not a trained botanist or pharmacologist, and a specialist in the subtropical flora, will find it hard to understand the complex prescriptions that are given. Even for Hindu experts it is extremely

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difficult to identify all the plants mentioned.²⁵ One may say, however, that the prescriptions bear a general resemblance to the traditional pharmacopoeia of Western medicine, as it prevailed before the rise of modern pharmacology and experimental chemistry. An enormous variety of widely differing ingredients were mixed into a kind of arcanum:²⁶

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²⁵ A footnote corroborates this statement by reference to the translation of Caraka Saṃhitā by Avinash Chandra Kaviratna (Part XIV, notice, pp. II-III).

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²⁶ As examples a footnote quotes two prescriptions against disturbances of the wind from "The Āyurvedic System of Medicine, or an Exposition in English of Hindu Medicine, as occurring in Charaka, Suśruta, Vāgbhaṭa and other Authoritative Works in Sanskrit Ancient and Modern, by Kaviraj Nagendra Nath Sen Gupta, vol. I, 1919, vol. II, 1925, Calcutta" (II, p. 400).

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The specific nature of the single drugs compounded into arcana, though they were described as to their flavors, virtues and so forth, remained to a large extent wrapped in mystery; there existed no technique of experimental tests by which the effects of the drugs might be determined. The efficacy of the drugs was more or less a matter of faith, based on ancient usage and previous experience, as such methods prevail among shepherds and old women; yet the doctors professing Hindu or mediaeval medicine had passed examinations and were of the educated and intel-

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lectual classes. Similarly, the wizard, the priest, and the medicine man represent the intellectuals of the primitive age.

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Such a pharmacology by its very nature must be conservative. No item can be omitted once it has been approved by tradition, since it may be just this particular factor that brings about success. If the old mixture proves ineffective, new ingredients are simply added. It is in this way that "the amazing intricacy of traditional recipes comes about in the course of time." Tradition is a burden that grows "more and more cumbersome, not to be lightened by any speculative effort, but apt to be rendered still more ponderous through theorizing, and a certain sophistication." The stubborn adherence to tradition which guided Hindu pharmacology like "a sort of Ariadne's thread," is also the main source of the shortcomings of all traditional knowledge, in so far as it deals with the visible and tangible realm of things and not with the soul and its highest goal, transcendent reality, wisdom and truth beyond the sciences. Traditional medicine and science, outside the pale of modern research, possessed no method for critically sifting by the test of experiment the various resources offered by minerals, vegetables and animals in the way of drugs. The achievement of

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modern research and laboratory experiment, which Paracelsus had in mind centuries in advance, did not dawn upon Hindu medicine.

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Of course, it is possible that behind traditional usage “ there lurks secret truth from which modern research might take its flight toward a new insight.” It has happened over and over again that the knowledge of old women on the basis of scientific investigation was proved to be correct.²⁷ “ Mother India and her aged daughter, traditional medicine with its treasure of materia medica ” may represent the old woman’s true knowledge. One may expect even better results from an examination of Hindu remedies than from that of Western prescriptions. For the latter dealt with items imported from the Mediterranean “ and had gone stale before they reached the mediaeval customer.” Their notions had become estranged from their original background and context through various migrations:

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²⁷ For exemplification Zimmer refers to William Withering's recognition of the effect of digitalis on the heart, to the dysentery cure through a raw apple diet used by German soldiers in 1915 and proved adequate by A. Heisler and E. Moro.

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Hindu materia medica holds a much sounder position. From early times, even before the relatively late invasion of the Aryan tribes in the second millennium B. C., it has grown and matured in the soil of India. It has profited by an uninterrupted contact with the men for whom it was meant, and the products offered by India's soil. During its long development it has accumulated the ever renewed experiences of India's inhabitants, using the resources of their environment for the purpose of healing. With its remarkable insight into the influences of regions and seasons, diet and climate, it records the instinctive and subtle adjustment of the people of India to the peculiarities of her trying climate. Traditional as it is, and overlaid with speculative and systematizing superstructures, it contains the treasure of the " old woman's " experience. " Cowherds and hermits," Suśruta says, " hunters and other people living in the wild forest, those who live on roots, give evidence of the healthy effect of herbs." They supply the medical man with the raw material of materia medica and with the knowledge of the time-tested ways of using it. " Goatherds, shepherds and cowherds," says Caraka (I, 1), " who frequent the woods, and those who live in the woods, know plants by name and sight; but besides knowing the name and appearance of these plants, one should know how to apply them (prāpti). He who knows how to use and combine them (yoga), possesses the knowledge of their essence (tattva-vid). That knowledge charac-

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