Hindu Medicine c8.148

c8.148

Four of these five subsidiary life-breaths act as motor forces controlling the involuntary reactions of the organism. Three of them bear names of animals, because aspects of their behavior are suggested in the reactions determined by these pneumatic forces: nāga, the “serpent,” with undulating, rolling movements, causes vomiting and eructation; kūrma, the “tortoise,” extending its limbs and head from underneath its shield and withdrawing them again, effects the winking, casting up and closing of the eye-lids; kṛkara, the “partridge,” causes sneezing which sounds like the noise made by this bird.