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1 it is said, ‘“‘ Those hiras (veins?) wearing red garment (or the receptacles of blood) of woman which are constantly flowing should remain dispirited, like daughters without a brother>.” Sayana, in explaining the next verse, I. 17.2, says that it is a prayer to dhamanis. 'This verse runs as follows: ‘‘Thou (Sayana says ‘thou sira’) of the lower part, remain (i.e. ‘cease from letting out blood,’ as Sayana says), so thou of the upper part remain, so thou of the middle part, so thou 1 Plasiis paraphrased by Sayana as “‘bahu-cchidran mala-patrat”’ (the vessel of the excreta with many holes). These holes are probably the orifices of the glands inside the colon (mala-pdtra). The Satapatha-brahmana, xu. 9. 1. 3 enumerates all these organs as being sacred to certain gods and sacrificial instruments—hrdayam evasyaindrah purodasah, yakrt savitrah, klomad varunah, matsne evasyasvattham ca patram audumbaram ca pittam natyagrodham antrant sthalyah guda upasayani syena-patre plihasandi nabhih kumbho vanisthuh plasth Satdtrnna tad yat sa bahudha vitrnna bhavati tasmat plasir bahudha vikrttah. Vasti, or bladder, is regarded as the place where the urine collects (A.V. I. 3. 6). 2 Sayana says that sn@va means here the smaller sirds and dhamani the thicker ones (the arteries)—siksmah Sirah sndva-sabdena ucyante dhamani-sabdena sthialah (A.V. 1. 33)- . 3 A.V. x. 9 shows that probably dissection of animals was also practised. Most of the organs of a cow are mentioned. Along with the organs of human beings mentioned above two other organs are mentioned, viz. the pericardium (puritat) and the bronchial tubes (saha-kanthtka). A.V. xX. 9. 15. 4 Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, “‘ Diseases and medicine: Vedic.” 5 Sayana paraphrases hird as sird and describes it as a canal (nad7) for carrying blood (rajo-vahana-nadyah), and the epithet “ lohita-vasasah ” as either “wearing red garment”? or “red,” or “the receptacle of blood” (rudhirasya nivasa-bhitah). DII 19 290 Speculations in the Medical Schools [cH. small, so thou the big dhamani!.” In the third verse both the hiras and dhamanis are mentioned. ‘‘These in the middle were formerly (letting out blood) among a hundred dhamanis and thousands of hirds (and after that) all the other (madis) were playing with (others which have ceased from letting out blood)?.” Hymn VII. 35 is for stopping the issue of a woman who is an enemy. The third verse says, ‘‘I close with a stone the apertures of a hundred hirds and a thousand dhamanis.”’ Sayana, in explaining this verse, says that the /iras are fine nadis inside the ovary (garbha- dharanartham antar-avasthitah siiksma ya nadyah) and the dhamanis the thicker nadis round the ovary for keeping it steady (garbha- Sayasya avastambhika bahya sthila ya nadyah). 'The only point of difference between this verse and those of 1. 17 is that here siras are said to be a hundred and dhamanis a thousand, whereas in the latter, the dhamanis were said to be a hundred and the siras a thousand. But, if Sayana’s interpretation is accepted, the dhamanis still appear as the bigger channels and the siras as the finer ones. Nadi seems to have been the general name of channels. But nowhere in the Atharva-Veda is there any passage which suggests that the distinction between veins and arteries in the modern sense of the terms was known at the time. In A.V.1. 3. 6 we hear of two nadis called gavinyau for carrying the urine from the kidneys to the bladder’. The gods of the eight quarters and other gods are said to have produced the foetus and, together with the god of de- livery (Siisa), facilitated birth by loosening the bonds of the womb‘. 1 The previous verse referred to sirds as letting out blood, whereas this verse refers to dhamanis as performing the same function. Sayana also freely para- phrases dhamani as sira (mahi mahati sthulatara dhamanth sira tisthad it tisthaty eva, anena prayogena nivrtta-rudhira-srava avatisthatam). * Here both the dhamani and the hird are enumerated. Sayana here says that dhamanis are the important mddis in the heart (hrdaya-gatanam pradhana- nadinam), and hirds or sirds are branch nddis (siranam sakha-nadinadm). The number of dhamanis, as here given, is a hundred and thus almost agrees with the number of ndadis in the heart given in the Katha Upanisad, v1. 16 (Satam caika ca hrdayasya naddyah). The Prasna Upanisad, 111. 6 also speaks of a hundred nddis, of which there are thousands of branches. % antrebhyo vinirgatasya mitrasya mitrasaya-prapti-sadhane parsva-dvaya- sthe nddyau gavinyau ity ucyete. Sayana’s Bhasya. In 1. 11. 5 two nadis called gavimikad are referred to and are described by Sayana as being the two nadis on the two sides of the vagina controlling delivery (gavinike yoneh parsva-vartinyau nirgamana-pratibandhike nadyau—Sayana). In one passage (A.V. 1. 12. 