English
Bhela, who is as old as Caraka, considers the brain to be the centre of the manas, a view which is, so far as I know, almost unique in the field of Sanskrit 1 The different names of the heart in Caraka-samhita are mahat, artha, hrdaya (1. 30. 3). 2 Cakrapani, however, explains it as sritd iva Sritah, i.e. ‘as if they depended on”’ (I. 17. 12), because, when the head is hurt, all the senses are hurt. It is said in zbid. v1. 26. 1 that there are one hundred and seven vital centres (marma), and of these the three most important are the head, the heart and the pelvis. Also in vill. 9. 16, hrdi miirdhni ca vastau ca nrnam pranah pratisthitah. In VIII. 9. 4 it is distinctly said that all the senses and the currents of senses and prdna are dependent on the head as the rays of the sun are dependent on the sun—sirast indriyani indriya-prana-vahani ca srotamsi siryam iva gabhastayah samsritant. 3 “Which was that god who (produced) his brain, his forehead, his hindhead (kaka&tika), who first his skull, who, having gathered a gathering in man’s jaw, ascended to heaven” (A.V.x. 2.8). ‘‘ Atharvan, having sewed together his head (mirdhanam) and also his heart, aloft from the brain the purifying one sent (them) forth, out of the head” (ibid. 26). (Whitney’s translation, Harvard oriental series.) 4 Mastiskam siro-majja. Cakrapani, vil. 9. 80 of Caraka-samhita. The word mastiska is sometimes, though rarely, used in the sense of head, as in the passage quoted by Cakrapani in vir. 9. 80—zmastiske ’stangulam pattam. XI] Head and Heart 341 literature. He says that manas, which is the highest of all senses (sarvendriya-param), has its seat between the head and the palate (Siras-talv-antara-gatam). Being situated there, it knows all the sense-objects (visayan indriyanam) and the tastes which come near it (rasadikan samipa-sthan). The original cause of manas and the energy of all the senses and the cause of all feelings and judgments (buddht), the citta, is situated in the heart. The citta is also the cause of all motor functions and activities, such that those who are possessed of good cittas follow a good course and those who are possessed of bad cittas follow a bad course. The manas knows the citta, and thence proceeds the choice of action; then comes the understanding, deciding what is worth doing and what is not. Buddh, or understanding, is the understanding of certain actions as good (subha) and certain others as bad (asubha)!. It seems plain that Bhela distinguishes between manas, citta and buddhi. Of these manas is entirely different from citta and, so far as can be made out from Bhela’s meagre statements, it is regarded as the cause of all cognitions and as having its seat in the brain. The citta “was regarded as the cause of all activities, feelings and judgments, and the heart was regarded as its seat. Buddhi was probably the determinate understanding and judgment which was but a function of the citta. Bhela says that the dosas in the brain affect the manas, and, as a result of this, the heart is affected, and from the affections of the heart the understanding (buddhi) is affected, and this leads to madness?. In another passage, while describing the different functions of pitta, Bhela says that there is a special kind of alocaka pitta called the caksur-vaisesika, which, by bringing about the contact of manas with the soul, causes cognition and, transmitting it to the citta, produces the discriminative visual knowledge by which different objects are comprehended by the eye. The 1 {ras-talv-antara-gatam sarvendriya-param manah tatra-stham tad dhi visayan indriyanam rasadikan...kadranam sarva-buddhindm cittam hrdaya- samsritam kriyandm cetardsam ca cittam sarvasya karanam. Bhela’s chapter on s eee are: ” Calcutta University edition, p. 149. irdhvam prakupita dosah Siras-talv-antare sthitah, manasam disayanty asu tatas cittam vipadyate citte vyapadam Gpanne buddhir nasam niyacchati tatas tu buddhi-vyapattau karyakaryam na budhyate evam pravartate vyadhir unmado nama darunah. Ibid. p. 149. 342 Speculations in the Medical Schools [cH. judgmental state, however, is different, and it is produced by a special kind of @locaka pitta called the buddhi-vaisesika, which is situated at the point between the eyebrows, and, being there, holds together the subtle forms emanating from the self (susaksman arthan atma-krtan), associates the data (dhdrayati), integrates them with other similar known facts (pratyudaharati), remembers the past, and, after producing our knowledge in conceptual and judg- mental forms, wills for future realization, generates instructive actions, and is the force which operates in meditation (dhyana) and restraint of thoughts (dharana)'. Sugruta does not state anything of importance concerning the brain; but there seems to be little doubt that he knew that particular nerves in the head were connected with particular sense functions. Thus he says in 111. 