Hindu Medicine c7.65

c7.65

The gathering together of all plants and herbs existing on earth by the enumeration and description of their characteristics and forms, is one of the *leitmotifs* of the hymn (1, 4, 8, 13, 27); the full treasury of healing forces in vegetation, called by "a thousand names" (8), is to be brought to the aid of the patient. Insofar as they form part of the physician's wisdom, they are all brought together and blended into an all-powerful arcanum; but there are many which are unknown to the doctor-herbalist (13, 18), nor are they listed by medical tradition; however, they are well-known to other beings, domestic animals and beasts of the wilderness, birds and insects; and to genii presiding over the life-cycle in man and nature (23-25). These are conjured to enter the arcanum magically and, present in virtue if not in substance, to concur in the effect of healing (19).