Hindu Medicine c8.151

c8.151

Likewise Dhanañjaya, the conch-trumpet of the god Viṣṇu, is a trophy gained by him in conquering a titan dwelling in the depths of the cosmic water. In his first avatār, as a giant fish, Viṣṇu dived into the deep sea to rescue the divine wisdom of the holy Four Vedas, which had been carried away from the demiurge-creator, Brahmā, by a demon of the ocean. In slaying the demon, Viṣṇu gained his armor and dwelling place, the conch-shell, as a trophy; this later served him as a battle-trumpet, signalling rich booty, whence its name: “winning riches.” On the other hand, “Dhanañjaya” is among the names of the chief kings of the serpents (nāga), the lords and genii of the watery realm; and, as such, presumably it was once the name of the conquered sea-demon himself. Since water stands for the life-fluid of the universal organism, and the ocean represents the primeval life-substance from which creation proceeded, “Dhanañjaya” is a name of mythical origin appropriate for describing the vital energy which pervades the life-substance of the body and does not quit it. This aspect of energy remains, even when the incorporeal life-principle (jīva, the life-monad; or ātman, the Self) leaves it, together with the faculties of the psyche, the senses and the vital breaths. The very subtle idea of a strictly corporeal lifeprinciple inherent in the substance of the body and surviving the separation of body and psyche, the idea of a life-substance, itself endowed with a soul, is one of the remarkable conceptions which presumably go back to pre-Aryan antiquity. This concept, however, was lost from the medical lore of brahmanized Hinduism, which failed to appreciate it and to pass it on. While it was retained in orthodox traditionalism (Vedānta), it was omitted from the medical doctrine of the human body together with the four other subsidiary breath-forces.