6. 28 that there are two nerves (szra) lower down the ears on their back, called widhura, which, if cut, would produce deafness ; on both sides of the nasal aperture inside the nasal organ there are two nerves called phana, which, if cut, would destroy the sensation of smell; at the back of the eyebrows, below the eyes, there are the nerves called the apanga, which, if cut, would produce blindness. All these cognitive nerves meet in passing at the centre of the eyebrow (srigataka)*. He further says that the nerves are attached to the brain inside the skull on the upper part of it (mastakabhyantaroparisthat sira-sandhi-sannipata) and this place, called the romavarta, is the supreme superintendent (adhipati). Caraka says that the head is the place for the senses. It cannot be decided whether he took this in any deeper sense or whether he means simply that the sense-organs of ear, eyes, nose and taste are situated in the head. Caraka considers the heart (hrdaya) to be the only seat of consciousness®. The seats of prana are said to be the head, throat, heart, navel, rectum, bladder, the vital fluid ojas, semen, blood and flesh*. In 1. 19. 3 Caraka, however, excludes navel and flesh and includes the temples (Savkha) in their place. It is difficult to determine what is exactly meant by prana here. But in all prob- ability the word is used here in a general way to denote the vital parts. In 1. 30. 4 and 5 Caraka says that the whole body with 1 Bhela’s chapter on “‘ Purusa-niscaya,”’ p. 81. > ghrana-Ssrotraksi-jthva-santarpaninadm siranam madhye sird-sannipatah srnga- takadni. Susruta-samhita, 11. 6. 28. 3 Caraka-samhita, 1v. 7. 8, hrdayam cetanadhisthanam ekam. 4 Ibid. 9. XI] Head and Heart 343 the four extremities, the trunk, and the head, collectively called sad-anga, knowledge (vijfiana), the senses, the sense-objects, the self, manas and the objects of thought (cintya), are all supported (samsrita) by the heart, just as a house is supported by pillars and rafters’. It is plain, as Cakrapani explains, that the body cannot subsist in the heart. What is meant is that, when all is well with the heart, it is well with all the rest. Caraka holds that the manas and the soul reside in the heart and so also do cognition, pleasure and pain, not, however, in the sense that the heart is the place where these reside, but in the sense that they depend on the heart for their proper functioning; if the heart is wrong, they also go wrong, if the heart is well, they also work well. Just as rafters are supported by pillars, so are they all supported by the heart. But Cakrapani does not seem to agree with this view of Caraka, and he holds that, since the heart is affected by strong thoughts, pleasure and pain, the mind and the soul actually reside in the heart and so do pleasure and pain. The self, which is the cause of all knowledge of sense-objects and the upholder (dharin) of the system, resides in the heart. It is for this reason that, if a man is struck in the heart, he swoons away, and, if the heart bursts, he dies. It is also the place of the supreme vitality (param ojas)*. The heart is also regarded as the place where all consciousness is concen- trated (tatra caitanya-samgrahah). Caraka says that the heart is the centre of the prana currents (prana-vahanam srotasam hrdayam milam, U1. 5. 9) and also of the currents of mental activity (11. 7. 3). In the Apasmdara-nidana (11. 8. 4) Caraka speaks of the heart as being the supreme place of the inner self (antar-atmanah Srestham Gyatanam). It may not be out of place here to point out that the Taittiriya Upanisad (1. 6. 1) also speaks of the heart as being the space where 1 Caraka-samhitd, 1. 30. 5. 2 Cakrapani says that the mention of param ajas here proves that Caraka be- lieved in another, aparam ojas. The total quantity of aparam ojas in the body is half a handful (ardhanjali-parimana), while that of param gjas is only eight drops of a white-red and slightly yellowish liquid in the heart. The dhamanis of the heart contain half a handful of aparam gjas, and in the disease known as prameha (urinary disease) it is this ojas that is wasted; but even with waste of this ojas aman may live, whereas with the slightest waste of the param ojas a man cannot live. Ojas ought not to be regarded as the eighth dhdiu; for it only supports (dharayati) the body, but does not nourish it. Ojas, however, is sometimes used also in the sense of rasa (Caraka-samhitd 1. 30. 6, Cakrapani’s commentary). See also ibid. 1. 17. 74 and 75 and Cakrapani’s comment on the same. Ojas is, however, regarded in the Atharva-Veda, 11. 17, as the eighth dhatu. 344 Speculations in the Medical Schools [cH. manomaya purusa, i.e. the mind-person, resides. In many other Upanisads the heart is the centre of many nadis, or channels?. Sankara, in explaining Brh. 11. 1.