7) eight dhamanis called manya are mentioned, and Sayana says that they are near the neck. A madi called sikatdvati, on which strangury depends, is mentioned in A.V. 1. 17. 4. 4 Another goddess of delivery, Siisani, is also invoked. xm] Organs in the Atharva-Veda and Ayur-veda 291 The term jardyu is used in the sense of placenta, which is said to have no intimate connection with the flesh and marrow, so that when it falls down it is eaten by the dogs and the body is in no way hurt. A reference is found to a first aid to delivery in ex- panding the sides of the vagina and pressing the two gavinika nadis*. 'The snavas (tendons) are also mentioned along with dha- manis, and Sayana explains them as finer siras (Suksmah sirah snava-sabdena ucyante). The division of dhamanis, siras and snavas thus seems to have been based on their relative fineness: the thicker channels (n@dis) were called dhamanis, the finer ones were called stras and the still finer ones sn@vas. 'Their general functions were considered more or less the same, though these probably differed according to the place in the body where they were situated and the organs with which they were associated. It seems to have been recognized that there was a general flow of the liquid elements of the body. This probably corresponds to the notion of srotas, as we get it in the Caraka-samhita, and which will be dealt with later on. Thus A.V. x. 2. 11 says, “‘who stored in him floods turned in all directions moving diverse and formed to flow in rivers, quick (tivra), rosy (aruna), red (lohini), and copper dark (tamra-dhiimra), running all ways in a man upward and down- ward?” This clearly refers to the diverse currents of various liquid elements in the body. The semen, again, is conceived as the thread of life which is being spun out?. The intimate relation between the heart and the brain seems to have been dimly apprehended. Thus it is said, ‘‘together with his needle hath Atharvan sewn his head and heart?.” The theory of the va@yus, which we find in all later literature, is alluded to, and the prana, apana, vyana and samana are mentioned4. It is however difficult to guess what these prana, apana, etc. exactly meant. In another passage of the Atharva- Veda we hear of nine pranas (nava pranan navabhth sammimite), and in another seven pranas are mentioned®. In another passage 1 of te bhinadmi vi yonim vi gavinike. A.V.1. 11.5. 2 Ko asmin reto nyadadhat tantur Gtayatam iti (Who put the semen in him, saying, Let the thread of life be spun out? A.V. x. 2. 17). 3 Muardhanam asya samsivyatharva hrdayam ca yat (A.V. x. 2. 26). See also Griffith’s translations. * Ko asmin pranam avayat ko apanam vydnam u samanam asmin ko deve ’dhi Sisrdya piruse (Who has woven prdna, apdna, vydna and samdna into him and which deity is controlling him? A.V. x. 2. 13). 5 Sapta prandn astau manyas (or majjfas) tams te vrscami brahmand (A.V. 1. 12. 7). The Taittirtya-brahmana, 1. 2. 3. 3 refers to seven prdanas, sapta vai 19-2 292 Speculations in the Medical Schools [cH. we hear of a lotus with nine gates (nava-dvaram) and covered with the three gunas!. This is a very familiar word in later Sanskrit literature, as referring to the nine doors of the senses, and the comparison of the heart with a lotus is also very common. But one of the most interesting points about the passage is that it seems to be a direct reference to the guna theory, which re- ceived its elaborate exposition at the hands of the later Samkhya writers: it is probably the earliest reference to that theory. As we have stated above, the real functions of the prana, etc. were not properly understood; prana was considered as vital power or life and it was believed to be beyond injury and fear. It was as immortal as the earth and the sky, the day and the night, the sun and the moon, the Brahmanas and the Ksattriyas, truth and false- hood, the past and the future”. A prayer is made to prana and apana for protection from death (pranadpanau mrtyor ma patam svaha)?. In A.V. ut. 6. 8 manas and citta are separately mentioned and Sayana explains manas as meaning antahkarana, or inner organ, and citta as a particular state of the manas (mano-ortti- visesena), as thought*. Here also the heart is the seat of conscious- ness. Thus in a prayer in III. 26. 6 it is said, “‘O Mitra and Varuna, take away the thinking power (cztta) from the heart (Art) of this woman and, making her incapable of judgment, bring her under my control®.” The ojas with which we are familiar in later medical works of Caraka and others is mentioned in A.V. 1. 18, where Strsanyah pranah. Again a reference to the seven senses is found in A.V. x. 2. 6: kah sapta khani vitatarda sirsani. In A.V. xv. 15. 16. 17 seven kinds of prana, apdna and vydna are described. These seem to serve cosmic functions, The seven prdnas are agni, Gditya, candramah, pavamdana, Gpah, pasavah and prajah.